Perhaps the ne plus ultra of dog-related furniture: the Coalbrookdale Deerhound Table.
Sun, 02/27/2022 - 10:08pm

Time Has Passed So Quickly

Nick Waters takes a personal tour of the dog art in his life

In 1987 I was introduced to Gene and Matt at a show in Windsor. During the course of our conversation, I happened to mention that I was about to interview Nigel Aubrey-Jones, who I had known for years, for Dog World, the U.K. weekly that sadly is no more.

Matt said to me: “If Feffie (Ferelith Somerfield, the then editor) thinks you are good enough to write a feature on Nigel, would you consider contributing regularly to Dog News?”

Thirty-five years down the line, I have to say it’s been an enjoyable journey.

This feature, with the editor’s permission, is a personal indulgence. When I was 14, I was bought a Standard Smooth Dachshund as a pet. At that time Dr. Aubrey Ireland was one of the leading all-round judges in the U.K.; he was also one of our family doctors. He saw the pup and suggested she should be shown, so a very green teenage novice entered her for two small local shows. At the first she was unplaced, but at the second she was Best Puppy Bitch. I was hooked.

 

 

At about the same time I was given a small naïve oil painting on an old cigar box of a Dachshund named “Vanity.” This painting fueled my interest in art and the history connected with dogs – first as a collector, then as a specialist dealer, third as a writer on the subject, and finally as a researcher for Bonhams on pictures in their much-missed “Dogs in Show and Field” sales.

My break as a writer on canine art came in 1983, when fellow Dog News writer Andrew Brace invited me to contribute to his fledgling “Dogs Monthly,” and “Nick Knacks” became a regular feature. Over the years there have been hundreds of specialist articles worldwide, four books on the subject and contributing authorship to eight others.

Along with “Vanity,” I have selected six other items across a cross-section of the genre that for one reason or another played a significant part in my time with canine art.

 

 

I’ve been fortunate to see close up paintings by all the leading artists on the subject and many who have just “dabbled” on the side lines, but my all-time favorite dog artist has to be the French artist Charles Olivier de Penne (1831-1897). His pictures are always atmospheric, he understood his subjects, introduced freedom and realism to his work with soft, muted colors, and every time I see one of his pictures my spirits are lifted.

It was he we have to thank for recording so many of the French hound breeds, often with their subtle differences, at an important time in their history and hunting in France, before revolutions and two world wars would change so much.

 

 

Early on in my dealing days I bought an English provincial school painting painted in 1889 of a Sussex Spaniel inscribed “Flora Prize-winner Whenever Shown” that is now in the Kennel Club collection in London. Who was “Flora”? She introduced me to the need for research, and I discovered that she was in fact “Flora IV,” born in 1886, owned by Mr. Pollock and bred by Mr. H. Ford. Her sire was “Caister” and her dam “Nell,” who was the result of a mother/son mating. A provenance, even a limited one, can add further interest and value to any piece.

My wife Liz was always a part of the buying experience, and she bought a beautiful expressive studio model of a Poodle signed under the base “E. Rose.” Researching the usual channels, I could find no reference to E. Rose, but by chance discovered that she was Edna Rose and had entered a piece in a competition in 1955 for “Britain’s Younger Dog Artists,” winning first in the over-18 category from an entry of 409 and with her prize went 100 guineas.

The win changed the direction of her life, and she devoted her time to sculpting, producing a number of different breeds both as figures and masks for wall hanging. She also worked tirelessly to support the conservation efforts of Chester Zoo. On her death she wished for her body to be cut into pieces and fed to the lions – a wish that was never fulfilled. She is just one of the small studio potters whose profiles I have been able to add to a little-known field of ceramics.

 

 

Richard Fath (1900-1952) was a French animalier who produced his main body of work in the interwar years. His output predominantly consisted of bronze and terracotta models and medallions. While he was known in France, he was little known elsewhere. I had considerable correspondence with his son Richard-Camille Fath, who wrote a book on his father and his work. As a result of our correspondence, I introduced his work to collectors beyond France, and examples are now in private and public collections worldwide. In gratitude for my efforts his son presented me with one of his father’s Pointer bronzes, which now stands on the mantelpiece in our sitting room.

 

 

I have followed the mixed fortunes of the Coalbrookdale cast-iron Deerhound table long before it was purchased for around £60,000 in the 1980s by the Museum of Iron in Coalbrookdale. It was made by the Darby factory in 1855 for the Paris International Exhibition and purchased by John Hargreaves of Lancashire for around £300 as a wedding present for his eldest son.

Cast in 20 pieces and weighing sixteen hundredweight, the top is painted to represent marble and the life-size gilded dogs sit on plinths at each corner. It is one of the most important pieces of art casting from the 19th Century and the main focal exhibit in the Museum. It was in Coalbrookdale that the Industrial Revolution started, and the whole area is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site.

 

 

My interest in art and antiques has moved on over the years, and I am a great admirer of many artists and craftspeople working today. Few can surpass the engraving of Italian master gun engravers, father and son, Giancarlo and Stefano Pedretti. They continue the long and proud tradition of gun engravers in Italy, and their work is the epitome of modern craftsmanship.

They work with a magnifying glass that magnifies 10 times and which allows them to do micro-engravings and final touches. It also allows them to create light and shade and work that needs an incredible amount of patience. The result is something that can only be described as exquisitely beautiful.

 

 

© Dog News. This article may not be reposted, reprinted, rewritten, excerpted or otherwise duplicated in any medium without the express written permission of the publisher.

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