Sale
16266 - The Dog Sale, 10 Feb 2009
New York
Lot No: 178
Maud Earl (British, 1863-1943)
Rough and Smooth Basset Hounds
a set of three, mounted within a three-fold oak screen, all signed 'Maud Earl' (two lower left, one lower right)
oil on canvas laid on panel
each painted panel 45 x 21 in. (114 x 53 cm.) overall 76 1/3 x 68 1/4 in. (194 x 176 cm.)
Sold for $26,840 inclusive of Buyer's Premium
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Email: Laura Turnbull
Tel: +44 (0)207 468 8337
Footnote:
Property of a Gentleman
Provenance:
Commissioned by Mrs Mable Tottie, Coniston Hall, Yorkshire;
Percy Pattison of Lytham St. Anne's; thence by descent.
Percy Pattison, was a dentist in Lytham St. Anne's and was a gundog enthusiast.
The pictures for the screen were commissioned by Mrs. Mabel Tottie of Coniston Hall, Bell Busk, Hellifield, Yorkshire. She was married to Major J.B.G. Tottie JP, ornithologist and breeder of prize-winning horses and cattle. Mabel herself was a successful breeder of long standing, owning Skye Terriers before the Basset Hounds and also kept Bulldogs and Blenheim Spaniels. She was a wealthy socialite and it would have been typical of her to enlist the services Maud Earl, the most fashionable dog painter of the day. A contemporary photograph reproduced in The Stock-Keeper Christmas Supplement December 21st 1900 page 23, shows the screen in situ, in the corner of the drawing room at Coniston Hall, (illustrated).
Coniston Hall was sold in 1969 by order of the executors of Mrs. Tottie's son, the late Richard Tottie, and it is reasonable to assume that the screen left Coniston then.
The two roughs on the left hand panel are Ch. Tambour, the first dog champion and Ch. Pervenche (in the foreground), the first bitch champion, both bred in France by Mons Bocquet, acquired by Mons Puissant in Belgium who sent them over to Britain to be sold. They had the distinction of winning the first classes for roughs at Crufts in 1893. Mrs. Tottie acquired them in 1895 and bred from the pair producing Ch. Puritan and his sister Ch. Priscilla who dominated the awards at Crufts until Mrs. Tottie disbanded her kennel.
The middle panel features the smooths, Solomon and Rowena (in the foreground) who won thirty prizes and cups between them; they also won best dog and bitch at Crufts in 1896. Solomon was out of Gravity by Ch. Forester, the most prepotent sire of his day, who Captain Godfrey Heseltine described as ”the finest Basset that ever lived”. Rowena was out of Maid Marion by Ch. Bowman, a son of Forester.
The third panel shows the bitches Zitta (in the foreground), as she is referred to in an article in The Stock-Keeper (December 21st 1900) which mentions the panel, and Gravity. Gravity was another Crufts winner for Mrs. Tottie, being best smooth bitch in 1895. This bitch was a particularly useful brood for Mrs. Tottie, mated to her half brother Ch. Paris (a son of Forester) she produced Ch. Louis Le Beau, one of the most successful hounds at the turn of the century and who won his last (of three) Crufts CCs at the age of ten. His sister, Ch. Lurline was best female Basset in 1897 and the pair won both CCs at Crufts in 1898, the first year CCs were on offer for the breed at Crufts. Louis won a total of eighteen CCs and was a very significant sire.
Prior to the First World War, dogs changed owners as frequently as the British weather changes, and unquestionably Zitta is in fact Xitta (another Forester child), bred by Mrs. C.C. Ellis, another successful breeder of both roughs and smooths. Certainly the hound's colour matches that of Xitta.
We are grateful to Nick Waters for his assisatnce in cataloguing this lot.
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