Important English and Continental Furniture and Decorations

Doyle New York will hold an auction of Important English and Continental Furniture and Decorations, including Old Master Paintings and Drawings on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 10am. The sale will offer furniture and decorations from the 17th through early 19th centuries, as well as Continental, English and Chinese export porcelain, Georgian silver, sculpture, clocks, chandeliers, sconces, tapestries and rugs. The Old Master Paintings section of the sale will offer landscapes, still lifes, portraits and religious subjects by European artists from the Renaissance to the 19th century. Featured in the sale will be property from the Estates of Eleanor S. Rawson and John Spencer-Churchill Guest. The exhibition will be on view from Saturday, October 17 through Tuesday, October 20. Doyle is located at 175 East 87th Street in Manhattan.

The Rawson Collection was begun by Frederick Holbrook Rawson and his wife, Edith Kennett Rawson. Frederick was chairman of the First National Bank of Chicago. In the 1920s and 30s, he funded Macmillan's Arctic expeditions and Byrd's expeditions to Antarctica. Edith Rawson was a lady of regal bearing, elegance and warmth. Their son, Kennett L. Rawson, entered publishing, joining the firm of G.P. Putnam's Sons, eventually becoming vice president and editor in chief. His wife, Eleanor S. Rawson, also in the publishing business, edited the ground-breaking book, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask) (1970) and published such best-sellers as The Complete Scarsdale Medical Diet (1979). Property from the Rawson Collection is highlighted by an important pair of Victorian silver gilt four-light candelabra by Robert Garrard, London, circa 1850-51(est. $60,000-90,000).

Featured in the sale is property from the Estate of John Spencer-Churchill Guest. John Guest was born in England in 1913 to the Hon. Christian Henry Charles Guest and his wife, the Hon. Frances Henrietta Lyttelton, daughter of the 8th Viscount Cobham. John Guest was a grandson of Sir Ivor Bertie Guest, the 1st Baron Wimborne, and a great-grandson of John Winston Spencer-Churchill, the 7th Duke of Marlborough. John Guest's great-grandmother was the famed Lady Charlotte Guest the wife of industrialist Sir Josiah John Guest, the richest woman in England, and the mistress of famed Canford Manor. John Guest continued his familys fascination with the Middle East, authoring books on Kurdistans Yezidi tribe and Iraqi antiquities.

The Estate of John Spencer-Churchill Guest offers a selection of silver articles, including a George III silver gilt covered urn by Robert Makepeace & Richard Carter, London, circa 1776-77(est. $5,000-7,000) and an English silver trophy cup retailed by D&J Welby, London, from the 1911 polo match between the House of Lords and the House of Commons, Ranelagh Club (est. $800-1,200), and a Irish silver cup, possibly Samuel Walker, Dublin, second quarter of the 18th century, (est. $2,000-3,000). Certain to attract attention is a 1st The Royal Gadroons Helmet worn by John Guests father, Christian Henry Charles Guest (est. $1,200-1,800).

Property from other owners features a pair of Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and granite urns after a design by Ennemond-Alexandre Petitol, 19th century, (est. $15,000-25,000) and a pair of Louis XVI style gilt-bronze and marble ten-light candelabra comparable to a set of candelabra supplied to the Chateau de Bellevue and now conserved in the Petit-Trianon at Versailles (est. $12,000-18,000).

Silver is highlighted by a pair of George III silver gilt egg cup holders by Paul Storr, London, circa 1810-11, retailed by Rundell, Bridge & Rundell (est. $10,000-15,000). Lighting includes a Russian Neoclassical gilt-bronze and cut glass six-light chandelier, first quarter of the 19th century (est. $8,000-12,000). Porcelain offers a large selection of Royal Copenhagen Flora Danica articles and a German Silver gilt mounted porcelain tankard, 18th century (est. $3,000-5,000). Mirrors include a George III gilt-wood overmantel mirror in the manner of Thomas Johnson, circa 1760 (est. $5,000-7,000).

English furniture offers a handsome Regency gilt-bronze mounted parcel gilt rosewood and mahogany bookcase, first quarter of the 19th century (est. $7,000-10,000) and a George III gilt-bronze mounted calamander, tulipwood and mahogany pembroke table, circa 1780 (est. $5,000-7,000). Continental furniture offers a pair of Italian Neoclassical style painted and parcel gilt settees, 19th century (est. $5,000-7,000).

Among the selection of Old Master Paintings and Drawings is a view of Syon House from the Thames by Robert Griffier (British, 1688-1760) (est. $10,000-15,000). Syon House, the West London home of the Duke of Northumberland, was originally an abbey-named for Mount Zion-of the Bridgettine Order, founded by Henry V in 1426. During the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the house was seized by Henry VIII and in the late seventeenth century became the property of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset.

By a follower of Francois Clouet is a Portrait of Jacques d'Albon de Saint Andre, Marshal of France, circa 1505-1562, oil on panel (est. $8,000-12,000). Jacques d'Albon de Saint Andr was a favorite of Henry II of France, who appointed him Marshal of France, Governor of Lyonnais, and Ambassador to England.

Other works include Ernest Finkernagels (German, 19th Century), Mountainous Landscape with a Knight and His Squire Approaching a Castle (est. $5,000-8,000) and two 17th century paintings from the Italian School, Portrait of a Venetian Procurator in an Ermine Robe (est. $5,000-7,000) and a Still Life with Birds and Fruit (est. $5,000-7,000).