Whom You Know's Advantageous Auctions: QUEEN MUM'S INTERIOR DESIGNER PRODUCED DECOR FOR £20,000`BABY HOUSE' AT BONHAMS
PETER PAN SCULPTURE AND £20,000 BABY HOUSE BRING MAGIC OF CHILDHOOD TO BONHAMS
BABY HOUSE INTERIOR BY QUEEN MOTHER’S DECORATOR
Two powerful English icons of childhood, a sculpture of Peter Pan and a rare George II Palladian carved mahogany `Baby House’ feature in Bonhams sale of Fine English Furniture and Works of Art on 18th November in New Bond St.
A bronze figure of Peter Pan by Sir George James Frampton, (1860-1928), shows Peter standing with his arms outstretched, playing a pipe. The sculpture dated 1920 is 48cm high (18.5iinches) and is estimated to sell for £30,000-50,000.
It is one of the limited number of reductions made between 1913-1925 of the life size bronze of Peter Pan exhibited by Frampton at the The Royal Academy in 1911 and erected by an anonymous donor in Kensington Gardens the following year. The statue was erected on the spot in Kensington Gardens where Peter Pan appears nightly in J. M Barrie's first book featuring Peter, Little White Bird (1901). Barrie was responsible for the commission, the figure of Peter was supposed to be modelled on Michael Llewellyn-Davies, one of the five brothers who inspired the story. Barrie sent Frampton pictures of Michael dressed as Peter Pan from which to work but Frampton is not thought to have modelled Peter Pan on Llewellyn Davies as intended but instead used another boy, possibly James W. Shaw or William A. Harwood.
The statue was erected overnight on 1 May 1912 in secrecy with no advance publicity, Barrie placed an advert in The Times stating: "There is a surprise in store for the children who go to Kensington Gardens to feed the ducks in the Serpentine this morning. Down by the little bay on the south-western side of the tail of the Serpentine they will find a May-day gift by Mr J.M. Barrie, a figure of Peter Pan blowing his pipe on the stump of a tree, with fairies and mice and squirrels all around. It is the work of Sir George Frampton, and the bronze figure of the boy who would never grow up is delightfully conceived."
The public statue has the figure standing upon a rocky base with fairies, rabbits, mice and squirrels covering the base. The statue was much admired and quickly become a favourite landmark for many adults and children, and is often considered to be the most popular statue in London. Other lifesize versions of the statue were later erected in Sefton Park, Liverpool, Canada, Brussels, Australia and New Jersey. It was the obvious widespread popular appeal of the statue that led Frampton to produce the reductions of the main figure.
Also in this Bonhams sale is the Forser Baby House: A rare George II Palladian carved mahogany Baby House with interior design by Oliver Ford, decorator for the late Queen Mother. It boasts a three-storey facade with eight glazed windows. Estimated to sell for £15,000 to £20,000 it stands 135cm wide, 66cm deep, 206cm high (53" wide, 25.5" deep, 81" high).
Its history links it possibly with Elizabeth and Sarah Forster at Grove House, Tottenham and thence by descent to: William Edward Forster, Chief Secretary to Ireland (1818-1886) and by descent to his daughter: Florence Vere O'Brien and thence by descent to her grand daughter: Elinor Wiltshire: Christopher Gibbs Ltd – from whom purchased by the father of the vendor.
Exhibited: Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, Bethnal Green, London, July 1984 to February 1998.
The Grosvenor House Art & Antiques Fair, date unknown, as an entrance exhibit.
The provenance of the Forster Baby House is supported by a letter held on file at the Museum of Childhood written in 1971 by the then owner of the baby house, Irish photographer and botanist Elinor Wiltshire to Desmond Fitz-Gerald, the Knight of Glin at which time the Knight was a curator at the V & A Museum.
The earliest known baby houses date from the sixteenth century, and were essentially cabinet display cases made up of rooms, with miniature household items for the use of adults, not necessarily made to scale. Vivien Greene in English Dolls' Houses, (1955) drew a distinction between toy doll's houses and the great houses built by estate carpenters as a hobby for adults. Baby houses might have contained silver 'toys' and carpets and curtains which were made by the owners, while the dolls would be dressed by them. These were almost always kept on an upper landing, under lock and key. Horace Walpole, writing in 1750, says of Frederick Prince of Wales, 'The Prince is building baby houses at Kew', Frederick apparently became fascinated by them after visiting the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick, who was trying to reproduce the entire court in miniature.
Bonhams, founded in 1793, is one of the world's oldest and largest auctioneers of fine art and antiques. The present company was formed by the merger in November 2001 of Bonhams & Brooks and Phillips Son and Neale UK. In August 2002, the company acquired Butterfields, the principal firm of auctioneers on the West Coast of America. Today, Bonhams offers more sales than any of its rivals, through two major salerooms in London: New Bond Street, and Knightsbridge, and a further seven throughout the UK. Sales are also held in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston in the USA; and Switzerland, France, Monaco, Australia, Hong Kong and Dubai. Bonhams has a worldwide network of offices and regional representatives in 25 countries offering sales advice and valuation services in 50 specialist areas. For a full listing of upcoming sales, plus details of Bonhams specialist departments, go to www.bonhams.com.
