Leonard Joel is honoured to announce that we have been entrusted with the sale of The Dr. George Wilcox Collection. The late doctor’s distinguished connoisseurship of fine clocks, furniture, silver and decorative arts brings to us a refined collection, with distinctly English flavours. A curatorial journey shared with his wife Pam, when I asked her the question, “was it just his collection, yours, or collaborative?” She explained, “Oh yes, it was totally collaborative, in so much as George bought the antiques, and I always said ‘George, you can’t afford that!’”.
The furniture leads with an exceptional George III Satinwood Bonheur Du Jour, attributed to George Simson. A similar Bonheur Du Jour, also attributed to George Simson, was sold anonymously at Christie’s, London on the 7th of June 2007 for £13,200. The feature clock of the Wilcox Collection is a fine late Georgian musical automata clock by James Smith.
The ceramics lead with a remarkable find; a fine Barr Flight & Barr Worcester porcelain shell-decorated marbled part dessert service, made for the Gordon family, by John Barker. The service is referred to in The Dictionary of Worcester Porcelain, Volume I, 1751-1851, John Sandon, pages 180-181, colour plate 76 and page 204. John Sandon writes “A remarkable Barr, Flight & Barr dessert service was made circa 1812 for the Gordon family and was sold in Scotland in 1980 by Phillips from the estate of a descendant, the Honourable Mrs. Jock Leith of Glenkindie Castle, Aberdeenshire.
The centres of each piece were painted with shells in the distinctive hand which has been attributed to John Barker.
The marbled grounds were reserved with the family crest within a neoclassical gold border.” The collection continues with an enchanting selection of Dr Wall Worcester, Derby, Minton and other European porcelain manufacturers. It is completed by an eclectic collection of silver; mostly sourced from the Silver Vaults in London, spanning the entire Georgian periods, George IV, William IV, Victorian and Edwardian through to Elizabeth II.
The collection will be auctioned in Sydney as part of our Jewels & Objets D’Art Auction on the 8th of March.
Catalogue online Monday 23rd Feburary 2015
Enquiries
Robert Williams
(02) 9362 9045
robert.williams@leonardjoel.com.au