A famille-rose ‘butterfly’ bottle vase, tianqiuping, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period 清乾隆 粉彩蝶戀花天球瓶

Collection of the late Lord and Lady Swaythling, London.

斯威斯林男爵伉儷收藏，倫敦

Property from the Collection of the late Lord and Lady Swaythling (Lots 381-394)

The collection of the late Lord and Lady Swaythling showcases the graceful taste that transcend over centuries across several prominent British Jewish families. David Charles Samuel Montagu (1928 - 1998), 4th Baron Swaythling, was born to a family with ancestry from the Montagu, Samuel and Goldsmid families. In addition to their inherited collections, the Baron and his wife M. Christiane Francoise ‘Ninette’ Montagu, with their acute eye for aesthetics, further widened the scope of their collection across multiple categories.

The majority of the Chinese antiques in their collection came from the Baron’s maternal grandmother, the legendary collector, the Hon. Mrs Nellie Ionides (1883 - 1962). The Hon. Nellie Ionides was the second child and the elder daughter of Sir Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, who was a Lord Mayor of London and the founder of the Shell Transport and Trading Company, later Royal Dutch Sheel. Growing up in this leading family, the Hon. Nellie Ionides was surrounded by the elite class of British society, which influenced her to start her collecting journey at a young age. Her family’s connections with East Asian countries also shaped her exceptional taste in building her own collections especially on Chinese porcelain.

The Hon. Nellie Samuel married to Major Walter Henry Levy in 1903 and had four children. After her first husband’s death, the Hon. Nellie Levy married to the interior designer and architect Basil Ionides. The grandfather of Basil Ionides, Alexander Constantine Ionides, was also a passionate art patron and collector. In 1931, The Hon. Nellie Ionides bought the Buxted Park in Buxted, Sussex, where she and her husband conducted the collecting activities later on.

After the Hon. Nellie Ionides died, Sotheby's London was commission to sell parts of her collection in 1963 and 1964. She also generously donated her Chinese porcelain collection to the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum and the Brighton Pavilion.

斯威斯林男爵伉儷收藏（編號381-394）

斯威斯林男爵伉儷的收藏展示了幾個顯赫的英國猶太家族跨越多個世紀的卓越雅藏品味。第四任斯威斯林男爵David Charles Samuel Montagu（1928 – 98 年）出身貴族世家，是Montagu家族、Samuel家族、 及Goldsmid家族的後裔。除了從先輩處繼承而來的家族藏品，男爵及男爵夫人M. Christiane Francoise ‘Ninette’ Montagu亦在多個門類中繼續蒐集珍品。憑其敏銳獨到的眼光，夫婦二人發展出了獨一無二的收藏之道。

藏品中大部分中國藝術品來自男爵的外祖母：傳奇收藏家Nellie Ionides夫人（1883 – 1962年）。Nellie Ionides夫人家境優渥，她的父親為前倫敦市長及荷蘭皇家殼牌集團之前身：殼牌公司的創始人。受到身邊英國名流的影響，Nellie Ionides夫人從小便開啟了她的收藏之旅。其家族與東亞的業務往來也潛移默化地塑造了她對於東亞藏品的非凡品味，尤其表現在她對中國瓷器的鑑賞之上。

1903年，Nellie Samuel嫁與Walter Henry Levy少校，二人育有四子。在第一任丈夫去世後，Nellie Levy夫人再嫁與室內設計師兼建築師Basil Ionides。Basil Ionides的祖父Alexander Constantine Ionides亦是一位活躍的藝術贊助人和收藏家。1931年Nellie Ionides夫人在蘇塞克斯縣的巴克斯特德購入產業，並命名巴克斯特德公園。從此夫妻二人在這裡一同建立了他們的收藏帝國。

在Nellie Ionides夫人去世後，倫敦蘇富比分別在1963年及1964年被委託出售她的部分收藏。Nellie Ionides夫人亦曾慷慨地向維多利亞和阿爾伯特博物館、大英博物館、及布萊頓英皇閣捐贈她的中國瓷器收藏。