Musiciens by Alexandra Exter, estimated £50,000-80,000 at Roseberys.
1. Ukrainian painting
Roseberys’ September 12 auction in south London includes Ukrainian-French artist Alexandra Exter’s (1882-1949) Musiciens made c.1935-38, at the height of her career when the artist was exhibiting widely internationally.
Exter was one of the most important artists of the early 20th century associated with the Ukrainian avant garde, her studio in Kyiv acting as a focus point for Modernist artists and ideas.
This painting has been in a private collection of nearly 30 years and is being offered at the same time as the ground-breaking touring exhibition In the Eye of the Storm: Modernism in Ukraine, 1900-1930s (various European venues).
The oil on canvas, 23½in x 2ft 8in (60 x 81.5cm), is estimated at £50,000-80,000.
2. 17th century silver spoon
A Charles II West Country silver lace-back trefid spoon, made in 1683 in Taunton, estimated £400-600 at Tennants.
One of the earliest lots in the Jewellery, Watches and Silver sale at Tennants on September 16 is a Charles II West Country silver lace-back trefid spoon, made in 1683 in Taunton.
While the maker is unknown, it bears a mark in the form of a struck quatrefoil and is engraved with the initials TW and CC. The estimate at the Leyburn, North Yorkshire, auction is £400-600.
2. Carriage clock
A Swiss miniature carriage clock, estimated £1200-1800 at Dreweatts.
A Swiss miniature shagreen mounted silver petit sonnerie carriage clock previously owned by Ellen Ann Willmott (1858-1934), one of the most significant female horticulturists in Britain, is estimated at £1200-1800 in Dreweatts’ September 13 auction in Newbury.
Willmott, whose name inspired that of more than 200 plants, was awarded the first ever Victoria Medal of Honour to British horticulturists by the Royal Horticultural Society in 1897. She was renowned for her work in redeveloping the gardens of her family’s home, Warley Place in Essex, made possible due to an inheritance from her aunt.
The clock is thought to have been left by Wilmott at Spetchley Park when she was helping her sister with the extensive gardens there. Bearing the inscription E A Willmott, Warley Place, Essex to its inside surface, it belongs to a varied series of ‘montre pendulette de voyage’ carriage clocks and timepieces made in Les Pontsde- Martel, Neuchatel, Switzerland, by makers such as Mathay-Tissot during the late 19th century until the late 1920s.
4. Russian painting
A painting by Constantin Terechkovitch, estimated £1000-1500 at Ryedale Auctioneers.
Ryedale Auctioneers’ Country House sale taking place on September 15 includes a work by Russian artist Constantin Terechkovitch (1902-78).
Child eating fruit at a table in a garden landscape, a 2ft 10in x 15½in (86 x 40cm) oil on canvas, is signed and indistinctly inscribed, Girard in pencil verso, and bears a Salon D’Automne Paris 1946 stamp.
The estimate in Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire, is £1000-1500.
5. Troopie maquette
Maquette for the full-size bronze regimental memorial ‘The Trooper’, estimated £3000-5000 at Noonans.
This is the founder’s maquette of ‘Troopie’, the Regimental Memorial of the Rhodesian Light Infantry, 1978-79, presented to Lt-Col J CW Aust, the last commanding officer of the unit.
The resin maquette, 9½in (23.5cm) high, was used by the Fiorini Foundry in the design and casting of the full-size bronze The Trooper (aka ‘Troopie’) .
The 1st Battalion, RLI was formed in 1961 and became part of the Southern Rhodesian Army in 1964, before being reformed almost immediately into a commando battalion.
During the 15-plus years of Bush War after Prime Minister Ian Smith declared Rhodesian independence in 1965, the RLI had played a vital role, chiefly in putting down the counterinsurgency and ultimately serving under the Zimbabwe Rhodesia government in 1979, and then the new Mugabe government in 1980.
Many of its actions had to be launched from the air and in 1976 it became a parachute regiment. It was disbanded in October 1980.
The full-size ‘Troopie’ ended up in England with Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, as its permanent home. The maquette is estimated at £3000-5000 at Noonans of Mayfair on September 13.
