Isfahan to Islington: tiles ended up with 'almost legendary' dealer

Safavid examples from the Jack Webb collection find their latest homes after palace demolition

Two yellow ground Safavid cuerda seca tiles from the Tile Arcade in Isfahan, £20,000

The July 16 antiques sale at Dominic Winter (22% buyer’s premium) in South Cerney, Gloucestershire, included a group of four 17th century Safavid cuerda seca tiles from the collection of Jack Webb (1923-2019).

Apple green ground Safavid cuerda seca tile from the Tile Arcade in Isfahan, £20,000 

A third tile depicting two musicians with split brim hats and trumpets against a green ground also took £20,000, despite breaks and losses. It may be a missing tile from a religious frieze showing Women Dancing at a Sacred Tree.

The Museum of Islamic Art, Doha, purchased elements of this tile arch from the sale of the Theodor Sehmer collection at Christie’s in April 2004. The museum also purchased two conjoined tiles of the dancers on a blue ground at Christie’s in October 2014 for £38,000.

Fragmentary green-ground Safavid tile together with a separate fragement, £9,000

A fragmentary fourth green-ground tile, depicting a drummer in a similar attire and the head and arm of a female acrobat (also from Women Dancing at a Sacred Tree) was offered at Dominic Winter together with a separate fragment showing part of a striped turban (perhaps from one of the secular friezes). It took £9000 (estimate £2000-3000).

First Mary Rose finds

Piece of wood recovered from the Mary Rose in 1836, £1,600

Jack Webb’s interest in art and antiques went way beyond the militaria for which he was best known.

Also from the collection was a 3 x 4in (8 x 10cm) piece of wood recovered from the Mary Rose – not during the late 20th century excavations but during the reign of William IV.

A label from 1843 reads: This portion of the Tall Ship Mary Rose was recovered from the wreck by diving apparatus 1836. That year fishermen from Gosport reported snagging their nets on something on the seabed of the Solent.

Henry Abbinett, a pub owner, investigated their claims and from June 16-18 brothers John and Charles Deane and Will Edwards, divers who had recently patented a deep-sea helmet, located the wreck and recovered several timbers and a bronze cannon. This fragment was guided at £100-150 but hammered for £1600.

White marble momento mori sculpture, £2,000 

Also from the Webb collection, sold at £2000 was a mid-19th century Italian white marble momento mori sculpture, c.1850, exquisitely carved as a lady’s left hand resting on a cloth, while a Victorian dummy board in the form of a cat with a manuscript label to verso inscribed Frank Paton 1884 took £3800.


Victorian cat dummy board decorated by Frank Paton, £3,800

Paton was a genre and animal painter whose work was often engraved. He exhibited several paintings at the Royal Academy and other principal London galleries from 1872.

Arts & Crafts silver mustard pot and spoon by Charles Robert Ashbee, £3,600

Collectors of mustard pots and Arts & Crafts silver will have both admired a Charles Robert Ashbee (1863-1942) silver mustard pot and spoon with hallmarks for the Guild of Handicraft, London, 1905. Made in the classic Ashbee style with the wirework handle and thumb piece set with chrysoprase cabochon gems, it went above its top estimate at £3600.


A Correct Globe with ye new Constelations of Dr Halley, £3,000

Pocket globes have bought some substantial sums of late. Here an example by George Adams of 60 Fleet Street, London, c.1785, in a contemporary ray skin case with internal celestial gores, took £5600. An anonymous English pocket globe of the same period with papers titled A Correct Globe with ye new Constelations of Dr Halley hammered for £3000.

The latter was formerly a type attributed to George Adams but is now deemed an updated and adapted version of the pocket globe published by Herman Moll earlier in the 18th century.

Textiles focus

Under specialist Susanna Winters, Dominic Winter is one of the few auction houses in the UK specialising in a broad range of textiles.

The House That Albert Built, a handkerchief marking the building of the Crystal Palace, £600

A rare commemorative handkerchief celebrating the building of the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851 sold at £600. The 12 accompanying verses follow the format of the nursery rhyme This Is the House That Jack Built, the first verse beginning This is the Man that drew the Plan of the Crystal House which Albert built, and the last starting This is our Glorious Queen and her Son, Sitting with dignified grace on the throne. It measures 16 x 20in (42 x 51cm).

In bright and robust condition, the hankie was offered together with a Royal Opera Covent Garden printed silk programme, titled State Performance to Commemorate the Sixtieth Anniversary of Her Majesty’s Accession to the Throne, dated Wednesday June 23, 1897.

Handkerchief titled The Importance of Punctuality, £440 

A similar handkerchief titled The Importance of Punctuality sold at £440. Eight scenes extol the virtues of precise timekeeping which ‘subserves the peace and good temper of a family’, producing ‘calmness of mind’ and ‘weight of character’. The auction house had been unable to trace another sold at auction.


Ackworth School medallion sampler by Elizabeth Gregory, £2,000

An Ackworth medallion sampler – a type almost unique to the Quaker school of Ackworth, near Pontefract – sold at £2000. Measuring 16 x 11in (41 x 28cm), it displays a typical array of pictorial motifs (a swan, a tree, a floral urn, stars and roses) together with the letters of the alphabet and name Elizabeth Gregory Ackworth School 1805. In relation to previous prices, it was not expensive at the low estimate.

Embroidered pocket watch sampler dated 1824, £1,050

There was more competition for a diminutive, embroidered pocket watch sampler, made by a loved one in the reign of George IV to fit inside the case of a verge watch. Stitched by J White with the date 1824 and a floral wreath, it made £1050 (estimate £300-500).

Valentine knitted pin ball, dated 1823, £2,200

A group of four knitted pin balls were led at £2200 by the example in tan and dark blue thread worked to one side with the name E Pitts and the date 1823 beside a pair of birds and to the others with the legend Good Morrow Valentine February 14. It was the only one of its kind the auction house could find.


Early 18th century knitted pin ball dated 1717, £1,300

A particularly early example was worked in cream on a ground of tan thread on one side, with the initials SC and date 1717, and in cream on a grey to the other side, with the initials WS. It sold at £1300.

In April 2025 a similar pin cushion inscribed From the Retreat near York sold for a remarkable £14,000 at Woolley & Wallis of Salisbury. The Retreat, a purpose-built hospital for the mentally ill, was first proposed by the York tea merchant William Tuke at a local meeting of the Society of Friends in March 1792.

It is thought that these emotive needlework souvenirs were made both by patients as a kind of occupational therapy and by Quaker girls and women to raise funds.