Five Auction Highlights

From 12pm on Sunday 5 September, Lots Road in Chelsea, London is hosting the ultimate ‘Fine’ Auction: fine art, fine antiques, fine design, lighting, collectables and more. There are over 640 pieces going under the hammer, which means there is literally something for everyone. If you’re wanting to furnish a new home, spruce up your interior, or find a gift that’s sure to be a hit, you need only dive into the e-catalogue. For those looking for guidance, we’ve pulled together our top picks from the sale.

First is this Vitra Cité Lounge Char by Jean Prouvé, measuring 87 cm in height. The chair, which retails for around £3,000 depending on colour, was originally designed for a competition to furnish the student residence halls at the Cité Universitaire in Nancy. It is one of Prouvé’s early masterpieces, and Prouvé himself made use of the distinctive armchair in the living room of his own home. It has generous dimensions and inviting upholstery, making it a comfort for all those who are lucky enough to own one.

Next are these highly collectable Enorme telephones by Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass and his friend David Kelley, founder of design firm IDEO. Included in collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Enorme telephone (1986) was designed to give an element of fun to what is typically a regular, utilitarian object. Sottsass created the conceptual design and Kelley and his team were responsible for engineering and design detail. These examples at Lots Road come in two different colours in original packaging, measuring 30 x 15 x 12 cm. 

This beautiful antique Syrian commode is replete with intricate detailing. Its mother-of-pearl has been shaped into petals and flowers, laid over antique hardwood. It features bone and pewter detailing throughout, and is inlaid with a marble top. Featuring five drawers and measuring 120 x 57.5 x 129 cm, it is perfect as any statement piece in a bedroom or living room, serving a practical function while treating the eye. 

Another piece of furniture with fine detailing is this Hoshiarpur table. Hoshiarpur is a town in the Punjab district of Northern India known for its workmanship in ivory and ebony inlay. Although Turkish in inspiration, octagonal tables of this form were made in several parts of late 19th-century British India. They were produced, primarily, in response to the growing fashion in Europe for Middle Eastern and Isalamic furniture and decorative accessories. They are beautiful pieces of artistry, included in collections all over the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum. This Lots Road example is octagonal, in keeping with tradition, and is made of wood with bone and ebony inlaid. Overall, it measures 50 x 47 cm. 

Our final pick from the sale is this oil on panel, Bassouto Boy by Edward Wolfe (1897-1982). Wolfe, born in South Africa, moved to England during the First World War and studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic and, from 1916-1918, Slade School of Art.

While at Slade, Roger Fry invited Wolfe to join his Omega Workshops, a design enterprise founded by members of the Bloomsbury Group. This group was established in July 1913 with the intention of providing graphic expression to the essence of the Bloomsbury ethos. Wolfe first exhibited with the Omega Workshops in 1918. After his first solo exhibition in Johannesburg in 1920, Wolfe showed extensively in Britain and internationally. Today, his works are held in collections such as, in London alone, Tate Gallery, the Royal Academy and the National Portrait Gallery. 

This specific work is signed lower left. Its provenance includes the collection of Enslin du Plessis, a painter and journalist born in South Africa who lived in London from the 1920s. It bears labels to the back, including the Brooke Street Art Gallery, London, Bond Street. Overall, it measures 67 x 33.5 cm.

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