Grave goods were an important status symbol in ancient China. Depictions of people and items were placed alongside the affluent and important, to keep them company as they travelled through the afterlife.
A large 22in (57cm) high grey earthenware example of a Han Dynasty attendant wearing a flowing long-sleeved robe and retaining its original white slip is priced at £3250 from Ancient Art, a London dealer in antiquities and coins.
Thomas Hardy, Aldous Huxley and GK Chesterton were among the famous names who sat for Alfred Aaron Wolmark (1877-1961).
The Jewish artist, who fled from the pogroms of Eastern Europe with his family, also designed costume and stage sets for two Diaghilev ballets in 1911, and a set of abstract designs for the stained-glass windows of the church of St Mary’s in Slough in 1915.
This signed 16in x 2ft 1in (41 x 63cm) nude study of a male model from the 1930s, above, executed in black chalk and presented in a wide grey washed frame with gold geometric detail, is priced at £3300 from Kulik Selzer, dealer in decorative arts and modern design based in Kent.
