AN IRISH GEORGE II NEEDLEWORK PANEL OF AN URN OF FLOWERS

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more

THE HOUSE OF NORMAN ADAMS A personal reflection by Stewart Whittington One Saturday morning in the early Sixties, the collector walked unnanounced into Norman Adams Ltd.. Thus began a strong relationship which resulted in the formation of this collection over forty years, the vast majority, together with the whole of the collection of works by Matthew Boulton, sold by Norman Adams himself during the last twenty years of his life. Amongst the best descriptions of just how Norman Adams had become a legend in his own lifetime is that written by Jo Floyd, the former Chairman of Christie's, in his foreword to the book I co-authored on the furniture handled by the firm: 18th Century English Furniture, The Norman Adams Collection (London, 1983):- 'I had the good fortune and pleasure to know Norman Adams for more than 30 years, from my earliest days at Christie's, just after the war, when Norman was already established as a leading dealer in fine English 18th Century furniture. Always setting the highest standards himself, he was generous with his knowledge and I shall remember with gratitude the encouragement and advice he gave to a newcomer in the furniture world. 'As time passed I came more and more to admire his discriminating taste - quality, clean lines, well figured woods and above all patina. Before any sale of fine English furniture one could say with confidence "Norman Adams will bid for that lot" (and if he did he was seldom outbid!): on other occasions he would buy a table, a chest, a set of chairs or a mirror and only after the sale did one realise that his eagle eye had spotted an unusual feature or some special quality which others had not noticed - the mundane never interested Norman.' It is no wonder that the collector grew to trust the advice of Norman Adams wholeheartedly, and this collection is a tribute to the symbiotic relationship between dealer and collector at its best. One of the most rewarding experiences in antique furniture dealing is helping to form a collection. Indeed not only is it rewarding to a dealer, it is also one of his major functions. It is often said that the important aspect in dealing is to find top quality pieces of good taste, with a fine patina and basically they will sell themselves. Whilst this aspect is for the most part true, it must be taken a step further by the good dealer in understanding how to place the pieces of furniture in a house, not only to highlight their excellent points but also to bring a room together as a cohesive unit. It is our business to know how rooms should be arranged; we have learned over the years from experience. So we do not find it strange that an antique furniture dealer should not only know about what he sells but also how to arrange what he sells in a room. How appropriate, therefore, that we photographed this very same collection in situ to illustrate the point, in the introductory chapter to our book entitled 'Forming a Collection'. This catalogue shows a most formidable collection of the finest of the English eighteenth century. The owner had finely tuned ideas as to how his house should be arranged, thus needing little help from us in that direction. However, we took great pride in supplying the vast majority of the pieces and in so doing progressed from a dealer/client relationship to a strong bond of friendship. This collection embodies the legacy of Norman Adams. Stewart Whittington Norman Adams Ltd AN APPRECIATION OF THE COLLECTOR By Michael Hill I am twenty three years of age. I am working for a very hard task-master of a father and we are engaged in the first day of the Grosvenor House Fair. The year is 1963. The day does not begin too well; whilst all the other dealers seem to be off at the gallop, we are not able to leave the starting stalls. My father, his partner, Maurice Hanson and I, all dressed in black jackets and striped trousers (imagine going into an antique dealer's shop today and finding the staff thus attired) prowl around the stand like caged tigers. Towards lunchtime, I find myself alone and I am confronted by a very smartly dressed 'City Gent' who I do not know and who does not know me. He walks around the stand and lights upon a very lovely but very simple pair of French early 19th century opaline storm lamps. He asks the price, nearly faints when I give him the bad news, and says that he would think about them. A short while later, he returns and says that he would like to have them sent to his home for his approval. By this time, we have still not broken our duck and we are all quite depressed. I tell him, in a rather high-handed manner, that, subject to the lamps being available by the close of business that night, I would bring them to his home. We then settled down to what turned out to be the most disastrous first day of Grosvenor House that we have ever experienced, selling - nothing! By the time the day had ended, I was tired, depressed and not in the most receptive frame of mind to be going off to meet a potential new client. I loaded the lamps into my car, looked up the address in the A-Z and set off. I duly pulled up outside a lovely house in a beautiful part of London, took out my precious cargo and rang the doorbell. As soon as the door was opened, I was transported into an Aladdin's cave. Every room was filled wtih the most perfect pieces of antique furniture. I had stumbled into a collection that was truly "twelve out of ten"! To make my pleasure the greater, our pair of lamps became part of the collection that night and for the next forty years, we at Jeremy have had the privilege and the pleasure of enjoying an ongoing friendship that still endures today. It is my personal opinion that this collection ranks amongst the finest. The items that go to make it up all have one very important feature in common. Not only are they elegant and pretty but, and most importantly, without exception, all the furniture remains in its original, untouched, crusty condition. The owners have acquired such an eye for colour that everything glows; the furniture appears to radiate off the gentle rays of the sun that, over the centuries, together with wax, household dirt and use, have contributed to the myriad of differing but subtle hues in the woods that go to making up a collection that is really worthy of the consideration of the most fastidious of collectors. Little did I know on that day forty years ago, that I was on the threshold of a relationship that was going to teach me such a valuable lesson in the understanding of the merits of really good furniture. The first day of that Fair may have been a wash-out: the following forty or so years have certainly made up for it. Our pair of lamps still remain in the collection and I hope that they will never leave the family, for they are the key that opened the door into a relationship that is so special and that has given us so much pleasure. Michael Hill Jeremy Ltd. Lowndes Street London

AN IRISH GEORGE II NEEDLEWORK PANEL OF AN URN OF FLOWERS

SIGNED AND DATED 17 JULY 1738

Details

AN IRISH GEORGE II NEEDLEWORK PANEL OF AN URN OF FLOWERS
Signed and dated 17 July 1738
Worked with a central vase with bearded mask and outspringing acanthus above a gadrooned and fluted spreading socle issuing dense flowers including tulips, peonies, roses, lilies, carnations and other flowers, on a brown ground and shown standing on an illusionistic ledge woven to the base with the inscription 'A..Y....Fecit Trallee July.17th 1738.', in a moulded mahogany slip frame, probably originally from a pole screen, minor areas of reweaving to the brown ground at the top
26¼ in. (67 cm.) high; 18½ in. (47 cm.) wide

Provenance

Bought from Norman Adams, March 1977.

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Sale room notice

The stitched signature may be for a member of the Yielding family of Co. Kerry.

Lot Essay

This firescreen panel evokes the Roman poet's Arcadia and concept of 'Ver Perpetuum' or everlasting spring. Venus's roses accompany a Pan-masked krater-vase overflowing with flowers. Displayed in a trompe l'oeil niche, it served like real 'bough pot' vases and those painted on chimneyboards to conceal the 18th century chimney-hearth, when not in use (M.R. Blacker, Flora Domestica, London, 2000, p. 59).

More from 50 YEARS OF COLLECTING:DECORATIVE ARTS OF GEORGIAN ENGLAND

View All