Top lots from the London sales

Kevin MacDonald finds some unusual offerings, including an interesting quartet of bows, at the capital’s March auctions

AUCTIONS

The violin world appears to defy the dark clouds on the global horizon

This 1678Francesco Rugeri cello went for £624,000 at Ingles & Hayday

COURTESY INGLES & HAYDAY

With war in Ukraine and multiple financial crises looming, one could be forgiven for thinking that bidding in the March auctions would be rather hesitant. Yet this was not the case.

Not only were the London showings a bustle of activity approaching pre-Covid levels, but the sales themselves were also highly successful. Ingles & Hayday (I&H) managed numbers very close to their strong November sale, with £2,898,000 and 85 per cent of lots sold.

Brompton’s put together the largest sale of the season with 260 lots, including an impressive array of old and 20th-century Italians. Tarisio again only mounted a small London sale (31 lots) with some solid, if relatively unspectacular, offerings. Their main European weight is in their Berlin sale – still incomplete at press time – offering 132 lots including an incredible run of 28 cello bows, and strong range of violins (Guarneri ‘filius Andreae’, Ferdinando Gagliano, Poggi and Rugeri among others). So, for the moment at least, the violin world appears to defy the dark clouds on the global horizon.

The top lot of the London season was an impeccable 1678 Francesco Rugeri cello with Moennig & Son certificate that sold for I&H at its top estimate of £624,000. Another major star was a very fine G. F. Pressenda violin, Turin 1834, with its original 1907 Hill certificate describing it as a ‘good, characteristic and perfectly preserved example’. It sold at Brompton’s for £354,000.

Other heavy hitters from Brompton’s included a remarkable c.1600 Maggini violin with heavily worn volutes, some probable minor changes in outline and a Biddulph certificate. It had no dendro evaluation but the experts I discussed it with were convinced. It went over top estimate for £106,200. Also, a very desirable 1626 Brothers Amati(with later scroll), supported by a Jacques Francais certificate, went at £94,400.

Both Brompton’s and I&H sold wellpreserved Vuillaume violins, the former from 1869 with original neck and a record of appearance on many film soundtracks (Star Wars, Superman and E.T. among them) for £177,000, and the latter of 1845 for £180,000. Further important violins from I&H included a c.1710 Alessandro Gagliano with a Hill certificate, which went for £216,000, and an 1846 Rocca for £204,000; both sold within estimate.

Tarisio’s top London lot was a c.1770 Vinaccia violin, labelled Januarius Gagliano, but certified by J&A Beare; it made £88,500.

Gennaro Vinaccia is quite a rarely encountered late 18th-century Neapolitan violin maker from a largely mandolin making family. Over past decades his instruments have appeared at auction about once every five years, and they are increasingly valued both for their elegant workmanship and tone.

Henley claimed that a sign marked ‘Sub Signo Cremona’ hung over the maker’s door.

Italian 20th-century violins also continued to perform consistently.

Notable lots from I&H included a 1922 Oddone (£60,000) and a c.1910 Scarampella (£102,000). Brompton’s sold a 1927 Sgarabotto (£63,000) and a 1915 Sannino after the distinctive pattern of Alessandro Gagliano (£41,300). British violins of fine makers from the same era rarely do so well, but their quality is, I think, underappreciated. Two fine examples sold at I&H: a 1926 Alfred Vincent (£7,200) and a 1909 James William Briggs (£4,800).

In past reviews I have written of the rise in price of high-quality German and Austrian instruments, particularly the better works of the Kloz family which have long been bargains. Here again I&H had some clean examples on the block, particularly a c.1750 Sebastian Kloz I which sold at £13,200, and a 1765 Georg Kloz II at £9,600. Brompton’s had a handsome 397mm Kloz viola, probably by Joseph, with flat edging and distinctive f-holes, which sold at top estimate for £14,520.

Brompton’s sold this 1759 Eberle viola d’amore for £8,260

A quartet of bows by William Watson went for £19,200

QUARTET COURTESY INGLES & HAYDAY. VIOLA D’AMORE COURTESY BROMPTON’S

The top viola of the season was a c.1760 Gasparo Piattellini, 401mm, with J&A Beare certificate selling for £102,000 at I&H. This was a new price record for Piattellini, a Florentine maker and probable pupil of G.B. Gabrielli.

Another very interesting viola was at Brompton’s: a 17th-century instrument attributed to Giovita Rodiani of Brescia.It is likely to have been reduced to its current useful 407mm size, with consequent alterations to f-holes and purfling. It went well above upper estimate for £53,100.

Brompton’s also had a strong group of cellos in the sale. The best of these included a c.1770 Joseph Hill with J&A Beare certificate (£60,000), a c.1820Thomas Dodd cello (£73,200), and an 1870 George Chanot I of Paris with Hill certificate (£72,000).

The better works of the Kloz family have long been bargains

An eye-catching group of bows, which featured on the cover of the I&H catalogue, was a quartet (violins, viola and cello) by the late William Watson.

This immaculate gold-and tortoiseshellmounted group, with distinctive gold cornet ‘eyes’, was made by Watson in 1978 and came with its own box. It sold above estimate for £19,200.

Finally, Brompton’s sold two particularly unusual lots. The first of these was a 1759 viola d’amore by Johann Ulrich Eberle of Prague. It features for its head a depiction of a singing, perhaps screaming, man with a jauntily angled hat. It sold for £8,260.

The other was a Victorian Hart & Son violin case that appears to have been expressly made and embroidered for the 1715 ‘Emperor’ Stradivari (the instrument sadly not included). One could hardly find a finer case for your treasure; it sold to a lucky bidder for only £1,452.

All sale prices include buyer’s premium