South-west England

The unusual Chinese porcelain model (pictured below) forms the shape of a lingzhi stem vividly enamelled with a blend of green, blue and pink glazes. It measures 9in (23cm) high and carries a Qianlong (1736-95) mark.

Semley Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Dorset secured one of the choice consignments this season: the Martin Robert Morland (1933-2020) collection of Chinese ceramics.

Julian Tatham-Losh, who owns Top Banana Antiques in Tetbury, reports that business is booming.

It is thought that the earliest Chinese porcelain monteith appeared c.1715, coinciding with the establishment of the East India Company’s factory in Canton.

Back in May, Bonhams sold 22 pen and ink drawings by Cecil Beaton (1904-80).

Shipping in the older, literal sense of the word has played a vital role in coping with robust international demand during the current Covid-19 challenges, according to a Wiltshire business.

In an enterprising move early last year dealer Lydia Wood launched an antiques trail in Ashburton, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.

This curious object is the forerunner of a million Christmas cracker prizes. Made in gold and silver, c.1830, the ‘ring’ chased with flowers includes a tiny pin hole which allows a jet of water to be squirted into the face of an unsuspecting admirer via a syringe-like plunger that can be concealed in the palm.

Quirky might be a way to describe Andrew Blackall’s antiques shop which is both Number 56 and 70 in the High Street, Corsham.

Offered as part of a sale held in Bristol were two copies of 'The Merchants Avizo….', a work by a local man, John Browne.

Mark Jerram specialises in contemporary figurative pictures and sculpture by Contemporary British artists at his business The Jerram Gallery in Dorset.

Every collector of glass petrol pump globes – or lenses as they are known in the US – hopes to own examples by the classic big brands: BP, Shell, Esso and the like.

In 1793, well in advance of the Slave Trade Act (1807) and the Slavery Abolition Act (1833), 275 British men, women and children attempted to settle an uninhabited island off the coast of Sierra Leone.

Whisky has been a booming market in recent years, says Simon Jones, associate director at Lawrences (25% buyer’s premium) of Crewkerne.

Principal attraction in a Crewkerne book sale at Lawrences (25% buyers premium) was the Browning family archive that featured as Pick of the Week in ATG No 2459, but three other items from that 370 lot sale are noted here.

This small watercolour by Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler (1858-1941) titled 'The Garden, Kilkenny' sold for an unexpected £2500 at Wessex Auction Rooms (17% buyer’s premium) in Chippenham.

A collection of more than 580 figures representing participants in the 1903 Delhi Durbar comprises the bulk of this month’s exhibition at Bristol jeweller Grey-Harris & Co.

Two Scottish coastal pictures attracted multiple bidders at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) latest Art & Design sale.