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.

Louis XV candelabra

Seven highlights from Christie’s sale of a Rothschild collection

11 July 2019

Christie’s sale Masterpieces from a Rothschild Collection was arguably the most eye-catching auction of the summer season in London.

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The web shop window: Victorian hall stand

08 July 2019

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

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Paris auctions move back into action as Sotheby’s announce single-owner sale

08 July 2019

In September the Paris auction scene wakes up from its long summer slumber to get back into action for the approaching autumn and winter season.

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Dealer serves up a loan to tea exhibition

08 July 2019

A 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.

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Talisman owner takes a break

01 July 2019

Talisman, 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.

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Church gates lead to bidding battles in two salerooms

01 July 2019

In 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.

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Sofa table suited to current tastes

24 June 2019

Other 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.

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Brass bound to sell

24 June 2019

The 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.

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Howard comfortably unearthed

24 June 2019

Featuring 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).

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Cohray’s handmade modernism

24 June 2019

In 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.

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East meets West in £11,500 cabinet

24 June 2019

The 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).

Chippendale

Victoria and Albert Museum acquires Chippendale's Harewood House pier tables and mirrors for the nation

18 June 2019

A 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.

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Chippendale sits comfortably at Masterpiece London

17 June 2019

When 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.

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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.

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Arts & Crafts oak from the second and third generation

17 June 2019

Mallams (20% buyer’s premium) offered 12 impeccably provenanced pieces by Peter Waals (1870-1937) at Oxford on May 23.

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Previews : £30,000 plus

17 June 2019

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

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Chest attributed to Flemish-born London maker Gerrit Jensen tops furniture from Worcestershire manor

17 June 2019

A consignment of furniture from the medieval Eastington Hall, Worcestershire, boosted Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium) latest sale in Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire.

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Olympia summer fair caters for decorative buyers and collectors

10 June 2019

French commode forms good example of selling strategy at long-standing London event

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Welsh furniture dealer offers cupboard at festival

10 June 2019

Tim Bowen Antiques brings this Welsh oak cwpwrdd bara caws (bread and cheese cupboard) to the midsummer Carmarthenshire event Midsummer Cahoots at the Hall (June 22-30).

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The web shop window: Sicilian giltwood casket from Anthony Outred

10 June 2019

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

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