The seventh Marquis of Bute is clearing out his attics again and Liz Taylor expects frantic bidding for his treasures, which date back centuries

WHAT a subject for pontificating is the current rush of the British aristocracy to divest themselves of vast collections of furniture, pictures, silver, and statuary - not to mention lordships of manors - built up by their ancestors over past centuries.

Perhaps for fear of exciting too much envy, the great families of Britain until now have discreetly excluded from public scrutiny a considerable amount of their enormously valuable property, much of it hauled home by ancestors who scoured Europe during the late eighteenth century on their Grand Tours, vying to outdo each other with the glory and magnificence of their purchases.

Now, however, the treasures are being unashamedly trotted out and the fruits of the giant shopping expeditions of those eighteenth-century swells are being turned into money again.

This revolution has not been brought about by punitive taxation but by a general desire to liquidate assets. Perhaps the Lloyd's debacle played its part; or perhaps the children of the great have been seized by a wish to live simpler lives, but whatever the reason, the salerooms are benefiting from this gigantic blood-letting.

At the end of March, Christie's in Glasgow held a sale of what was claimed to be a clear-out of the attics of Mount Stuart on the Isle of Bute, one of the ancestral homes of the Earls of Bute. Things being sold, said the publicity, were surplus to the requirements of the present holder of the title, the seventh Marquis who uses the egalitarian name of Johnny Dalkeith.

Now he has gone even further than a turn-out of his attics and commissioned Christie's to sell a fabulously valuable collection of furniture, silver, glass, pottery, and pictures taken from several of the Bute houses - Luton Park, Cardiff Castle, Chiswick House, and Mount Stuart.

The dispersal is to be spread over two sales, also held by Christie's but this time in London, on Wednesday, July 3 and the following Monday, July 8.

The sales are expected to raise at least #6m and as a sign of their importance Christie's have issued two magnificently illustrated catalogues in a hardback slip case. The quality of some of the pieces is so spectacular that it is highly unlikely that they will remain in this country.

This selling off would shock one of the greatest collectors of a collecting family, John Stuart, third Earl of Bute, who served as a highly unpopular Prime Minister to George III.

Because he was so disliked in London, he found it necessary to establish himself in an out-of-town house and in 1763 purchased the estate of Luton in Bedfordshire. At the same time he commissioned the artist Paul Sandby (1730-1809) to paint scenes of the house and its surrounding park before he started to transform it, which he did at vast expense. Sandby's 12 watercolour pictures are in the sale with estimates ranging from #10,000 to #15,000 for the cheapest to #60,000 to #80,000 for the most expensive.

Another interesting picture for sale is a portrait of George Washington in his military uniform by an artist called Robert Muller who died around 1800.

It is thought that this picture was painted for John, first Marquis of Bute, who died in 1814, and who scandalised his contemporaries by espousing revolutionary ideas at the time of the French Revolution. The estimate for the Washington picture is around #30,000.

The first Marquis also purchased a spectacular Annibale Carracci painting of the Madonna and Child on copper. The picture is expected to sell for around #300,000. The star of the picture show, however, will be a view of Amsterdam in winter by Jacob van Ruisdael (1628-1682). This picture of marked gloominess and chill was bought by the fourth Marquis for Mount Stuart where it has hung until now. Christie's expect it to find a new owner at a price of around #800,000.

Among the furniture the most imposing piece is a purchase by the third Marquis - a wonderful desk called the Bute Maggiolini desk, after the name of its maker Giuseppe Maggiolini of Milan, who was working in the 1780s.

The desk is huge, made of walnut, burr walnut, olivewood, fruitwood and marquetry laid out in most elaborate designs, ascribed to artist Giuseppe Levanti, and it has 48 drawers, including 12 secret drawers. The estimate for this imposing piece of furniture is between #400,000 and #600,000.

So the sums add up, augmented by things like a presentation snuff box of enamel and gold, a gift from the future George II to John, third Earl of Bute. It is painted with allegorical scenes featuring Alexander the Great by George Michael Moser, who died in 1783, and who was famous as an enameller and chaser and became the first Keeper of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768.

Finally, and not to be overlooked again, there is a pair of andirons, found by Christie's Glasgow-based expert Edward Monagle in an outhouse at Mount Stuart, which should fetch around #100,000 in the sale.

The second part of the sale on July 8, is notable for offering an enormous collection of Toby jugs which was brought together by the fourth Marquis who died in 1947. There are more than 160 of these jugs, ranging from one made in 1945 of Sir Winston Churchill dressed as a Regency squire (around #500) to another of Admiral Rodney, dating from around 1782, which carries an estimate of between #8000 and #12,000.

When the Bute treasures make their way around the world, it is a matter of speculation as to which stately home will be the next to pour its treasures into the saleroom.