Decorative Art

DUELLING pistols often attract considerable interest and one of the top lots in this 1162-lot Welsh sale at Anthemion on 16 July was a pair of pistols by Wogden & Barton, 1795-1803.

A successful sale isn’t always an instant transaction and one of the more notable features of exhibiting at a fair is follow-on business. This can often take some time to materialise but is nonetheless satisfying, especially when it produces a particularly pleasing conclusion, as was the case with this pair of 18th century Sèvres vases à compartiments, pictured right, which London dealer Robert Compton-Jones of the Woollahra Trading Co. took to the Paris Biennale last September.

With only seven others known to exist, this pair of 1750s Worcester gugglets was destined for success when offered on July 22 at Bristol Auction Rooms. Acquired fairly recently by a local private source, the 9in (24cm) high pair were originally estimated at just £400-600.

S.J. Shrubsole, the well-known silver dealership of New York, have pleaded guilty to failing to collect around $75,000 in city and state sales taxes on over $900,000 worth of goods. The gallery also pleaded guilty to falsifying tax returns filed with the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance. They have now paid $150,000 in fines relating to the plea.

Clarice Cliff and Moorcroft: THE majority of Clarice Cliff’s colourful and highly decorative pottery may be financially accessible to large numbers of enthusiasts for three-figure sums, but the top end of the market is driven by a relatively small number of wealthy buyers.

In addition to those almost ubiquitous geographical crests, the WH Goss factory embellished their finely potted miniature wares less frequently with images of royalty and nobility, flags, buildings, verses and flora and fauna.

20TH CENTURY Decorative Arts in New York: American museums are not so squeamish about deaccessioning as British ones and Christie’s New York (19.5/12% buyer’s premium) headlined its 20th Century Decorative Arts sale on June 12 with 52 lots of Tiffany from the Museum of Modern Art.

Some huge prices were paid for Du Paquier porcelain last week at Christie’s when the auctioneers offered a single-owner collection of predominantly Austrian and German porcelain in their July 7 sale of Continental ceramics.

ISLINGTON dealers Gary Grant Choice Pieces, specialists in mid-20th century design, particularly textiles, ceramics and glass, host the launch of a new, extended and revised edition of Steven Jenkins’s definitive book on Midwinter pottery this month at their gallery at 18 Arlington Way, London EC1 and from July 25 to August 16 celebrate the launch with a selling exhibition of Midwinter.

Burleigh: The Story of a Pottery by Julie McKeown, published by Richard Dennis Publications. ISBN 0903685809. £45hb

FROM August 21 to October 26, The Wallace Collection in Manchester Square will host what they bill as the first ever exhibition in London devoted entirely to Regency and Victorian glass.

Lisa Watson is one of the young silversmiths featured in Silver Sparks, an exhibition of 47 examples of cutting-edge silver and jewellery made by students and former students of the Bishopsland Workshops in Oxfordshire that are on show at the Gilbert Collection in Somerset House, London WC2 until August 31. Her silver and felt jewellery and accessories can be seen at the show but like several of the other participants, examples of her work can also be bought at the Gilbert Collection Shop.

One of the highlights of the English porcelain section of Sotheby’s Olympia’s ceramics sale on July 3 will be a group of pieces from the celebrated Duke of Gloucester Service produced by the Worcester factory c.1775. The service is said to have been made for William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught (1743-1805), younger brother of George III.

MAYFAIR dealers in fine silver Marks have extensive showrooms at 49 Curzon Street, London W1 but you are just as likely to encounter Anthony Marks, who is head of the family firm, at swish fairs in Palm Beach, New York and, of course, London. Last week I caught up with him on preview day at Grosvenor House, where he made his debut last year, and he presented me with his latest catalogue, a glossy hardback selection of some of his current stock.

Textiles from Mexico, by Chlöe Sayer, published by The British Museum Press. ISBN 0714125628 £12.99sb

BRITISH pottery specialist John Howard, whose particular enthusiasm is Staffordshire, is a familiar figure at quality fairs and when I caught up with him last week on his stand at Olympia he told me that there had been some changes on the home front.

NOT for nothing is the antiques market known for being unpredictable, nay, almost perverse. In the middle of the worst recession that many dealers have experienced, the worst drought that many salerooms have ever had to endure, auctioneer Nigel Kirk of Mellors and Kirk recorded his best sale in the brief (ten-year) history of his business on 10-11 April. He could not quite believe it, especially as half of the furniture lots failed to sell, but the statistics bore out the remarkable reality.

CHRISTIE’S (20.93/11.96% buyer’s premium) eschewed Art Nouveau altogether at their 20th Century Decorative Arts sale on May 20. This short outing was 83 per cent sold by lot (63 from 76) and 87 per cent by value, and raised a premium-inclusive €3.41m (£2.35m).

Many Antiques Trade Gazette readers will be familiar with the name Francis Raeymaekers of ADC Heritage from his days as a dealer in antique silver. After a sojourn in New York, he is back in London with a new venture.

Downturn in trade blamed: The Bond Street Silver Galleries, a fixture on London’s finest antiques thoroughfare for 40 years, is to close in the autumn. The downturn in the trade for table and decorative antique silver is behind the imminent closure of the 18 strongrooms, more than half of which have been vacated in the last six months.