Decorative Art

The most eagerly contested lot at the Echoes Antiques & Auction Gallery (23% buyer’s premium) sale on January 23 was a Japanese cloisonné miniature teapot bearing the mark of the great Namikama Yasuyuki.

The murder of William Weare in the Hertfordshire village of Radlett in 1823 has been called the first trial by newspaper. It was also the first subject in the ‘crime and punishment’ series of earthenwares that proved curiously popular in the Victorian era.

A temporary export block has been placed on Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Polar Medal in the hope a buyer in the UK can pay £1.7m.

Extensive array offered by Lyon & Turnbull concentrates on the first Scottish period of production

A Venetian Old Master painting of St Roch attributed to the circle of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696- 1770) awoke from the slumber of a $600-900 estimate to hammer for $75,000 (£59,000).

A small 8in cast bronze relief or architectural element c.1900 designed by Art Nouveau and Art Deco master René Lalique was offered in Florida.

The first part of a sale offering the contents of a house on Belgrave Square went under the hammer at Bellmans (25% buyer’s premium).

An 18th century Native American trade axe pipe linked to the great Shawnee chief and warrior Tecumseh (1768-1813) was the runaway performer when the collection of Ohio dealer and entrepreneur Bruce Knight was dispersed in the first days of the New Year.

A staple at American barber shops of the 19th and early 20th centuries was the occupational shaving mug.

The Durrington Collection of Glass, a select 60-lot auction which Bonhams (28/27/21/14.4% buyer’s premium) offered for sale last year, featured some of the best examples of 18th century British glassmaking across a number of collectable categories.

Explorer and naval captain George Vancouver set sail from King’s Lynn in April 1791 aboard HMS Discovery to survey the Pacific Northwest coastline of North America.

Geoffrey Walton has a collection of 18th century cider and perry glasses. He has used his considerable knowledge of the items and the social background at the time they were made and used to write a book on the subject.

A rare silver and turquoise tazza designed by Erik Magnussen (1884-1961) for the Gorham Manufacturing Company sold for $24,000 (£19,000) at Schwenke Auctioneers (29/27% buyer’s premium) in Woodbury, Connecticut.

This smiling tabby cat formed part of an extensive collection of Scottish Wemyss Ware sold at Lyon & Turnbull.

The novelty silver mounted glass claret jugs made in the form of birds and animals in the later Victorian era by goldsmith firms such as Alexander Crichton and Sampson Mordan were very popular in the later part of the 19th century.

When Australian auction house Artvisory offers the Robert Burke collection on February 19-20 in Melbourne it will launch around 300 lots of prime 18th century English porcelain onto the market.