Lot 500: A group of four carved fruitwood panels, by William Gardener Hunt (1819 - 1902)

Of varying sizes, the subjects including an eagle catching a rabbit; an angel with sword aloft over a figure on horseback; Christ kneeling at prayer and lastly a gentleman in a tavern, the first three signed verso, and that of the eagle also dated 'June 19 '65', the largest 26.5cm wide x 33cm high, (4)

Provenance: By family descent from William Gardener Hunt (1819 - 1902).

William Gardener Hunt was a shipbuilder in the business his father William Hunt Snr. had founded with John Castle in 1819 at Slaughden Quay, to the south of Aldeburgh in Suffolk. The business made oar gigs for the North and South Beach companies in Aldeburgh, and in 1876 one of their most significant commissions was the lifeboat 'Rescue' which was thereafter stationed at Sizewell. W. G. Hunt sold the shipyard in 1880 for £400 and family tradition has it that he didn't have the business acumen of his father, who as well as founding the successful shipyard was also a prominent local figure and mayor of Aldeburgh. William Gardener is, however, known to have been an excellent craftsman and carved a greyhound head on the tiller of every boat which left the shipyard, possibly as a nod to the auspicious shipbuilding tradition of Aldeburgh which saw Sir Francis Drake's ships 'The Golden Hind' and 'The Greyhound' built there.