Bulletin No. 51, The Art of War

Welcome to our Art of War Bulletin timed to coincide with the British Antique Dealers Association Week 2021 (11th-17th October). We do hope you will be able to visit us in Piccadilly Arcade during BADA Week or in the near future see our our latest acquisitions firsthand and to speak with us about these new pieces, and growing your own collections. 
Highlights from our Art of War offering are relics from the Field of Waterloo with unimpeachable provenance, an item of Paris porcelain from Admiral Lord Nelson’s famed Baltic Service of 1802, a dance staff from the epic played out in Zululand in 1879, and conclusive 1941 naval message from the Battle of the Atlantic. 
 The Waterloo Elm Inkstand, 1820
Ormolu mounted Waterloo elm with glass inkwells. Of rectangular open box form with, compartmented interior and central scrollwork carrying handle, the outer sides applied with gilt bronze plaques, the first inscribed in gothic script, ’Wellington Elm’; the second, ‘This Box is formed out of the Elm Tree which stood behind La Haye Sainte & close to which England’s great Captain / frequently took his Station during the famed Battle of Waterloo, it must therefore be considered as surpassing in fame every / Tree of the Forest & was purchased by Mr Children who kindly gave this piece of it to’ [signed in facsimile] M. Rutland’.
Admiral Lord Nelson’s Baltic Service Coffee Cup, 1802
Paris porcelain decorated in London. Of cylindrical form with gilt decorated handle, the body decorated with gilt borders, oak leaf and gilded acorn decoration to the sides and a fouled anchor to the front within laurel branches tied with blue ribbons. The fouled anchor surmounted with the gilt inscription ‘Nelson’ and flanked to the left and right of the shank ‘2nd’ ‘April’, and beneath the anchor crown, ‘Baltic’ in commemoration of Nelson's destruction of the Danish fleet at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801. The sides further inscribed to the left, ‘14th February’, commemorating the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797) for which Nelson was knighted and promoted, and to the right, ‘Glorious 1st Augt’ in commemoration of Nelson’s annihilation of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in 1798.
‘I TORPEDOED THE BISMARCK’ - Naval Message, May 1941
Printed paper inscribed in ink. Naval Message to the Senior Officer Force H, Vice-Admiral Sir James Somerville, from H.M.S. Dorsetshire reporting the final torpedoing of the German battleship Bismarck in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 300 nautical miles west of Brest, France on 27 May 1941. The message decoded and transcribed onto a S.1329b. form at 12.07hrs reads. ‘I TORPEDOED THE BISMARCK BOTH SIDES BEFORE SHE SANK STOP SHE HAD CEASED FIRING / BUT HER COLOURS WERE STILL / FLYING.’
Anglo-Zulu War - Dance Staff, 1879
Hardwood with spherical head the shaft applied with silver plaque inscribed 'Zulu Ceremonial Dance Staff Taken From The Kraal of Prince Dabulmanzi by Col. R. W. P. Curzon Howe Ulundi 1879'. 

We look forward to seeing you in the coming weeks and months.

James, Toby & George