Strauss & co - 18 March 2019, Cape Town

86 The Dr Johan Bolt Cape Collection II Dr Johan Bolt’s collection of Cape furniture, Cape brass and copperware represents almost forty years of passion, connoisseurship and refinement. “I started collecting Cape furniture in the early 1980s,”says Bolt. “It has been a lifelong journey.”His broad early interest in yellowwood and stinkwood Cape furniture evolved over the course of four decades into an increasingly refined and sophisticated collection, prizing progressively rare and elusive items. The challenge of discovering furniture still in its original state drove his appetite for collecting rare examples. Like most collectors, Dr Bolt’s motivation for amassing such an array of fine pieces is complex. The excitement of the hunt for a particular piece has been enhanced by what he describes as ‘the absolute joy of living with beautiful pieces of functional art’. At first he sought out Regency furniture, moving to Neoclassical and eventually Baroque. Bolt points out that there are pieces in his collection that have no precedent at auction. He notes a particular Tulbagh chair that he waited thirty years to acquire (lot 333). He altered his house to accommodate certain pieces. Of course, the pursuit of rare prizes necessitates a deep understanding of the terrain. “I am an avid student of the subject of Cape furniture,”he says. He has spent weekends in the museums and heritage houses of the Cape, crawling beneath pieces of furniture, examining them in detail by torchlight, educating himself. “To pursue that knowledge you have to have passion,”he says. The stories and histories that rare pieces unlock are part of the joy of connoisseurship. “Every piece comes with a story,”he says, “and I have lived with their stories, and they have become like friends to me.”At the same time, collecting at this level makes one philosophical. “Many of my pieces are three hundred years old,”says Bolt. “We are just the temporary custodians.”The value that remains for the collector is the narrative they come to represent. “If I look at my collection, it was all about pursuing a dream,”he says. A collection such as this is indeed a dream: a reflection of a collector’s passion, dedication, education and lifelong pursuit.