Preview of the October 2011 Fine Art Auction
Published 10th October 2011
As a Westcountry auction house, it always a pleasure when something 'home grown' is appreciated by a wider audience and such is the case with works by Brian Pearce of which there are two in this sale (FS12/301 and FS12/302). They possess a rather simplistic, but pleasing atmospheric view of his home town of St Ives in Cornwall.
Keeping the local feel, we have a Plymouth porcelain vase (FS12/453) by William Cookworthy, whose labours to perfect the recipe for hardpaste porcelain turned out to be anything but simplistic and ultimately doomed to failure.
To add a touch of magic to the sale, there is always the bronze of Peter Pan (lot 588) by George Frampton the full sized version of which was of course erected in Kensington Gardens and no fairy tale can be complete without a menagerie of willing helpers such as (FS12/204) a Tiffany & Co diamond mounted dragon fly brooch, a Victorian mustard pot in the form of an owl (FS12/48) and the signature mouse carved into the base of a Robert 'mouseman' Thompson occasional table (FS12/672).