SUSSEX, UK.- The final curtain is set to fall when the last part of the late Sir John Gielgud’s collection is offered at Sotheby’s on Tuesday & Wednesday, May 21 & 22, 2002. The collection of more than 50 pieces from his garden will be included in a sale of Garden Statuary and Architectural Items at Sotheby’s, Summers Place, Billingshurst, West Sussex.



Following his death in May 2000, at the age of 96, Sotheby’s offered the contents of the great actor’s Buckinghamshire home in April 2001. Sir John bought the house ’South Pavillion’ at Wotton Underwood, in 1976, and shared it with his long-term companion, Martin Hensler. The house was set in several acres of formal and informal gardens and Gielgud combined both the modern and the antique to create a variety of areas for entertaining and contemplation and many of the pieces in Sotheby’s sale reflect his theatrical career.



The collection includes furniture, urns, planters, figures, gatepiers, corbels and statues. Antique examples include a late 17th century white marble putto, originating from the Low Countries; and a French late 19th century terracotta bust of Diana which carry estimates of £1,500-2,500 and £800-1,200 respectively. 20th century pieces comprise a bronze figure of Marcus Aurelius which is estimated at £2,500-4,000, while a pair of lead greyhounds, is estimated at £800-1,200, and a pair of Coalbrookdale-style nasturtium pattern chairs, along with a pair of aluminum Gothic pattern chairs is estimated at £900-1,200.



Elsewhere in Sotheby’s sale is an interesting collection of the work of Philip Thomason, maker and restorer of decorative terracotta, based in Cudworth, Somerset. Philip Thomason started his working-life as a stone-carver in Oxford and has carried out decorative and sculptural carvings to many of the country’s famous buildings including Westminster Abbey, Westminster Palace, Windsor Castle, Greenwich Naval College, the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, and Wells Cathedral.



It was while working as a stone-carver, that he became entranced by the 18th century pieces produced by the Coade manufactory. Started by a woman, Eleanor Coade, in the 1760s, she produced a wide variety of exceptional sculpture and architectural fittings using a clay-based material. Mr Thomason began a workshop specialising in restoring 18th and 19th century English terracotta and after much research, he rediscovered the formula for making Coade stone. In 1985, Thomason Cudworth was formed and over the last 15 years has evolved into a small highly-skilled team of craftsmen, involved in public and private unique commissions using many of the characteristics of their 18th century counterpart. More than 30 pieces will be offered at Sotheby’s as the business concentrates on exclusive commissions and restoration projects.



Notable pieces include a large sphinx, which is estimated at £6,000-10,000, while a pair of figures of Pomona and Flora after Coade originals modelled by John Bacon, each measuring seven foot high, on their pedestals, is estimated at £5,000-8,000 each, and a pair of putti candelabra, each with rotund youth holding a two branch candelabra is estimated at £2,000-3,000.