Decorative Art

The dual appeal of Maltese silver lies in both a sense of national pride and a very limited supply.

A December 7 sale of European ceramics at Bonhams will incorporate 130 pieces of Neapolitan porcelain from a single private source.

Estimated at £12,000-18,000, this impressive pair of Regency four-light candelabra dipped just under hopes to sell for £11,500 at Fellows in Birmingham.

The Canterbury Auction Galleries included this George IV silver vinaigrette by John Lawrence & Co, Birmingham, decorated with a view of St Peter’s Church, Brighton. It sold to an Australian internet bidder for £2300.

A fine pair of Victorian figural table salts in the form of sea maidens on the back of dolphins sold for £4900 (estimate £1500-2000) at Wootton Auction Rooms in Gloucestershire on October 17. Weighing 33oz, they carry marks for John Wilmin Figg, London 1841.

Working in late Victorian London, the Martin Brothers were true studio potters, producing their distinctive, whimsical pieces which today are highly collectable.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Porcelain society event spearheads ceramics spotlight at winter 'Antiques for Everyone'.

As the annual Christmas-gift jamboree gets under way and exhibitors at fairs and markets across the UK bring out their best stock, all kinds of antique delights will be for sale this weekend in Oxfordshire from 40 mostly local dealers.

A collection of tobacco leaf pattern Chinese export porcelain surpassed all expectations to sell for a combined £116,000 at Mallams Cheltenham (20% buyer’s premium).

Sotheby’s From Earth To Fire sale in Bond Street on November 1 was topped by a kunstkammer object with a Rothschild provenance.

Susan and Mike Hunter of Twists Glass Studio in Selkirk on the Scottish Borders are two of the five newcomers to the National Glass Fair at the National Motor Museum in Solihull on Sunday, November 12.

With sales of post-1860 design a seasonal fixture round the country, an argument could be made for Scottish auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) having a geographical edge.

Stourbridge auctioneer Will Farmer held the first of his biannual Decades of Design sales at Fieldings (17.5% buyer’s premium) 12 years ago and rather wishes he had copyrighted the phrase – now almost a generic term for post-1860 dec arts sales.

Offered at a wider-ranging, paintings and decorative arts sale at Dreweatts (24% buyer’s premium), this Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian lustre vase, below, would have stood out at a post-1860s design sale.

Next up from Cooper Events is the Pavilions of Harrogate Decorative Antiques & Fine Art Fair, from November 17-19 at the Great Yorkshire Showground. The final edition of Cooper’s three annual Harrogate fairs, it hosts a total of 43 dealers.

Overshadowed by the £130,000 Giacometti double-sided sketch (ATG No 2314), other pieces at Cheffins’ (23% buyer’s premium) sale at Cambridge on October 12 flourished under the banner of post-1880 design.

In a diverse 515-lot sale, finely carved wood and alabaster, porcelain and even furniture took eye-catching bids – but much of the wider market was waiting to see how a large consignment of 18th and 19th century ivory carvings would fare at Woolley & Wallis (22% buyer’s premium) on October 4.