For Immediate Release

16 March 2010

Contact: Leonie Ashfield +44 (0)20 7752 3121 lashfield@christies.com

RARE SUNDIAL ONCE USED TO GROW STRAWBERRIES

EXPECTED TO REALISE OVER £7,000 AT CHRISTIE’S
South Kensington – A Scottish sundial boss
discovered half-buried in the ground in Herfordshire,
England, and then used by the owner to grow
strawberries, is expected to realise between £7,000 and
£10,000 when it is auctioned as part of Christie’s
Travel, Science and Natural History sale in London on 6
April 2011. The sundial, scientifically referred to as a
stone polyhedral dial, will be sold alongside over 200
objects, instruments, globes and illustrations from the
Golden Age of Colonial Exploration in the 17th, 18th
and 19th centuries and includes scientific discoveries
made during the Age of the Enlightenment; estimates
range from £300 to £30,000.

Discovered in 1974, the rare sundial boss illustrated left

was found half-buried in the ground at Walton Lodge,
Great Amwell. The then resident of the Lodge dug it
up and rescued it, displaying it as an object of intrigue in the garden and successfully growing strawberries
in the semi-spherical hollows, the scaphe dials. The dial accompanied the owner on several house moves,
and after a chance encounter with a sundial enthusiast, the boss has now been recognised – after analysis
of the dial projections – as a rare type that would have originally been located just south of Edinburgh
circa 1630-1730. It is one of only three known examples to have come onto the market in the last twenty
years.

From the find location, in Hertfordshire, it can be deduced that the sundial was probably brought to
Walton Lodge by one time resident the Mylne family. Robert Mylne (1633-1710) was the last Master
Mason to the Crown of Scotland, and his uncle John Mylne (1611-1667) was responsible for the earliest
dated dial of this type at Drummond Castle (1630). Originally having formed the central section of a
much larger piece of scientific garden statuary similar to the example at Mountstuart gardens on the Isle
of Bute (http://www.flickr.com/photos/28076558@N05/2621709940 ) the location of the remainder of
the dial is unknown.

Further items in the sale range from a rare late-Regency 18-inch library globe made by the London family
firm John & William Cary in 1835 (estimate: £30,000-50,000) illustrated below right through to a charming
and highly detailed watercolour of an Indian temple with a banyan tree by Peter Dallas (estimate: £300-
400) illustrated below centre. A broad selection of items of Asian interest feature in the sale, including a 19th
century painting on glass illustrating a view of Hong Kong, displaying the trading houses with their
respective national flags (estimate: £2,000-3,000) illustrated below right. The sale will also feature the two
earliest scientific national geological maps, one plagiarised after the other (lots 26 and 27) – George Bellas
Greenough’s map is only the second known example of his kind to ever have been offered at auction; a
very interesting view of the city of Troy by the German artist Johann Jacob Wolfensberger (1797-1850),
which was executed prior to the famous excavations of the site (lot 202); and archive of 161 drawings by
Sir Henry Wickham, the plant collector who smuggled rubber plant seeds out of South America, thus
stealing the rubber industry away from Brazil (lot 180); and a collection of 166 detailed insect drawings by
Victorian scientist Fred Enock provide a fascinating insight into the art of science, and as well as being
scientifically interesting are also very decorative and have a surprisingly contemporary appearance (lots 73-
80) all illustrated below.

HIGHLIGHTS

Lot 121
Lot 118 Lot 122
Thomas Allom (1804-1872) Chinese School, mid-19th Century
Circle of George Chinnery (1774-1852)
From a sketch taken on the spot by Lieutenant A View of Hong Kong depicting the trading
White, Royal Marines, Fort Victoria, Kow Macao and the Praya Grande from the south in
Loon houses, with European, American and
a Chinese carved wood frame
Estimate: £800 - 1,200 Chinese shipping, taken from Victoria
Estimate: £4,000 - 6,000
Harbour
Estimate: £2,000 - 3,000

Lot 102 Lot 26 Lot 27

A late regency 18-inch library globe
John & William Cary, 1835
Estimate: £30,000-50,000
William Smith (1769-1830)
A Delineation of the Strata of England and
Wales, with part of Scotland.
London: John Cary, 1 August, 1815
Estimate: £2,500-3,500
George Bellas Greenough (1778-1855)
A Geological Map of England and Wales.
London: for the Geological Society, by
Longman, etc., 1819-[1820].
Estimate: £5,000-8,000
Lot 180 Lot 140 Lots 73-80
Sir Henry Wickham (1846-1926) Peter Dallas, early 19th Century Fred Enock (1845-1916)
An archive of 161 drawings of Central Nataraja Temple at Chidambaram, Tamil A collection of 166 detailed insect
America, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Nadu drawings sold in group lots
Australia, West Indies and British New Estimate £300 - 400 Estimates: £800 to £2,500
Guinea between 1866-1905
(see catalogue note for details)
Estimate £5,000 - 8,000

Lot 202 Lot 184

Johann Jacob Wolfensberger (1797- Michael Jean Cazabon (1813-1888)
1850) Whaler in the Second Bocas Lot 185
A view of Troy from the hills, looking out to Estimate: £8,000-12,000 Michael Jean Cazabon (1813-1888)
the Aegean A waterfall, Trinidad
Estimate: £7,000-10,000 Estimate: £10,000-15,000

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High resolution images and further information available upon request
http://www.christies.com/departments/travel-science-and-natural-history/

Notes to Editors:
Public Viewing: Saturday 2 April: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Sunday 3 April: 11.00am - 5.00pm
Monday 4 April: 9.00am - 7.30pm
Tuesday 5 April: 9.00am – 5.00pm

Auction: Travel, Science and Natural History - Wednesday, 6 April at 2.00pm

Ecatalogue: Available online now, please click here

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