Chiswick Auctions

“The first sight I had of the vase was from an old photograph and my heart skipped a beat,” said Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) specialist Lazarus Halstead of this spectacular 20in (51cm) Qing famille rose vase.

Despite the restrictions on travel and viewing, the market for Chinese works of art has appeared remarkably robust in the year of coronavirus. ATG reports on the highpoints of the recent round of London and UK regional sales

Gifts from Queen Victoria to two of her god-daughters garnered international attention at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge.

A “10-year-old Laphroaig, something still readily available today” had a little bit of extra appeal when it came up for sale in west London, however.

A selection of stand-out Islamic & Indian auction results.

Challenging times mean lots of extra legwork – but London sale shows how it can be rewarded.

On the same day as Chiswick Auctions’ British & European Fine Art auction (see main report), a sale of Old Master Paintings & Drawings took place immediately beforehand. Comprising nearly 50 lots, it totalled £102,500 including buyer’s premium.

A work on paper by Czech artist Mikulas Medek (1926- 1971) drew strong competition at Chiswick Auctions’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest British & European Fine Art sale.

A drawing by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) sold to a phone bidder for £32,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Chiswick Auctions last week.

Far more fluent in the language of jewellery and stones, the Georgians and the Victorians would immediately have made the link between snakes and eternal love.

These two 21in (52cm) fan leaf paintings, one with a panel of calligraphy, the other with an ink and colour landscape, are by Zhang Daquian (1899-1983).

Two very different Japanese works on paper performed with equal gusto at Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) recent Asian art sale, both making 10-times-estimate sums for a vendor from Hertfordshire.

It was not just the great and good of 18th century Europe and North America who commissioned the Thirteen Factories at Canton to embellish Chinese porcelain blanks with family armorials or subjects copied from prints.

Trudpert Schneider (1804-99), a Freiburg carpenter whose first brush with photography was to repair a broken box camera, is today deemed one of Germany’s most important daguerreotypists.

Two consignments of works directly from artists' estates added a distinctive flavour to Chiswick Auctions’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest Modern & Post-War British Art sale.

Trudpert Schneider (1804-99), a Freiburg carpenter whose first brush with photography was to repair a broken box camera, is today deemed one of Germany’s most important daguerreotypists. The photographic firm he founded in 1847 continued under the management of his sons Heinrich and Wilhelm until 1921.