A London based buyer paid £15,600 ($20,982) and the sale’s highest price for this cast iron bench modeled after an Eighteenth Century Italian marble example (£3/5,000).

Review by Madelia Hickman Ring

STANSTED MOUNTFITCHET, UK — International bidders were determined to buy when Sworders auctioned Ken Bolan’s collection on September 24. The 461-lot sale, which was subtitled “Nature Follows Form,” tallied a £340,000 ($457,300) total, with many of the top lots going to buyers outside the UK.

The auction offered an exceptionally eclectic mix of things, with Sworders’ catalog noting that “few dealers in the last 50 years have had an eye as instinctive or a career as colorful as Ken Bolan. From a young boy gazing longingly through the window of a Berkshire antiques shop, to an international tastemaker with a reputation for style, boldness and flair, Ken’s journey through the art and antiques world has been one of passion, adventure, and unerring intuition.”

A cast-iron bench that was a copy of an Eighteenth Century marble example and one of six cast by the Morris Singer foundry sat at the top of the sale, with a £15,600 ($20,982) result, significantly improving on its £3/5,000 estimate. Measuring 57 inches long, it was purchased by a buyer in London.

A massive Danish Midcentury Modern rosewood table that measured 186¼ inches long and was raised on six supports that was commissioned in the 1960s for the Det Gamle Rådhus (Old Town Hall) in Ribe, Denmark, by Arne Vodder (1926-2009) sold for £12,350 ($16,611) to an Abu Dhabi-based buyer. The lot included 16 rosewood armchairs, also designed by Vodder, for Sibast Møbelfabrik and had come to auction with an estimate of £10/15,000.

Demonstrating a wedge-shape, this monumental Danish Midcentury Modern table and 16 chairs had been made by Arne Vodder for a Danish Old Town Hall. Not the sort of thing that might fit into most private homes or apartments, it sold within estimate to a buyer in Abu Dhabi for £12,350 ($16,611).

Sculpture was prominent in the sale, in bronze, marble and other media. Leading the group at £9,100 ($12,240) and selling to a UK-based buyer was “Boxing Hares” by Hamish Mackie (b 1973). The work had been made in 2009 and numbered “2” from an edition of 12.

Following it at £7,800 ($10,491) was a circa 1880 French figure of Diana of Versailles inscribed “F. Barbedienne Fondeur” and with a “Collas” cast medallion. The catalog noted that Achille Collas (French, 1795-1859) “invented a machine that involved copying sculptures on a smaller scale while maintaining the details of the original. This enabled smaller versions of famous museum pieces to become accessible to a larger audience. The process was called ‘réduction mécanique’ and these pieces of sculpture are stamped with the seal ‘réduction mécanique A. Collas, Brevete.’” It sold to a buyer in Spain.

Architectural elements were another prominent category on the day and a pair of impressed and bronzed resin on wood doors, designed by Billy Joe McCarroll and David Gillespie for Forms + Surfaces and titled “Heroic Sunburst” will be traveling to a new home in Australia. The realized price was £8,450 ($11,365), beating £5/7,000 expectations.

For those who prefer more traditional architectural elements or lighting, the sale offered a pair of Nineteenth Century Regency cast iron pier lights, later mounted with patinated copper lanterns. Standing 102-⅜ inches tall, the pair rose to £5,850 ($7,868) and will be staying in the UK.

Bidders took this pair of Regency cast iron pier lights to £5,850 ($7,868), with a UK-based buyer prevailing (£2/3,000).

There were a baker’s dozen works in the sale by contemporary British sculptor, Guy Taplin (b 1939). The priciest one depicted a mother owl, two chicks and a dead mole, mounted within a driftwood frame; it sold to a UK-based buyer for £5,200 ($6,994). Other works of his included “Lapwing” (£3,000 [$5,246]) and “Curlew” (£2,600) [$3,497]).

Prices quoted include the buyer’s premium and show conversions to US dollars based on the exchange rate as of the date of the sale.

Sworders will have a Design sale on October 21, a Glass sale on October 28, an online books, manuscripts and maps sale that ends on November 2 and an Asian art auction on November 7. For information, www.sworder.co.uk.