Page 10 - Bonhams Roy David's Collection Nov 2014 London

ROY DAVIDS
Dominic Jellinek
I first became involved with Roy Davids and his collecting
Chinese ceramics in 2001, through a mutual friend, Professor
Desmond Laurence. Roy had met Dr Laurence some time
earlier through a mutual acquaintance, for whom Roy was
able to sort out an awkward legal situation. It happened that
Dr Laurence had some correspondence between himself
and Osbert Sitwell and Roy, wearing his manuscript dealer’s
hat, suggested that he might be able to sell the letters to an
American institution for the price of a Chinese pot. This led
to Roy visiting Dr Laurence at his north London home, where
his extensive collection of Chinese ceramics was displayed
throughout the dining and drawing rooms. Grouped atop a
display cabinet was a group of Imperial yellow and yellow-
ground ceramics, which caught Roy’s eye. I was called in to
establish a fair price, and a deal was done. The pots were
packed up and placed in the boot of Roy’s car. As I happened
to live along the route to Roy’s Oxfordshire home he offered
me a lift, and a friendship began.
Roy is a consummate collector, arts and crafts furniture
and works of art, literary manuscripts and portraits and,
more recently, European sculpture. Chinese ceramics were
collected with enthusiasm and growing knowledge. Roy built
up a fine library on the subject and he was guided by the
leading dealers. Robert McPherson, Roger Keverne and the
Marchants were of great importance in the formation of this
collection. Through Richard Marchant Roy met Giuseppe
Eskenazi, and was later to buy from him a superb famille
rose jar and cover. Richard and Stuart Marchant became
good friends, and many of Roy’s best pieces came from that
firm. Roy enjoyed the pursuit of an object and haggling over
the price was very much part of the pleasure. A particularly
protracted game was played over the purchase from
Marchant of the beautiful famille verte vase that was chosen
to illustrate the dust jacket of our book Provenance.
In the autumn of 2003 I moved house to Princes Risborough,
at the edge of the Chiltern Hills, about ten miles from Roy’s
home, and more or less along his route home from London.
From time to time Roy would telephone to tell me that he
was on his way home with a new pot, which he wanted to
discuss with me. Shortly afterwards he would arrive with a
bubble-wrapped bundle, and after examining and considering
the piece we would head off for dinner at a local pub. This
developed into a regular meeting for Sunday dinner at The
Peacock in the village of Henton. By this time Roy was aware
that I owned the Bluett Archive and a project was formulated
that became the book Provenance. The Sunday meetings
became an exchange of documents and ideas, and later of
proofs of the book. The happy combination of Roy’s abilities
as a writer and researcher, and the mass of unpublished
material in my possession allowed ‘Provenance’ to expand
into a considerable publication.
Shortly before Roy embarked upon his Chinese Collection he
had built a single-storey extension at the back of his home,
which became the ‘Chinese Room’. Several fine pieces of arts
and crafts furniture were installed, along with two sofas and
professional lighting. Gradually the porcelain filled the room, to
make a remarkable show. The Chinese Room was preceded
by a small library, and with Roy’s characteristic showmanship
a visitor to the Collection would be guided through the house
to this ante-room, and the double doors would be flung open
to reveal a show of Chinese opulence. Knowledgeable visitors
were welcomed, and I was often asked to join the ‘tour’. A
few of these occasions are particularly memorable. When
Richard Marchant came to see the Collection (much of which
had come from his gallery) Roy and I took him to lunch at the
local culinary treasure, the Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons. One
summer’s day Roger and Miranda Keverne came down, and
were taken to lunch at the local market town, Thame. Over
a protracted meal Roger entertained us with his sometimes
scurrilous stories of his dealing life. This was also the
occasion for a session of haggling. Roger had brought with
him a Shunzhi period wucai jar decorated with red-headed
boys washing an elephant. The jar was unwrapped in Roy’s
Chinese Room and was much admired. Roy countered
Roger’s asking price with a substantially lower offer and the
battle continued until it was time to leave for lunch, and the
jar was packed up and put in the back of Roger’s car. During
lunch this ‘bidding war’ continued in a fairly dilatory fashion,
until eventually Roger gave up and the jar was transferred
from Roger’s car to Roy’s.
By 2012 Roy’s attention had shifted from Chinese ceramics
to European sculpture. The Chinese Room was so full there
was no longer much space for additions. Apart from a few
significant purchases made in New York from Ralph M. Chait
Galleries, this particular adventure was, for Roy, at an end.
The sale will provide the chance for others to enjoy these
pieces, and the Catalogue will be a lasting record of the
Collection.