Quentin Blake, Charlie, Willie Wonka and Grandpa
Joe (£10,000-15,000)
A series of illustrations from the collection of Quentin Blake, one of Britain’s best-loved illustrators, come up at Christie’s in London on July 11. A selection of 30 illustrations feature in the Valuable Books and Manuscripts auction alongside a dedicated online sale of 148 illustrations from July 3 to 12.
The collection comprises works from the past 40 years of Quentin Blake’s career, showcasing some of the most celebrated literary characters of today, which have captured the imagination of generations of children including Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Twits, and James and the Giant Peach to David Walliams’s Mr Stink. Alongside these cherished children’s stories, the sale presents collectors the opportunity to acquire works from various other projects that Blake has worked on including editions illustrated for The Folio Society and artwork for J Sheekey Restaurant, along with illustrations for various public spaces, such as St George’s Hospital, Tooting and the Maternity Unit at Angers University Hospital in France.
They are being sold to benefit House of Illustration, Roald Dahl’s Marvellous Children’s Charity and Survival International. Estimates range from £200 to £10,000.
The vase is of exceptional rarity: the only known example of its kind, it was produced by the Jingdezhen workshops for the magnificent courts of the Qianlong Emperor (1735-1796). Famille Rose porcelains of the period (or ‘yangcai’ porcelains, as they are known) are extremely rare on the market, with most examples currently housed in the National Palace Museum in Taipei and other museums around the world.
