Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Previews
07 December 2020A special focus on stand-out lots in decorative art & design auctions coming up this month.
Flying with balloons? You’re having a giraffe
07 December 2020Like many grand country estates, the 17th century Grade I-listed Palladian house Aynhoe Park, seat of the Cartwright family until 1959, endured a 20th century decline.
Top-selling Chinese bowls star in our pick of five auction highlights sold this week
04 December 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a rare pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white bowls that doubled estimate in Bath.
Pick of the week: Rev Gilpin champions the Romantic ideal
30 November 2020The artist, cleric, schoolmaster and author William Gilpin (1724-1804) is best known as a champion of the Romantic idea of the picturesque.
Making moves for Anglo-Saxon ‘chess piece’
30 November 2020Estimated at £6000-8000, an Anglo-Saxon bronze gaming piece – a metal-detecting find for the consignor – sold for £95,000 (plus premium) at the latest auction at TimeLine in Harwich, Essex.
Odundo vase achieves record for single work by living potter at Maak auction
30 November 2020London studio pottery specialist Maak achieved a record £200,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) for this vessel by Magdalene Odundo (b.1950).
A John Knibb clock dial and a bronze portrait of WB Yeats’ muse are among the five lots to watch at auction
30 November 2020With estimates from £120-3000, here are five previews of upcoming items this week.
Asian art hammer highlights: The great call of China
30 November 2020Despite the restrictions on travel and viewing, the market for Chinese works of art has appeared remarkably robust in the year of coronavirus. ATG reports on the highpoints of the recent round of London and UK regional sales
Qatari family jades return in new era
30 November 2020In November 2008, Christie’s held a sale in London of Chinese works of art that included lots from the collection of Baron (1894-1991) and Baroness von Oertzen (1908-2007). The couple, who had settled in South Africa after the Second World War, acquired a deep knowledge of Chinese art and a large and varied collection, buying from the 1960s onwards.
Lucky lacquer at Surrey sale
30 November 2020The November 11 Islamic & Oriental sale at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Fernhurst was topped at £6200 (estimate £400-600) by this 19th century cinnabar lacquer table mirror.
Windfall sums for the three abundances at Olympia Auctions
30 November 2020The sale held by Matthew Barton at Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on November 18 included a series of pairs of 6in (15cm) diameter porcelain bowls from a private European collection assembled in Hong Kong in the 1980s-90s.
Dragons of the Qing as spectacular dishes sell at Sotheby's
30 November 2020Sotheby’s (26/21/14.9% buyer’s premium) Important Chinese Art sale on November 4 included two spectacular Qing dragon dishes – both consigned from continental European sources and both in near-perfect condition.
Late Qing table screen makes £11,000 at Ewbank’s
30 November 2020This 12in (30cm) high late Qing famille rose porcelain and hardwood table screen came for sale at Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Send, Surrey, on November 12.
Our pick of 12 pieces of continental porcelain appearing at auction in December
30 November 2020A special selection of European continental porcelain coming up in UK auctions and abroad.
Yongzheng dish lights up Hope Smith collection at Bonhams
30 November 2020One of the unexpected high points of Bonhams’ (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) Fine Chinese Art sale on November 5 was a 8in (20cm) Yongzheng mark and period famille rose ‘butterflies and peonies’ dish.
The heavenly globe: Exceptional Qing famille rose vase soars over estimate at Chiswick Auctions
30 November 2020“The first sight I had of the vase was from an old photograph and my heart skipped a beat,” said Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) specialist Lazarus Halstead of this spectacular 20in (51cm) Qing famille rose vase.
Qianlong masterworks or honorific doppelgangers?
30 November 2020The 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.
Chinese brush pot makes £23,000 at Bishop & Miller
30 November 2020The Bishop & Miller's (25% buyer’s premium) recent sale of Asian Art in Stowmarket was topped by two pieces of Chinese red overlay white glass: a brush pot with three ribbed bands and a scrolling foliate body and a vase with a scrolling leaf design.
Chicken cup and ʻShi Tao’ landscape scroll turn heads at Lyon & Turnbull
30 November 2020Lyon & Turnbull’s (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Asian Works of Art in London on November 5 featured as its top-estimated lot, a 3in (8cm) diameter doucai ‘chicken cup’.
ʻThe epitome of old European taste’: British diplomat's collection of Chinese ceramics sells at Semley Auctions
30 November 2020Semley 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.