Page 28 - Bonhams Asian Art May2016 UK

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

LOTS 57-63

Thomas Clarke of Farran in Ireland was an elder brother of my
grandfather Charles Clarke of Tracy Park. The Clarke family were
tobacconists, first in Ireland and later in Liverpool. The Clarke business
became part of the Imperial Tobacco Company, and my grandfather
moved to Tracy Park near Bristol, and became a director. Thomas
moved to the Channel Isles sometime in the 1930s, and then moved to
Devon to escape the German invasion. Before the war he had built up
an extensive collection of famille verte china, which he had to abandon
when he left. He decided to try to replace his collection, and bought
a great deal more china for his house in Devon. When the war ended
and the Germans left the Channel Islands they left his china behind. He
then moved to Ireland, and I visited his widow with my sister in 1946,
and she showed me a large room, with shelves from floor to ceiling,
each shelf stacked with famille verte china. He had left his wife a life
interest in all he possessed, and when she died the collection went to
my uncle Roger Clarke, who sold some of it and displayed the rest at
his house in Codrington. He later moved to a smaller house in Bath,
and sold much more. When he died there were only twelve pieces left.
He had no children of his own, and left his estate to be divided equally
between his fourteen nephews and nieces. I was the only person
among the beneficiaries who had actually seen the great collection,
and with the agreement of my cousins I took the remaining pieces as
part of my share. I now have nowhere to display it, and feel the time
has come to sell what is left.

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