Soaring eagles

This portrait of an Officer of the Russian Imperial Chevalier Guards was for sale at auction last night. It is by Carl Ludwig Friedrich Becker (German 1820-1900) and measures 22.3 inches x 12.75 inches, excluding its magnificent frame:

which substantially increases both the size and the effect of the picture. I was smitten with it, and placed a bid, which sadly was superseded ten times. The pain of watching it soar was all too evident, as unusually I was able to watch the bidding on line. But I was not tempted to exceed the limit I had set in my mind. 

This lot was sold together with many other items from imperial Russia, including this pendant depicting Tsar Alexander III,

which I thought had some resemblance to a royal award given by a sovereign to his or her female family members, usually affixed to a court dress by a grosgrain ribbon. (Queen Elizabeth II wears two of the Royal Family Order - one from her grandfather King George V - white ribbon, and one from her father, King George VI - pink ribbon.)

Queen Elizabeth II's own Royal Family Order, (worn inter alia by the late Queen Elizabeth, and the Duchess of Cornwall), with its yellow ribbon.

The price achieved certainly suggests that it might have been that important, and indeed I imagined that all the lots were from an émigré with imperial Russian ties. However, it seems they were merely from a collector, so my romantic notions about a bygone era have been quashed.

Prior to the lot coming up we were discussing exactly where we would hang the picture of the guardsman. Ah well, at least the four pictures that would have had to be moved will not now need to exercise my mind. And I need a few readies for my next foray, which I fear will be unsuccessful too, as I'm sure it will exceed my limit. All to be revealed after Sunday's auction for that lot.

When dolphins were fish

This pretty amethyst bowl with bronze doré fittings was for sale at auction, and caught my eye as something that would sit very well as the centrepiece on my dining table.

At present a small tureen fills this place. Both items use dolphins in their design. Stylised dolphins, which look more like fish than their better known real-life mammals. I do however like the stylised version, which had its design origins as far back as the time of the Greeks, and more recently in French heraldry, (as below), the symbol of the heir to the throne, the Dauphin.

Anyway, all somewhat academic, as I managed to talk myself out of bidding for the amethyst jewel, and will remain focused on bidding for pictures. Items within my desired genre seem few and far between at the moment.

The accountant is happy.

No More moor

Today would have been the 81st birthday of my mother, who died just over 8 years ago. During our visit to Scotland we were able to be together with my father on the anniversary of her death.

Thereafter, and probably exactly 8 years later, my brother and my partner walked up the moor behind the castle estate, to the spot where the three of us eight years previously, joined by my father then, scattered her ashes.

The walk began in suitably gloomy and foreboding clouds, but as is usual with Scottish weather, these were accompanied by bright sunshine

and pretty vignettes, such as this miniature waterfall through the heather. Above the point where we scattered the ashes, is a lone pine

which has poignant memories, as the Lone Pine hotel was a favourite weekend retreat for my parents when they first met in Penang in 1955.

The Isle of Men?

Joseph Bayer (Ecole Allemande des annees 20), Culture physique, circa 1927

Flag of the Isle of Man

Good housekeeping

I am lucky enough to live in a country where it is not overly expensive to employ "a lady who does" - a maid in the usual parlance. And a real godsend she is. Apart from being very efficient, and working long hours - from 1 till 6 five days a week - she has the amazingly rare quality of understanding space. Our space. By that I mean, if we are in the kitchen, having lunch or making a snack, she will make sure she is doing something somewhere else.

Having experienced home help in other people's houses, (much bigger than our 240 square metre flat here), I really know how lucky we are. In Hong Kong, during our brief refuge in May, a new maid had just started at the house where we were staying. As a favour to my hosts, (the wife was away, and the husband was working), I tried to pass on a few tips. But it was clear to me that the maid had little or no experience, and the best tip I could give was to my hosts: interview another candidate.

In Scotland at the castle a "daily" appears early, 4 days a week. In a place that is so large, it is extraodinary that she has the ability to make so much noise that she can even wake the ghosts of centuries' past by overuse of the vacuum cleaner, with a particular skill of dragging it across stone floors . And if you blink, she's gone. But her continued employment is viewed as an act of local charity by her employer. When we have lived at the castle on our own, caretaking it, I have requested that the lady be given the time off during our stay, as the main chore for me is getting up from my warm comfortable bed and going down to unlock the door to allow her to let herself in. And then of course there is a brief flurry of activity and noise before the quietude one so cherishes, returns.

The important thing is of course to establish what you want as an employer from the outset. And it's useful to know a bit about what duties should be. I have been lucky enough to have help all of my life, except when we lived briefly in Edinburgh. There we had twice the space we have here, but having watched and observed the staff we have had over the years, and indeed learning how to iron from our amah in Hong Kong, I know what it takes, and what to expect. And everyone should learn and know how to clean a lavatory. Apart from being good for the soul, it puts much into perspective.

I enjoyed this piece from The Guardian: Homes: Spick and span which provides some useful tips about how to keep a place clean.

Now I just need to go and reach for my ostrich plumes. For my head of course, you fools.

Behind the green door

Facing the main front door

side alcove

mirrored side alcove, opposite

The inner hall fireplace (1)

The inner hall (2)

I was reading recently the lament that front doors are no longer used. The main entrance at the castle where we were staying is one such culprit. Behind the green door is a large and beautifully laid out entrance hall. Once you pass through the ovoid hallway, you reach an inner hall with a chimneypiece, within which there is a hearth plate dated 1635, with the royal coat of arms and initials CR, (Charles I).

For practical reasons - no servants, and closer proximity to where most deliveries are destined - the side entrance is the one used. But even for our arrival to stay with almost steamer trunk quantities of luggage, both entrances provide a physical challenge, getting the luggage up from the ground to whichever of the bedrooms we are usually allocated. Not surprisingly the amount of luggage we take now has diminished over the years.

Georgian resemblance

It is not surprising that there should be a resemblance between King George III and his descendant Prince William of Wales. The portrait of the king, along with his queen, Charlotte, below, was up for auction recently, but the lot was withdrawn after failing to reach the reserve. Both are attributed to Sir Nathaniel Dance Holland (1734-1811). 

Artistic interlude

The holiday in Scotland afforded the time and opportunity to go and view the Impressionist Gardens exhibition at the National Galleries of Scotland at The Mound in Edinburgh.

Amongst the many on display was this effete picture by James Tissot, entitled Holyday, or The Picnic. The other great names of the Impressionist movement were also well represented - Monet, Pisarro, Renoir, Manet and post-Impressionists Cézanne, Bonnard, Van Gogh, Gaugin and Klimt. It seems churlish to complain about the embarrassment of riches on display, but there were really too many pictures to digest the exhibition in a short afternoon's viewing.

National Galleries of Scotland, The Mound, Edinburgh

We coupled this visit with another exhibition in the same gallery - the work of the Danish artist Christen Købke, of which a two teasers are shown here:

Frederiksborg Castle in the Evening Light, 1835

One of the Small Towers on Frederiksborg Castle, about 1834

The detail of both architectural renderings above, and portraiture was extremely compelling. More of the latter anon.