A VAST array of art, tableware and crockery are set to go under the hammer at upcoming sales at Tennants Auctioneers of Leyburn next month.

The auction house is holding its Summer Fine Sale on July 16 and 17; its British, European and Sporting Art Sale on July 17; and Fine Jewellery, Watches and Silver Sale, also on July 17.

Among the most interesting pieces is a pair of Chinese Qianlong Period coffee cups commissioned by society portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds.

They are set to be sold in two lots with an estimate of £200 to £300 each. The coffee cups and saucers are decorated with a constructed monogram, almost certainly designed by Reynolds himself, which contains all the letters in Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Harriet Hunter Smart, from Tennants Auctioneers, said: "The cups are an example of Chinese Armorial Ware, for which there was a thriving trade from the 17th to 19th centuries.

"Wealthy European families would send a painting of their Arms to China, and a service decorated with their family crest would be sent back to Britain – usually after a lengthy wait.

"From 1695 to 1820, some 4,000 families are known to have imported crested services, however the export trade ceased in the 19th century when a hefty import tax was imposed to protect the British potteries, which made imported porcelain prohibitively expensive.

"Chinese Armorial Ware charts both the changing styles of Chinese porcelain and the social history of British aristocratic families. The style of the present cups, which comprise a grey ground with blue underglaze decoration around the moulded rims, can be dated to the Qianlong period circa 1785."

The service is noted in David Sanctuary Howard’s ‘Chinese Armorial Porcelain’ (Faber & Faber, London, 1974), with an illustration of a caddy, which is held in the collection of Dr Johnson’s House in the City of London. A further example, a 9 ½ inch diameter plate, was sold at Christie’s in 1997. Whilst the artist rarely used the Reynolds family coat of arms, the same constructed monogram was used on a set of gaming chips or counters.

Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792) was born in Plympton, Devon, the son of a clergyman and master of the Plympton Grammar School. At the age of 18 he moved to London to be apprenticed to the portrait painter Thomas Hudson. Reynolds became an illustrious society portrait painter and rose to join their ranks. He was knighted in 1769, following his founding of the Royal Academy of Art the previous year.

The coffee cups hail from the private collection of the Aylmer family, who are descended from Sir Joshua Reynolds’ elder sister, Mary Palmer (1716-1794).

Also up for sale at the Summer Fine Sale are a Pair of French 19th Century Ormolu Mounted White Marble Candelabra after the model by Jean-François Lorta with an estimate of £30,000 to £40,000.

Classical, robe-clad female figures representing summer and autumn bear aloft incense burners and candle arms lavishly garlanded with fruit and flowers, and the pair stand on 19th century octagonal marble pedestals.

The figures are inspired by the famed Four Seasons candelabra made by sculptor Jean- François Lorta in 1788 for two of Louis XV’s daughters, Adelaïde and Victoire, to decorate the grand salon of the Château de Bellevue on the outskirts of Paris. The set were removed from the Chateau following the Revolution, and firstly resided in Empress Josephine’s salon in the Tuileries before being split up and housed in Fontainebleau and Versailles. The set was later reunited at the Louvre in the late 20th century, where they remain today.

A good selection of George III bookcases in the sale are led by a Mahogany, Tulipwood Banded Four-Door Breakfront Library Bookcase from the early 19th Century. With provenance from the collection of Lady Maxwell Joseph, previously purchased from Partridge Fine Arts Ltd in London, the bookcase is offered with an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000.

Further highlights of the furniture section include a Pair of George III carved Giltwood Chippendale-style Girandole mirrors, with an estimate: £3,000 to £5,000, and a Pair of Late George III Satinwood, Tulipwood Banded and Polychrome painted neo-classical card tables, sold with a similar ten piece suite of seat furniture and six matching single chairs with an estimate of £3,000 to £5,000. Good lots of period oak include a 17th Century Oak Refectory Table (estimate: £2,000 to £3,000) and a Late 17th Century Oak Geometric Moulded Dresser Base (£1,500 to £2,000).

The British, European and Sporting Art Sale is set to include an eclectic range of prints, works on paper and oil paintings from the 17th- the 20th century. A highlights within the landscape sections includes ‘Winter village scene with figures skating on a frozen river’, Attributed to Frans de Momper (1603-1660), which is offered with an estimate of £10,000 to £15,000.

With provenance from the Houstoun Boswall Collection is ‘The Fish Market’ by the Circle of Hendrik Maertensz. Sorgh (1611-1670) (estimate: £3,000 to £5,000), and with provenance from the Cooling Galleries, New Bond Street comes “Near Stanachlacher” by Alfred de Breanski (1852-1928) (estimate: £3,000 to £5,000).

A fully illustrated catalogue for the sales will be available on our website, www.tennants.co.uk, leading up to the sale, alternatively contact the salerooms.