Art and antiques news from 2009

BONHAMS have appointed Jonathan Horwich as Global Director of Picture Sales, starting on December 1.

CHRISTIE’S have launched a one-stop insurance service for UK private clients, taking in all their insurance requirements in a single-payment policy package.

AUCTIONEERS across the country have recently been the recipients of this potentially interesting document, a copy of The Order of Service for the Funeral of Sir Winston Churchill, 30th January 1965.

THE next couple of months bring the final chance to sign up to the petition calling on the government to give better support to the art and antiques industry.

THE familiar Art and Antiques mini-catalogues synonymous with Bonhams' regional general sales are to disappear at the end of the year.

AFTER nearly 50 years as a dealer, Tobias Jellinek makes no apology for having written what he describes as “a practical book” about early English chairs, stools and other seating rather than a furniture history book.

THE dealer/collector who bought what is now widely thought to be a previously unrecognised work by Leonardo Da Vinci has given ATG details of the events leading up to the revelation.

IF you’re looking for a painting that sums up the problems suffered by the contemporary art market over the last year, then this work by Peter Doig (b.1959) is a pretty good candidate.

AUCTIONEERS and trade associations sharing information on undesirable clients have to be careful that they are not breaking the law.

A MASSIVE Union Flag that flew from one of the ships at the battle of Trafalagar has sold at auction for £320,000.

NATIONAL Antiques Week runs from November 23-30, and a number of dealers have already announced events to mark the occasion.

THE original drawings that Edward Lear made for his 1846 A Book of Nonsense are now rare, and those that exist are for the most part held in institutional collections.

ATG columnist Richard Falkiner has hailed the Roman cameo glass vase which has been unveiled by Bonhams as “the greatest classical find since the Portland Vase”.

THE first salvos in the battle between the showground fairs giants saw up to 4000 exhibitors head to Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire earlier this month.

IS there still life in the Irish art market? The auction record for a piece of sculpture by an Irish artist was broken at Adam's 140-lot sale of Irish art on October 14.

THE organisers of Masterpiece, one of the hopefuls in the race to fill the gap left by the Grosvenor House fair, hope to have their venue settled by the end of the year.

THE London art trade has welcomed the news that the Acquisitions, Export and Loans Unit’s (AELU) move to Birmingham has been delayed by three months.

SOTHEBY’S latest Hong Kong Asian series saw mainland Chinese buyers come of age in the field of Imperial Chinese art.

TO visit Vectis Auctions, the toy specialists based near Stockton-on-Tees with annual sales of £5m, is to catch a glimpse of the auction business as it might be in the future.

AMONG the more run-of-the-mill furnishings that constitute the bulk of the popular Interiors sales at Christie’s South Kensington, there are often a handful of more quirky items.