The Best Seats in the House: Danish Designer Chairs Make Over £6000...
19th January 2019
Lawrences’s auctions of Decorative Arts and Ceramics comprise an appealing combination of the old and the new, the familiar and the exotic, the plain and the ornamental. Their recent auction began with a selection of Decorative Arts and two very different items highlighted perfectly this unusual blend: a Lalique vase in the `Ceylan` design, decorated with opalescent budgerigars, more than doubled expectations to take £2680 whilst a pair of armchairs, ascribed to the Danish designer Ib Kofod Larsen (b.1921), raced to £6100 despite showing many signs of comfortable wear. A Lalique scent bottle, 13.5cm high, was bid to £2800.
In the section of ceramics and glass, a good private collection of glass from a retired physician realised over £12,300 and was led by two mallet-shaped decanters from c.1800 that raised £850. A Staffordshire figure of a seated dog leapt playfully to £1700, far exceeding its estimate. From a good selection of Indian and Asian items, an Indian Bidri tray or stand made £5850; a Chinese or Tibetan carved wood, lacquer and gilt figure of Bodhisattva, just 18cm high, made £7320; a Chinese `lac burgaute` box and cover, 5.5cm square, made £4390; and a group of seven Chinese snuff bottles appealed to several bidders before making £3900.
