Object lessons: Christie’s 250th anniversary auction

Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Portrait of Jane Morris (around 1870)
Estimate 300,000-500,000
As befits Christies 250th anniversary auction, this coloured chalk study pulls together several strands of British art history. Rossetti, the founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, depicts his long-time muse Jane Morris, the wife of the Arts and Crafts champion William Morris, in a portrait that later belonged to L.S. Lowry. The painter of industrial Britain owned at least 16 works by Rossetti, including