Latest News Articles by Terence Ryle
‘Conservatory’ Coalbrookdale table sells at Summers Place
22 October 2018Coalbrookdale cast-iron furniture, subject to ebbs and flows of fashion, has dipped a little in recent years, but this c.1850 occasional table is a rarity. It was surely made for the conservatory rather than the garden.
Transit instruments measure up in Newbury sale
22 October 2018Probably a puzzle to all but experts in the field, the item shown below is a transit instrument – one of three which all went well above estimates at a cameras and scientific instruments sale held by Special Auctions Services (17.5% buyer’s premium).
Terrific tazza at Gloucestershire auction
22 October 2018Nine centuries after it first became a thriving art form, Limoges enamel ware remains a popular choice as evidenced by a tazza offered by Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium).
An array of accessible antiquities
15 October 2018Headlines about antiquities today usually follow two paths: either highlighting the issue of looting or focusing on the huge sums treasures of the ancient world can command.
Pick up a lamp for three figures
15 October 2018If bidders were to be lured to the ageless aspect of antiquities, one might think that a lamp which first lit the darkness two millennia ago would be hard to resist.
Getting stuffed is a good move for auctioneers
15 October 2018Taxidermy, having emerged in a few years from a dusty, rather unseemly subject to a rostrum hot topic, continues to flourish across the country.
Studio pottery – UK regional salerooms are filling a market gap
08 October 2018If the work of the best modern and contemporary artists is typically confined to a small coterie of London auctioneers, then the same cannot be said of the best modern and contemporary ceramics.
Salisbury saleroom becomes travel hub twice a year to cover tribal art market
08 October 2018The biannual world tour of tribal lands – Alaska to New Zealand via Arizona, Africa and Taiwan – organised by auctioneer Will Hobbs at Woolley & Wallis (25% buyer’s premium) offered a global view of what is an active, if often unpredictable, field.
Trio of shibayama sales reflects Japanese demand
08 October 2018The growing momentum behind at least some Japanese works of art – given Sotheby’s seal of approval with the announcement of its first dedicated sale in 11 years (ATG No 2357) – has been noted at a lower level in provincial rooms for some time.
The studio pottery movement: a timeline
08 October 2018ATG's timeline of the studio pottery movement from Paul Gauguin's early productions to the major sales taking place in 2017-18.
Galleries nurture talents and display work of the next generation
08 October 2018In 1997, the year Kate Malone (b.1959) graduated from the Royal College of Arts, Knightsbridge-based Adrian Sassoon showed her work at The International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.
Clay designs with golden touch
08 October 2018The new catalogue White Gold, produced by Brian Haughton and colleague Paul Crane, includes the fine 18th and 19th century material for which Haughton has made his worldwide reputation.
Moon jars inspire artist Michel François
08 October 2018Born in Paris, now based in Falmouth, Michel François trained as a sculptor but switched to ceramics, becoming artist in residence at the Bernard Leach Studio.
British studio pottery – Art or artisan?
01 October 2018British studio pottery, once the preserve of a small number of devotees, currently ranks among the strongest subsets of the art and antiques market. In the first element of a two-part feature, ATG considers the London market.
Tower and Ohr – the auction specialists’ pick
01 October 2018They won’t show it on the rostrum and probably not with clients but auction house professionals do have a likeness for particular artists.
Jennifer Lee’s craft recognised in academia and saleroom
01 October 2018The profile of Scottish potter Jennifer Lee (b. 1956) received a £50,000 boost at the Royal Centre for Design in Kensington this summer when she won the Loewe Craft Prize 2018 with her abstract stoneware vessel illustrated here.
From Lucie Rie to Magdalene Odundo: a ‘British’ tradition backed by overseas talent
01 October 2018The ‘British’ studio ceramics movement has long been backed by overseas talent. In addition to Lucie Rie, Hans Coper and Ruth Duckworth (nee Windmuller), who fled the Nazis in the 1930s, and Hamada Shoji’s collaboration with Bernard Leach, is the contribution of Kenyan-born Magdalene Odundo (b. 1950).
Five-figure sums for sculpture, furniture and bronze politicians across early autumn sales
24 September 2018What still feels to many like the opening month of a new season got off to an excellent start with some serious, if occasionally unexpected, five-figure bids at four major provincial salerooms.
Figures take multi-estimate bids at Chiswick Auctions and Ewbank's
24 September 2018Figurative art was the other big seller in early September, led by the waxwork of Medardo Rosso’s sculpture Bambina Ridente (see last week’s News pages) which topped a successful week of sales at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) when it more than doubled the top estimate at £180,000.
Indo-Portuguese furniture exports shine at auction in the UK
24 September 2018Two early examples of Indo- Portuguese furniture sold for five-figure sums at auction this month.