Victorian Wall Decorations

Original drawing on paper. It has been made in England in the 19th century. It is representing the face of a young girl.

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning original late 19th century extra large Flemish oil painting, signed A Apoeie depicting a nice nature scene in front of the sea. A ...

PELLETIER - 45/150 - Antique sepia engraving on paper featuring children at a water well - numbered in pencil lower left - signed and dated in pencil l...

Oil on panel, signed and dated 1894 in the lower left and inscribed on the reverse. The frame measures 15.25" x 19.25". Leader was born in Worcester as Benjamin Leader Williams, the son, and first child of eleven children, of notable civil engineer Edward Leader Williams (1802–79) and Sarah Whiting (1801–88). His father was described as a "non conformist dissenter" and his mother was a Quaker – their marriage in an Anglican church resulted in them being disowned by the Society of friends. Leader's father was a keen amateur artist – a friend of John Constable – and Benjamin would often accompany him on sketching trips along the banks of the River Severn. His brother, also Edward Leader Williams, later became a notable civil engineer who was knighted for his work, and is now mainly remembered for designing Manchester ship canal...

Classical Bird print, after John James Audubon, printed by Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, New York unframed, 17 x 14 inches color print on paper Condition: very good Provenance:...

Victorian over-door architectural element in distressed old paint. Wired on verso for hanging on a wall or simply place on top of a tallboy. From a Beacon Hill, Boston townhouse.

English Victorian Oyster plate signed brown-Westhead Moore & Company. Initiales on the center.

Pair of English Victorian silk embroidered Stevengraph hunting scenes in ebonized and gilt frames (Stevens)

A charming antique Victorian landscape oil painting. This is English, it dates from around the 1860-1880 period. It is beautifully executed and depicts a countryside scene of sheep ...

Majolica peach & grey shell oyster Platter Sarreguemines Circa 1930. The platter have 12 shells between rope pattern and seaweeds.  

Classical Bird print, after John James Audubon, printed by Harry N. Abrams, Publishers, New York unframed, 17 x 14 inches color print on paper Condition: very good Provenance:...

French Victorian glass beaded purple flower casket wreath wall sculpture (A). Item featured was Hand beaded in France with glass beads with impressive flower detail, very nice antiqu...

Late 19th Century Dunmore Pottery Victorian Green Glazed Ceramic Wall Plaque. This plaque was produced by Dunmore Pottery located on the estate of the Earl of Dunmore in Stilingshire, Scotland and depicts woman and cherub...

19th Century faience blue and white oyster plate signed J. Vieillard & Cie Bordeaux decorated with seaweeds. Large size. Mark / 1829-1895. 8 plat...

19th century American Victorian gilt framed oil painting portrait of man with beard and black tie.  

Elegant artist signed hand painted portrait of an aristocrat lady. The beautiful woman is wearing 4 strands of pearls and has additional pearls in her hair. She is wearing a floral h...

19th century fine Majolica lion and lioness surrounded by exuberants plants signed Salins (East of France) Very unusual piece, the pastel lilac purple is...

French Victorian glass beaded purple flower casket wreath wall sculpture (B). Item featured hand beaded in France with glass beads with impressive flower detail, very nice antique it...

19th Century large English blue & white plate Ironstone China.

A beautiful pair of semi relief tiles in caramel tones featuring two dogs looking directly at the viewer. The tiles date from circa 1860, various relief marks to the back including "Sherwin's Patent". 15cm/6in square. The tiles have nice old wooden frames...

Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right. The painting measures 26" x 34.5" with its frame. Provenance: David David Gallery Philadelphia Johannes Martin GRIMELUND (1842-1917) Norwegian painter...

A lovely terrace scene of a stunning young lady draped in classical dress with a rich background of the sea, trees, flowers, fruits and fabrics, painted with oil on canvas by Oliver Rhys...

19th Century antique wood-carved and gilt wall mirror. The glass flanked with carved floral and scroll motif. With tassel pediment scrolls and flower heads.

Early 19th century blue and white transferware plate with castle, bridge with a flower border signed Clews Staffordshire. Mark 1818-1834. 9.5 inches diameter.  

Maria Harrison (XIX-XX) - 'Delphiniums & Daisies' (Untitled) - Antique watercolor floral still life painting on paper - J. Green & Son watermark to the paper (this watermark used cir...

Circa mid 19th Century watercolor on paper. Clatworthy Church of St Mary Magdalene, Somerset England. Shows graveyard with iron mortsafe cages over g...

Miss Ethel Mortlock an oil on canvas called 'Town' of Marie Adelaide Brassey (aged 3) who became Marchioness of Willingdon (see below) and is buried in the Nave at Westminster Abbey, signed and dated 1878. Picture 60 x 45 cm Ethel Mortlock (1865-1928) an extraordinary woman and sought after portrait painter, she painted this aged 16!. Born in Cambridge and lived in London. She exhibited at The Royal Academy between years 1878-1893 no less than 29 paintings also at the Grosvenor Galleries. Many of Paintings in museums (See History below and her sitters). Marie Adelaide Brassey - Marie Adelaide Freeman-Thomas, Marchioness of Willingdon, GBE, CI DStJ (née Brassey; 24 March 1875 – 30 January 1960) was a daughter of Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey. On 20 July 1892, she married Freeman Thomas , 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), the future Governor General of Canada and Viceroy of India. She became : Invested as an Imperial Order of the Crown of India (C.I.) in 1917, Decorated with the Kaisar-i-Hind Gold Medal , Invested as a Dame of Justice, Venerable Order of St John (D.J.St. J.),Decorated with the Order of Mercy. Invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in December 1917. Invested as a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) in the 1924 Birthday Honours. Marie Canyon on the Cowichan River, Vancouver Island is named for her, commemorating a 1930 canoe trip from Cowichan Lake down that river to the city of Duncan, British Columbia. The Lady Willingdon Hospitol in Lahore, Pakistan is named after her .The Lady Willingdon Hospital in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, India, is named after her. About Ethel Mortlock : Her clientèle of sitters included members of the aristocracy and European nobility and included, by her account, the Shah of Persia (1900) and the ‘Chinese Ambassador’, Li Hung Chang (who was actually the Chinese Viceroy), à propos which sitting the Sketch published an illustrated interview with Ethel in August 1896. Ethel was thought pretty grand by the American papers who reported that Chang had to go to her studio for sittings in 1896 rather than she wait upon him. He brought her a roll of silk and a white jade palette as presents. Li Hung Chang was a pretty big cheese; his wife had two thousand servants waiting on her. The Chatham, NY, Courier reported that Ethel had painted every Ambassador who had come to London. These last clients, allegedly by failing to pay the £1000 charged for their portraits, landed Ethel in trouble. They were, of course, conveniently unavailable to the bankruptcy commissioners so this sob-story could not be checked. Strapped for cash she was caught out when the executors of a racehorse owner called Edward Overall Bleakley found, in his effects, IOUs for hundreds of pounds (Bleakley had bequeathed his own portrait by Ethel to Manchester Infirmary [Daily News, 1.8.98]). Ethel went to court, claiming that these were offset by painting commissions, but the court found against her and she was told to pay up. Now saddled with legal costs, she was caught again when Captain Noel Hoare, her man of business, died and it was found that he had mortgaged to Hoare’s Bank, without her knowledge (she said), three properties in Sloane Street that she had been building. She tried to buy back one of these but lost a £500 deposit when she could not complete, making a bad situation rather worse. Bleakley’s executors now broke her and her examination in bankruptcy in 1901 can be read in the PRO as above. Her troubles were attributed to extravagance and betting - the Bleakley IOUs were assumed to be in fact gambling debts and the creditors now included all sorts of tradesmen and the Hotel Cecil where Ethel was then living, presumably in some style. She did not help herself by claiming an income of £250 p.a. when individual commissions were on her own account at the £1000 mark as above, meaning that the Chinese and Persian portraits alone would have occupied her last eight years and she would have obtained these prestigious commissions at the age of 18 (she gave her age as 26). Faced by the raised eyebrows of her superiors in mental arithmetic Ethel then upped her declared usual income to a still rather modest £800. She claimed to keep no sort of cash book, accounts, or any memoranda. Proceedings closed with Ethel declared bankrupt and a number of people out of pocket; the settlement was at 7/6 in the pound. Ethel went back to her easel. Some financial aspects seem never to have been sorted out; funds in Chancery relating to her, Hoare and Bleakley were still being recorded in the London Gazette every few years at least up to 1938; maybe the born in Cambridge; she appears never to have married. The 1881 census had not heard of her - she may have been in the United States at that time. However, standard works about Victorian painters, such as the Antique Collectors’ Club Dictionary of British Artists (Johnson %26 Greutzner, 1976) and their Dictionary of Victorian Painters (C Wood, 2nd edition, 1978) tell us that she was a pupil of Sir William Orchardson (who came to London in 1863) and that by 1904 she had exhibited 29 works at the Royal Academy. I have listed these, usually prestigious, sitters, who included Don Carlos...

Oil on canvas, signed in the lower left and presented in a magnificent carved and gilt frame. This painting has a wonderful atmosphere to it and measures 40" x 56" including the fram...

Very rare late 19th Century, "The Original Holden's Mannikins", original vintage theatrical Vaudeville play linen backed one-sheet movie poster (one sheet; measures 28" x 42", actual poster size 27" x 41". Early Vaudeville Marionette, Automata and Mannequin poster with vibrant colors, another one can't be found. The playbill poster features vibrant illustrations of Clowns, Skeletons, Royalty, Cowboys, Mimes, Nurses, Fairies... This poster has an address for a theatre in St. Martin Paris, France. From the book; The Holdens: Monarchs of the Marionette Theatre by John McCormick The Holden family were the most celebrated English marionette performers of the nineteenth century. The trajectory of the Holdens provides a vivid example of developments in entertainment across the century. Having begun on the fairgrounds, they moved on to large halls, theatres and music halls. At the height of their popularity, when they had two main companies in operation, the Holdens were even better known abroad than at home. Their name was almost synonymous with puppetry, and they were credited with every innovation in marionette theatre. Then, with the advent of cinema, their business suffered a rapid decline. Based on extensive archival research and lavishly illustrated with photographs, sketches, diagrams, playbills and posters, The Holdens: Monarchs of the Marionette Theatre explains why the Holden shows had such impact and were so frequently imitated. Below are two newspaper reviews from 1903 and 1907. Holdin’s Mannkins Location: New York City Theater: New York Date: 1903 Type: Marionette, Automata and Manikin This is another of Mr. Keith’s acts and it is safe to say that we have never seen marionettes in this country before. The general fitting up of the act is great—had a fine stage with a full set of scenery, and everything is first class order—strongly, and it is hardly possible to conceive how people can produce the effects that they do by the manipulation of strings. Every move made by these little figures is absolutely natural and life-like, and the audience were quick to appreciate this fact and were most hearty in their applause. The act is closed with a transformation feature which was very pretty and attractive. It is an exceptionally strong turn throughout. 24 minutes, full stage. Source: University of Iowa, Keith-Albee Vaudeville Collection, Manager Reports, 2 September 1902-3 September 1903. Holden’s Manikins Location: Philadelphia Theater: Keith's Date: 1907 Type: Marionette, Automata and Manikin 22 min, F.S., 2 shows. On at 8:04. This is a children’s feature. I doubt whether it would be so well received at any other than about Christmas time, but it quite won the house. The manikins performs various simple stunts, such as dancing, Punch and Judy comedy, etc. The finish of the act was a spectacular feature without moving figures, which did not run as smoothly as it should have done. However, the act will certainly please the little folks and it cannot be conceived how the wooden manikins can be manipulated so life-like. Holden got a good hand on his appearance after the act...

A beautifully patinated oval wall plaque in solid copper. It depicts the Danish iconic fairy tail author Hans christian Andersen (1805-1875). This par...

Antique Victorian watercolor portrait painting of a young boy in a blue outfit, seated on a pink cloth covered chair. Measures: 11.75” x 0.5” x 16” / Sa...

Beautiful oil on canvas scene of a brook running through a woodland. Lovely old patina and warmth of tone highlight this stately piece, clearly created by a master painter. The gilt ...

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning original late 19th century Flemish oil painting, signed Demoen and with an exhibitio...

Portraits of Australian aborigines based on Nicholas Petit’s engravings issued in the Baudin voyage account. 1. Top: Aboriginal man with his hair wrapped in paperbark strips told ...

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning original late 19th century Flemish oil painting, signed Van Overbroek depicting a ni...

West Indian Sailor's Valentine, Circa 1880 The large single sailor's valentine is composed from a variety of shells in concentric and geometric patterns, centred with a heart motif, surrounded by three flowers; within an octagonal stained wood frame. Dimensions: 13.86 inches wide x 13.82 inches (35.2cm wide, 35.1cm high) THE SAILOR'S VALENTINE A sailor's valentine is made of one, or, more often, a hinged pair of octagonal wooden display cases lined with fabric. Small shells, seeds, or other materials are glued to the fabric, usually forming a colorful design. The name "sailor's valentine" comes from the fact that there is usually a sentimental phrase, such as "Forget Me Not," "With Love," or other sayings that we use on Valentine's Day. The shape is thought to come from old compass...

Oil on canvas, signed lower left. Measures 32.25" x 37.5" including the frame. Know for his paintings of scenes in the highlands of Scotland, John Barker, British 1811 to 1886.

Rare 19th century Majolica fish heads oyster plate from North of France (Onnaing unsigned). Reference: Page 130 "Collecting oysters plates" of...

We are delighted to offer for sale this absolutely exquisite, original Howard & Son’s Berners Street, fully stamped, Artists Easel which can display two paintings and is adjustable A very well made and decorative piece from the geniuses that were Howard & Son’s. I’ll include a bit about the company below if you are unfamiliar. This piece is very utilitarian in the world of easels, it can display two paintings at once, the round knobs which the paintings sit on are removable and height adjustable, you can see it offers 13 different positions Condition wise it has been deep cleaned, hand condition waxed and hand polished from top to bottom, there will be normal age and use related patina marks here and there Dimensions Height:- 171cm Width:- 47.5cm Depth:- 55cm Please note all measurements are taken at the widest point A History of Howard and Sons The name of Howard and Sons is probably one of the best known and highly sought-after names in Upholstered furniture. Over the next few paragraphs, I will do my best to give you a brief history of the company. The company was started by John Howard in 1820 trading from 24 Leman St, London as a Cabinet Maker. Over the next 25 years they would make several changes of premises within the Whitechapel area. First to 27 Great Alie St (Now just Alie St) before moving a short distance to 34 Great Alie St. In 1844 the company made its first venture into upholstered furniture by opening a showroom/workshop at 36 Red lion St. This was also to be a big move towards what would be their next and most famous location. In 1848 they moved to a new address much more accustomed with the name; Berners St. London as “Cabinet Maker, Upholsterer and Decorator” under the name John Howard and Sons. The business seemed to boom at this location with workshops opening up at Tottenham St, Charlotte Mews and Fitzroy Sq and an expansion to a second Berners St building in 1853. In 1869 the company consolidated its many workshops into the one building on Cleveland St. By 1872 the company was occupying 25, 26 and 27 Berners St. These adresses would remain unchanged until 1935. During this period they became a limited company in 1899 and won the first of their Royal warrants in 1901. In 1935 the the well-established decorators Lenygon and Morant...

An Antique Adjustable Pole Screen. English oak fireside screen with hanging tapestry panel, dating to the late Victorian / Edwardian period, circa 190...

A lovely little shelf made of hand carved wood, made in the black forest area in Germany. Found at an estate sale in Nuremberg, Germany. It is not marked. A nice addition to your col...

19th century Majolica Aqua Oyster plate Minton.

19th Century reverse painted glass games board We share what we love, and we love the decorative nature of this stunning English 19th Century reverse painted glass games board. With aged surface across the glass reflection and wooden frame. With a glance of old news paper...

A set of eight pressed cobalt glass rosette drapery tie backs.

Unusual French yellow Majolica sun plate with bird, butterfly, insects and grapes, circa 1880.      

Jose A Cunha Portuguese Palissy Majolica wall pocket which features a crab on cabbage leaves. Colouration: green, pink, are predominant. The piece bears m...

An English Victorian period terracotta horse head sculpture from the 19th century on oval backplate with Greek Key motifs. Created in England during the reign of Queen Victoria in th...

Blue & White Spode Italian dinner plate Copeland circa 1920. 4 plates available.

Antique bentwood blue painted small child snow sled wall display art. Item features blue distress painted finish, bentwood frame, metal trim, very nice antiq...

William Strang (Artist 1859-1921) - David Strang (Etcher/Son of William Strang 1887-1967) - "The Flower Seller" - antique fine art engraving - renowned listed Scottish artist known for his portraits and engravings of peasants - signed and titled at the bottom - initialed and dated in the print - vintage enamel and silver gilt frame - England United Kingdom - circa 1903. Excellent antique condition - minor foxing to the paper edges from the acidic matte board - no loss - no damage - no restoration - minor scuffs & scratches to the vintage frame...

Western Hemisphere - America Framed in relatively modern gilt frame and matting. Tallis' decorative maps provided up-to-date geographical knowledge, but also used vignette view...

Very well executed oil on canvas featuring a distinguished gentleman presented in a gilt frame measuring 18" x 15.5". The painting was done by a talented hand and dates to the 19th...

A Wonderful Thomas Blinks 'Full Cry' - Oil on board - Highly sought after artist from a family originally probably purchased from artist , never been to auction. Measures: In Frame W...

We are delighted to offer for sale this stunning original pair of circa 1850 Silk Embroidered pictures depicting birds and fruit A very good looking and decorative pair, they hav...

Oil on artist panel, signed and dated lower left. It measures 19.75" x 22.75" including the frame, which is likely the original. Benjamin Williams Leader RA (12 March 1831 – 22 Ma...

French Victorian style gilt framed oil painting portrait of a yorkshire terrier dressed as a lady in black with a white lace collar (signed: PONCELET...

The Nightly mirror Art painted by P R Morris Publisher George Stinson and CO Portland, Maine 1887 24 x 32 Preowned unrestored distressed condition antique art on paper See images...

CHRISTIAN FREDERIK EMIL ECKARDT (Danish, 1832-1914) - 'Mino' ('Son of the Right Hand' - Ancient Hebrew) - PIRKENHAMMER PORCELAIN FACTORY (Fischer & Meig...