LONDON.- Christie’s presents Snowdon: A Life in Art and Objects, a striking private collection sale of approximately 150 lots. Estimates range from £500 to £5,000 representing English and European furniture, porcelain, silver, books, Old Master Drawings, Chinese works of art, modern British art, Australian and Canadian paintings, and photography.

Antony Armstrong-Jones began his career as a photographer in fashion, design and theatre, following his time at Cambridge where he coxed the Cambridge boat to victory in the 1950 Boat Race. Opening his studio at 20 Pimlico Road, he became renowned not only for his sittings and his ground-breaking images of inner city life, immortalised in his book London published in 1958, but also his tireless work for the disabled and under-privileged in society. In 1968 he made his first award-winning documentary film, Don’t Count the Candles, on the subject of ageing. He married H.R.H. The Princess Margaret in 1960 and the title Earl of Snowdon was bestowed upon him, an homage to his Welsh ancestry.

LIFE IN THE PUBLIC EYE

• Lot 92 A pair of red-painted Prince of Wales investiture chairs, designed by Lord Snowdon in 1969. Estimate £2,000-4,000

• Lot 39 A group of American silver and silver-plated gifts from President Eisenhower, the Governor of Arizona, the Mayor of San Francisco and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Estimate £1,500-2,500

• Lot 74 Philip Sutton R.A. (B.1928). Estimate £1,000-2,000

Following his marriage he went on to make his name as one of Britain’s most respected photographers; Snowdon captured on film a veritable ‘who’s who’ of the time, from rock stars to royalty, all of whom are preserved for posterity in Lord Snowdon’s archive. Snowdon brought a new informal approach to portraiture which did not require the formal sittings that the Royal family had been accustomed to. Working across fashion, portraiture and reportage, his body of work contains many of the most iconic images of the time, including those of Freddie Mercury, Marlene Dietrich, Katharine Hepburn, Rudolf Nureyev and Elizabeth Taylor. Photography included in the sale includes Lord Snowdon’s portraits of David Hockney, Yves Saint Laurent, Fiona Shaw and Sir Ian McKellen.

The sale also celebrates Lord Snowdon’s creative spirit and his place as a designer, most notably for the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969 and the design of the eponymous Snowdon Aviary for London Zoo.

PHOTOGRAPHS & PORTRAITURE

• Lot 88 Lord Snowdon (1930-2017), Yves Saint Laurent, 1987. Estimate £1,000-2,000

• Lot 51 Lord Snowdon (1930-2017), David Hockney in his gold lame jacket, circa 1962/63. Estimate £1,000-2,000

• Lot 49 Lord Snowdon (1930-2017), Gilbert & George. Estimate £1,000-2,000

CHINESE WORKS OF ART

• Lot 62 A Ming-Dynasty large mother-of-pearl. Lacquer box and cover. Estimate £1,500-2,500

• Lot 59 A Ming-Dynasty fahua seated figure of Shakyamuni. Estimate £3,000-5,000




• Lot 56 A Transitional Period blue and white bottle vase, adapted as a table lamp. Estimate £1,000-2,000

Many of the objects such as the Chinese works of art, the Regency grey-painted side table and Italian reverse-etched mirror were gifted to Lord Snowdon or inherited through members of his family, including his maternal uncle Oliver Messel (1904-78). Messel, the celebrated and flamboyant English theatre and stage designer, was a creative force who supported Lord Snowdon in his own chosen career. Oliver Messel was famous for his costume designs and stage sets having begun his career as an artist, mentored by the modern British artist Glyn Warren Philpot. His accomplishments were many, including the design of the sets and costumes for the Royal Ballet's new and highly successful production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty in 1946, many productions for Glyndebourne and interior design work for the Dorchester Hotel as well as innumerable private clients including Sir Peter Moores (of Littlewoods fame) and Babe Paley, the celebrated American hostess, both of whose portraits by Messel are included in the sale.

OLIVER MESSEL

• Lot 112 Oliver Messel (1904-1978), Portrait of Mrs William “Babe” Paley. Estimate £3,000-5,000

• Lot 2 A plaster classical theatre mask, by Oliver Messel for a C B. Cochran production. Estimate £1,200-1,800

• Lot 14 Barbara “Baba" Beaton (1912-1973), Sir Cecil Beaton C.B.E. (1904-1980) and Olga "Oggie" Lynn (1882-1961), A scrapbook compiled by Barbara Beaton with her brother Cecil Beaton and others for Oggie Lynn. Estimate £5,000-8,000

Further pieces came from Messel’s much admired and photographed house Maddox located in Barbados. His uncle’s stage designs and intimate portraits were a foundation of Lord Snowdon’s interiors over the years. The Collection Sale includes a large group of previously unseen Messel pictures, preserved by Lord Snowdon in memory of his creative mentor. The collection is without doubt one of the largest in private hands, the bulk of Messel’s theatre work being preserved in the Theatre Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Theatre Museum at the University of Bristol.

PAINTINGS

• Lot 75 Sir Sidney Nolan (1917-1992), Gorrilla. Estimate £4,000-6,000

• Lot 144 John Bellany (1942-2013), Women in headdress. Estimate £4,000-6,000

• Lot 77 Robert Pilot (1898-1967), The Terrace – Quebec. Estimate £4,000-6,000

A number of paintings in the sale were gifted by artists to Lord Snowdon whom he knew and admired. Most notable are paintings by Sir Sidney Nolan, Philip Sutton and John Bellany, all of whom were photographed by Snowdon during their lifetime. These portraits now sit in the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in London and stand as some of the most striking and enduring images of the 20th and 21st centuries. Other works were presents from luminaries including Cecil Beaton, Tom Parr (Director of Colefax and Fowler) as well as statesmen such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States of America.

FURNITURE AND OBJECTS

• Lot 34 A George III silver basket mark of Peter Archambo, London, 1739. Estimate £4,000-6,000

• Lot 3 A pair of Victorian gilt-brass mounted cut-glass lustres. Estimate £1,000-2,000

• Lot 71 A Regency white-painted and parcel-gilt winged-panther monopodia console. Estimate £4,000-6,000

Many of the lots in the sale were previously seen when photographed in situ at Lord Snowdon’s London townhouse and featured in Conde Nast’s The World of Interiors in 2009. Select lots were also photographed at Old House, his country home in 2006. A further selection of lots also appear in published editions of British Vogue magazine in the 1960s and 70s, in Oliver Messel’s homes, as well as in Oliver Messel’s biography by Charles Castle and Snowdon’s own personal publication Snowdon: A Life in View.