Furniture

Two barons of the Paris antiques trade have been questioned in connection with the so-called Affaire Jean Lupu, a growing scandal surrounding fakes.

A Scottish dealer whose stock and business went up in smoke has vowed to carry on with an online venture

The Oval, the international cricket ground at Kennington, south London, which is home to Surrey County Cricket Club, is the location of a new annual fair run by the founders of the Midcentury Modern shows.

Very much the pièce de résistance of Bonhams’ first oak interior sale held in their New Bond Street rooms was the final lot of the day, a 23 x 17in (58.5 x 44.5cm) Tudor oak panel carved in high relief with a portrait of a king holding an orb and sceptre, thought to represent King John.

Sotheby’s are offering 180 lots of English and continental furniture and works of art from the ‘public and private collections’ of Alan Rubin, director of London and Paris dealership Pelham Galleries.

A Russian malachite and ormolu chimney went on show last week at the museum at Cliffe Castle in Keighley more than half a century after it left the property.

Paul Iribe’s ‘Nautile’ armchair is one of the most striking proto-Art Deco designs, with its sleek swept-back lines and low armrests formed as a tight nautilus shell spiral.

Prices for standard English antique furniture fell for the eighth successive year, according to latest figures from the Antique Collectors’ Club’s (ACC) Annual Furniture Index (AFI).

Culture minister Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary export bar on a pair of 17th century Italian ebony, ormolu and hardstone inlaid cabinets in the hope that they can be saved for the nation.

The J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired an important collection of 18th century French decorative arts assembled by Dr Horace Wood (Woody) Brock, one of the world’s foremost economists.

A late 18th century bust of the Goddess Diana which was looted from the Royal Lazienki Palace in Warsaw by the Nazis has been returned to Poland after emerging at auction in Vienna.

A bizarre story of an artist who claimed her old studio sold pieces of paint spattered carpet as her original work has appeared in the press recently, drawing attention to the thorny issue of copyright and false attribution.

The highlight of Chorley’s latest two-day sale at Prinknash Abbey was this unusual late 18th century Lombardy escritoire.

This superbly patinated Shona hardwood headrest sold for £23,000 at only the second auction at new Stowmarket saleroom Bishop & Miller.

This spectacular barn find, an ebonised coromandel and inlaid octagonal centre table designed by Edward Godwin (1833-86), sold for £31,000 at Sworders’ sale of decorative art and design in Stansted Mountfitchet.

The work of designer and architect William Arthur Smith Benson (1854-1924) entered a new price arena when this silvered brass ceiling light sold for £23,000 at Mallams Oxford.

The writing desk and chair used by Charles Dickens as he penned a number of his later classics have been bought by a museum based at the author’s former central London home.

This c.1690 marquetry cabinet on stand in the manner of the Anglo-Dutch maker Gerrit Jensen (d.1715) sold for £35,000 at the latest sale at Brightwells of Leominster.

Halls’ director of fine art Jeremy Lamond has been leading a social media campaign to promote the virtues of antique furniture.

COMMENT: Jeremy Lamond, fine art director of Halls of Shrewsbury, sets out his ten-point plan for reviving the fortunes of brown furniture