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.
Glass birds and Mouseman sell in North Yorkshire
15 July 2019The demand for 1960s Pulcini glass birds made by Alessandro Pianon (1931-64) for the Venetian company Vistosi has spiked in recent months.
Buyers go large at an encouraging Olympia
15 July 2019A 2m-wide early 1950s sofa offered for £7000 on the stand of The Modern Warehouse was one of the larger objects attracting buyers at the latest 'Art & Antiques Fair Olympia'.
Interview: Casting light on bicycle lamps
15 July 2019Peter Card’s fascination with this niche area stretches to the joy of extensive research
George II table takes £17,500 and Churchill letters get away
15 July 2019As a reminder of the days when a piece of quality furniture could be expected to top a wide-ranging provincial sale, a George II giltwood and gesso occasional table led the way at Dawson’s (20% buyer’s premium) 550-lot event in Maidenhead.
Seven highlights from Christie’s sale of a Rothschild collection
11 July 2019Christie’s sale Masterpieces from a Rothschild Collection was arguably the most eye-catching auction of the summer season in London.
The web shop window: Victorian hall stand
08 July 2019Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.
Paris auctions move back into action as Sotheby’s announce single-owner sale
08 July 2019In September the Paris auction scene wakes up from its long summer slumber to get back into action for the approaching autumn and winter season.
Dealer serves up a loan to tea exhibition
08 July 2019A Henry Clay polychrome tea caddy, c.1785, in the manner of Robert Adam is among the pieces lent by dealer Mark Goodger of Hampton Antiques to be featured in Compton Verney Art Gallery’s exhibition A Tea Journey: From the mountains to the table.
Talisman owner takes a break
01 July 2019Talisman, the large King’s Road emporium of antiques and interiors , is marking its final months with 50% off all stock. Owner Ken Bolan kicked off the sale earlier this month and it continues until doors finally close on the shop on July 31.
Church gates lead to bidding battles in two salerooms
01 July 2019In market terms, ecclesiastical gates are not the subject of mass appeal but examples by major 19th century designers certainly had their devotees at two June sales.
Sofa table suited to current tastes
24 June 2019Other than davenports, few pieces of functional antique furniture fell farther down the price ladder during the slump than sofa tables but the examples here bucked the fashion at Moore Allen & Innocent (20% buyer’s premium) of Cirencester.
Brass bound to sell
24 June 2019The fitted interior of this William & Mary casket, below, was later but its fine brass-bound marquetry exterior with hidden lock mechanism made it the most eye-catching lot at Mallams’ (22.5% buyer’s premium) auction in Cheltenham on June 6.
Howard comfortably unearthed
24 June 2019Featuring in the same two-day auction as a £7000 cache of Beatrix Potter ephemera found in a Cumbrian Victorian villa which had made national headlines, this less-heralded sofa impressed at 1818 Auctioneers (17.5% buyer’s premium).
Cohray’s handmade modernism
24 June 2019In the 1950s French designer Raymond Cohen and his firm Cohray were producing a range of ultra-modern furniture that – although made for the machine age – were all put together by hand.
East meets West in £11,500 cabinet
24 June 2019The resurgent interest in quality Japanese material and the slower revival of English furniture were both evident in a cabinet on stand sold at West Sussex auction house Toovey’s (24.5% buyer’s premium).
Victoria and Albert Museum acquires Chippendale's Harewood House pier tables and mirrors for the nation
18 June 2019A set of pier tables and mirrors from the Thomas Chippendale workshop has been accepted in lieu for the nation and allocated to the Victoria & Albert Museum.
Chippendale sits comfortably at Masterpiece London
17 June 2019When Sir Robert Burdett (1716-97), 4th Baron Bramcote, undertook the remodelling of his early 18th century home Foremarke Hall from 1759-62, he contracted Thomas Chippendale to refurnish the house. The cabinet maker – one of several employed in the project – was paid around £1000 for the giltwood seating furniture which is thought to have included at least 10 elbow chairs, two window seats and a sofa.
Rediscovering ‘Good Design’ at Kensington Church Street show
17 June 2019'What Happened to Good Design', a summer selling exhibition at Hill House in Kensington Church Street, was inspired by a show at design shop Heal’s in 1982 of the same name. It offers works from the Arts & Crafts period and beyond.
Arts & Crafts oak from the second and third generation
17 June 2019Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) offered 12 impeccably provenanced pieces by Peter Waals (1870-1937) at Oxford on May 23.
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