How to create a National Trust look at home: buy the former contents of a grand house at auction
16 June 2023 The Peckover Collection is coming to auction at Cheffins and a number of the items which were originally part of the collection of the now National Trust-owned property, Peckover House in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
A 19th century photograph of the drawing room of Sibald's Holme in Wisbech.
The collection will be offered at Cheffins Fine Sale on the June 28-29.
The 23-lot collection of furniture, artworks and collectables comes from a descendant of the Peckover family. Upon the death of Alexandrina Peckover, the house was gifted to the National Trust and most of the contents were sold during a two-day sale in 1948. However, some of the contents were left to her two nephews, Sir Roland Penrose, the surrealist painter and prolific art collector, and geneticist Lionel Sharples Penrose.
A family photograph of Peckover House.
The National Trust renamed the property Peckover House in 1948 in homage to the family, and along with its two acres of formal gardens, it is one of the most important properties in East Anglia.
Peckover House, previously known as Bank House, was built in 1772 and was purchased along with a fifty-acre estate in 1787 by Jonathan Peckover, a well-known Quaker and philanthropist.
A family photograph of Sibald's Holme.
The family also had a home at Sibald’s Holme in Wisbech and several items in the sale were part of the original contents of Sibald’s Holme.
Among the lots in the upcoming sale is a Chinese lacquered cabinet on stand that was once in the drawing room at Sibald’s Holme.
A Chinese lacquered cabinet on stand, estimated at £800-1200 at Cheffins.
A 19th century photograph of the drawing room at Sibald’s Holme, showing the Chinese lacquered cabinet on stand in situ, which is part of the Cheffins sale. The room was decorated by family member, Elizabeth Shewell, née Peckover (1795-1871).
A pair of Venetian wall mirrors from the 18th century, estimated at £1200-1800.
A painting by the Dutch Golden Age landscape painter, Adriaen van der Cabel (1630-1705), of a Mediterranean harbour view. It is estimated £1500-3000 at Cheffins.
One picture in a series of 148 watercolour views of England, Wales and Scotland, painted by Alegrina Peckover between 1874-80. The group is estimated at £1000-2000.
