Page 25 - Bonhams Fine Chinese Art London Nov. 2019

Aubrey House

Mark Dineley (1901-1975) and his son, Peter Cleverly Dineley
(1938-2018) collected antique arms and armour, Chinese, Tibetan
and Nepalese art amongst other interests. The collections were
displayed in the former family home, Aubrey House, located in
Holland Park, London – a stately 18th century house, built on the site
of the ancient medical spring called Kensington Wells.
Aubrey House came into the Dineley family when it was acquired
in 1873 by William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916) from whom
Mark and Peter were descended. Alexander was a banker, and
ultimately senior partner in his father’s firm, Alexander & Co. A great
connoisseur, he was a patron of the painter James McNeill Whistler,
who advised on the decoration of various rooms at Aubrey House.
Alexander was a renowned collector of Han, Tang, Song and Qing
dynasty porcelain, jade carvings, as well as Japanese art, much of
which is now in the British Museum, London, including the Northern
Song Alexander Bowl. He was among the lenders to exhibitions held
at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1895, 1896 and 1910, to the City
of Manchester Art Gallery’s Exhibition of Chinese Applied Art in 1913
and to exhibitions presented at the Victoria and Albert Museum. In
May 1931 his collection of Chinese ceramics including 355 lots was William Cleverly Alexander (1840-1916)
sold over two days and Sir Percival David acquired a significant part
of the collection, which is now in the British Museum.
On the death of William Cleverley Alexander, Aubrey House was
left to his three youngest daughters, and then descended to their
great-nephews, Peter and Francis Dineley, the two grandsons of
Commander Francis Dineley (1865-1908) who had married Emily
Alexander (1871-1962), another of W.C. Alexander’s ten children.

Mark Dineley and his son Peter owned and ran Bapty & Co., a
firm specialising in supplying arms and armour to the film industry,
contributing to films such as A Bridge Too Far, Star Wars, Indiana
Jones, Saving Private Ryan and Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon,
which won an Oscar in 1975.
Liberty

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