Netsuke tiger roars in Gloucestershire

An 18th-century Japanese netsuke of a tiger eating bamboo was the top lot in a Gloucestershire sale, making ten times its estimate.

The netsuke had a pre-sale estimate of £500 to £700, but eventually hammered at £5,500.

A number of the best-selling lots in the auction at Chorley’s came from the collection of the co-founders of the Landmark Trust and descendants of travel pioneer, Sir John and Lady Smith.

Some of the other top lots in the sale were:

• A pair of 18th Century Staffordshire slipware baking dishes, (provenance: the Estate of Sir John and Lady Smith) £5,200 (original estimate: £2,000-3,000)
• Margaret Caroline, Countess of Carlisle, oil on canvas, After Sir Joshua Reynolds (British 1723-1792), £4,500 (original estimate: £300-500)
• Young Man Playing a Lute by Candlelight, oil on canvas, 17th Century Roman School (Provenance: The Arcade Gallery, London 1965; K R Bernard-Smith Collection, New South Wales, Australia), £4,500 (original estimate: 5,000-8,000)
• The Restoration of ‘The Warrior’ at Hartlepool, Stephen Crowther (British, born 1922), (Provenance: The Estate of the late Sir John and Lady Smith), £4,000 (original estimate: £500-700)
• The Missing Fisherman, Walter Langley (British 1852-1922), £4,000 (original estimate: £500-700)