Sculpture

The ‘high season’ of summer auctions in London held by Sotheby’s and Christie’s generated £205.8m including premium last week.

Last year Messums rescued the Wolland studio of artist Elisabeth Frink (1930-93) from collapse and has now reconstructed it in its Wiltshire premises.

Abbott & Holder recently sold a bronze head of Duncan Grant (1885-1975) by Stephen Tomlin (1901-37) to the Charleston Trust, owners of the East Sussex home where Grant once lived and worked with other members of the Bloomsbury Group.

This late 19th century French bronze figural group, 'Gloria Victis', after the model by Marius-Jean-Antonin Mercié (1845-1916), will be offered in Andrew Jones Auctions’ Design for the Home and Garden sale in Los Angeles on July 26.

A newly discovered bronze by a French Renaissance sculptor was acquired by the Louvre museum for €1.15m (£1.05m) at an auction in Paris on June 9.

Friedrich Goldscheider (1845-97) is famous for founding the Goldscheider ceramics factory which was set up in Vienna in 1885.

One of the central attractions in Rome is the Piazza Navona and the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1650 at the behest of Pope Innocent X.

At Keys (20% buyer’s premium) in Aylsham a lot catalogued as ‘a patinated bronze group of a lion attacking a horse’ drew – and to an extent commanded – much attention.

The sale at garden statuary specialist Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst on March 24 (the day after lockdown) was among the first conducted under new government restrictions on social distancing.

With Storm Ciara getting under way (in pre-coronavirus days…) it was not, perhaps, the ideal time to launch the new weekend sales at Canterbury Auction Galleries (20% buyer’s premium).

This stellar 17th century Baroque ivory plaque depicting the Pieta attended by angels and putti carries the name 'IC Storer' for the German artist Johann Christoph Storer (1621-71).

This 19th century bronze bust of George Washington cast by the French metal founder Ferdinand Barbedienne after the model by the French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) will feature in the Bruneau and Co sale at Cranston, Rhode Island, on March 14.

The Premier Auction at Brunk (23% buyer’s premium) in Asheville, North Carolina included this 3ft 10in (1.17m) carrara marble Cleopatra morente by the Italian sculptor Pio Fedi (1816-92).

Napoleon Bonaparte’s magnetism remains as forceful as ever in UK salerooms.

Briefly catalogued, but accurately estimated, this bronze and ivory dancing couple was the outstanding star at Featonby’s (18.75% buyer’s premium) recent sale in North Shields.