Furniture

Trading as Discover Vintage, Keeley Harris runs shows in Coventry, Manchester and Leeds – the next on Sunday October 7 at the 1970s-built Pudsey Civic Hall, on the outskirts of Leeds.

What 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.

Japonisme, western art inspired by Japanese art and design, is the theme of the next Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair in London’s Battersea. At the event, which runs from October 2-7, a showcase in the foyer focuses on pieces that reflect the influence of Japanese design on European interiors.

Persian rug dealer John AW Briggs from Scotland is among the exhibitors at this year’s Northern Antiques Fair.

Two early examples of Indo- Portuguese furniture sold for five-figure sums at auction this month.

Organised by specialist dealer Mark van Veen for the Tiles and Architectural Ceramics Society, the annual tile fair will be held on Saturday, October 6, in Nottingham at St Jude’s Church, Mapperley.

Auction house Lyon & Turnbull hails the encouraging return of American interest at its September 5 sale.

Romanians, Hungarians, Saxons, Roma and Russians have all historically lived in the area in central Romania known as Transylvania. Each group had its own distinct culture, but after years of living side-by-side these ‘families’ drew inspiration from one another.

MADAM – Your news story (‘Ivory removed from Chippendale before sale’, ATG No 2356) draws attention to the deliberate and unforgivable removal of original ivory elements from an important commode by Thomas Chippendale, England’s most famous cabinet maker.

Our story last week revealed that ivory elements of an important piece of Chippendale furniture, the Rowland Winn commode made c.1766, were removed for its appearance at a Christie’s auction earlier this year, the commode having been imported from the US.

A late 19th century kingwood and ormolu mounted jardinière, offered for £4995 by Mark Buckley Antiques of Ilkley, is among the pieces on show at Galloway Fairs’ next event at Duncombe Park.

A prominent figure in the early furniture trade, Peter Bontoft of William H Stokes Antiques, died suddenly of a heart attack, on July 29. He was 73.

New Los Angeles saleroom Andrew Jones Auctions, set up by a group of ex-Bonhams specialists (as reported in ATG No 2355), will hold its grand opening and inaugural sale on September 15 in its Downtown Los Angeles gallery.

Ivory elements of an important piece of Chippendale furniture were removed prior to its appearance at auction earlier this year, ATG has learned.

Other exhibitions launching this September include 'Forces et Mouvements' at Galerie François Léage, a fifth-generation dealership on the well-known rue du faubourg Saint-Honoré.

MADAM – In his letter (ATG No 2355) Michael Baggott references the possibility that, following changes in the law, antiques could be mutilated because of their ivory content.