LONDON.- Dreweatts announced the sale of the private collection of Charles Plante, American private collector, tastemaker and specialist in European works of art from the 18th and 19th centuries, with a particular interest in Neoclassicism. Collecting since 1988 both personally and professionally, Charles specialises in watercolour drawings of architecture, gardens and interiors, oil sketches on paper and small paintings. The collection from his London town house will be offered in a sale titled Town & Country: The Collections of Charles Plante and Rawdon Hall at Dreweatts on May 10, 2022.
Speaking about his passion for collecting and the ethos by which he works, Charles Plante said: “The primary focus is always on quality, condition, authenticity and provenance. Each piece in the collection is meaningful and has its own story to tell.” Likening his collecting style to that of the ‘Grand Tour’ and also lecturing on the topic, Charles says that the carefully selected pieces he has added to his collection are of museum quality and many go on to appear in private and public collections around the world. Since 2000 he has showcased his carefully curated works at many exhibitions, often presented in specially-designed period interiors for context. They have also been encapsulated in a series of authoritative catalogues.
Commenting on this extraordinary sale, Joe Robinson, Head of House Sales and Private Collections at Dreweatts said: “The sale offers the opportunity to capture the enigmatic and atmospheric style of Charles Plante’s London townhouse, from important architectural drawings, furniture designs and decorative pictures, as well as a host of fine and decorative furniture and works of art collected by him over his three decades as a renowned tastemaker”.
Among the highlights is a rare drawing by one of Britain’s finest architects, Henry Holland (1745-1806), detailing his first design scheme for H. R. H. The Prince of Wales's Pavilion in Brighton, which would eventually become the Brighton Pavilion. Holland was commissioned by the then Prince of Wales (1762-1830) to create a villa, so that he could spend more time by the sea, on the premise of participating in the fashionable therapeutic remedies of the period, such as sea-bathing and taking in the sea air. He actually continued his already decadent lifestyle, which shortened his reign as George IV. The drawing features a central portico and modest dome and it is suggested from the its’ formal title, that it was prepared by Holland’s office for publication. In pen and ink with coloured washes, it carries an estimate of £1,500-£2,000 (Lot 64). A design for Henry Holland's slightly more elaborate second scheme is also included in the sale, which dates from 1801. With the alternative title Brighthelmstone, the design incorporates a plan of the house and gardens. Also in ink and watercolours, it is estimated to fetch £3,000-£5,000 (Lot 65). As very few of Holland’s drawings survive, it makes both drawings exceptionally rare.
A work titled Collector's Cabinet Room Interior alludes to Charles Plante’s own interiors. In the mid-nineteenth century, French artist François-Etienne Villeret (circa 1800-1866) painted a number of exquisitely decorated Parisian interiors including the Lobau Palace and Princess Wittgenstein's residence in the Place Vendôme. While the present interior is yet to be identified, the overall design scheme is largely in the Louis XIV and Rococo styles, typical of the eclectic taste of French interior decoration of the period. The extensive use of vine-patterned textiles to cover the walls and ceilings is a technique popularized by Empress Josephine (1763-1814), who hired the architects Charles Percier and Pierre François Leonard Fontaine, to redecorate Malmaison. Decades later, tented ceilings continued to elicit the style and atmosphere of Napoleon's campaign tents, while mirroring contemporary interest in the Classical decadence of the ancient Romans as well as the exotic allure of the Middle East. The watercolour with pen and ink, is signed and dated 1849 and is estimated to fetch £3,000-£5,000 (Lot 128).
A charming design for the Royal Exchange Building in Dublin dating from circa 1769, is by the important English draughtsman, watercolour artist and architect Thomas Sandby (1721-1798). Highly skilled and much admired, Sandby undertook a range of important roles during his career, including the position of draftsman to the Tower of London. Having served in the Flanders Campaigns of 1743 and 1745 and in the Low Countries from 1746-1748, he was appointed Deputy Ranger of Windsor Great Park under the Duke of Cumberland, working as architect and landscape gardener.
Sandby was one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768, alongside his brother, Paul Sandby (1730-1809) and was the Royal Academy’s first Professor of Architecture. One of his most notable architectural commissions was the design of the first Freemason's Hall at Great Queen Street in central London. In February 1769 Sandby entered a competition to design the Royal Exchange at Dublin, in which he won third prize for the current work (a prize of £40!). The drawing, in pen and ink with coloured washes is estimated to fetch £1,000-£1,500 (Lot 79).
A family group portrait in oil is a particularly interesting addition to the sale. The fine details draw the viewer into the painting, for example the onlooker is clearly able to see the maker of the globe in the picture with the name Cary. The form of the globe-stand appears to portray a model produced by the esteemed Lancaster-based firm of Gillows. Other furniture depicted in the painting, such as the centre table, sabre leg chairs, chimney piece and overmantel mirror, are all typical of the Gillows designs (recorded in the maker’s extensive archives). Such attention to detail, as well as composition, makes this a fascinating slice of social history. The painting spotlights a young naval officer seated at the centre of the scene. A sea shell from the southern hemisphere is prominently displayed on the mantlepiece, suggesting it is a souvenir of a recent voyage. The figure standing in black perhaps the officer’s brother in awe of his brother’s most recent travels. The more sombre black-clad figure seated at the table is most likely a tutor, as indicated by the large open book. An earlier portrait on the wall hints at the family’s clerical connections. This intriguing work was once in the collection of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. The painting, titled Portrait of a tutor with his two Charges, one pointing to South America on a Globe dates from circa 1825 and carries an estimate of £5,000-£8,000 (Lot 28).
Among important furniture in the sale, is a selection in the Grand Tour taste. Among them is a large mahogany Empire writing table in the style of prominent French furniture-maker Jacob-Desmalter (1770–1841).
Highly decorative, it features a tooled leather inset top, above monopodia (a decorative support used on tables and chairs that consists of the head and one leg of an animal, usually a lion). First seen in Roman furniture, it was revived by late 18th Century Neoclassical designers. The writing table is estimated to fetch £3,000-£5,000 (Lot 214).
An impressive English Regency parcel-gilt rosewood centre table in the manner of British designer and cabinet-maker George Smith (1786–1826), relates directly to his design in Collection of Designs for Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1808. Certain details on the table also relate to a design by eminent furniture designer Thomas Hope (1769-1831), such as the characteristic ram's head to the end standards, which feature in Hope’s Household Furniture and Interior Decoration, 1807. The table is estimated to fetch £2,500-£3,500 (Lot 237). A charming pair of George IV mahogany tea tables are among several other beautifully crafted examples in the sale. This pair features an acanthus moulded baluster and turned base with out-swept legs and folding tops. Believed to be either Scottish or American, the pair dates from circa 1825 and carries an estimate of £3,000-£4,000 (Lot 210).
A watercolour of The Arc de Triomphe by Dupouy, after the revered architectural drawings of French architect Claude Perrault (1613-1688), was formerly in the private collection of fashion designer Yves St. Laurent. The picture, in pen and ink and colourwash is signed by the artist and is inscribed at the bottom ‘A merité le premier prix de l' architecture civile ’and is signed by the judges, revealing that the artist won the first prize for civil architecture. The work dates from circa 1805 and has an estimate of £1,500-£2,000 (Lot 89).
A watercolour depicting Little Holland House is attributed to the British architect Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), for Colonel Charles Richard Fox (1841-42). The original residence was built in 1827 on the new Addison Road, in West London. It was created as part of the speculative development by Lord Holland around 1820 in the grounds of Holland House in Kensington, London. Bought by Henry Fox, first Lord Holland, it was the largest of seven villas at the northern end of Addison Road at Holland Park Avenue.
Charles Richard Fox, the illegitimate son of Lord Holland and later General and MP, was the first resident. Barry altered the house in 1841/1842 and this watercolour of a house and garden with fountains, clipped bushes and boundary wall, are all in the Italianate style popularised by him from the 1830s. Following General Fox's death, the house was largely demolished when Melbury Road was constructed in 1875 and a small portion survives today, as part of the Holland Park Tennis Clubhouse. The work carries an estimate of £1,000-£1,500 (Lot 4).
Elsewhere in the sale and showing the breadth of the collection is an English pearlware orange-ground part dessert service decorated with a silver vine border. Dating from circa 1820, it is estimated to fetch
£300-£400 (Lot 227). A stylish Swedish gilt metal and green press moulded glass chandelier dating from the late 19th century is estimated to fetch £1,000-£1,500 (lot 231). A striking Staffordshire silvered pearlware model of a Medici lion is modelled standing with its’ left forepaw balanced on a ball and its’ tail curled up onto its back. It sits on a rectangular plinth, moulded with stylised tendrils and scrolling foliage. The lion is incised ‘B Plant, Lane End’ for Benjamin Plant, who is listed as a pottery worker in 1818 and a potter's presser in 1822. It carries an estimate of £1,000-£1,500 (Lot 260).
