Royal & Noble

Auction: Fri 6 Jan - Wed 18 Jan 2023

Exhibition:

Thu 12 Jan 2023 - Wed 18 Jan 2023

Sotheby’s London, London

34-35 New Bond Street, W1A 2AA Royal & Noble

Mon-Fri 10am-5pm

Our much loved annual Royal and Noble auction returns and includes an evocative group of objects from the stores and cellars of Spetchley, the Worcestershire home of the Berkeley family. Many of the items to be offered from this Regency mansion had been carefully put away by previous generations. From the cellars below the chapel at the house comes an incredible group of rare and sumptuous ecclesiastical textiles ranging in date over half a millennia. Vivid silks, velvets and damasks richly worked with coloured, gold and silver thread excite the eye emerging from the sleepy darkness of their former home. Excitingly, the collection includes objects previously hidden in a cupboard which was bricked up before WWII. This secret store was rediscovered during restoration work in a former butler’s pantry. Redolent in history, the pictures, textiles, sculpture, silver and furniture from Spetchley cast light on previous generations of the Berkeley family.

From Portugal, the sale also includes a remarkable group of property from the collection of the late Visconde de Lançada. Son of the Duques de Palmela, he inherited not only part of the family’s legendary collection but also the collecting spirit that ran through this powerful family. The breadth of this collection is fully represented here, from Chinese porcelain to sculpture, furniture and Old Masters. Of note are the paintings by the leading Portuguese painters of the late 19^th century, Silva Porto, Souza Pinto and José Malhoa. Furniture by Bullock commissioned by the 1^st Duke of Palmela in London, a Roman bust acquired in Rome by one of his ambassador ancestors in the 17^th century or silver from the famous Sampaio service by Paul Storr are glimpses into this family who, through four centuries and several generations of passion for the arts, built the undisputed grandest private collection in Portugal.

The pieces from these two remarkable families tell us much about those individuals; their devotion to faith and family and also a passion for commissioning and collecting beautiful and wonderful things.

For assistance with bidding and registration, please contact:

+44 207 293 5000

enquiries@sothebys.com

For all sale enquiries please contact:

David Macdonald

Senior Director, Senior Specialist

English Furniture

+44 20 7293 5107

DAVID.MACDONALD@SOTHEBYS.COM

Joao Magalhaes

Head of Department, Furniture

+44 (0)20 7293 5089