The Contents of Wood Hall

Sworders are pleased to annouce the sale of the part-contents of the Essex manor house Wood Hall during its next Live Online Fine Interiors auction on 21-22 July. Country house favourites from the estate include Georgian and later portraiture, a suit of armour and snooker room accessories.

Wood Hall is located about half a mile from the village of Arkesden in the north of Essex, close to the Hertfordshire and Cambridge borders. The present house was rebuilt in the 18th and late 19th century. Although much of the surrounding land sold in 1926, a manor has remained here since at least the mid 14th century. For over 200 years, from the early Tudor to the early Georgian period, it was the seat of the Cutts family. The consignment includes an array of thirty 17th, 18th and 19th century portraits. Military subjects include a portrait of John Churchill, the 1st Duke of Marlborough (1650-1722) dressed in armour and ermine from the studio of Godfrey Kneller and a half-length rendering of Captain Charles Kerr of Buchtrigg and Calderbank (1753-1813), wearing the uniform of the Royal Edinburgh Volunteers by Scottish artist David Martin.

_{Lot 316}

_{David Martin - Portrait of Captain Charles Kerr}

_{Estimate £1,500 - £2,500}

Among the most arresting subjects is a three-quarter length oil of Mrs James Hoste (1710-59) dressed in a blue dress and gold cloak. The granddaughter of Robert Walpole and sister to Robert, 1st Earl of Oxford, she married Major James Hoste of Sandringham. Painted c.1735 by an artist from the Circle of John Vanderbank the Younger (1694-1739), her portrait had been in the family of the sitter at West Acre High House, Norfolk until it was last sold in 2010. 

_{Lot 315}

_{Circle of John Vanderbank the Younger - Portrait of Mrs. James Hoste}

_{Estimate £3,000 - £5,000}

Engraved with dragons and a coat of arms, an 18th century German suit of armour that stood in the hallway at Wood House is guided at £800-1200 while an Edwardian walnut snooker scoreboard and cue stands are expected to bring £300-400. Taxidermy specimens include a white fallow deer - sometimes referred to as a Judus deer, while a group of garden ornaments and statuary removed from the grounds of the property is led by a pair of bronze standing lions.

_{Lot 298}

_{A pair of large bronze lions}

_{Estimate £500 - £800}

Click here to view the full selection of items from Wood Hall.