Auctions

News and previews of art and antiques sold at auctions throughout the UK and overseas, from multi-million-pound blockbusters to affordable collectables.


Dutch undeterred by strong sterling

17 May 1999

UK: OVERTLY Continental pieces of furniture are not the most commercial proposition in the current trading environment (the strength of sterling have limited the overseas presence for many months now), but Bellman’s West Sussex rooms had no difficulty in selling a fine example of Dutch/Flemish cabinetmaking at their April sale.

Dog-eared tea table makes £13,400

17 May 1999

UK: A DOG had bitten one of the legs... and possibly worse, and two parts were knocked off by individuals at the viewing, but neither of these detractions put off Smith the Rink of Harrogate from bidding £13,400 plus 12 per cent buyer’s premium for this George III tea-table at Patrick Cheyne of Altrincham on May 8. Why?

Small-scale Georgian grandeur

17 May 1999

Dolls' Houses & Furnishings UK: ANOTHER portfolio of miniature des. res. and effects went on the market this month. On May 6 Bonhams (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) were selling the second tranche of the collection of Vivien Greene, pioneering authority on the doll's house and author of several books on the subject.

Going shell, going well

17 May 1999

UK: THOSE decorative pieces worked by amateurs using seashells have always come low down in the art world pecking order but of late their attractions have become more and more appreciated as seen when an Irish pair of shellwork botanical studies took £26,000 at Mallams, Oxford, on February 3.

Reminder of an inevitable fate...

17 May 1999

SWITZERLAND: WORKING for posterity with a fast-approaching deadline? Unconcerned about leaving those vital documents unfinished? Then perhaps you need the inspiration of this automaton – a perfect memento mori for the millennial slacker.

Another decorative brick in the wall

17 May 1999

ARCHITECTURAL specialists Thomas William Gaze & Son (7.5 per cent buyer’s premium) included these 19th century decorative wallbricks, right, at their sale in Diss, Norfolk April 17.

Tin-glazed earthenware charger

10 May 1999

UK: AUCTIONEER John Goodwin of Ledbury in Herefordshire sold this polychrome tin-glazed earthenware charger, 33/4in (35cm) diameter, decorated with a portrait of King George, to London specialist Jonathan Horne for £13,750 (plus 10 per cent premium) on April 28.

£150,000 for a pair of George III card tables

10 May 1999

UK: WEST Country auctioneers Lawrence’s of Crewkerne posted a house record on May 6 when they sold this pair of George III marquetry inlaid rosewood and satinwood card tables to a New York dealer for £150,000 (plus 12.75 per cent premium).

£23,000 tables play their cards right to star in sale

03 May 1999

UK: THIS review of two of the higher-profile sales conducted by Bonhams from their Northern foothold in Stockport begins (in reverse chronological order) with an April catalogue comprising the contents of two Yorkshire manor houses.

American answer to puzzle of royal box

03 May 1999

UK: ATTRACTING the most attention at of the Shrewsbury sale held by Halls (buyer’s premium 10 per cent) on April 14 was this enigmatic parcel gilt box, right.

Time to pontificate

03 May 1999

France: WAS it or wasn’t it? – This richly decorated skullcap, above, which appeared at Neuilly on April 15, was at the very least an outstanding piece of episcopal headgear.

Rare Ming bowl sets world auction record

03 May 1999

HONG KONG: A WORLD auction price was set for Chinese porcelain when this extremely rare doucai chicken cup, from the Ming Dynasty, with the six-character mark and period of Chenghua, 1465-78, from the collection of Mrs Leopold Dreyfus, sold to Eskenazi Ltd of London for HK$25.4m (£2m) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong on April 27.

Eclectic mix complemented by Percy Cook collection

26 April 1999

Furniture & Works of Art Usually Sotheby’s (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) offer a sale of English furniture at around the same time as Christie’s, but the Bond Street auctioneers’ next comparable event will not take place until June 4.

£17,000 majolica discovery

26 April 1999

UK: DURING a routine house call to a mid-Victorian terrace in Grantham, auctioneer Colin Young unearthed half of a pair of Victorian comports which were destined to establish a house record for ceramics at the Grantham Auction Rooms.

Zeppelins’ guide on stairway to Heaven

26 April 1999

UK: JUST as rocket fuel was essential to the stratospheric aims of the V1 and V2 missiles towards the end of WW2, so the altigraph was mandatory to the success of Germany’s highest flying secret of WW1.

With cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row…

26 April 1999

Decorative Furniture The five annual selected sales at Christie’s South Kensington (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium) always offer a broad variety of furnishings and objects that includes a generous supply of more decorative pieces of various ages.

Bonham’s charming stopgap

26 April 1999

UK: IN common with a number of other London auctioneers, Bonhams (15/10 per cent buyer’s premium), were reserving their best quality Old Master consignments for July, but their April 13 sale in Knightsbridge did at least include the decorative charms of this 3ft 21/2in by 2ft 43/4in (98 x 73cm) canvas, illustrated here, of a young woman tending a bouquet of flowers, signed by the Italian-based still life specialist Abraham Brueghel (1631-1697).

Tax deal struck for Mariana

26 April 1999

UK: CHRISTIE’S and Agnew’s have confirmed that they have successfully negotiated the sale of the Millais masterpiece Mariana in the Moated Grange to the nation in lieu of tax.

Humour in stitches

26 April 1999

UK: COLOURFUL and humorous, this late 17th century needlework panel, left, was the top textile at Neale’s (15 per cent buyer’s premium) sale in Nottingham on March 25-26.

Lowboy tops day

26 April 1999

UK: A ROUTINE dispersal at the Ladybank salerooms was led by a Georgian oak lowboy of typical composition which attracted £13504.

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