This Egyptian marble kilga above would have originally supported a water jar made of unglazed earthenware.
The porous walls of the water jar would drip and seep as some of its contents evaporated. In turn, the seeped water, filtered by its passage through the unglazed walls of the jar, would collect in the projecting trough at the front of the kilga, where it could be scooped out and drunk. Kilgas were apparently unique to medieval Cairo, a city perilously dependent for its water on the annual flooding of the Nile.
This 19in (48cm) long Fatimid marble example dates to the c.11th century and is carved with lion heads. It comes from a private European collection and is guided at £4000-6000 in an auction of Islamic and Indian art at Roseberys in West Norwood, south London, on January 25.
roseberys.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
This portrait by Laura Knight (1877-1970) above depicts the film star Robert Newton when he was about six.
Dated 1912, the signed 10 x 7in (25 x 17.5cm) oil on panel comes from the estate of Ella Naper, the model who featured in Knight’s famous self-portrait now hanging in the National Portrait Gallery’s Primary Collection. Penzance saleroom David Lay will offer the painting on January 31, estimated at £10,000-20,000.
Robert is credited with popularising the stereotypical ‘pirate voice’ when he employed an exaggerated West Country accent for the role as Long John Silver in the 1950 adaptation of Treasure Island.
A 1962 pencil on paper Girl pushing three children in a pram signed and dated by Laurence Stephen Lowry (1887-1976) will be offered at Forum Auctions’ Editions and Works on Paper 1500-2018 sale on January 29.
From a private collection, with provenance to dealers Richard Green Gallery and Trinity House Paintings, the 7.5 x 9.75in (19 x 25cm) work is estimated at £10,000-15,000.
forumauctions.co.uk or see this item on thesaleroom.com
