Textiles

Usually held on the mezzanine of the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea Park, the London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair (LARTA) migrates online this year with an extended run.

Grogan’s 170-lot sale of Fine Rugs and Carpets in Boston, Masssachusetts on January 31 includes 65 rugs and weavings from the collection of James Opie.

Model produced for pilgrims and tourists to Jerusalem in mind is a highlight as specialist sales launch

For the second time in as many sales, Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) 20th Century Design auction on October 13 included a ‘microgauze’ wall hanging by the British artist-weaver Peter Collingwood (1922-2008).

Meg Andrews was as disappointed as many others by the cancellation due to the pandemic of the Textile Society’s antique and vintage textiles fair at Chelsea Town Hall earlier this month.

An auction record for Grayson Perry’s (b.1960) 'Britain is Best', a limited edition coloured embroidery depicting five loyalists from East Belfast, was set at Phillips (25% buyer’s premium) in London on September 10.

This handwoven tapestry by Czech designer and architect Josef Místecký (1891-1957) is offered at Galerie Ulrich Fiedler’s exhibition Textile Moderne, which features Avant Garde carpets and textiles by European makers.

Estimated at just £30-50, a late 19th century sampler sold via thesaleroom.com for £1850 at Wotton Auction Rooms (18% buyer’s premium) in Gloucestershire. A clue to the appeal is the inscription 'M Mountain, 5 Orphan House, Ashley Down, Bristol, 1879'.

Personal items that belonged to Marie-Antoinette were the highlights of Osenat’s (20.83/18% buyer’s premium) themed sale titled Royalty at Versailles.

'Calyx (Blue)', a 1951 textile by Lucienne Day (1917-2010), sprouts with Modernist forms. Its colourful, flower-like shapes hint at the mobiles of Alexander Calder or the biomorphs of Joan Miro.

Contents of Palladian home in County Durham provide showpiece auction in Newbury

Although often overshadowed by her famous father William, May Morris (1862-1938) was herself an important figure in the British Arts & Crafts movement.

As a young man in the 1960s, British creative designer Anthony Redmile (b.1937) took the London interior design scene by storm. Although his work was hugely eclectic, he became best known for his quirky designs taken from the animal kingdom.

Long unseen material from the country home of an ancient English family brought some estimate-demolishing five-figure bids at Morphets (17.5% buyer’s premium) including a genuine sleeper.

One of the highlights of a busy week in the salerooms came at Dreweatts’ auction of the Sir William Whitfield (1920-2019) collection.

While one of the Textile Society’s important functions is holding fairs, another is its annual awards and bursaries, including a professional development award.

This damask towel measuring 3ft 5in x 2ft 5in (1m x 75cm) and decorated with wreaths of fleur de lys and a central bouquet of roses will feature in Osenat’s La Royauté à Versailles auction, to be held in Versailles on April 5.

A UK-based design studio trio last year took over the UK licence to the archive of Florence Broadhurst, an Australian designer whose whirlwind life came to a tragic end in 1977.

The latest staging of The London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair was marked by strong sales of carpets and fewer big-ticket sales, according to organiser and exhibitor Aaron Nejad.

The London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair (LARTA) celebrates its 10th anniversary this year on the mezzanine of the Decorative Antiques & Textiles Fair in Battersea Park.