Contents of Cotswolds country house to sell
The contents of a grand Cotswold home will go under the hammer in Cirencester next month, with paintings, furniture, militaria, glass and garden ornaments among the standout lots at the single-owner sale.
Moore Allen & Innocent will be selling the contents of the country home on behalf of the owner, with museum-quality paintings leading the sale.
The best of the paintings includes a portrait of John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (1710-1771) with his grandson George Churchill, Marquess of Blandford, later 5th Duke of Marlborough (1776-1840), which was initially attributed to Thomas Gainsborough but has been identified as the work of the Irish portrait painter Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1740-1808).
The painting stands at an impressive 2.3 metres high, and is expected to achieve between £60,000 and £90,000.
Meanwhile, a portrait of the German prince Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg (1578-1653) in the manner of Sir Anthony Van Dyck is attributed to a follower of the leading English court painter of the 17th century.
The two-metre tall portrait shows the subject wearing a clasp of the Order of the Golden Fleece – a Roman Catholic order of chivalry which he received by converting to Catholicism and practising neutrality during the Thirty Years War. Bids of between £10,000 and £15,000 are expected.
An 18th century full length family portrait of the Son and Daughters of Richard Clarke Esq 1727, attributed to James Francis Maubert (1666-1740) measuring one-and-a-half by two metres, is expected to achieve £10,000 to £15,000, while bids of £25,000 to £35,000 are invited on a pair of 17th century Anglo Dutch School portraits of a lady wearing a wide-brimmed hat ad lace ruff, and a gentleman in wide-brimmed hat with lace ruff, dated 1618 and 1617 respectively.
Elsewhere in the auction is a good collection of continental and English country furniture. Best among the lots is a Spanish 18th-century walnut 10-seat dining table, which commands an estimate of £2,000 to £3,000.
There is also a large collection of 19th-century mahogany furniture, and Flemish-style hall chairs from the 1700s to the Victorian age, with estimates ranging from £300 to £500 each to £1,000 to £1,500 for pairs.
Among the militaria is a Victorian scarlet officer’s shabraque – or saddle cloth – for the First Gloucestershire Hussars, which carries an estimate of £300 to £500, and two pairs of bamboo shafted lances with red and white pennants, each commanding an estimate of £150 to £250 per pair.
And from the grounds of the house, a Georgian-style stone urn on a plinth standing at approximately 2.2 metres is expected to achieve £2,000 to £3,000, while a Haddonstone pedestal figure of Pan, standing at just under two metres tall, should sell for around £500 to £800.
The auction takes place on March 8.