Leonard Russell Squirrell, Mouseman Collection and Cavendish Morton 3 Oct 2020 News

We hosted our first Decorative Arts auction at the weekend which saw a number of stylish items go up for auction.

Included in this 468 lot auction was a fine collection of Robert “Mouseman” Thompson furniture, a trio of pictures from Leonard Russell Squirrell depicting Ipswich and a watercolour of London Bridge, an oil painting from Mary Fedden and a excellent collection of Cavendish Morton paintings depicting local scenes including Pin Mill, River Orwell and Eye. With so many outstanding lots in this auction, the room was abuzz with potential bidders and interested parties right from the doors opening.

First up was the collection of Leonard Russell Squirrell pictures. Two of the three lots featured scenes from Ipswich, including “The Ancient House” and “Wolsey’s Gate” with the final lot featuring London Bridge.  There was a lot of interest in these paintings both online and in the room and the collection of paintings made a total hammer price of £1,000 (including buyers premium).

The second collection was a number of items featuring the Robert “Mouseman” Thompson signature look. With a oak stool, oak chest of drawers and dining table. This is the second time Bishop & Miller have sold a number of Mouseman furniture items, having continuously held the record for prices achieved for a piece of this collectable furniture for the past 5 years. With interest both on a number of phone lines and online, prices were once again strong with a total hammer price of £11,500 (including buyers premium) for the collection, with the items going to their new homes around the country.

The collection of Cavendish Morton paintings showed scenes of Aldebrugh Martello Tower, Orford Estury, Pin Mill – River Orwell, Eye Church, River Stour, River Dove and Chelsworth. Cavendish Morton. This was an interesting collection which depicted a number of popular scenes from across Suffolk, showing Cavendish at his real best. The entire collection made a total of over £2,000 (including buyers premium) with the most popular two paintings being of Eye Church from the River Dove and Barges at Pin Mill, River Orwell.

To round off a number of successful lots in this Decorative Art & Design auction a Mary Fedden painting titled “Three Red Fruit” was incredibly popular and reached a total price of £4,500 (including  buyers premium). This quirky and bright painting sat at only 19cm wide by 14.5cm wide but attracted a wide interest in the room and as a telephone bid. Fedden who inherently enjoyed links with Suffolk; expressed her artwork with bright vivid contrasting colours and she was influenced by Matisse and Braque.

Managing Director and Auctioneer Oliver Miller who took Saturday’s auction said: ” it was great to have such a number of high quality lots in our first Decorative Arts auction of the year, especially lots that featured some local interest scenes such as Ipswich and Eye and also to have lots that featured a specific link to the county such as Mary Fedden lot. As an auctioneer it is always exciting to be able to offer for auction local interest pieces as people really like to see that local connection.

Our next auction is Coins, Military and Medals which is a two day auction taking place in April. For further details on all our auctions see the auctions page on our website.

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