I HAVE written several times recently about auctions that brought to mind the spate of contents sales held on the premises during the 1970s and 1980s and the dispersal of Robert Kime's personal collections by Dreweatts last month was another such occasion. Although the auction was not held on the actual premises, the auctioneer had done a fine job of approximating the atmosphere at its base, Donnington Priory in Newbury, Berkshire.
Robert Kime (1946-2022) preferred to label himself an 'assembler', rather than an interior decorator, and would not big himself up in the American way as a cap-D 'Designer'. Assembler also suited him better than collector, as his accumulations were not tightly focused, although themes and threads ran through and drew them together. Egyptian antiquities, for instance, led to Edward Lear's watercolours of the Nile and Lear-I speculate to the Modern British artists that his style foreshadowed. Not only quality was important to Kime; he also valued stories and provenance. As his daughter, Hannah, has said, 'my father's treasures were as cherished as friends'.
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Denne historien er fra November 01, 2023-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds