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Eight fine bindings are the focus of this report, which draws mainly on sales held in the UK and US in the summer months – but also includes one to come in the new season sales.

With everything buzzing at Chiswick Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) ahead of the opening of the South Kensington showroom next week (see last week’s ATG No 2305), life at the west London rooms goes on providing a solid base for this ambitious expansion.

MADAM – I read with dismay your correspondent’s letter criticising ATG’s coverage of the latest series of the BBC’s 'Fake or Fortune?' programme.

Large-scale paintings of intimate domestic scenes are unusual in Chinese art. The Chinese export reverse-painted glass painting of a young mother nursing her infant son offered at Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, earlier this month is thought to be one of only a handful of full-size versions painted of this once popular image.

Provincial sales throughout the summer were enlivened by big-money Chinese material but a more concentrated look at the market was afforded by the dedicated sale at Roseberys (20% buyer’s premium) on June 27.

A Song dynasty brush washer, one of the few examples of Ru guanyao court ware still in private hands, will be offered by Sotheby’s Hong Kong with an estimate in excess of HK$100m on October 3.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period August 17-23, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Catching the eye at the Oriental Sale at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge on August 10 were the two highly collectable 4¾in (12cm) tall gourd cricket cages shown here.

Seven phone bidders competed for this 15th century gold heart-shaped brooch, a medieval gift of love from the time of the Wars of the Roses, at Hansons in Derbyshire.

A raft of contemporary and post-war art featured in the busy August schedule in Scotland. Such art remains a picky and tempestuous market north of the border. The latest results were scattered with a mix of bullish and more subdued results.

Sir Stanley Matthews’ first football contract showing the legend was paid a princely £5 a week has sold at Derbyshire saleroom Hansons.

Made in various materials across the centuries, brush pots used by Chinese scholars are steady favourites at UK auctions and the blue and white porcelain example shown here was no exception when offered at Thomas Watson’s (17.5% buyer’s premium) sale at Darlington on June 20.

Fine examples of John Sell Cotman’s (1782-1842) draftsmanship appeared at separate auctions in the south of England.

Leonard started his antiques career in 1968, working in a small shop in Westbourne Grove, London, for Patricia Harvey.

The Grade II-listed Wordsley Manor has an unusual aspect – it lies in the middle of a sprawling 20th century housing estate.

Offered as a job lot, these 2¾in (7cm) tall Chinese cloisonné stemmed cups and tea bowl pictured here were entered into the August 15 sale at Stamford auction house Batemans (20% buyer’s premium) by a private vendor content with the £50-70 estimate.

Pieces with a maritime slant proved popular at the sale at Cowes held by HRD Auction Rooms (15% buyer’s premium) on August 3 during the yacht-fest that is Cowes Week on the Isle of Wight.

It’s late August and the art market continues its summer slumber.

Three names prized by collectors helped this 19th century German train set, pictured, to top the 330 lots of toys and railwayana offered at the David Duggleby (20% buyer’s premium) sale at Scarborough on August 12.

Dealers and auctioneers are again being targeted by scam guides that seek to extort large sums of money in return for inclusion in worthless trade listings.