Led by the 17th century Goan hardwood, ivory and bone tabernacle which took a 100-times-estimate £36,000 from a European bidder (see Pick of the Week, ATG No 2294) the May 24 sale at Chiswick Auctions (22% buyers’ premium) also included a tribute to a quintessential Victorian imperial hero – General Gordon.
Gordon led the Chinese Emperor’s troops to victory against the Taiping Rebellion, helped suppress slavery while Governor of the Sudan and met a heroically romantic – if wholly avoidable – death facing the Mahdi’s hordes in Khartoum in 1885.
Within a year, the Government gave a £3600 commission to rising New Sculpture star William Hamo Thornycroft (1850-1925) to create a 10ft 8in (3.25m) tall bronze of Gordon to stand on an 18ft (5.5m) high plinth in Trafalgar Square.