Print Edition

Exotic visions are Orientalist art’s stock-in-trade. Bustling bazaars and colourful mosques, lavish harems and sun-drenched deserts populate the canvases in this field.

Pierre-Yves Guillemet recently opened PY Rare Books.

This pair of ormolu candlesticks by Pierre-Philippe Thomire (1751-1843) will feature in the May 24 auction at Duran Subastas in Madrid.

MADAM – We have been following the ivory debate in your pages with anxious concern, in spite of being specialists in vernacular, naive and folk art, whose business would rarely be directly impacted by the near-total ivory ban planned by the government.

An essential of genteel Georgian life, silver apple corers with their simple elegance were once much prized by collectors. However, a collection of nine early 19th century examples offered at Woolley & Wallis on April 24-25 met a mixed reception, with only five getting away.

Modern Egyptian art emerged as a stand-out sector during Islamic Week. The leading lot of Sotheby’s 20th Century Art/Middle East sale was a work by pioneering painter Mahmoud Said (1897-1964), dubbed the father of Egyptian modernism.

A 1940 painting of Valle Crucis Abbey is one of the key pictures in Bohun Gallery’s exhibition 'John Piper: A Very English Artist'.

This Allegory of Spring by the 17th century Italian artist Pietro Liberi (Padua 1605-Venice 1687) is one of the works in the May 21 auction of Old Master paintings and furnishings that opens Babuino’s next auction series in Rome.

MADAM – Sir William McAlpine (Obituary, ATG No 2340) often engaged the services of my father, John Pryke, a specialist structural and contracting engineer, and was very supportive to him when our family business went the unfortunate way of so many (as opposed to McAlpine’s).

A campaign to raise funds for legal advice on the government’s ivory ban proposals has received “a positive response”, according to dealer body BADA, which is organising the endeavour on behalf of the antiques sector.

A speciality for collectors of silver wine labels are the enamelled examples produced in Battersea in the 18th century.

An early German whaling scene took top honours at marine specialist Charles Miller’s (20% buyer’s premium) May Day sale in West Kensington.

Three modestly valued works in regional sales.

The Cotswolds Art and Antiques’ Dealers Association celebrated its 40th anniversary at its annual Blenheim Palace fair last month.

Two fine Dutch pieces quadrupled estimates at Woolley & Wallis on April 24-25: a c.1637 wine cup by an unidentified Middelburg smith and a table bell.

This c.1680 pink painted century Swedish table was among the sales at the recent Decorative Antiques and Textiles Fair.

What is your bidding technique? This Bateman cartoon on offer at John Nicholson’s on May 23 should strike a chord with ATG readers who remember the days before bidding paddles.

Australian enthusiasts did much to buoy up the Royal Doulton market in its 1990s pomp. And one such fan certainly did his bit to bring some life to what can now be a weak market by consigning a choice collection of Lambeth, flambé, Burslem and prototype wares to Kingham & Orme (20% buyer’s premium).

Estimated at £400-600, a Satsuma censer by Kinkozan provided more evidence that there is considerable life in the market for top-quality Meiji works of art when offered by Surrey auctioneer Catherine Southon (18% buyer’s premium).

The footballing power of mighty George Brown led to his nickname of ‘Bomber’ decades before the title went to Gerd Müller. Brown’s glory days were with Huddersfield Town FC, a power in the land 90 years ago.