Art and antiques news from 2002

PARIS: The knock-on effects of auction reform mean it’s all change for the new season: France’s traditional auction scene has undergone a major overhaul, with commissaires-priseurs retaining their monopoly for court-order sales only, and obliged to create new commercial entities if they wish to stage other auctions.

Christian Deydier, head of the Syndicat National des Antiquaires, sees lobbying for change as one of his most important roles. With help from his Vice-President Hervé Aaron, and Honorary President Philippe Kraemer, Deydier promises to “give it everything when it comes to lobbying… We must make the most of current favourable circumstances.”

Since the expected round of redundancies were announced at Bonhams in February as a result of the merger with Phillips, several senior staff have voluntarily left the company, some, if not all of whom are expected to be replaced.

ORIENTAL: A large, single-owner eclectic Oriental gathering ranging from Chinese jades and scholars’ objects to Contemporary paintings, Japanese lacquerwares and Burmese woodcarving went under the hammer at Bonhams’ Bond Street rooms on September 10.

From the beaches of Newquay to the Kyle of Lochalsh, there was barely a corner of the British Isles not represented at Christie’s South Kensington’s sale of travel posters on September 12, but the appeal of the top ranked poster had more to do with sport than travel.

ORIENTAL: A large, single-owner eclectic Oriental gathering ranging from Chinese jades and scholars’ objects to Contemporary paintings, Japanese lacquerwares and Burmese woodcarving went under the hammer at Bonhams’ Bond Street rooms on September 10.

After decades of wrangling over the reform of their antiquated auction system and a period of uncertainty and inaction among its dealers, the Paris art market starts the 2002 season in an unusually positive frame of mind.

LONDON: BUSINESS was surprisingly brisk at the preview reception of the Chelsea Antiques Fair last Thursday evening (September 12) with one dealer covering his costs within hours of the doors opening.

FOLLOWING the cancellation of a one-day fair scheduled for the Rembrandt Hotel, South Kensington last Sunday (September 15) the organiser, Edward Davidson, told the Antiques Trade Gazette he is definitely continuing with Heritage Antiques Fairs and although he is currently looking at other venues, he might return to the Rembrandt.

Auctioneers and dealers are asked to be on their guard against a man of Middle-Eastern origin signing cheques in the name of David Gedaneean on a closed account from Royal Bank of Scotland.

Two D-type Jaguars, one shown here being used as a child’s plaything, the other an actual boy’s toy, both featured in Bonhams’ September 6 sale of sports cars and automobilia at Goodwood.

antiquestradegazette.com has received 1 million hits in a single week for the first time. The growth in site traffic to 1,200,000 hits in the week ending 8th September represents a significant jump over the previous week, which saw 848,000 hits.

IRELAND’S top antiques fair will be held in Dublin next week when from September 26 to 29 some 45 dealers stand at the 37th annual Irish Antique Dealers Fair in the Main Hall of the Royal Dublin Society, Ballsbridge.

PARIS: A new Paris fair dedicated to Asian Art gets under way later this month. Running from Saturday September 21 to Wednesday September 25, the inaugural Biennale des Arts Asiatiques is timed to coincide with the opening week of the French capital’s Biennale des Antiquaires and takes places at the Carré des Sangliers in the Jardin des Tuileries – just a stroll down the road from the Carrousel du Louvre, where Paris’s most celebrated and glamorous veteran fair is held.

Sub-Saharan Africa has a panoply of diseases to strike down the most seasoned, inoculated travellers with a bout of hypochondria, so imagine what it was like when Henry Morton Stanley entered the bush 100 years ago, armed only with this case of patent Victorian medicine.

DENMARK: The modern design session of Bruun-Rasmussen’s (25% buyer’s premium incl. VAT) mixed 5-day sale from August 5–9 included a smattering of pieces from each of the big Scandinavian names: Just Anderson, Axel Salto, Poul Henningsen, Hans J. Wegner, Mogens Koch and Kaare Klint all put in an appearance, but the main focus was on Finn Juhl.

NOW in its 15th year, and after a few hiccups, the 20/21 British Art Fair has been on a roll for the past couple of years and its popularity should only be enhanced by its move to the Common-wealth Institute in Kensington High Street, London W8, where it will run from September 18 to 22.

Sold for £180 as part of a Hamptons sale on August 1 was the handbill exhorting Englishmen! to take up arms against Napoleon, right.

A Pennsylvanian enthusiast’s lifetime collection of faux bamboo furniture will be up for sale later this month in New York when it forms the centrepiece of Doyle’s sale of furniture, decorations and paintings on September 25.

The four-day Decorex International interior design trade fair runs this year from September 22-25 at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea.