Fortnightly Auctions Of Antiques, Collectables, General Furniture and Effects. New Lots Added Daily.
Sold for: £9
This lot comprises a pair of two framed artworks including a Chas. Masters watercolour and a Bowen road map. The watercolour painting on paper depicts a rural river landscape, featuring a thatched cottage and a circular stone building beside the waterway. The work is signed ‘Chas. Masters’ and inscribed ‘Tuckenhay on the Dart.’ in the lower-left corner. It is mounted within a wide, ornate gilt frame featuring a beaded inner sight edge. The second item is a hand-coloured engraved copperplate road map titled ‘The Roads from EXETER to DORCHESTER & from PLYMOUTH to DARTMOUTH in DEVON-SHI.’, presented in an eighteenth-century strip format. The print is numbered ’76’ to the upper-right corner and is set in a black frame with a gold-tone inner border and a cream card mount.
The reverse of the road map frame carries a metallic adhesive label reading ‘ANTIQUE PRINT GUARANTEED TO BE OVER 100 YRS OLD HAND COLOURED’ and a retailer label for ‘S E BEARD AT THE ANTIQUE PRINT SHOP 44 HIGH EAST STREET DORCHESTER’. A handwritten pencil inscription to the backboard reads ‘CARTOGRAPHER BOWEN’. The watercolour frame retains a brown paper backing which shows substantial deterioration. Both items are presented under glass.
Condition report:
The ornate gilt frame of the watercolour shows several small chips and surface losses to the gold finish, particularly along the outer edges (photo 6). The brown paper backing on the reverse of the watercolour frame is severely cracked and split across its width (photo 9). The road map print exhibits visible foxing and brown age-related staining, which is most prominent along the right-hand vertical margin (photo 2). Both frames appear structurally sound despite surface wear and age.
Share this lot:
