LONDON.- Matthew Barton Ltd announces Arthur Millner’s new Indian & Islamic Works of Art section within his auction, now entitled European and Asian Works of Art taking place at 12noon on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 in London at 25 Blythe Road, W14.

Matthew Barton says: “My sale last year achieved some outstanding results, including the Chinese and Japanese sections. The merging of all the Asian Art disciplines will result in several benefits: a printed, well-illustrated catalogue sent to a wide audience, greater online coverage and an expanded and more comprehensive auction”.

The sale comprises more than 600 lots of Silver, Ceramics, Jewellery, Sculpture, Watches, Works of Art, and Objects of Vertu, from both Europe and Asia, and has prices ranging from £50 to £22,000. With late night and weekend viewing, it is the perfect place to find a unique and interesting birthday or wedding gift or start a collection from the 8th – 20th century.

Indian & Islamic Works of Art catalogued by specialist Arthur Millner are well represented with approximately 200 lots. This includes a large 15th century Vijayanagar bronze figure of the fourarmed deity Skanda standing on a waisted lotus throne. Originating from Tamil Nadu in South India, it is estimated at £18,000-22,000.

One of the earliest pieces in the sale is a Jain Head, dating from the 8th/ 9th century. Made of buff sandstone, with elongated eyes and tightly curled hair, this impressive over-lifesize head typifies the transitional style between the idealised naturalism of the Gupta period, and the more linear stylised idiom of the so-called medieval period. It would originally have formed part of a stele, as it is uncarved at the back (estimate: £4,000-6,000).

While one of the most contemporary pieces in the sale is a gouache on paper by Indian artist Jamini Roy (1887-1972) of a nude female, which is estimated at £2,000-3,000. This painting is characteristic of Roy's new, more abstracted style which he developed from the late 1940s. Although no record survives of when this painting was acquired, it was part of a mixed private collection of paintings which had been held in storage for several decades outside London. A considerable number of Roy's paintings were acquired by British and European collectors directly from the artist in the 1950s-60s, and judging from the style of frame and mount, it seems likely that this might have been the case with this example.

Figures play a key part in the Asian section. A sandstone fragment depicting a Buddha head produced in Thailand in the 14th/15th century is estimated at £2,500-3,500, while a polychromed bamboo figure of Milarepa, a popular historical figure, originating from Tibet in the 18th/19th Century and measuring just 9cm high is estimated at £1,400-1,800.

Elsewhere a Japanese inlaid ivory and lacquer table screen dating from the Meiji period (1868-1912) is estimated at £4,000-6,000 (see right). The twin rectangular panels are elaborately inlaid with 'Shibayama' style work in coral, red lacquer, mother-of-pearl and ivory depicting images of dignitaries being entertained by musicians and dancers among vases and hanging baskets. Also dating from the Meiji period is a bronze miniature table cabinet, decorated with scattered picture roundels containing flowers as well as a depiction of Mount Fuji (estimate: £2,000-3,000). A 17th Century Chinese carved ivory miniature group of Guan Yu from the Ming dynasty, which is believed to be a seal, depicting the figure perched on a stool, carries an estimate of £1,200-1,800.

Over recent years. Matthew Barton Ltd has developed a reputation for selling Portrait Miniatures and several will be included in the May Sale. With estimates ranging from £150 upwards, it is a perfect opportunity to start a collection. A portrait miniature of a lady, by John Smart (1740-1811), circa 1770 with brown hair, wearing an ermine trimmed blue gown and lilac dress, on ivory is expected to fetch £3,000-4,000.

A portrait miniature of the Comte D'Evreux, French school, circa 1710 with full grey wig, breastplate and blue shirt, on vellum, later gilt-metal frame, titled paper label to reverse is estimated at £200-300. Louis Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Comte d'Evreux (1674-1753), was a Field Marshall, who went on to build the Parisian hôtel particulier now known as the Elysée Palace, the French president's official residence.

Several examples have a link to early photography. A portrait miniature of a young boy, by Nelson Mulnier (born 1817), circa 1840 is estimated at £250-350. Nelson went on to work as a photographer in Marseilles in association with Chapelier. His younger brother, another Jean-Baptiste, had a photography studio in Paris.

The sale includes items with a Royal Connection including, in the ceramics section, a Naples sauceboat stand from the Herculaneum Service (Servizio Ercolanese) dating from 1781/82 which is expected to fetch £1,500-2,000. The Herculaneum Service was commissioned by Ferdinand IV of Naples and delivered to Madrid in the autumn of 1782 as a gift to his father, Charles III of Spain. The Herculaneum service comprised seventy-one pieces in total, plus some serving cutlery, each piece painted by the head decorator Milani and his colleague, Cioffi. It is not known how this famous and rare service came to be broken up, however it included two sauceboats and this present dish, painted either by Giacomo Milano or Antonio Cioffi with a scene of a winged putto grasping a goat by the horns, can be identified as the stand for one of them.

Among the Jewellery is a carved agate cameo profile portrait of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, by Nicola Morelli (1771-1838), circa 1810, which is expected at £3,000-4,000. Nicola Morelli (1771-1838), was a Roman gem carver, best known for his cameo works commissioned by the Bonaparte family, including the famous parure of 1807, set with cameo portraits of the family and given by Cardinal Fesch to his sister Letizia Bonaparte, Napoleon's mother.

While in the silver section is H.R.H. Princess Margaret's George III silver-mounted travelling ink and pen set dating from 1780 is estimated at £400-600.

Several pieces from the Meissen Factory will be offered including a Chinoiserie tea canister, dating from 1725 painted in the manner of P.E. Schindler with scenes such as a Chinese man picking coconuts, drinking tea, walking home with vegetables in a box, feeding a bird, admiring plants and swatting birds with a fly whisk is estimated at £2,0003,000. Also of German origin is a gold eggcup from Augsburg, circa 1735 (estimate: £1,200-1,800).

Among the silver section are several pieces from the Petre Family that were designed by Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) of Guild of Handicraft Ltd in the early 1900s, including a silver butter dish, accompanied by its knife – that is normally rare to find - which carries an estimate of £3,000-4,000 (see right) and a muffin dish and cover, which is expected to fetch £2,000-3,000 (see below). These items belonged to Sebastian Henry Petre (1856-1934) and his wife Elise (née Sibeth 1855-1946) of Tor Bryan House, Ingatestone, by their sons Henry Aloysius (1864-1932) and Edward (1886-1912); thence by family descent to the present vendor. Sebastian Petre was a grandson of William, 11th Baron Petre, from whose son he acquired the land named Tor Bryan after family estates in Devon. Henry and Edward Petre, although trained as a solicitor and an architect respectively, became pioneering aviators. In the workshop at Tor Bryan, they built an aircraft which was exhibited at the 1910 Olympia Aero Show. Unfortunately Henry subsequently crashed this craft on its maiden flight at Brooklands, since although possessed of the skills to build a plane, the brothers had yet to acquire to skills to fly one. Henry went on to master the art of flying, becoming a founder of the Australian Flying Corps and commander of the Mesopotamian Half Flight, although returning to the law after the war. Greater tragedy struck his brother Edward, who crashed fatally on Christmas Eve 1912, attempting the first solo flight from Brooklands to Edinburgh. These brothers had always been interested in metalwork and making things and by family repute had a hand in executing this dish, perhaps visiting the workshops of the Guild of Handicraft at Chipping Camden.