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.
Charles Voysey River Rug flows into auction
23 April 2018A hand-coloured design for Charles Voysey’s 'River Rug' surfaced at Lawrences of Crewkerne where it sold at £21,000 (plus premium).
Buyers dip into the modern movement for design festival at south London lido
23 April 2018The lone swimmer at the Brockwell Lido pictured here appears oblivious to what’s going on alongside the walkways.
Furniture provides market comfort in and outside London
23 April 2018Among the flurry of sales providing a welcome spring tonic for the trade generally, two weighted heavily towards furniture provided welcome encouragement.
Market with buyers happy to splash cash
23 April 2018If a 74% selling rate points to continued selectivity among furniture bidders, the hammer total of £534,000 achieved at Dreweatts’ (24% buyer’s premium) 275-lot Fine Furniture and Works of Art sale showed they also have money to spend – “a trend we’ve seen for a while now”, said auctioneer Ben Brown.
Walnut chest wows at £5500
23 April 2018This 19th century French walnut chest of drawers, offered at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium) Surrey rooms, sold at £5500.
Art Deco and Art Nouveau hold steady at Antiques for Everyone despite ivory trade ban
23 April 2018Art Deco and Art Nouveau sculptures may be one of the categories most at risk under the impending ivory sales ban, but at the recent Antiques for Everyone Fair (April 5-8) a dealer in that field reported no change as a result.
Reclamation for dummies and a market winning idea
23 April 2018Artist Mel Winning runs a reclamation business in the medieval market town of Manningtree in Essex.
Glasgow art school key to stay in Scotland after Edinburgh auction
16 April 2018In the year of the 150th anniversary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s birth, Lyon & Turnbull has sold the very key used to open his design masterpiece, The Glasgow School of Art, in 1899.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed Glasgow School of Art key to stay in Scotland after it is sold at Edinburgh auction
13 April 2018In the year of the 150th anniversary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s birth, Lyon & Turnbull has sold the very key used to open the artist’s masterpiece The Glasgow School of Art in 1899.
Pick of the Week: Iron Duke’s soft spot for a young lady
09 April 2018When Frances Noble, head of Dix Noonan Webb’s jewellery department, was shown this coronet with a family tradition connecting it to the Duke of Wellington, it was caked with dirt.
Italian panel from a medieval chest on offer in Vienna
09 April 2018A panel front from a cassone will feature in the April 24 sale of Old Master paintings to be held by Dorotheum in Vienna.
The two sides of William and Mary
09 April 2018Two William and Mary side tables, one period and the other catalogued as ‘style’, bringing different results in March.
Pick of the Week: Here comes the sundial at Summers Place
02 April 2018Henry Wynne (fl.1654-1709), master of the Clockmaker’s Company, produced the finest and largest double-horizontal sundials of the Restoration period.
Charitable trust buys French rococo chairs for Chester museum collection
27 March 2018A charitable trust has bought two pairs of 18th century French chairs from National Galleries of Scotland for a museum in Chester.
Dealer Ronald Phillips offers 35 key objects in Chippendale selling exhibition at London gallery and Masterpiece this summer
26 March 2018Ronald Phillips will host an exhibition of Chippendale furniture at its Bruton Street gallery and at Masterpiece London to mark the tercentenary of his birth.
Cornish B&B consignment checks in to Devon auction
26 March 2018Considering retiring and selling up, the owner of a Cornish B&B owner consigned the George III, japanned chest on stand, below, to Honiton saleroom Chilcotts (19.5% buyer’s premium) to test the market.
Decorators show a sense of style with auction buys
26 March 2018“It’s not the age or pedigree – it’s the look of the piece.” The phrase became less a heresy and more a cliché during the latter years of the furniture boom of blessed memory, when the increasingly influential decorator trade was spending substantial sums on 19th and early 20th century reproductions.
News In Brief - including Chippendale show at London gallery
26 March 2018A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including news of Ronald Phillips' Chippendale exhibition.
Steeplejack ladders prove a hit at sell-out Fred Dibnah auction in Bolton
20 March 2018Crowds descended on Bolton at the weekend to see the sell-out auction of the property of steeplejack and TV personality Fred Dibnah.
Hammer highlights: Furniture stars at regional sales
12 March 2018On a lesser scale than the exceptional £35,000 George II chairs at Holloway’s sale, but standing out from the general run of brown furniture, were other encouraging results across the country in February.
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