The late Lord Snowdon's estate is on sale at Christie's
When the collection of a celebrated figure in the arts goes on sale, it's always a fascinating moment: their possessions, assembled over time, represent the creative evolution of an individual, as well as the changing fashions and tastes of a lifetime. Christie's latest sale, which went live on Friday September 4th, brings together objects belonging to the late Lord Snowdon (1930-2017), one of the iconic photographers of the 20th century.
Lord Snowdon, or Antony Armstrong-Jones before his marriage, was born to play a role in the cultural life of the country. His uncle, from whom he inherited a great many beautiful things, was the famous theatre designer Oliver Messel, who started off by designing the masks for a London production of Serge Diaghilev's ballet Zephyr et Flore, and went on to create sets for a great number of Broadway plays and Hollywood films. Messel's designs and portraits of friends and family featured prominently in Lord Snowdon's own houses.
As a fashionable photographer from the 1950s onwards Lord Snowdon met many of the leading figures of his day in almost every field; he photographed the royal family, famous actors such as Marlee Dietrich and Laurence Olivier, rock stars like David Bowie and Queen, the authors J.R.R. Tolkien and Vladimir Nabokov, as well as prime ministers and presidents. Some of the key pieces in the sale were gifts from famous friends including Cecil Beaton, Tom Parr (Director of Colefax and Fowler) and even President Eisenhower. Snowdon was also well-integrated into the artistic circles of his contemporaries, and his collections feature their pieces as well, including paintings by Sir Sidney Nolan, Philip Sutton and John Bellany.
Estimates range from £500 to £7,000 representing English and European furniture, porcelain, silver, books, Old Master Drawings, Chinese works of art, modern British art, Austrian and Canadian paintings, and photography. Here Benedict Winters, Head of Sale talks us through some of his favourite lots passed down to Lord Snowdon by Oliver Messel.
See the full range of lots from Snowdon: A Life in Art and Objects online at christies.com.
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES1/17The Messel Engelbrecht peep show
A rare north European polychrome-decorated large peep show box with six hand-coloured engraved slides. This peep show was used by the Messel children and Lord Snowdon as a child – it is beautiful and shows 18th century scenes.
£3000-5000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES2/17A pair of north Italian giltwood mirrors, late 18th century
These mirrors were in Oliver’s house in Barbados, and photographed in Vogue.
£3000-5000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES3/17A pair of Oliver Messel headdresses mounted on mannequin heads, circa 1937, probably for a Midsummer Night’s Dream and adapted by Lord Snowdon
These headdresses were made by Messel and then adapted by Lord Snowdon for photoshoots. The V&A holds the rest of Messel’s headdresses from his designs for A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
£700-1000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES4/17A gros-point needlework carpet woven by Oliver Messel’s partner Vagn Riis-Hansen
This carpet featured in Messel's house, called Maddox, on Barbados.
£1500-2500
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES5/17Oliver Messel’s design for Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra
£2000-3000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES6/17William Bruce Ellis Ranken's portrait of Oliver Messel, aged seventeen
£3000-5000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES7/17Oliver Messel, Portrait of Lloyd
Lloyd worked in the property Messel rented in Barbados before building his house Maddox.
£2000-3000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES8/17Bright Young Things scrapbook
A scrapbook compiled by Barbara Beaton with her brother Cecil Beaton and others for Oggie Lynn, 1933.
£5000-8000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES9/17Oliver Messel's lustres from Pelham Place
19th century
£1000-2000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES10/17A polychrome-decorated curtain pelmet, decorated by Oliver Messel
This curtain pelmet was decorated by Oliver Messel, similar to the work he did for his sister (Snowdon’s mother) The Countess of Rosse at Birr Castle, Ireland.
£800-1200
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES11/17A Dutch grey-painted and carved oak bench, 19th century
This bench was in Oliver’s house in Barbados.
£2000-3000
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES12/17Oliver Messel's reverse-etched mirror
Oliver loved this sort of thing – this was in his London house Pelham Place, where he was a neighbour of Cecil Beaton.
£800-1200
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES13/17A Dutch white and polychrome-decorated tilt-top table
'Oliver loved decorative things and Watteau-esque landscapes – he used things like this as inspiration for his designs.'
£800-1200
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES14/17Oliver Messel's stage design for Idomeneo, 1951
This is one of Messel’s famous designs for Idomeneo at Glyndebourne – it was used as the Glyndebourne programme a year later.
£800-1200
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES15/17Oliver Messel's mask for a Cochran production
This mask was made for an early production by Messel – he loved masks and Lord Snowdon inherited this love.
£1200-1800
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES16/17Messel's costume design for Princess Aurora in Sleeping Beauty
This is probably Margot Fonteyn as a nymph in the 1946 production by the Royal Ballet – Margot and Oliver were great friends.
£1200-1800
CHRISTIE'S IMAGES17/17Messel's portrait of Babe Paley
Babe Paley was a doyenne of American society and style, and Messel helped to decorate her house.
£3000-5000
