Woolley & Wallis

The drive by, among others, the Royal Academy and the National Gallery to promote women’s importance in art would have required little effort had campaigners looked at the world of modern ceramics.

A previously unrecorded teabowl and saucer attributed to a pioneering American porcelain factory is expected to bring a six-figure sum when offered for sale in Salisbury next month.

Believed to be unique, this grimacing stoneware dog jar and lid from the Martin Brothers pottery is up for auction at Salisbury saleroom Woolley & Wallis on December 12.

For the first time in a decade, Sotheby’s Asian Art in London offering included a designated sale of Japanese art on November 6.

An unusual dish from the workshop of Namikawa Yasuyuki (1845-1927) sold for £18,000 at Woolley & Wallis on November 14. But this was not the only example of top-tier Meiji cloisonné for sale last month.

Despite the disparity in numbers, the market for Chinese and Japanese works of art are increasingly aligned.

Despite its size and various eras of occupation, Malta sustained a vibrant silver and gold-working tradition across several centuries.

Woolley & Wallis celebrated its 10th £1m-plus lot last week, selling a portrait by Chinese contemporary artist Yang Fei Yun (b.1954) for £1.7m (plus premium). The sitter – the artist’s wife pictured in the early days of their marriage – was in Salisbury to watch the sale.

A popular form of gift or memento to loved ones as troops left for the front was a ‘sweetheart brooch’.

The Hundred Days Offensive broke the back of German resistance in 1918 and by November the Allies were surging well beyond the once static Western Front.

The sale of the Anne Shannon collection of British and Continental designer jewellery will live long in the memory.

Woolley & Wallis followed the Shannon collection with a mixed-owner sale on November 1. Together the auctions brought a premium-inclusive £2.1m.

The white-glove sale of the Shannon collection of jewellery at Woolley & Wallis was topped at £22,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) by a gold bracelet by Omar Ramsden.