THE months of June and July saw the dispersal, by Messrs. Christie, of the celebrated collection of art treasures formed by Sir Andrew Fountaine in the early part of the last century, and added to by his descendant, Mr. Andrew Fountaine, who died in 1873. In connection with this dispersion, a step was taken which is perhaps without precedent in the history of English art sales. A number of amateurs, joined by a few dealers, had subscribed to a guarantee fund, out of which many purchases were made. The object of this proceeding was chiefly to allow some of the most precious objects to pass eventually into our public museums. It would, indeed, be lamentable if nothing of what was finest in the Fountaine collection found a resting-place in our national museums. The occasions are extremely rare on which a Syndicate can be invited to relieve our public authorities of the task of speedy decision. There was a warm expression of hearty support whenever it was thought that the Syndicate had been successful, and the higher the price realised the louder was the applause.

The first lot which attracted spirited bidding was a magnificent Faenza plate, with grotesque masks, cupids, trophies of arms, and musical instruments, a satyr on the left playing on a pipe, dated 1508. The first bid for this plate, which was only 10¾ in. diameter, was £100. After some spirited bidding it was secured by M. Lowengard, of Paris, for £920, amid applause. A Faenza dish, with the entombment of Christ, from Albert Durer, dated 1519, sold for 135 guineas, being bought by Mr. Robinson, presumedly for the Syndicate. An Urbino plate in a sunk centre—two cupids supporting a coat of arms and other figures—by Nicola da Urbino, was sold for 375 guineas; a Faenza dish, with sunk centre, surrounded with a wreath of fruit and foliage—subject, a bear hunt, from a very early Italian print, by an unknown master—210 guineas; a Pesaro lustred dish, £270; another Pesaro lustred dish, 250 guineas; an Urbino dish, 300 guineas; a large dish with sunk centre, probably Castel Durante ware, 360 guineas (the Syndicate); an Urbino pilgrim’s bottle, 240 guineas; an Urbino dish, 330 guineas (Mannheim); a dish, subject the “Last Supper,” 115 guineas; a Faenza dish from the Bernal collection, 620 guineas (Martin); an Urbino oval dish, the centre subject the Children of Israel gathering Manna, 240 guineas (Tuck); another Urbino oval dish, 240 guineas (Lowengard); an Urbino dish, Marcus Curtius on a white horse, 307 guineas (Hainauer); a large deep dish “The Taking of Troy,” 310 guineas (Hainauer); an Urbino ewer, Venus, Vulcan, and two cupids, 550 guineas. A splendid Urbino dish, beautifully painted with the Children of Israel gathering manna, was secured by the Syndicate at 1,270 guineas. A pair of Urbino pilgrims’ bottles fetched 450 guineas. 430 guineas was paid for a pair of salt-cellars in coloured enamels, and 800 guineas for a Limoges fountain, 9 inches high. Of the Henri Deux ware, there were but three pieces. The first of these, a small flambeau of architectural design, and somewhat severe in ornament, was put up at 1,000 guineas, and it eventually fell to the bid of 3,500 guineas. The next piece, a Mortier À Cire, fell for 1,500 guineas, and the last, a small Biberon, formed as a vase with handles on each side and across the cover, sold for 1,010 guineas. An antique ewer, by Jean Courtois, realised 2,300 guineas; a large deep sunk oval dish, of Limoges work, also attributed to Jean Courtois, fetched 2,800 guineas; whilst another oval dish, signed with the initials of the same artist, was sold for 760 guineas. Some of the ivory carvings realised exceptionally high prices, notably a horn, of Italian (or more probably French) work, carved most beautifully in cinque cento style, which fell into the hands of M. Egger for 4,240 guineas. Large sums were also realised for the armour and arms, of which there were several fine examples.

The greatest lot of the sale, however, was the splendid enamel of Leonard Limousin, of which much has been said and written in eulogy, and to witness the sale of which, as the Times remarked, all the world came to Christie’s. This is thus described in the catalogue: A large oval dish, with sunk centre. Raphael’s “Supper of the Gods,” in coloured enamels on a dark-blue ground, is used to introduce the portraits of Henry II. King of France in the centre, Catherine de Medicis on one side of him, and Diana of Poictiers, with yellow hair, black cap and feather, on the other side. The portrait of Anne de Montmorency, Constable of France, is introduced as Hercules, the female and Cupid by his side are probably his wife and child, the figure to the left in an ermine mantle may be the Emperor; in the background are three winged females bringing fruit, all the other figures are probably portraits, and are finished with the care of miniature painting; on the top are the arms of Anne de Montmorency, with his coronet and order of St. Michael; the border is surrounded with boys at play entwined with wreaths of fruit and flowers, the back is richly covered with masks, fruit, and flowers, arabesque figures in grisaille and scroll-work in gold; signed “Leonard Limousin, 1555. 19¼ in. by 16? in.” The piece is specially described as in this Fountaine collection by Count Laborde in his great work on enamels in the Louvre collection. It was put up at 2,000 guineas, and at once the biddings went on by 500 up to 5,100 guineas, at which there was a pause among the four or five bidders, who were, as far as we could observe, MM. Gauchez, Wertheimer, Coureau, Thibaudeau, and Boore. M. Wertheimer then led the contest again, and soon distanced all his competitors with his final bid of 7,000 guineas, at which the hammer fell.

The sum total realised by the four days’ sale of the miscellaneous articles was £91,112 17s., a sum which is nearly double that which is said to have been offered for the collection en bloc by the dealers. In the great Bernal sale 4,098 lots yielded £62,690 18s.; in this 565 lots gave half as much again. In the Strawberry-hill sale (1842) of twenty-four days, only £30,000 was realised, omitting the Cellini Bell and the Raphael Missal, which were “bought in.” So that George Robins’s grandiloquent description of that collection as “the most distinguished gem that has ever adorned the annals of auctions” must be taken with some reserve for the future.

The sale of the prints and drawings belonging to the Fountaine collection occupied four days. Among the more important lots were Albert DÜrer’s “Knight and Death,” 50 guineas (Colnaghi), and the “Judgment of Paris,” £45 (Thibaudeau); “Christ on the Cross, with Saints,” £91 (Meder); “The Incense Burner,” £151 (Meder); “The Virgin,” £46 (Meder); two studies—a female head and an infant Christ—in silver point, £125 (Thibaudeau); a small highly-finished study of woman holding a piece of linen, £210 (Salting); two heads of women asleep, in silver point, £180 (Thibaudeau). This portion of the sale realised £5,166 1s., which swelled the grand total up to £96,278 18s.