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.
News in Brief – including Marie-Antoinette's furniture at Christie’s Paris
07 November 2022A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including items once in the collection of Marie-Antoinette coming to Christie’s Paris.
Getty collection dispersed over four days of live auctions and six online sales
07 November 2022Dining at Ann and Gordon Getty’s sumptuous Californian residence can seldom have been dull.
Rothschild taste sensations as bidders turn out in force at Exbury House sale
07 November 2022The unashamed opulence of interior decoration that became known as Le Goût Rothschild as it spread from 19th century France to Austria, Germany and Britain is a style that has always been admired.
Regency furniture in demand at New York sale
07 November 2022Regency period furniture provided some of the highest prices in the sale of English and Continental furniture and decorative arts held by Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) on October 19 in New York.
Businessman’s canapés taken by UK buyer
07 November 2022Hindman’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) furniture and decorative arts sale in Chicago on October 18 was headlined by furnishings from the estate of Michael L Wilkie, a prominent Chicago businessman.
Mid-range sales of practical Georgian furniture among sales at Winter Olympia
07 November 2022One of the best places to find furniture from across the ages this autumn was the 'Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia'.
Flaxley Abbey and Chilham Castle: Two sales disperse contents put together by renowned designers
07 November 2022Two ancient country manors refurbished by two of the 20th century’s leading UK interior designers brought what the auctioneers described as ‘pre-Covid atmospheres’ at Dreweatts’ (25% buyer’s premium) Donnington Priory rooms.
Get the look: mirror highlights at Dreweatts
07 November 2022Carved giltwood mirrors were in strong demand at Dreweatts, four of them among the five-figure prices.
Regency day bed emerges in Los Angeles
07 November 2022Andrew Jones (25/18/12% buyer’s premium) held one of its periodic wide-ranging, mixed-discipline sales titled Design for the Home and Garden in Los Angeles on October 9.
Top US antique furniture dealer to sell stock at Sotheby’s auction as it downsizes New York premises
02 November 2022New York dealership Hyde Park Antiques, founded in 1965, will sell nearly 500 lots at Sotheby’s next year.
“Some truly original ideas": why dealer chooses to focus on Mid-century furniture
31 October 2022Specialist event focuses on a popular period when ‘some truly original ideas’ developed
Pick of the week: 1930s Cleveland furniture builds interest at auction
24 October 2022In the early 1930s, following the closure of its ironstone mines, unemployment in the east Cleveland region of North Yorkshire reached a harrowing 90%.
Getty cabinet one of most expensive pieces of English furniture ever sold
24 October 2022A George III mahogany china cabinet became one of the most expensive pieces of English furniture ever sold when it took $2.2m (£2m) during the opening salvos of Christie’s New York sale of the Ann and Gordon Getty collection.
Macbeth collar found in a market
24 October 2022Glasgow School designer’s embroidered silk design instantly stood out in a box of fabric.
Qing vase and Ming armchair make eight figure sums as bidders compete in Hong Kong
17 October 2022One boasted an illustrious ‘Fonthill heirloom’ provenance, the other a Hotung collection background
Classic English furniture from Al Thani collection returns to the saleroom
17 October 2022Icons of English furniture returned to the market when Sotheby’s Paris sold the contents from the Hôtel Lambert, a 17th century Parisian hôtel particulier on the Ile de La Cité.
Tree trunk takes on different role
17 October 2022Five years after he acceded to the throne in 1873, King Albert of Saxony decided to renovate the 17th century hunting castle at Wermsdorf.
Antique dealers’ campaign to save Westminster’s gas lamps attracts wider support ahead of council’s consultation
12 October 2022A campaign to save the Victorian gas lamps in Westminster has gained support from The Victorian Society, its president actor Griff Rhys Jones and the GMB Union.
The furniture price adjustments that show a positive trend
10 October 2022While traditional antique furniture prices are still relatively cheap, contemporary and mid-20th century material continues to be an expanding market.
All cisterns go in Gloucestershire
10 October 2022Two classic country house ‘garden’ form 17th century examples show their mettle
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