John Jesse, the decorative arts dealer, is bidding farewell to Kensington Church Street after 40 years. Sotheby’s is offering the contents of his gallery, and pieces from his private collection, in an exceptional single-owner sale at New Bond Street in London on Wednesday, February 22, 2006. First takes a look at some of the pieces offered.
John Jesse’s passion for collecting started at an early age. As a boy he could be found regularly browsing antique shops wherever he went, picking up anything of a collectible nature. In July of this year, after 40 highly successful years of trading, this pioneering London-based Decorative Arts dealer announced that he was shutting up shop.
Over the past four decades, John Jesse’s shop on Kensington Church Street has been a landmark and focal point for Art Nouveau and Art Deco collectors around the globe. It became synonymous with connoisseurship, expertise and quality, offering an intriguing mix of material from Pugin to Punk. John set a precedent by entering the Decorative Arts field long before others, including Sotheby’s, ventured there in the late 1960s. Since then he has accumulated some remarkable works and sourced, supplied and built collections for a clientele that has included Sir Paul McCartney, Michael Caine, Luchino Visconti and Brad Pitt. Indeed Rosita Missoni is recorded as saying that John’s shop was her favourite in London. Museums too have benefited from John’s keen eye over the years. In 1969 he bought a Charles Annesley Voysey painted wood clock which he lent to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for 30 years and which is now part of their permanent collection.
Jeremy Morrison, Head of Sotheby’s Decorative Arts & Design department in London and expert in charge of the sale, said: “It is a pleasure and privilege to be handling the collection of such a renowned member of the Decorative Arts community. John was such a forerunner in this arena and has constantly pushed the boundaries. His thinking has always been well ahead of its time and as a result he has been an influential figure in the development of the subject. His collection offers items with a cleanness of line, making them suitable for interiors of every style – whether modern minimalist or traditional country cottage.”
The collection will include more than 400 lots and is expected to fetch in excess of £500,000, with prices starting from £200. An eclectic mix of furniture, glass, ceramics, posters, jewellery and silver works will be offered, including the finest examples of Arts and Crafts, through the clean lines of the Modern Movement to contemporary works. Many of the items reflect aspects of everyday life – cutlery, mirrors, tea sets, chairs, tables, bowls through to brooches, bracelets and necklaces – and the majority have a lightness and wittiness about them as John admits to “loving the wit of things.”
Born in Chelsea, John was keen to pursue a career in art. He attended Art School and at one time lived in the same house as Francis Bacon. However, realising that life as an artist was not for him, John decided to change his focus and so began his pioneering fascination with Art Nouveau and Art Deco. Both subjects had yet to enter the mainstream of collecting and wonderful treasures had yet to be unearthed. John states: “I’ve always liked non-commercial things – new things that haven’t been seen before. I like to learn about the off-shoots to mainstream tastes and bring them out and nurture and encourage them. I also like to shock.” This philosophy has influenced many established collectors as well as helped to foster the tastes of fledgling buyers.
John established himself at 160 Kensington Church Street in 1966, two years after starting up on his own in Portobello Market. He was the first Art Nouveau and Art Deco dealer in the UK and certainly the first to move to the street, which has since become a Mecca for dealers in 20th Century material. Since 1966 he has been constantly replenishing his shop and his home with treasures that have caught his eye. His enduring passion has been for the more traditional Art Nouveau and Arts & Crafts pieces such as the silver, gold and pewter items designed with Celtic inspiration by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., Charles Rennie Mackintosh furniture and the designs of Dr Christopher Dresser.
The sale will have numerous highlights but two pieces of which John is particularly fond, and which have been in his collection for many years, are a 1934 Surrealist Hand table by Costa Achillepoulo which he bought in 1968 and which is executed in carved wood and a cold painted bronze and ivory lamp in the form of a female parachutist bought at Bermondsey Market. The table is estimated to fetch £15,000-£20,000 while the parachute lamp, one of only two thought to have been produced by Richard W. Lange, is estimated at £6,000-£9,000. Other exciting lots among the furniture and sculpture on offer will be a Duncan Miller stool, two stools by chairs by Louis Sognot Syrie Maugham and an occasional Cloud table by Neil Morris.
Among the ceramics on offer, highlights will be a Jutta Sika tea and coffee set (est: £4,000-£6,000), a William de Morgan glazed pottery vase decorated with fish (est: £5,000-£8,000) and a highly stylised 1930s white crackle glazed earthenware dove by Primavera (est: £800-£1,200). The tea set was designed for Joseph Bock and comprises a teapot, milk jugs, sugar bowl, plates and cups and saucers. A Royal Crown Derby Surrealist tea set which came from the collection of Edward James is also of worthy note in this section. Like the table above, this china has a ‘hand’ theme. It is estimated to fetch £4,000-£6,000. Fine examples of Art Nouveau glass will also be a feature of the sale and three striking Loetz vases are particularly eye-catching. Dating from the early 20th century, the iridescent glass vases carry estimates of between £500-£1,500.
A superb assortment of approximately 60 compacts, vanities and cigarette cases will be a further highlight of the sale. Dating from the 1920s-1950s, the assortment will include novelty pieces – compacts in the form of soldiers’ hats, diamante ladies’ pistols, suitcases, pool balls, globes and pianos – as well as chic 1930s Art Deco abstract designs in gilt and enamel, evoking a dissipated nightclub glamour. With estimates starting at £200, the compacts are sure to attract a great deal of attention.
The jewellery on offer will include a Pugin brooch in gold and semi-precious stones, which was illustrated in the Art Journal in 1863 and which is estimated at £2,000-£3,000. An extensive selection of Modernist pieces in various metals, and a group of more contemporary pieces, will also feature and many of these were bought at the renowned South Molton Street gallery, Electrum. Among the later pieces to be offered will be an extraordinary and unique pendant in the form of a gas mask, which John refers to as ‘The Pollution Necklace.’ Made from oxidized silver, carved ivory and moonstone and designed by Susan Vedadi in 1972, it was once worn by Germaine Greer on a television appearance she made in the mid 1970s. The unusual necklace is estimated to fetch £1,200-£1,800.
Although the lease has expired and the shop has now closed, John will continue to be involved in the market, operating instead from his London home. “My life is changing and it’s time to move on and scale down. The time is right. I found a vein of gold and I mined the seam and now I’ve come to the end of it but I’m definitely going to carry on – I can’t stop. I’m a buy-a-holic and wherever I go I am looking. If something catches my eye I can’t resist!”