Strauss & co - Review 2019

In November, Strauss & Co successfully concluded the sale of the contents of Harcroft House, a distinguished Arts and Crafts- style manor home in Constantia. Cataloguing the contents of Harcroft House began in April. Vanessa Phillips, working with Sophie-Louise Fröhlich, supervised the project. Phillips is an expert in complex house sales, having previously handled Keerweder Estate in Franschhoek, among several others. “Harcroft House had remained untouched for 70 years and represented the end of an era,” said Phillips after the sale. “It was part of a different world, a world that is no more.”It was Fröhlich’s first house sale.“The extent of the holdings inHarcroft Housewas significant and required a great deal of time to organise, order and find families for display and marketing purposes,” she said. “I relied a great deal on Muriel Rycroft’s diaries, personal letters and photo albums, which were a privilege to handle.” The daylong sale of 558 lots grossed R7 million and generated significant international interest among collectors. The top lot was a Chinese early Republican period, four-panel scroll painting depicting birds in flowering trees, which sold for R432 440, more than four times the estimate. Chinese and Japanese artefacts performed exceptionally well. A ten-panel painting from the Qing Dynasty portraying an aristocrat’s court was gamely pursued by two bidders on the floor and eventually sold for R341 400. A set of four Chinese ink and colour on paper scroll paintings, early Republic period Sold R432 440 37