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English lighting dealer’s collection glows at Sworders, April 21

Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Sheila Gibson Stoodley
Baltic gilt-bronze and cut-glass chandelier, est. £800-£1,200
Baltic gilt-bronze and cut-glass chandelier, est. £800-£1,200

STANSTED MOUNTFICHET, UK – On April 21, Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers will hold a sale titled Let There be Light – The Christopher Butterworth Collection, featuring 250 lots ranging in price from £250 to £5,000. Absentee and Internet live bidding will be available through LiveAuctioneers.

To a generation of interior decorators, Pimlico Road dealer Christopher Butterworth scarcely requires an introduction. David Mlinaric describes his shop on the Chelsea thoroughfare as “a fascinating Aladdin’s cave of lights and lamps” where “everything is interesting and beautiful.” Nicky Haslam has described him as “the best antiques dealer ever.”

The sale lineup includes both typical stock items (despite the hurdles, Butterworth continued to travel to Europe on regular buying trips during the pandemic) and a significant selection of items from his own collection. He was a regular seller at Christie’s South Kensington, but stepped back from consigning to auction after the branch closed in 2017. The April sale at Sworders will be the first time his wares have appeared at auction since then.

Butterworth outside his Pimlico Road shop in London. Image courtesy of Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers
Butterworth outside his Pimlico Road shop in London. Courtesy Sworders Fine Art Auctioneers

Butterworth’s rise to the top of his profession came by an atypical route. He had no family background in art and antiques or an apprenticeship with a dealer or auction house. Instead, his formative years were spent working in Fleet Street as a journalist and buying furniture from the rag-and-bone men of South London.

George III ormolu three-light candelabrum, est. £8,000-£12,000
George III ormolu three-light candelabrum, est. £8,000-£12,000

It was as a reader of House & Garden and World of Interiors that his eyes were opened to antiques and the sphere of antique lighting in particular. Beginning with a stand at Antiquarius on the Kings Road in his twenties, this autodidact moved to Pimlico Road some 25 years ago, by which time he had chosen to specialize.

Milanese wrought-iron gas chandelier, est. £3,000-£5,000
Milanese wrought-iron gas chandelier, est. £3,000-£5,000

While Butterworth has a deep knowledge of objects from across a wide range of collection disciplines – for some years he had been the chairman of the lighting and metalwork vetting committee at the prestigious Olympia Art & Antiques Fair – he concentrated on antique lighting of all periods, and his shop became a go-to destination for chandeliers, lanterns, light fittings and table lamps from the 17th- to the mid-20th-century.

Noel Coward’s wall-mounted sunburst perpetual dial timepiece, est. £3,000-£5,000
Noel Coward’s wall-mounted sunburst perpetual dial timepiece, est. £3,000-£5,000

A list of celebrity clients grew longer and so did the number of country houses purchasing his wares, from Castle Howard to Wilton House and Chatsworth. He even supplied 20th-century lamps for Lord Rothschild’s award-winning modern house at Waddesdon. Key to his success was taste, variety and a range of price points. As Butterworth points out, “modest lights for the servants’ quarters and childrens’ rooms can be just as important as the more spectacular pieces suited to grand living and formal dining.”

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The current rate of exchange is £1 = $1.31.

View top auction results on LiveAuctioneers here: https://www.liveauctioneers.com/pages/recent-auction-sales/