Presentation Silver Bowl by Louis Osman expected to fetch up to £15,000 at DNW

An important silver bowl created by Louis Osman for the Clerk of the Goldsmiths’ Company as a retirement gift will appear in the Jewellery, Watches and Objects of Vertu auction at Dix Noonan Webbin London on March 26. It is estimated at £10,000-15,000.

Osman made the waterlily bowl, in silver gilt, titanium, laburnum wood and enamel, for Peter Jenkins in 1991 and the lot comes with the original design drawing.

In 1988 Peter Jenkins retired as Clerk of the Goldsmiths’ Company after 13 years. The Company wished to present him with a retirement gift, and he suggested a piece by Louis Osman, whom he had known for many years and whose work he admired. They settled on a mazer bowl (a medieval drinking vessel) and Louis set to work researching the history of mazer bowls. He determined that the design should be “in the medieval tradition but completely contemporary in feeling” and based on a rare waterlily, found in the Bodnant Gardens in North Wales. The accompanying design shows that Louis had intended the bowl to bear a presentation inscription - work that was never undertaken on the final piece.

Jewellery specialist, Laura Smith commented: “We are delighted to be offering this exquisite bowl by renowned designer Louis Osman. This was consigned by the family of Peter Jenkins following the success, last year, when we were privileged to sell the personal archive of Osman.”

Elsewhere in the sale, Dix Noonan Webb is delighted to present a selection of lady’s watches and rings by the award winning French designer Jean Muller. A Fine Arts School graduate, the softly spoken craftsman Jean Muller began his career as a stylist for an international watchmaking group. In the 1980s, he launched the BUGATTI watch brand, independently managing this project from the initial designs right through to worldwide distribution.

For the past 15 years, Jean Muller has been discreetly cooperating with many of the great names in Swiss watchmaking and French fine jewellery creation - including Chopard, Girard Perregaux, Richard Mille, TAG HEUER ETC., and is now working in alliance with master watchmaker Bruno Saville, with workshops in Le Locle (Switzerland). A selection of pretty cocktail watches and matching rings will be offered for sale, with each piece incorporating the theme of a multi-petal flower head, the designs drawing parallels perhaps with the much loved traditional cottage garden flower, the ‘Auricula’.

Head of Jewellery, Frances Noble commented; “The watch heads are delicately fashioned in 18ct white, rose or yellow gold, diamond set, with enamelled, pearl or gem set dials, on fine black silk straps and diamond set buckle clasps. These beautifully produced watches are all unused, and in pristine condition. The accompanying rings echo the designs. With estimates ranging from £300 upwards, surely too tempting an opportunity to miss….”

Also in the sale is a 16th century gold posy ring, discovered by a metal detectorist in October 2017 and expected to fetch £1,500-£2,000.  The exterior is chased with nautilus shells and six petal flower heads, the interior inscribed in Roman capitals ‘In silenc and in hope’ (sic).  

As Laura Smith explains: “This unusual posy is not recorded in Joan Evan’s reference work ‘Posy rings’. It is possibly taken from the Douay-Rheims bible, Isaiah 30:15 - “For thus saith the Lord God the Holy One of Israel: If you return and be quiet, you shall be saved: in silence and in hope shall your strength be.”  The Douay-Rheims Bible was an English translation of the Latin Vugate for the Catholic Church, the Old Testament being published in 1610.”