Classic decorative arts feast for Aingers house auction

It will be a veritable feats of classic antique furniture, porcelain, paintings, silver and glass when E.J. Ainger auctions the estate of the late Patricia Jackson from noon Sunday August 3 on site at 52 St Georges Road, Toorak. 

Both Patricia Jackson, who died earlier this year aged 89, and her husband Gordon were well known for entertaining and collecting (his passion was Australian ceramics donated after his death to the Geelong Art Gallery in appreciation of his family’s long association with the city through Jackson Tanneries) and the home reflected her style and personality.

They collected for more than 50 years and the art deco residence is filled with precious objects and art, particularly anything with an oriental flavour, which she found irresistible.

For many years, Patricia Jackson was president of the Victorian Women’s Committee, which raised huge sums for the restoration of historic buildings in Venice, and the St Georges Road home was the venue for many of these functions.

The auction contains many treasures – not the least of which is a 12^th century Chinese Tang dynasty horse in excellent condition.

Another highlight is a pair of Meiji period (1868-1912) signed Japanese Satsuma vases with alternating panels of figures in landscapes and cherry blossoms.

An even larger Satsuma vase with flared neck and moulded handles, painted with warriors and landscape, also is on offer.

A pair of large and impressive blue and white hand blown pots (also from the Meiji period) is another attraction for auction goers, while a Chinese Qing dynasty celadon bowl and celadon dish (both with similar patterns) should have collectors rubbing their hands with glee.

For those who like expensive dinner services, there is a fine deep blue and white Royal Worcester example, adorned by a rare Georg Jensen acorn pattern canteen silver cutlery setting for 12.

Other silver items include a George III silver tankard and cover by JP London 1771, featuring a gilt interior and two panels of figures.

One of the standout pieces is a bronze discus thrower, a late copy of Myron’s Discobolus, with sculptor Bruno Zach’s name engraved on the base.

Patricia Jackson’s penchant for the oriental is evident in three Chinese scrolls, one a 16^th century creation depicting a man on horseback, one 18^th century showing a woman and her family at dinner, and the third displaying two men on horseback with two courtiers standing next to a river.

There are several paintings in the auction, including Hans Heysen’s watercolour The Pastoral Scene 1924.

One of the more intriguing paintings the catalogue describes as a 19^th century lady after English painter Holman Hunt (1827-1910).

One of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which sought to revitalise art by emphasising detailed observation of the natural world in a spirit of quasi-religious devotion to truth influenced by the spiritual qualities of medieval paintings, Hunt became famous for his religious works.

The auction painting features the woman holding a medieval helmet and sword and scabbard in her hands.

Among the antique furniture is an important 1860s Australian colonial cedar tilt top circular breakfast table with four out swept legs terminating in claw feet.