Furniture

Translating simply as ‘a box with drawers’ but so much more exotic than that, a rare Spanish Renaissance caja con cajones was the outstanding lot at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s (25% buyer’s premium) quarterly fine art sale in Exeter.

This pair of satinwood demilune console tables with their fine marquetry and carved details are of exceptional quality and workmanship. The Thomas Chippendale workshop is a good candidate for their manufacture.

A specialist in 18th century marquetry believes he has identified the craftsmen responsible for inlaid decoration on some of the finest English furniture.

Edinburgh firm Georgian Antiques has bought the brand of Whytock & Reid, one of the most famous names in Scottish cabinetmaking.

German castle’s works of art hidden away in the war come to light in Munich saleroom

Over the years, the extensive general sales at Metz (25% buyer’s premium) in Heidelberg have provided many a surprise, partly explainable by the fact that all lots are offered without reserve.

The countless designs for furniture and decorative arts created by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, who were known as Napoleon’s architects, not only found favour with the French emperor but also had an enduring influence on cabinetmakers throughout Europe.

The latest design sale at Roseberys featured this Aesthetic movement silver and ivory claret or water jug designed by Christopher Dresser.

This table by Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) sold for €92,000 (£77,700) at Stockholms Auktionsverk in Helsinki – a record for the Finnish designer.

Pair sold at Somerset saleroom spark a debate on where and when they were made

Re: your article in ATG No 2538 (A Trio of Arts & Crafts designers in focus) including a Mouseman oak blanket chest sold at Sheffield Auction Gallery for £12,000 hammer, which features the mouse carved in recess rather than profile.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

A pair of George III period carved giltwood salon armchairs in neoclassical taste, c.1775, are among the highlights at The Cotswolds Decorative Antiques & Art Fair.

Pennsylvania dealership HL Chalfant, a specialist in American decorative arts, offers a turned banister back armchair at this year’s Philadelphia Show. The chair itself was made in Pennsylvania, c.1730- 40, and is available for $35,000.

While the market for post-war wares by Thompson’s of Kilburn – particularly the animal and figure carvings – has grown substantially in recent years, the ‘prime period’ for Mouseman collecting remains the 1920s-30s.

Knowledgeable bidders spot a design by Owen Jones on offer in North Yorkshire

Fang secret society relic comes with long provenance to French colonial governor

A passion that began with a single tray acquired on a football away day pub visit has led to the creation of a breweriana museum

This Louis XVI-style commode from c.1900 is by the Parisian ébéniste François Linke (1855-1946).

I very much enjoyed Roland Arkell’s excellent article on Ercol furniture (ATG No 2531).