Antiques

A TURKEY IS NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS

Richard Bromell ASFAV, Charterhouse Auctioneers

We always have items in our stores at the salerooms for future auctions, but it does feel strange to be penning an article about a lot coming up in our auction of Decorative Arts in January next year. The item in question is a turkey. Not one to be basted and put in the oven to be served with all the trimmings as lunch on Christmas Day and to be enjoyed for a couple of days after, but one carved from a piece of walnut.

When I look at a picture, I usually turn the picture over to look at the back first. This is due to more information often being noted on the back rather than on the front. Should there be any notes on the back it generally records the artist, subject or title along with any gallery or exhibition details – extremely useful if there is no signature to read on the picture!

So, when I saw this figure of a turkey sitting on the sideboard of a house in Cerne Abbas the first thing I did was to turn it over. I half expected not to see anything on the underside of the carving but was really pleased to see it was nicely inscribed with the artist’s details.

Anna Edith Catford was born in 1905. Nancy, as she was known, went to Sidcot School in Somerset and this is where her lifelong love of art began. After experimenting with woodcarving, she was taught by Stanley Parker in Letchworth and then subsequently she attended the School of Woodcarving in South Kensington, quite unusual for a lady at that time.

Clearly, she was an accomplished wood carver. The scale and detail of the turkey are divine. I fully understand why she proudly inscribed her name on the base. It is quite handy she also dated it as ‘Nov 1932’. Perhaps she carved it with Christmas in mind or perhaps she just carved it on a whim.

Either way, without the information on the base I would never have been able to identify her as the artist. It is just a shame that other artists do not always sign or inscribe their names. Thomas Chippendale, arguably one of the most famous furniture designers and cabinet makers, did not sign his furniture. Perhaps he would have done well to have taken a leaf out of Nancy’s book.