Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Man of letters: correspondence from famous figures
30 October 2023A collection of correspondence penned by leading figures of the 20th century to an Oxford academic raised more than £20,000 for charity at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on October 10.
Heavyweight sums for ‘paperweights’
30 October 2023Charity donation from the collection of the man who brought Woolworths to the UK includes rare Tiffany vases.
Napoleon portrait takes more than 10-times estimate at US auction
30 October 2023On the third day of Austin Auction Gallery’s (22% buyer’s premium) September 22-24 sale this portrait of Napoleon hammered for $15,000 (£12,400) – a multiple of the estimate of $800-1200.
John Gould second edition served as fresh helping
30 October 2023Follow-up edition of a classic avian work was more or less a new publication thanks to extra research
Indian silver with a British touch at Californian auction
30 October 2023The September 24 sale at Fine Estate, Inc (23% buyer’s premium) in San Rafael, California, included this example of Anglo-Indian silver.
Silver collection from Angela Gross Folk comes to New Orleans auction
30 October 2023With her art collection dispersed through recent auction activity at Sotheby’s, Freeman’s and Toomey & Co, it is now time for the late Angela Gross Folk’s silver collection to come to market.
European modernist rug owned by music executive Stein sells in New York auction
30 October 2023An Ivan Da Silva Bruhns rug from the estate of Sire Records founder and art collector Seymour Stein outperformed expectations at Capsule Auctions’ (25% buyer’s premium) Art & Design sale in New York on September 27.
Small toenail from a colossal statue comes to New England auction
30 October 2023This ancient Egyptian sculptural fragment, part of the Thomaston Place Auction Galleries’ Autumn Majestic Sale in Maine on November 10-12, comes in a silver mount inscribed 'Small toenail from colossal Statue of Ramses II. Temple of Luxor, Feb. 13th, 1899'.
Simeon Solomon drawing depicts his historical heroes
30 October 2023This drawing by Victorian artist Simeon Solomon (1840-1905) is titled 'Simeon Solomon’s and Henry Holiday’s Artistic Heroes'.
‘Votive’ Egyptian sculptor’s tools with provenance to two American museums
30 October 2023Artemis Gallery’s (21.5% buyer’s premium) September 22 sale in Louisville, Colorado, included a set of finely preserved ancient Egyptian sculptor’s tools.
More art for the literati from Marsh
23 October 2023This 18in (45cm) high Chongzhen (1627-44) blue and white sleeve vase dated to the Wuyin year corresponding to 1638 is decorated with a scene from a popular 17th century drama based on a Tang poem.
Seized jade now for sale
23 October 2023Bonhams’ Fine Chinese Art sale on November 2 includes this Qing jade carving of a mythical beast that formed part of the seminal Chinesische Kunst exhibition of 1929 in Berlin.
The Edo pecking order
23 October 2023The Woolley & Wallis Japanese sale includes some good examples of the Edo period porcelains that wowed the European courts of the 17th and early 18th centuries.
Giovanni Battista Cali panel hammered down at auction
23 October 2023This Italian polychrome lava stone and pietra dure panel is probably by the Sicilian mosaicist Giovanni Battista Cali.
Take a kesi seat cover or two
23 October 2023This pair of kesi chair covers woven with front-facing dragons against an apricot ground, date from the late Ming or early Qing dynasty period.
Peter Orr silver trophy races away to 10 times low estimate
23 October 2023This colonial-era Indian silver horse racing trophy is marked for Peter Orr and Sons of Madras.
Dennison’s love of the Samurai
23 October 2023The art of the Samurai comes to Essex firm Sworders on November 2.
Korean banquet fills up eight panels
23 October 2023This 18th century Korean eight-panel screen depicts a subject borrowed from Ming prototypes: a banquet honouring the famed Tang dynasty general Guo Ziyi.
Silver makes Kinghams auction debut
23 October 2023Kinghams (25% buyer’s premium) had held its inaugural Silver & Objects of Vertu sale on September 8.
Kenneth Lawley collection on offer at Sotheby’s
23 October 2023Sotheby’s Important Chinese Art sale on November 1 includes the collection of Dr Kenneth Lawley (1937-2023), a longtime member of the Oriental Ceramic Society.