South-west England

The designated tribal art department at Woolley & Wallis (22% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury is now in its third year – and increasingly picking up consignments and regular buyers from well beyond its immediate hinterlands.

Part of a consignment from a deceased estate in Totnes, this stoneware bowl by red-hot studio pottery favourite Dame Lucie Rie was a near certainty to exceed the £6000-9000 estimate when Chudleigh auction house Michael J Bowman (17.5% buyer’s premium) received a £20,000 commission bid from Japan ahead of the September 23 Devon sale.

Modern sculpture, including a small rediscovered marine ivory piece by Eric Gill (1882-1940), took centre stage at Duke’s (22% buyer’s premium) in Dorset.

Cheap sterling can help bring in the foreign buyers – but only if auctioneers can deliver the right goods. These were much in evidence at Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium) sale at Prinknash Abbey on September 13-14.

West Hall, located on the outskirts of Long Burton a few miles south of Sherborne, is an imposing stone-built manor house. The ancient iron-studded front door still bears the axe marks made by Oliver Cromwell’s Roundheads in the English Civil War as they tried to beat down the door. They suspected Charles I may have been hiding inside.

Maltese furniture commands a premium – and not simply because it appeals to a committed group of island collectors.

“There really does seem to be life in the traditional market”. Woolley & Wallis’ (22% buyer’s premium) latest Old Masters, British & European Paintings sale in Salisbury left specialist Victor Fauvelle in a buoyant mood.

An Irish family portrait attributed to Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) led the picture section at Clevedon Salerooms (20% buyer’s premium) on September 14 in Bristol.

A selection of good online illustrations plus a brief noncommittal description can be the regional auctioneer’s safest route when offering Chinese works of art. It proved successful when a porcelain bowl was consigned to the September 7 sale Greenslade Taylor & Hunt (19% buyer’s premium) held at Taunton.

A single-owner collection relating to the English Civil War featured among the 740 lots that made up a September 6 sale held by Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood (21% buyer’s premium).

This rare 17 x 2ft 8in (43 x 82cm) Korean cinerary chest dates from the Koryo period. This kingdom effectively united the Later Three Kingdoms in AD936 and ruled most of the Korean peninsula until the Koryo dynasty was removed by the founder of the Choson in 1392.

Works of Cornish interest featured prominently in a sale held by David Lay (18% buyer’s premium) of Penzance, among them those from the library of the writer and scholar, PAS Pool.

Details on the back of a pastel drawing lead to detective work and royal portraitist connection...

In recent years Dominic Winter (19.5% buyer’s premium) has enjoyed considerable success with cookery manuscripts and the most recent auction further enhanced the saleroom’s recipe for culinary success.

In May 1789, as the political and financial situation in France grew ever bleaker, Louis XVI was forced to summon the three estates – the clergy, nobility and commoners – who had the power to levy taxes and implement reform.