Furniture
Every piece of furniture has a practical purpose regardless of how simple or grand it is, even if some pieces were built more for display than function. Today, furniture remains one of the largest areas of the antiques market and items are categorised by type and period.
The term brown furniture refers to traditional pieces made from dark woods such as mahogany, while pieces made from native woods like oak and walnut are sometimes referred to as vernacular furniture.
Famous historical makers include Chippendale, Gillows, William Vile and John Cobb. More recent market trends have seen modern vintage pieces appearing in specialist design and ‘Interior’ auctions.
Chairs ‘from the Black Isle’
16 March 2020A pair of Chinese carved officials’ chairs offered at Ramsay Cornish (20% buyer’s premium) in Edinburgh were typical of the furniture made at the end of the Qing period, some of it for local use, much of it for export.
The web shop window: A Grand Tour Obelisk
16 March 2020Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
Dedicated design auctions have become a regular part of the regional saleroom calendar
16 March 2020From relatively modest beginnings, specialist design sales have become mainstream money-spinners at provincial auctions.
Victorian table, Duleep Singh’s hawking bell and Ottoman portrait miniature – five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes
13 March 2020ATG’s selection of hammer highlights this week includes an occasional table by Johan Marti Levien made from exotic New Zealand woods that made six-times estimate in Newbury.
Pick of the week: House clearance chairs are £16,500 Voysey Arts & Crafts originals
09 March 2020Arts & Crafts enthusiasts who hoped to buy a pair of Voysey chairs at something close to their £20-40 estimate at an auction in the Cotswolds were to be disappointed.
Modest but marvellous Mouseman
09 March 2020This set of table and chairs by the ever-popular Mouseman had been bought from the Kilburn workshops in the 1970s by the vendor’s parents.
Miniature terrestrial pocket globe offered in Massachusetts
09 March 2020This English miniature terrestrial pocket globe complete with a shagreen case, its interior lined with a celestial map, will feature in the spring sale at CRN Auctions in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on March 15.
Tunbridge sewing table made for young princess Victoria emerges in US
09 March 2020Cottone’s latest auction, in Geneseo, New York, on March 28, includes around 60 items from the collection of Dr Ronald and Krista Reed of Reed Eye Associates, of Rochester.
Marquetry appeal of a tired chest
09 March 2020Frankly catalogued as in need of restoration and ‘sold as seen’, a late-17th century walnut and marquetry chest had the inherent quality to attract phone and internet bidders from across the UK to the Carlisle rooms of Thomson Roddick (17.5% buyer’s premium).
ATG letter: Two letters about Bonhams' Oak Interior auction
09 March 2020MADAM – Re: Hornby Castle Chair in the Bonhams Oak Interior sale (ATG No 2431). I have just returned from holiday to see ‘my’ old armchair staring out at me from the ATG front page. I thought you might be interested in a bit of its missing history.
Juhl serves up a £6000 salad surprise
09 March 2020The near dominance of Scandinavians among mid-20th century designers of wood furniture and artefacts was underlined at two sales at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in February.
Organisers return to Croydon for another event in an impressive venue
02 March 2020Alison Davis and Alan Old of So Last Century Vintage and Retro Fairs run their London events in suitably historic and interesting buildings.
Decorative furniture and lighting in flamboyant style forms core of single collection
02 March 2020“A fabulous example of how an auctioneer can sell these collections so successfully outside of London,” said Dreweatts’ (25% buyer’s premium) managing director Jonathan Pratt in the wake of Donnington Priory’s latest auction of European furniture and works of art.
Bell to announce ships in Ceylon stands proud in Scotland
02 March 2020This 14in (25cm) diameter bronze bell shown here bears the insignia of the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie (the Dutch East India Company or VOC), the date 1747 and the name Jaffanapatnam. It is suspended in a wrought iron frame and mounted to a large stone mill wheel.
Pick of the week: Exceptional shodana shows super details
02 March 2020David Lay’s (18% buyer's premium) second stand-alone Asian art sale held in Penzance was topped at £65,500 (estimate £3000-5000) by this shodana made in Meiji period Japan, c.1890.
Interior designers and auction houses team up for spring sales
25 February 2020This spring auction houses Dreweatts and Fellows plan events with interior decorators and designers Sibyl Colefax & John Fowler, Caroline Percy and architectural historian Oliver Gerrish.
The seat of history: Hornby Castle Chair sells for £35,000 at Bonhams Oxford
24 February 2020The so-called Hornby Castle Chair, a 4ft 7in (1.38m) high oak open armchair c.1580-1600, sold for £35,000 plus premium at the latest Oak Interior sale at Bonhams in Oxford.
Miniature chair and huge ox add up to big prices
24 February 2020The Gentleman’s Library Sale at Bonhams on February 12-13 included a miniature William and Mary or Queen Anne walnut armchair standing 21in (53cm) high).
Vernacular furniture returning home from US provides textbook lots in Oxford saleroom
24 February 2020The Oak Interior sale at Bonhams in Oxford on February 19 included two substantial private collections consigned for sale from the US.
The web shop window: Asprey dressing case
24 February 2020Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
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