ANTIQUES UNDER THE HAMMER Sitwell family seat of Weston Hall
SALEROOM SPOTLIGHT
Jewellery and effects owned by the poet and critic Dame Edith Sitwell are among pieces from the celebrated family’s seat going on sale in Berkshire this month
I
f houses could speak, Weston Hall, the grade II-listed manor house, near Towcester in Northamptonshire, would surely have some tales to tell. The 17th-century hall, which stands in 49 acres of gardens and was the family home of journalist and renowned food critic and MasterChef judge, William Sitwell, sold last year after he and his brother couldn’t maintain its upkeep. The Sitwells were once among the most celebrated of British society families, with their much-loved home proving to be the perfect place to host glamorous parties. In the family’s heyday in the Twenties and Thirties, Brideshead author Evelyn Waugh, English playwright Noel Coward and society photographer Cecil Beaton often stayed.
20 ANTIQUE COLLECTING
Above The bed from which Dame Edith worked, surrounded by six George III chairs Top right An ostrich feather-trimmed hat, one of Edith’s most iconic pieces, is being offered alongside the Beaton print, with an estimate of £500-£700 Above right A print of the original photograph of Dame Edith taken by Cecil Beaton in 1962 will be offered in the sale
This month much of its contents are up for sale, by the Berkshirebased auctioneers Dreweatts, including clothes and jewellery once owned by the writer and poet Dame Edith Sitwell (18871964), known for shocking society with her eccentric behaviour and ‘Plantagenet’ fashion sense. Her New York Times obituary described her as : “…a woman of the past, who looked and dressed like a Tudor Monarch, or a figure out of a Medieval tapestry. An aquiline nose and heavy-lidded eyes added to her almost Plantagenet look, which she accentuated with elaborate hats, or turbans and long flowing gowns, sometimes of startling Chinese red, sometimes of intricate brocade. She was addicted to large jewelry and gold armlets, and her fingers were ringed with pebble‐size aquamarines.”
FOUR POSTER An imposing oak four-poster bed hung with George III needlework (expected to make £8,000-£12,000), from which Dame Edith would write poetry and receive guests, is also part of the two-day sale along with six George III side chairs from the same room (with a presale guide of £5,000-£8,000). William Sitwell said: “Edith Sitwell would sit regally in bed propped up by so many pillows, her head adorned by some sort of turban and on a blue tray she would write her poetry.” Dame Edith published work consistently from 1913 and was awarded a DBE (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in 1954. She never married, instead having a lifelong unrequited love for the Russian painter and set designer Pavel Tchelitchew (1898-1957), who met the Sitwells
A gold George III amethyst, enamel and hairwork mourning ring, 1760, dedicated to Mary Barnardiston, has an estimate of £400-£600
