Rupert – Page 12 – Toovey’s Blog

Love and Service at the Heart of the Christmas Story

Journeying is part of what it is to be human. It is important to remain questioning and open minded, to reflect on our place in the world.

I was blessed to find myself in Florence in September and was unprepared for how profoundly moved I would be by my encounter with the Christian masterpieces in the Uffizi Gallery and the Renaissance Pitti Palace where I came upon Raphael’s beautiful, intimate Madonna della Sedia painted in 1514. Mary and the Christ child’s gaze invite us into the Christmas story.

The late 19th century Continental gilt-mounted porcelain devotional panel reproduces Raphael’s famous painting. It was made to enable prayer and reflection. Christmas, too, offers us this same opportunity, a punctuation mark in our busy lives.

A late 19th century devotional panel depicting the Madonna della Sedia, after Raphael

In recent times, and not least this year, there has been much in our daily lives and the news to remind us of the difficulties of our current time. In particular the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. The accompanying mass migration of people has given cause for some in our country to voice a fear that our way of life and the things which we hold dear are in some way under threat. And yet the solution is not to be fearful but to be confident of what is at the heart of our nation’s common narrative, the values expressed in the Christian story of Christmas.

As a Christian I draw comfort from my belief that on that first Christmas day God came among us as a baby born in a stable, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. His parents were displaced and without their home. The world over the millennia has often talked of value in terms of the material. By these standards Mary and Joseph had little and yet they knew that they had been richly blessed. What they had been given, this remarkable child, they shared with the world.

This intimate Christian story invites us to be active in the world and not spectators. By their example Jesus and his parents leave us in no doubt that acts of kindness to one another and a genuine concern for others can transform our lives and the lives of those around us. These are universal values held by people of good heart from all faiths and none.

The message of Christmas is that true value is defined by love and service to others, especially those in need.

I wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas.

The Unsurpassed Work of Silversmith Paul Storr

George, the third silvergilt honeypot and stand in the form of the bee by Paul store, London 1798

During the first half of the 19th century, Paul Storr (1770 to 1844) was the most celebrated silversmith in England and his work is unsurpassed.

The George III silver gilt honeypot and stand you see here is by Paul Storr. Made in the form of a bee skep. It measures just 11.5cm high and is beautifully conceived and modelled. The wreath finial has a plain cartouche but on other Paul Storr honeypots like this one it is often engraved with a crest.

My wife’s grandparents and Uncle Maurice were celebrated beekeepers on the island of Jersey so this object speaks into some precious memories for me.

The history of bee skeps is thought to go back some 2000 years. From the Middle Ages bee skeps were made of straw to keep bees in before the invention of the beehive in 1851. Today skeps are mostly used for collecting swarms of bees.

This naturalistic object is bound up with the Romanticism and ideas of the rural idyll prevalent in the early 19th century which placed an emphasis on our emotional response to the beautiful and sublime which contrasted with the effects of the Industrial Revolution, urbanisation and the rationalism of the Enlightenment.

Detail of the honeypot’s stand showing the maker’s mark for Paul Storr on the underside, London 1798

Alongside the leopards mask of the London assay office, the Lion Passant silver mark and date letter for 1798 is the Paul Storr maker’s mark PS which remained relatively unchanged throughout his career. This honeypot was only made a year before Paul Storr was commissioned to make the ‘Battle of the Nile cup’ for presentation to Lord Nelson in 1799.

Today pieces from Paul Storr’s workshops can be found at the Duke of Wellington’s London home, Apsley House, as well as Windsor Castle, Buckingham Palace, Arundel Castle and museums around the world.

In 1807 Paul Storr joined Philip Randall at Randall Bridge and Randall. It was the leading firm of silversmiths in the early 19th century. It held the Royal Warrant from 1806. Working here Paul Storr would produce silver objects for both George III and George IV.

In 1819 he left the firm to regain his artistic freedom producing beautiful naturalistic pieces. In 1822 he partnered with John Mortimer founding Storr and Mortimer in 1822 with retail premises in New Bond Street, London.

Paul Storr’s remarkable talents are still revered by collectors today and the silver-gilt skep honeypot has just sold at Toovey’s for £10,400.

Christmas Charity Fundraiser Celebrates the Work of St John Ambulance

County President Giles York with Cadets and volunteers from St John Ambulance Sussex

A Christmas charity fund raising party, organised by Toovey’s on behalf of St John Ambulance at their Washington auction rooms, raised some £5500 and donations are still being received. Money was being raised for a new community support vehicle to enable the volunteers to provide first aid and welfare at events across Sussex. With some £39,000 now raised they are more than halfway towards their target of £75,000.

The St John Ambulance Cadets were out in force on the night and were celebrated by all who came. Speaking to them on the evening I was reminded how proud these impressive young people are of their association with St John Ambulance and the remarkable first aid training they receive.

Since its beginnings in 1877 the organisation has sought to save lives and support the communities it serves. The St John Ambulance service and the Jerusalem Eye Hospital charities operate under the auspices of the British royal order of chivalry, The Order of St John.

St John Ambulance provides first aid training not only to its volunteers but also to businesses and other organisations. It is humbling to reflect that it is older than the NHS who it works with as well as other healthcare partners. When Covid-19 broke out St John Ambulance worked with the NHS providing care and vaccination support.

St John Ambulance offer healthcare support to the homeless and vulnerably housed communities in Brighton and Hastings through drop-in clinics at static locations and their mobile treatment centres. They also support and celebrate organ donors’ families.

Rupert Toovey conducting the fundraising auction at Toovey’s for St John Ambulance, Sussex

Alongside these more recent developments St John Ambulance continues to be dedicated to the teaching and practice of medical first aid and the provision of ambulance services through volunteer units rooted in their local communities. The ambulances and community support vehicles are fitted out with up to date equipment so that the volunteers can provide care wherever they are and wherever people are in need.

As a former chaplain to St John Ambulance here in Sussex it was my privilege to witness their extraordinary contribution to our communities across the county.

The gifts of service to others is richly apparent in the work of the volunteers and staff at St John Ambulance here in Sussex. There is much to celebrate in their work and they need our support. If you would like to contribute to their much needed community support vehicle go to www.justgiving.com/page/tooveys-forsja-1701168656267.

The Irridescence of Loetz Art Nouveau Glass

A pair of Loetz Crete Pampas design glass vases, circa 1900, from the collection of John and Poppy Stallebrass

A fine collection of Loetz glassware from the collection of the connoisseurs and glass dealers, John and Poppy Stallebrass, is to sold in Toovey’s specialist auction of glass on Wednesday 6th December 2023.

In the early 20th century Art Nouveau became highly fashionable amongst glass makers and designers including the German manufacturer Loetz.

It was the great American innovator and glass designer Louis Comfort Tiffany who first gave expression to Art Nouveau in iridescent glass. His work would be widely copied in America and Europe.

Demand for iridescent glass was particularly high in Germany and Loetz called some of its early iridescent ware ‘gläser à la Tiffany’. Max Ritter von Spaun headed Loetz during the Art Nouveau period, The grandson of the company founder Johann Loetz, von Spaun became artistic director in 1879. Whilst he acknowledged his debt to Tiffany his approach differed as he sought to produce artistic pieces which were affordable to all.

All Loetz glass is of the highest quality despite being produced in relatively high quantities. Its decoration is rarely representational depending instead on complex technical formulas to create the abstract designs. Wonderful colour combinations with intense blues and greens are heightened with silver and gold iridescence as can be seen in the pair of small green Loetz Crete Pampas design vases of conical form which are estimated at £250-350. Just 14.5cm high their decoration is extraordinary. The Pampas is a common Loetz design. The name probably derives from pampas grass from the sweet grass family Poaceae.

A Loetz Candia Diaspora golden iridescent glass vase, circa 1902, from the collection of John and Poppy Stallebrass

Candia Diaspora refers to the textured design on the small blue and golden Loetz iridescent glass vase. It is also part of the John and Poppy Stallebrass collection. Measuring 12.5cm it is estimated at £70-£100. It dates from around 1902 but there is something distinctly contemporary in its waisted shape, iridescence and erupted crater like surface.

Most Loetz pieces of glass are unsigned. The intensity of colour and silky surface was unmatched by any other European glass maker. In many regards Loetz is comparable with Tiffany and yet the prices for its glass, for now, remain much more accessible.

Compared to so many collectors fields glass represents exceptional value with pieces by many leading designers and makers still really affordable. Pre-sale estimates for pieces in Toovey’s 250 lot specialist glass sale on Wednesday 6^th December 2023 range from £50-£1000 and the catalogue is online at www.tooveys.com.

Life, Light and Colour Painted by Dorothea Sharp

Dorothea Sharp (1874-1955) painted joyful still lifes and landscapes, often with children on the beaches of Cornwall where she lived for much of her life near St. Ives.

The artist was born into a prosperous Quaker family in Dartford, Kent in 1874. The eldest of five children she was twenty-one before she began to study painting at the art school run by C.E. Johnson in Richmond. She would later attend the Regent Street Polytechnic where she was influenced by visiting tutor, the English Realist and Impressionist painter, Sir George Clausen.

Soon after the untimely death of her father in 1900 Dorothea moved to Paris.

The hope filled scene painted by Dorothea Sharp titled ‘The Bath’ sold at Toovey’s for £8000. The price reflects her reputation as a painter and the ever growing interest in women artists amongst collectors.

Dorothea Sharp’s paintings were influenced by her time in Paris and exposure to the Impressionists including Claude Monet. Best known for her landscapes, which often include children, Dorothea Sharp’s style is spontaneous and impressionistic. ‘The Bath’ depicts a hope filled, joyful, sunlit interior as a mother bathes her baby. Through the window a sailing boat enters the estuary the blue of the sea brilliant against the grey green hills of the far shore.

Dorothea Sharp often painted her subjects looking into the light which lends her subjects a luminosity. The love of a mother for her child is brilliantly captured here by the artist’s confident palette, wonderful sense of light and spontaneous brush strokes.

Dorothea Sharp, oil on canvas, Still Life with Summer Flowers

Her confidence and ability is also apparent in the Still Life with a Vase filled with Summer Flowers which was also sold at Toovey’s for £9000. The scene is once again gifted with such life by the play of light expressed in the palette and brush work.

Dorothea Sharp was part of that remarkable group of influential women artists in the early 20th century which included Laura Knight, Dod Procter, Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and Winifred Nicholson.

She exhibited at the Royal Academy, was elected to the Royal Society of British Artists in 1907, the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1922, and was also President of the Society of Women Artists over a period of four years. But, it was not until 1933 that Dorothea Sharp held her first one woman show at the James Connell & Sons Gallery in London. It was a huge success.

Today this gifted 20th century woman artist’s work continues to be celebrated and collected.