After a hard year, treat your loved ones and yourself to presents that can immediately make life easier and prettier at the biggest auction of the season – Lawson’s Christmas House & Garden sale on now– with every piece vetted by us. It’s a sale for the ages with hero pieces plus quick updates for creating a beautiful house from floor to ceiling, and a gorgeous garden.
As ever, beauty and quality guided our selection, but utility and value also rated highly.
And all will eagerly be put to use—the brass and crystal candelabras at December dinners, vintage asparagus dishes at summer lunches and superb wrought iron garden furniture to elevate your outdoor space. Or the most beautiful, affordable Anduze pots to greet you when you arrive home. Find over 300 irresistible things you’ll want to buy immediately – pretty treasures, for a needed dose of beauty, you’ll cherish forever.
Whoever you’re shopping for this holiday season, including yourself, the sale will help you check everyone off your list.
Vibrant finds that lift the spirits and dazzle the eye; from antiques to vintage furniture, mirrors, lanterns, chandeliers, art, statuary, garden tables, benches, urns, fountains, side tables, vases, china, and much more, at great value that stand out for their beauty, their quality and their patina. Pieces sourced from France, Belgium, Italy, England, China and America, as well as locally, that solve problems prettily and affordably.
Start with your outdoors, however big or small your space.
Find standing lions in bronze and as well as the best Anduze pots in drop-dead gorgeous glazes of green, natural, blue and grey plus urns, pots, jardinieres, French fountains, stone wall plaques, large arch French mirrors, finials and a fabulous assortment of benches, tables and chairs. Expect lots of teak, stone, bronze, iron, and terracotta. Look out for Lutyens garden seats, statuary galore, cast-iron hitching posts, garden taps, as well as a lifesize bronze Buddha, an exceptional pair of cast iron urns with fine patina, a fine pair of classical style urns on plinths like you see in grand European gardens. Oh and, the most stunning large hand-carved marble statue of Summer, that’s 2.3m tall and a pair of original 19th century Coalbrookdale peacock pattern benches that would be heroes in any garden.
Also, botanical prints, Italian baroque and carved giltwood mirrors, exceptional vintage Louis Vuitton and Moyant of Paris steamer trunks, huge vintage French breadboards, Georgian chairs, vintage French chandeliers, French wrought iron consoles, vintage French provincial commodes and a spectacular 1920s French butcher’s block you could design your entire kitchen around. Then there’s a superb 19th-century French pine shop counter that measures 2.6m, plenty of noteworthy French gilded wall mirrors (wall, pier, sunburst), and exquisite huge Italian hall lanterns.
You’ll also find Chinese export black lacquer cabinets and tables, antique French bergeres, French Louis canape sofas, a Georgian-style leather wingback, 19th century English elm country chairs, French farmhouse tables, clocks, Italian carved Rococo blue and silvered armchairs like those you see at Venice’s Gritti Palace, and French leather armchairs. Seek out vintage copper saucepans, and cookware and exceptional Moet & Chandon vintage champagne buckets. Then there’s Louis XVI-style stools and traditional artworks, 18th-century French ink wash drawing with 18th century carved giltwood frames, French 1920s giltwood and marble parlour tables, Continental still life 19th-century artworks by Alexis Delahouge, Marcel Bonnardel, and Ferdinand Robert, English lacquer black tray on stand, even lovely enamel splatter ware from the collection of Lord Alistair Mcalpine.
Bring comfort and joy to your home, with a delightful oil painting of a wooded landscape, estimate $500-$700, mirrored wall sconces with candle holders, estimate $600, or the most beautiful 18th century portrait of Charlotte de la Tremoille Countess of Derby, from the Bushell family, Berrima. Plus, a superb European vintage display cabinet, with excellent painted finish, or superb 19th-century French cane back and side settee to vintage wine caddies and Chinese black lacquer sideboards.
You’ll find it all – foundation staples plus objects for indoors and out, for all comers, tastes and budgets, including lots of bargains.
Lawsons is where our A-list designers, collectors and dealers go for everything – and you can too – this collection has something for all comers.
Spending on antiques is a great way where clever savings can be made when splashing on your home improvements during the pandemic while spending more time in it.
For the same money, you will find better-made and more beautiful versions of the same thing if you were to buy an old one versus its new equivalent. And that’s before you consider things like patina, environmental impact, and the sheer joy of using something with a history that has lived many lives and will live many more.
We love the idea that we’re custodians of the things that reside in our homes for a while, and then we pass them on to be enjoyed by someone else.
Today’s much-loved heirloom pieces wouldn’t be here if they hadn’t been created by skilled craftsmen, too.
These are pieces that elevate a space or add the final layer in a room giving it personality and imbuing a space with the spirit of the people who inhabit it. Oh, and don’t miss the smalls – all curated with our design sensibility because this year’s best gifts are all about the pleasures of home.
Other highlights? A pair of nickel and polished timber lamps, – estimate $700- $900, antique French provincial oak coffee table, – estimate $1200-$1400, 18th-century timber Santos figure with national museum labels, – estimate $900-$1200, pair of stoneware ceramic pedestal vases in Faience style, – estimate $600-$800, a 19th-century shell picture in outstanding antique frame, estimate $1400-$1800, Regency-style bronze table lamp in style of Victoria & Albert original design with Vaughan Designs card shade, estimate $1200, antique French carved timber sunburst mirror, estimate $500-$600, lots of vintage Louis Vuitton travel pieces (cosmetic trunks, president briefcase) antique French globe by Girard et Barrere of Paris. Also up for grabs are artworks by John Olsen, Ray Crooke, and traditional oils, and indigenous paintings.
This sale will satisfy everyone on your list, including you, whether you’re trying to please a minimalist—who prefers beautiful items on the subdued side—or a maximalist who loves a lot of flash.
LOT 32: Brushed brass and glass table lamp with linen shade 78cm Height x 48cm Diameter around the widest point of the lampshade. Estimate $700-900. LOT 38:
A lacquer demi-lune table or console in deep lacquer finish, ex Manning & Manning Antiques. (H 84cm x 127cm Depth 65cm), Estimate $3,000-3,500, lawsons.com.au
