Principal contents of Boden Hall to sell at Sworders
The principal contents of Cheshire county house Boden Hall will go under the hammer in an Essex saleroom this March.
Sworders will present a carefully curated selection of period furniture, objects and fine paintings which were assembled for the Georgian home by its most recent custodians, Victoria Wrather and her late husband William.
William, a Manchester surveyor and developer, and his wife Victoria, a successful decorator and interior designer, purchased the estate 27 years ago. Together, they embarked on a major restoration project that returned the house, garden and outbuildings to their former glory as well as restoring the swimming pool, tennis court and a large Victorian glasshouse. In particular, the interiors at Boden were transformed.
With its long sweeping drive manicured formal garden and intricate neoclassical plasterwork, Boden Hall, is the textbook Georgian manor. Set in almost 70 acres of land, it was once home to the renowned H & R Johnson tile family from Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire from 1919 to 1997.
Both William and Victoria were dyed in the wool collectors. Victoria collected teapots (finishing with close to 400) while William had a particular love for walking sticks, corkscrews, vintage cars and vintage bicycles. They bought together and built many friendships with the dealers and collectors who shared their singular passions.
However, as evidenced by the curated selection of period furniture, objects and fine paintings that feature in Sworders’ sale, the décor at Boden Hall was a carefully studied blend of timeless elegance and modern comfort. This was the fruit of natural flair, a deep knowledge of period architecture and the function of buildings and an admiration for the work of renowned 20th-century British decorator and antiques dealer Geoffrey Bennison (1921-84), the so-called master of the ‘layered’ look.
Although Victoria had semi-retired from her busy working life as an interior decorator, she took on Boden as another challenge, engaging the services of her curtain makers, carpet fitters, upholsterers, kitchen and bathroom fitters and tilers. She also alerted the antiques trade to the pieces she was looking to buy for the property, particularly with the Cheshire dealers Michael Wisehall and David Bedale, purchasing many items from both over the years.
Complementing the original panelled pine window shutters and marble fireplaces, the selection of fine furniture includes pieces such as a 19th-century painted carved wood and marble console table, estimated at £2,000-4,000 and a pair of William IV gothic revival oak card tables, pitched at £3,000-5,000.
The Irish furniture in the sale, including an extraordinary mahogany sarcophagus form peat chest, estimated at £2,000-3,000, was mostly bought from Michael Wisehall who lived in both Knutsford and Dublin. Georgian grandeur such as this was softened with the addition of pictures from the Modern British canon and the occasional note of playfulness. Bidders can expect to find conversation pieces as varied as a Michelin compressor with its Bibendum man, estimated at £300-500; a Second World War airman’s sheepskin flying jacket and trousers, estimated at £200-300, combined with the important paintings that provide the sale with its headline lots.
William became interested in buying art through a picture dealer who worked from one of his properties in Manchester. In addition to many good 18th- and 19th-century pictures, in the Nineties and Noughties he purchased several works by top-drawer 20th-century painters.
These include a double portrait of the artist’s wife Hazel and his daughter Eileen by Sir John Lavery, estimate of £180,000-250,000. It came to Boden Hall from a previous property, having been purchased around 30 years ago.
Elsewhere, Morning Sunshine, a double portrait by Newlyn painter Harold Harvey (1874-1941), carries an estimate of £25,000-35,000, while The Swan Pond by Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933), signed and dated 1911, is pitched at £10,000-15,000.
Following the recent sale of Boden Hall, Victoria has now moved to a smaller property. It is, she said, “time for another family to enjoy Boden and all it has to offer.”
The sale will take place at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet, Essex on March 4.
A George IV mahogany console table c.1825. Estimate £2,000 – 4,000
A pair of George IV brown oak card tables, c.1830. Estimate £3,000 – 5,000
A Regency mahogany peat chest, early 19th century, Irish, probably Dublin. Estimate £2,000 – 3,000
Sir John Lavery RA RSA RHA (Irish, 1856-1941) ‘La Belle Mère’ – portrait of the artist’s wife Hazel and his daughter Eileen, signed ‘J Lavery’, also signed, inscribed with title and dated 1911 verso, oil on canvas. Estimate £180,000 – 250,000
Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933) ‘The Swan Pond’ signed and dated ‘E. A. Hornel/1911’ l.r., oil on canvas. Estimate £10,000 – 15,000
PICTURE CAPTIONS
- An exterior shot of Boden Hall. Credit: John Perry
- An exterior shot of Boden Hall. Credit: John Perry
- One of the interiors at Boden Hall
- A George IV mahogany console table c.1825. Estimate £2,000 – 4,000
- A pair of George IV brown oak card tables, c.1830. Estimate £3,000 – 5,000
- A Regency mahogany peat chest, early 19th century, Irish, probably Dublin. Estimate £2,000 – 3,000
- Sir John Lavery RA RSA RHA (Irish, 1856-1941) ‘La Belle Mère’ – portrait of the artist’s wife Hazel and his daughter Eileen, signed ‘J Lavery’, also signed, inscribed with title and dated 1911 verso, oil on canvas. Estimate £180,000 – 250,000
- Harold Harvey (1874-1941) ‘Morning Sunshine’ signed and dated ‘Harold Harvey 1911’ l.r., oil on canvas 96 x 76cm. Estimate £25,000 – 35,000
- Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933) ‘The Swa