Art and antiques news from 2005

LONDON antique dealers Malletts are waiting to hear whether a Dublin dealer will have to pay them more than £100,000 in compensation over a stolen 18th century bureau bookcase.

Olympia event organisers acquire Birmingham shows THE antiques fairs organising arms at Olympia and Birmingham’s NEC have merged to form Clarion Events NEC Ltd.

Bird in Space, right, an unrecorded marble version of one of Constantin Brancusi’s most celebrated and iconic subjects, was the toast of Christie’s $126.8m Impressionist and Modern art sale last week in New York.

A SNATCHED moment frozen in time thanks to the lucky presence of a camera... or was it?

Hobbs Parker, Ashford, April 14. Buyer’s premium: 10 per cent“THE best sale for two years,” said auctioneer Alan White after Hobbs Parker’s April event.

THE piece with star billing at Bonhams’ April 21 Antiquities auction was the dramatic white marble group, shown here, even meriting its own separate hardback catalogue.

ONCE again art proved its muscle over antiques with a frantic opening party on the evening of April 20 at Caroline Penman’s 10th annual Chelsea Art Fair, which continued at Chelsea Old Town Hall until the 24th.

Christie’s King StreetFaces from the Ancient WorldPATCHY interest for the small Greek and Roman bronzes and other academic material held down the selling rate at Christie’s single owner sale to less than three-quarters by volume. But outside of these entries, buyers paid a premium for the best quality provenanced works.

Bonhams Bond StreetCLASSICAL sculpture also dominated Bonhams wide-ranging mixed-owner sale on April 21. Led by the Hever nymph and satyr, discussed on page 13, Roman marbles accounted for eight of the ten highest prices.

“IT was the power of the press that did it,“ said a red-faced, but delighted, auctioneer Michael Perry of Capes Dunn & Co. (15% buyer’s premium). News has only recently filtered down to the ATG of a spectacular result posted by the Manchester auctioneers back on February 22.

A CHESS sale held by Bloomsbury Auctions on April 14 included a small book section in which a 1745 edition of Philip Stamma’s The Noble Game of Chess, the half calf gilt bindings of the two vols. now a bit loose, sold at £920.

Christie's New York (10/12% Buyer's premium)SNUFF bottles vary enormously in quality and price but the J&J collection has to rank as one of the world’s foremost specialist holdings. Although these exquisitely made and highly decorative vessels have a following of strong international collectors, inevitably there are limited buyers for top-end imperial quality works.

IN contemporary brown calf and buff coloured boards, a good, unsophisticated copy of the 1781, Riga first edition of Immanuel Kant’s Critik der reinen Vernunft was sold for $8500 (£4505) in a March 28 sale held by Baltimore Book Auctions.

Sotheby's New York (20/12% Buyer's Premium) PRICES have steadily risen in recent years for paintings by India’s most established modern artists notably Maqbool Fida Husain (b.1915) and Francis Newton Souza (1924-2002).

IS this an unusual high-shouldered oviform vase or a jar missing its cover? Was it made in the Qianlong period (1736-95) or does it date to the Emperor Jiaqing’s reign (1796-1820).

THE market for the paintings of Winifred Nicholson (1893-1981) continues to be on a roll, particularly up in Cumbria, where the former wife of Ben Nicholson lived in the town of Brampton, some 10 miles east of Carlisle, during the latter stages of her career after her return from Paris in 1938.

EXPECT around 90 dealers, just a handful down on last year, in Hall 3 of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre for the sixth Antiques For Everyone – Glasgow fair from May 13 to 15.

CLARION events have appointed Freya Simms as a new director for the Olympia Fine Art and Antiques Fairs. She will be groomed to take over from Dan Gorton as the prime organiser and figurehead of the Olympia fairs.

The colourful stylish pottery produced by the Italian firm Lenci (and its competitor Essevi) is on something of a roll these days. The strength of this particular market was demonstrated at Christie’s South Kensington last week by this 21in (53cm) high figure designed by Sandro Vacchetti.

It’s well known that diamonds are a girl’s best friend but handbags surely come a close second. The two combined can be a killer combination.