Property from the collection of Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire (1920-2014) will be offered at Sotheby’s in London on March 2. An instinctive entrepreneur, patron of the arts, author, countrywoman and – famously – a great poultry enthusiast, the Duchess spent the last ten years of her life at The Old Vicarage, a charming 18th-century house in Edensor, a village on the Chatsworth Estate. Over 450 lots of personal belongings and chattels from her home, attesting to her remarkable life, will be offered for sale with estimates ranging from £10 – 40,000. Together they are estimated to realise £500,000-700,000.
Objects offered in the sale range from furniture to objets d’art and artworks. There are two sketches by Jacob Epstein (from a set of four, one of which Lucian Freud had used as a coal shovel); photographic portraits of the Mitford sisters; and a clock given to her by Prince Ali Khan. Personal jewellery includes a diamond heart-shaped brooch designed by her husband Andrew, the 11th Duke of Devonshire, and given to her to mark their Diamond wedding anniversary, as well as myriad butterflies, beetles, spiders and caterpillars rendered as brooches in diamonds, gold and gems. Over 130 paintings, drawings and prints attest to her lifelong patronage of the arts, including works by the artists Lucian Freud, Duncan Grant and Jo Self (former artist-in-residence to His Holiness the Dalai Lama). Her collection of Elvis Presley memorabilia is included along with a rare pre-publication copy of Brideshead Revisited from 1944 inscribed by her friend Evelyn Waugh and estimated at £15,000-20,000.
A view of the interior of the Vicarage.
A signed prepublication copy of Brideshead Revisited.
A matched pair of large Continental earthenware.
An interior view of The Old Vicarage at Edensor.
The collection of Elvis memorabilia.