News topics

This ivory-inlaid fall-fronted cabinet is one of the highlights in a sale of Islamic and Indian art at Drouot by Ader on June 29.

MADAM – With high-profile seizures taking place, particularly in New York (‘Trade decries US crackdown on antiquities’, News, ATG No 2345), long-term damage is being inflicted on both the trade and museums.

MADAM – In response to letters on credit card fees and buyer’s premium at auction houses in ATG No 2345, I would argue the assumptions made are misplaced – certainly in the case of how our auction house works.

Hard-paste figures of Russian ethnic characters and workers have appeared at English auctions on a number of occasions in recent years (ATGs passim), generally to keen interest from the Motherland and eastern Europe.

A beautifully preserved 1937 first state copy of Tolkien’s 'The Hobbit' sold for £35,000 at Forum Auctions.

It is relatively rare to find items of 16th century costume on the market, especially pieces in good condition. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that this gentleman’s doublet from c.1580-1600 should end up going to a major museum when it went under the hammer in a Paris auction this month.

As Christo, the Bulgarian-American contemporary artist, unveils his first public outdoor project for the UK this summer in Hyde Park, Stern Pissarro Gallery’s show also offers a look at some of the most celebrated works he and his wife ever created.

The growth of new technologies such as blockchain will lead to a ‘fairer and more ethical’ art market, says The Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS).

The Wassenaar Zoo in Den Haag opened its doors in 1937 and closed in 1985, but its wonderful library, essentially untouched since the 1970s, has only now come to auction in London.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

A forthcoming exhibition of two private collections spotlights both the genius of 17th century clockmaking and the remarkable objects the market has yielded across a generation.

Ken Hose, who has published three books on Australian clockmakers, has been fascinated by clocks and their mechanics since he was a teenager.

Written in red ink on four sheets, the original draft script of Ronnie Barker’s famous ‘Fork Handles’ TV sketch of 1976 has been sold for £28,000.

Mark Goodman of Goodman Fine Art offers this picture by Patrick Heron (1920-99), titled '28 April 1980', in a show that features Heron and his fellow modern British artist Paul Feiler (1918-2013).

The recent crackdown on Russian money in London seemed to have little noticeable effect on the latest Russian art sales in the capital.

A late 17th century ebony veneered table clock with a pull quarter repeat took a mid-estimate £17,500 at Chiswick Auctions on June 6.

John Magnier, the Irish horse breeder and art collector, reportedly made a five-fold return on his Amadeo Modigliani reclining nude when it sold at Sotheby’s New York last month for $139m (£102.2m).

Shown below is one of 20 hand-coloured plates from 'Masken des Römischen Carnevals'. This was a rare and separate 1790 Weimar issue of the plates that illustrated a work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on Roman carnivals published the previous year – an item that is itself a great rarity*.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

Though their output was dwarfed by their male counterparts, talented 20th century Irish female artists pack a punch in the saleroom when their art does appear at auction.