Design enthusiasts, get set for the biggest auction of the season – Lawson’s Winter House & Garden sale on now– with every piece vetted by us. Whether it’s with antiques, decorative accessories or outdoor items, personalising our spaces satisfies our inherent need for expression.
Find your treasured items at the big once-a-year home extravaganza with more than 380 beautiful pieces we’ve handpicked, exclusively for you. From planters to pots, urns, mirrors, tables, sofas, chairs, jardinières, rugs, baskets, champagne buckets, and garden benches that will spark joy. For instance, take a look at the knockout red secretaire (lead image), similar to the one sold at legendary or Maria Buatta’s Sotheby’s January auction – January auction – for a fraction of the price (estimate $2000-$4000). You’ll find it all – foundation staples plus objects for indoors and out, for all comers, tastes and budgets, including lots of bargains.
Right this way for top things, that deliver major results!
Sourced from France, Belgium, Italy, England, Japan, China, and India, as well as locally –there are all kinds of exciting pieces for the home.
Start with your outdoors, however big or small your space. Find standing lions in bronze and terrazzo, as well as French fountains, urns, pots, plinths, jardinières, planters, panels, columns, large arch French mirrors and a fabulous assortment of benches, tables, and chairs. Expect lots of teak, stone, bronze, iron, and terracotta. Look out for Lutyens garden seats, Anduze French pots, plus a spectacular pair of huge Chinese bronze incense burners, a lifesize bronze Buddha and French galvanised watering cans.
Then there’s a giddy assortment of porcelain vegetables and lacquered furniture.
Also, botanical prints, Regency ebonised and giltwood convex mirrors, vintage Louis Vuitton steamer trunks, vintage grape picker’s baskets, huge vintage French breadboards, antique majolica dishes, Georgian tables, Regency desks, French wrought iron consoles, gueridons old glass cloches and candlesticks. Plus, 1920s French antique andiron fire dogs, a French iron baker’s stand, Chinese export black lacquer side tables, vintage copper saucepans, Aubusson-style tapestries, 19th-century oak spindle chairs with rush seats, French timber shutters with original paintwork, Moet & Chandon vintage champagne buckets, traditional artworks, antique Georgian country chairs, Continental still life 19th-century artworks by Henry Dubois and Pierre Morain, papier-mache black tables on stands, French Empire mounted tole 19th-century urns, even a lovely English red and gold Japanned tole jardinières, (previously owned by the late Amana Finlay).
Oh, and lovely Continental School, 19th century, porcelain vegetable paintings,
large Continental Faience asparagus tureen and cover,
a set of Portuguese majolica cabbage dishes.
Take a look at (LOT 2) the fine Italian commode with restored marble top, formerly owned by Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, the Australian industrialist and patron of the arts who founded the construction and engineering company Transfield, estimate $3000.
It’s the kind of piece you can build an entire room around.
Another favourite includes a red and gilt bureau, similar to the legendary late American decorator Mario Buatta’s beloved secretaire that shattered estimates at his Sotheby’s auction in January 2020, going to a Los Angeles collector for $52,200. For a fraction of the price, you can snap up (LOT 16) the beautiful red and gilt bureau with the maker’s stamp in this auction, (estimate $2000-$4000), which will instantly give a room the dimensions, glamour and gravitas – it may not have.
Top to bottom: LOT 370: Set of old books “The Arabian Nights” $200-$500; LOT 8: A Fine Toleware Dish Depicting griffins Red $300-$350; LOT 289: Matching pair of masons ironstone plates circa 1813-1820; LOT 280: Square Kew Pots on Tray in red glaze, $150-$190, lawsons.com.au
Then there is also a really good French 1920s mirrored and giltwood dining table, (ex-The Country Trader), a spectacular pair of Eagle giltwood consoles with marble tops, (ex-Martyn Cook), and a superb large plaster relief of the caduceu, from landmark Sydney property Rona in Bellevue Hill that would be the hero piece of any interior.
LOT 144: French Impressionist Still Life of Peaches, signed and dated 1906- 17cm x 27cm, $1600-$1800; LOT 17: A Fine Toleware Dish, $250-$300, lawsons.com.au
Also on offer are easy updates: from new marble shelves with leather straps, to pewter trays, glass lab jars and glass containers with silver tops – plus the most fabulous jumbo white garden urns such as the ones currently in the front window at Woollahra garden institution, Parterre – for a lot less.
Lawsons is where our A-list designers, collectors and dealers go for everything, and you can too – this collection has something for all comers.
Oh, and don’t miss the smalls – all curated with our design sensibility to bring comfort, beauty and warmth to your home, at a time when we need it more than ever.
Other highlights? An antique French repousse mirror (ex-Graham Geddes Antiques), estimate $500-$700, Spanish parquetry-top wood dining table with iron base, 1.8m long, estimate $800-$1200. French Anduze pots in aged terracotta, pair, estimate $200-$400, a pretty marble top wrought iron garden table, estimate $120-180, large stoneware jar, estimate 350-$500, three antique Santos figures, estimate $300-$500, quality arch wall mirror with rope twist and bamboo effect, estimate $300-$500, Georgian 18th-century country chair, estimate $200-$300, tall timber-style resin baluster lamps with shades, estimate $700-$900, a full Zebra pelt in good order, estimate $600-$800, a large stoneware urn, 93cm, estimate $500-$700, a Regency-style antique iron garden bench, estimate $700-$900, a pair of vintage wooden candleholders, estimate $250-$350, large ceramic white pinecone vases, set of 12, estimate $80-$120, fine large French provincial extension dining table, 2.4m x 3.7m, estimate $2500-$3500, and Lutyens teak 1.8m bench, estimate $700-$900.
Also up for grabs are artworks by John Olsen, Ray Crooke, and traditional oils, and indigenous paintings.
(TOP) LOT 144: French Impressionist Still Life of Peaches, signed and dated 1906- 17cm x 27cm, $1600-$1800; (BOTTOM) LOT: 12 Jean Cordain French early 20thC ‘Still Life’ signed lower left oil on canvas 46 x 61 cm, $1600-$1800 lawsons.com.au
Expect lots and lots of stylish pieces to live with. From big to small, perfect for city or country properties. The enthusiasm for pretty cannot be understated. In these times, people are so happy to be amused.
It’s a great way to remind yourself what pretty, beauty, and comfort look like.
But perhaps most interesting of all, this collection will help you find out why online auctions are the new way of shopping – one of the most sustainable industries in the world – and an excellent way to keep items in use as long as possible.
We would love to own any of these pieces – they are well priced – and have all the proportions of world-class items (but without the estimate).
You (and your house) really can’t afford to miss it. Prices from $50 to $20,000.
LAWSONS WINTER HOUSE & GARDEN SALE CURATED BY MELISSA PENFOLD, Auction | 10 JUNE, 2020. Inquiries (02) 9566 2377, www.lawsons.com.au
