English Abbey Treasures

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 21 January 1939, Page 12

English Abbey Treasures

Ottered At Dismantling Sale

(From our London correspondent.) | A LL tlie treasures of Rufford Abbey, j Nottinghamshire, one of the most j famous mansions in England and the | home of tlie Savile family since the j days of Henry VIII, are now being sold J at auction. Thus another of the stately ; homes of England is dismantled. Whether ; the mansion will pass out of the land- | scape, which it has adorned for cen- | turies, has yet to be decided. Much of Rufford’s history and associa- | tions can be traced in tlie names applied ; to the various suites and individual j rooms. For example, the Stuart Suite is a reminder of the visits of James I, Charles I, and Charles 11, for the hunting in the great Sherwood Forest; Sir George’s (Savile) Bedroom and Dressing Room records the union between Barbara Savile and the fourth Earl of Scarborough; The Ambassador’s Room is a tribute to the late Lord Savile’s father, who was British Ambassador to Italy; while the King Edward VII Suite recalls his many visits. Ten days have been allocated for the dismantling of this great house, and the auctioneers, Messrs. Knight, Frank and Rutley, in conjunction with Messrs. Christie have produced a handsome catalogue of some 3000 lots. At the time of writing their representative has disposed of 960 lots for a total of about £16,000. The sale is being held in the beautiful tapestry-covered room known as the Long Gallery, which certainly has never seen such a cosmopolitan company as that W’hich gathered on each of the sale days. Queen Mary visited the Abbey a fortnight ago and inspected the treasures.

The more notable pieces sold during the first days include the set of eight mahogany chairs, with pierced vaseshaped splats, supported on cabriole legs terminating in lions’ paw feet, which adorned the Long Gallery. This handsome set changed hands at £483; while £157 10s Od was given for the Elizabethan oak coffer, the front carved in relief with demi-figures of minstrels, removed from the Brick Hall. A late seventeenth century English oak refectory table, on 10 baluster legs joined by plain stretcher foot-rails, found a buyer at £126; a Chippendale pedestal writing table, fitted with nine drawers to the front and tow cupboards at the back, £189; a set of six early Georgian mahogany chairs, the sects covered in English petit-point needlework with figure subjects and the Savile arms, £304 10 Od; and an early eighteenth century fire-screen, with a panel of similar needlework mounted in a carved Chippendale frame, £126.

Of the numerous seventeenth century tapestries, 16 Brussels and Flemish panels, woven with Romanesque and other subjects, decorating the Brick Hall, brought a total of £420; four, which hung in Sir George Savile’s Bedroom, £325 10s Od; two Brussels panels worked with “Incidents in the Life of Jephtha's Daughter,” from the Stuart Room, £315; and a set of three, woven with Romanesque soldiers in the Stuart Dressing Room, £315. The more notable pieces in the King Edward VII Suite included a set of three large open arm chairs and three standard chairs of the Stuart period, which realised £92 8s Od; and early eighteenth century Dutch walnut writing bureau, £26 5s Od; two Venetian wall-mirrors, £23 2s Od; and an old Georgian wall-mirror, £ll 11s Od; an old Portuguese “four-poster” bedstead, with crimson silk hangings, £42 10s Od The above 10-day sale does not, however, include the choicest of the Rufford treasures. These have been removed to Christie’s London rooms, where they will be sold at a later date. Here will be found some very fine examples of French and English furniture, notably a Louis XVI gild-wood suite, covered with Beau-

vais tapestry, woven with a floral design: and a Queen Anne settee, upholstered with contemporary Fulham tapestry, worked in brilliant colours with a floral design on a yellow ground. There are also import-ant Gothic tapestries, probably from the Toumai or Brussels factories; interesting carved wood ship models, and pictures by old masters. Notable among the pictures is a characteristic Canaletto view of the Quirinal Palace. Rome, with groups of ladies and gentlemen conversing In the courtyard; another of tlie Vis de Repetta. Rome, by the same artist; a delightful Gainsborough landscape; and another by Hobbema. “A Park with a Country House” is the title of a work by Jacob van Ruisj dael, and his uncle, Salomon, is represented by a river scene with a ferry | boat. One of the ship models is that of an early (probably Stuart) 44-gun , two-decker frigate, similar to the model j mounted with 50 guns, at one time in ' the famous Sergison Collection, and now | in the Metropolitan Museum. New York.

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