LONDON.- At 25 Blythe Road – a hub of specialists mainly from Sotheby’s – there will be another treasure trove of objects in various disciplines in the forthcoming Decorative Works of Art Auction on the 2nd June, run by Matthew Barton.

The auction which takes place twice a year, will include English and Continental ceramics, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art, European Works of Art, English and Continental Silver, Objects of Vertu, and Jewellery.

A group of twenty four portrait miniatures from the descendant of a British collector, who built his collection during the early 20th century is one of the highlights of the auction. They represent an interesting cross section of 17th – 19th century portrait miniaturists’ work, including paintings by the great John Smart (circa 1740-1811), Samuel Cooper (1609-1672) and George Englehart (1750-1829). The estimates range from £200 - £9,000.

The collection includes this charming portrait miniature of Georgina Elizabeth Bridgeman, Countess of Bradford, circa 1830. She is painted wearing a large hat adorned with ostrich plumes, and a velvet dress with white silk leg-of-mutton sleeves, in a landscape background, on ivory. This comes from the Earls of Plymouth (Oakly Park, Shropshire). The sitter's daughter, Selina Bridgeman, was the mother of Robert Windsor Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth. It carries an estimate of £200-300.

A fine portrait miniature of a young gentleman by Samuel Cooper (1609-1672), dated 1649 is also part of this collection. Samuel Cooper’s clientele included Oliver Cromwell and at the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Cooper's reputation quickly earned him the patronage of Charles II. This gentleman wears a white lawn collar and gold studded armour. It is signed with gold intials S.C. and dated, vellum on card, in period rectangular tortoiseshell veneered frame. The estimate for this miniature, is £4,000 - £6,000.

This portrait miniature of a lady, circa 1775, is by the leading 18th century miniature painter John Smart (circa 1740 – 1811). The lady, with piled brown hair, wears a gold edged blue dress and white chemise, on ivory, gold frame wrigglework decorated to reverse and glazed over woven hair. Estimate: £6,000 - £9,000.

Among other miniatures in this section is a photographic enamel of Isma’il Pasha, Khedive of Egypt and Sudan, by Mathieu Deroche (active 1866-1904), Paris, 1875. It is inscribed on the reverse with date and initials.

Mathieu Deroche produced photographic enamel portraits of many of the great and good of the period from his studio in the Boulevard des Capucines.

Isma'il Pasha (1830-1895), was the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan from 1863 until removed from the office in favour of his son in 1879. Eager to modernise the region, his investments in economic development incurred huge debts, leading to greater Franco-British control and the sale of shares in the Suez Canal to the British. German and French prints of the Khedive, dating to the 1880s and after an engraving by A. Schnauffer, are often found; these appear to be closely based on the present image by Deroche. The estimate for this is £1200-1800.

Another highlight from in this figurative field in miniature, is an Italian shell cameo portrait of Edward White Benson (1829-1896) Archbishop of Canterbury, by Luigi Saulini (1819-1893). It was made in Rome, circa 1860. Edward White Benson was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1883 until his death. Born in Birmingham to a chemical manufacturer he began his career as a schoolmaster at Rugby in 1852, taking holy orders in 1857. In 1859 he was appointed by Prince Albert as the founding headmaster of Wellington College. Originally conceived as a military academy Benson inspired by Rugby and Arnold developed the institution into a renowned public school. His rise to Canterbury came via chancellorship of Lincoln Cathedral (1872) chaplaincy-in-ordinary to the Queen (1875) and installation as Bishop of Truro (1877) where he formulated the still widely popular Christmas Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. Throughout his life Benson was always more at home in ecclesiastical matters than in affairs of state and he devoted extraordinary energy to the seeming minutiae of liturgy history or even dress. It was said by many that he looked the part of a bishop dressed to perfection in a linen rochet copied from a Holbein picture.

Luigi Saulini learned hardstone and shell carving from his adoptive father Tommaso (1784-1864) and continued in the family trade from a very successful shop in the Via del Babuino in Rome. As well as depictions of classical subjects Saulini was a highly regarded cameo portraitist depicting many celebrities of the day including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; he also exhibited at both the Great Exhibition of 1851 and the International Exhibition of 1862. The estimate is £500-800.

Among the ceramics is an interesting white porcelain self portrait of Anna Pavlova (1881 – 1931) - perhaps the most famous ballerina of all time. The figure is depicted performing the famous 'Dragonfly' solo on point with the left leg raised and both arms behind. It is initialled in the maquette AP.

Pavlova was taught the art of sculpture by Professor Hugo Lederer (18711940), a member of the Berlin Akademie der Kuenste, where he gave masterclasses in the 1920s. An example of this model and of one other are preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Born in St. Petersburg and having trained at the Imperial Theatre School, by 1906 Pavlova became associated with the revolutionary ideas of Mikhail Fokine, who choreographed the famous 'Dying Swan' for her. In 1909 Pavlova danced with Diaghilev's group in Paris. She created the 'Dragonfly' solo for herself to exemplify nature. Making London her home, she bought Ivy House in Golder's Green; a bronze of her by George Henry Paulin, as the 'Dragonfly' and of similar pose to this model, may be seen in its garden today. The estimate for this is £600-900.

For Doulton fans, a rare ‘vellum’ ware Christopher Columbus figure oil lamp will also be in the auction, designed by Charles Noke for Doulton & Co, Burslem, circa 1892.

Charles John Noke (1858-1941) is credited with turning the company into the leading art manufacturer of the period. For over eighteen months he worked on a magnificent Columbus vase, at almost six feet high and topped by a similar model of the navigator, as well as a few individual vellum ware figures, for the company's pavillion at the Chicago 'World Columbian Exposition' in 1893. A few other figures were added to the range in the following years, but none of these early vellum figures were ever produced in large numbers. Unknown until recently, the free-standing version of the Columbus figure is particularly rare. The estimate for this is £4,000-6,000.

Also among the silver highlights is a splendid Victorian silver candelabrum, Bateman & Ball for Rundell, Bridge & Co., London, 1841.

It is engraved with a presentation inscription on one side, a coat-of-arms, crest and motto on another and the third applied with a view of the Euston Arch.

This candelabrum, pictured, left, (together with an accompanying silver service and a letter from the subscribers' secretary), was sent to George Carr Glyn from Euston Station on 31 December 1841. Contemporary reports, which mentioned that the service was 'executed with the accustomed good taste of Messrs. Rundell and Co.' at a cost of £1,634 19s., noted the recipient's response: 'Mr. Glyn has returned a feeling and well-expressed reply, in which he congratulates the proprietors of the railway on their having so successfully completed their great undertaking.' (The Railway Times, London, 1 January 1842, p. 41c; The Derby Mercury, Derby, 19 January 1842, p.2f).

The inscription reads: 'To GEORGE CARR GLYN, ESQre. This service of plate is presented as a testimonial of the high estimation in which he is held by the Subscribers who as directors and proprietors of The London and Birmingham Railway Company have witnessed and experienced the benefit of the signal services which he has rendered to that great, and successful undertaking in the important station of Chairman of the Company. 1841'.

The Euston Arch, a massive sandstone Doric structure, formed the iconic entrance to the train station. Built by the London & Birmingham Railway in 1837, it was demolished in controversial circumstances in 1961/62. There have been several movements for its reconstruction and it has been mooted that the arch could be re-built for Euston Station's redevelopment as the gateway to High Speed 2. The candelabrum has an estimate of: £7,000-10,000.

A suite of George III silver candelabra and candlesticks by master silversmith Matthew Boulton, for M Boulton & Plate Co, Birmingham, 1797, carries an estimate of £8,000 - £12,000.

A very stylish highlight from this section is a George V silver patent cigarette box, by Dyas Beverley Hampton (b.1900). It was made in 1928, and retailed by Mappin & Webb. The V. & A. Museum has a cigarette box by Dyas of 1964, modelled as the Chichester Festival Theatre. Estimate; £20003000.

Among the objects of vertu is a Japanese shibayama and silver mounted ivory casket, dating from the Meiji period (1868 – 1912). It is decorated on one side with a pair of pheasants amidst a variety of flowers, blossom and insects and to the other with a kingfisher, sides with further birds and foliage, one hinged and inlaid to interior with further insects and revealing two lacquered drawers, surmounted by a small swing handle, with signed plaque. Estimate: £3000-5000.