Sale-rooms
There's no place like home
Alistair McAlpine
The market in art and antiques is tenta- tively recovering, and as it feels its way upwards, it prefers lots that are untouched by the restorer's hand or improved by over- enthusiastic dealers. What is more, if these goods come with an impressive prove- nance, they can produce a ripple of excite- ment in a market that is a sea of caution.
Such a lot is the painting by Sir Edwin Landseer, 'Scene in Braemar'. It will be sold on 25 March and Christie's expect it to fetch in excess of £750,000. This painting is over eight foot high and shows a 12-pointer stag standing among his hinds in dramatic Highland scenery. First exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857, it was painted specifically for the dining room at Preston Hall in Kent, and was sold by its first owner E.L. Betts at Christie's in 1868. It fetched £4,410 and was bought by the ironmaster, Henry Bolckow. Twenty years later it was sold again at Christie's. For the last 105 years it has stayed in the same family, recently on extended loan to the National Gallery in Ireland. This is the sort of prove- nance that brings the dealers' hands out of their pockets and has them waving enthusi- astically, as if recession in the art market Were only the stuff of imagination.
Sotheby's are also selling a lot with a fine Provenance — a George II revival wing chair dating from around 1885, which is a smart way of describing a Victorian copy of a much earlier one. Whatever this chair may lack in beauty it makes up for in its history. It was the property of Sir Lawrence Alma Tadema, and in his St John's Wood home it was sat on by the likes of Lord Leighton, John Singer Sar-
gent, George Eliot and Swinburne, who were frequent visitors. Sotheby's expect this chair to fetch £1,500, which, even taking its provenance into account, seems quite a lot of money; that is, until you enquire the price of a brand new armchair at, say, the Conran Shop.
I have often wondered why new goods often so fetch much more than their antique counterparts. I am told by a Bond Street dealer that there is still considerable prejudice against what many people regard as `second-hand'. To support this, he told me of a tycoon from America who wished to buy a present for a friend. The dealer offered him a set of Paul de Lamerie candlesticks for several hundred thousand pounds. The tycoon was delighted and wrote out a cheque; as he took the parcel, the dealer informed him that the candle- sticks had a wonderful provenance, and named a duke or two. 'You mean that these are second-hand?' enquired the tycoon, as he passed back the packages and tore his cheque in two. 'I could never insult my friend by giving him second-hand candlesticks.'
Another fine lot of second-hand furni- ture with an impressive provenance comes up for sale at Sotheby's on 11 March, a marquetry side cabinet, made in 1870 for Marlborough House, the home of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. The reverse of the cabinet is stamped M.H. below a crown, a mark found on several pieces of furniture made for Marlborough House and still in the royal collection. It was possibly made for the library as it is decorated with portraits of Shakespeare and Chaucer. Collectors less discriminating than that American tycoon will probably compete hotly for this piece. Should a for- eigner buy the cabinet it will be a tragedy; this is just the sort of object that should be kept in this country, for not only do we know the house for which it was made, but the house is still standing.
The lots I have described all have a fine provenance, but what does this really mean? Simply that the items in question belonged to somebody whose name is known and usually famous. Even in the depths of a recession such things have been selling remarkably well. Sales of memora- bilia have gone from strength to strength and memorabilia are, I suppose, what much grander objects and paintings 'Careful — it could be cannabis.' become when they have a page or two of provenance printed beneath their descrip- tion in the catalogue.
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