Sale of the week: Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle

Sale: Sotheby’s at Sudeley Castle

Location: Sudeley Castle, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire. Tel: +44 (0)1242 602 308

Date: Until August 31. 10.30am-5pm daily. Admission £7.20

Need to know: It was seven years ago that Sotheby’s staged its first outdoor selling exhibition of large-scale sculpture in the gated grounds of Isleworth golf and country club, Florida. Since then, punctuating large gardens with giant artworks, in unexpected locations, has become all the rage among collectors with lots of acres. In June, Messum’s organised a show of more than 50 works by eight artists at Lord’s Wood, Buckinghamshire, and, from September 13-October 31, Sotheby’s will hold its fifth Beyond Limits exhibition at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. The show at Sudeley Castle, however, is a first and results from a collaboration between the auction house, curator Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst (part-owner of the castle) and London’s Carpenter’s Workshop Gallery. All works are for sale and the majority, save for three that are unique, have been produced in small editions. Prices range from £10,000-£250,000.

Highlights: If you’re looking for something different to replace those conservative stone lions and Coalbrookdale benches, Sudeley is the place. Perhaps the most striking piece is the one-off “Pouring Jug” by Dutch-Belgian design duo Studio Job – a suspended, 13ft polished bronze ewer which appears to be pouring forth black liquid. Equally striking, and more bizarre, is the “Wellness Skull” from Rotterdam’s Atelier van Lieshout – a 15ft fibreglass cranium housing a working sauna at the top and a bath and shower unit below. When these are in use, the eye sockets release a steady flow of steam. Seat furniture includes Marcel Wanders’ “Bon Bon Gold”, a garden bench made from crocheted rope cast in resin, coated in precious metal, and Pablo Reinoso’s “Spaghetti Corten”, a park bench with slats at one end terminating in a tangle of wooden tendrils. Meanwhile, Demakersvan’s “Cinderella Table”, carved with linen-like folds, is a contemporary take on traditional marble furniture.