And So the Gavel Bangs

All images courtesy Bonhams

Bonhams’ sale of dog art, first in London in 1983 and later in New York until 2016, was one of the most eagerly looked forward to events in the calendar for dog lovers.

The news that the dog sale was being resurrected came as a welcome surprise to collectors and historians alike. The question was asked, “Why Edinburgh?” and specialist Leo Webster’s reply was that it was a natural progression from their Sporting Sales that always included many dog pictures.

The first few sales in London were very much social evening occasions: crowded salerooms, attendees in dog-themed clothing, and drinks and canapés beforehand. On one occasion a Scottish Terrier enthusiast presented the auctioneer with a cake in the form of a Scottie as he stepped on to the rostrum. Those days have long gone, with most buyers now bidding online and salerooms virtually empty.

With the variety of lots offered and the various price points, one was almost back with the sales of old. The only section missing was literature. Most of the lots offered were consigned from the U.K., but interest in the sale from dog enthusiasts, institutions and galleries alike was international.

Three weeks before the sale, 70 percent of those registered to bid were in America, and it was Americans who proved to be the principal buyers, followed by the U.K., with a smattering going to other countries. Specialist Leo Webster was well pleased with the results, particularly strong being the pictures. The hammer total was £340,000, with around 70 percent sold by volume.

John Emms (1843-1912) has become the market leader where dog pictures are concerned. From his home in the New Forest he established himself as a sporting artist and was at his very best painting dogs. It was therefore no surprise that Emms led the field with a painting that showcased the artist at his very best. It exceeded expectations of £50,000-70,000, selling for £82,950 to a private buyer in North America.

Painted in 1896, it showed the New Forest Buckhounds, the area’s most well-known pack, resting beneath a tree. With the pack are the master and two young men, whipper-in and kennel-man, local Hampshire residents from the Gulliver family.

Unlike other spaniel breeds that mainly worked singularly, Clumber Spaniels worked as a pack, particularly in middle England, where rhododendrons and their like provided thick cover. Another Victorian sporting picture, by Benedict Angell Hyland (1859-1933), featured the Duke of Portland’s Clumbers at rest in the kennel at Welbeck Abbey. It found a new home for double its top expectations, selling for £16,640.

A near neighbour of Portland was the 2nd Duke of Newcastle, whose gamekeeper William Mansell famously bred and trained the Newcastle’s spaniels at Clumber Park, from where the breed takes its name.

Most sales throw up surprises, and at this sale it was a particularly attractive painting of a Poodle holding a tennis racket. It ignited a lot of interest from Poodle enthusiasts, tennis enthusiasts and one in both camps, selling to a private buyer in America for £51,200 (£6,000-8,000). It had been painted by the highly regarded German artist Professor Friedrich Meyerheim, who was from an artistic family and had learned his craft studying and observing all over Europe. As a young boy he was fascinated with the new Berlin Zoological Garden; the experience led him to specialize in animals.

Apart from the Emms there were no “stand-out” works from the established British and American artists of the 20th Century, but many of these artists were represented by more affordable pieces.

Marguerite Kirmse (1885-1954) and Morgan Dennis (1892-1960) were two of America’s most popular and sought-after artists, both known for their illustrative work. Included in the sale were a number of lots by both artists, etchings and original work, and they had a mixed reception. The most successful was a signed etching by Kirmse of three Scottish Terrier puppies looking into a pool that found a home for £2,560 (£500-700).

No sale of dog art would be complete without an appearance by Maud Earl (1863-1943), one of the most successful canine artists of her day, working over a 50-year period firstly in Britain and finally in America. She created an extraordinary body of work, and The Dog Sale included photogravures and paintings in oil. Leading the way was a study of an inquisitive French Bulldog selling for £14,080 (£8,00-12,000).

Frederick Thomas Daws (1878-1956) was equally adept at sculpting and painting. As a sculptor he created all the models in Royal Doulton’s “Championship Dogs” range. As a painter his leading patron was Mrs. Campbell-Inglis, one of the most successful breeders of Miniature Poodles of her day. Two of her “Mannerhead” Poodles featured in the sale, and it was Meurice of Mannerhead that appealed to the buyers the most. A son of the influential Ch. Eric Brighteyes, he found a new home for £9,600 (£2,500-3,500).

One of the most attractive and appealing portraits of a dog ever painted has to be a head study of a Dandie Dinmont Terrier by Frances Mabel Hollams (1877-1936). It was this head study that Bonhams selected to grace the front cover of the catalog, and it sold to a collector in America for £12,800 (£2,500-3,500).

An area of collecting that has a number of devotes are canes, sticks and umbrella handles with carved heads of dogs. Some have articulated jaws to hold a pair of kid gloves or other small accessory. Some have brass or silver collars and heads inlaid with glass eyes. As well as serving as an aid to walking, they became established as a fashion accessory. The 17 offered in The Dog Sale featured a wide range of breeds with estimates ranging from £100-200 to £300-500, but the one buyers wanted was a 19th-Century ebonized cane carved with a Poodle with glass eyes; it walked away at £2,816 (£500-600).

The challenging section of the sale was works of art, bronzes, etc. Within an eclectic mix of Staffordshire models, fire screens and fenders, needlework and collars was a late 19th-Century electroplate stirrup cup after a model by James Barclay Hennell in the form of a Deerhound’s head. Whenever this model appears at auction it never fails to do well, and at £896 (£600-700) this sale did not disappoint. 

Gertrude Katherine Lathrop (1896-1986) was one of America’s chief 20th-Century animaliers. She studied at the Art Students League in New York and at Borglum’s School of American Sculpture. While studying under Charles Grafly in Massachusetts she found herself drawn to animal sculpture, and of this she wrote: “I chose to model animals because of their infinite variety of form and texture and their great beauty.” All this is shown in bucket loads in the magnificent and large bronze model of a Pekingese. “Quality wins through,” and this piece certainly did just that, selling for £16,640 (£10,000-15,000).