Auctions

A collection of tobacco leaf pattern Chinese export porcelain surpassed all expectations to sell for a combined £116,000 at Mallams Cheltenham (20% buyer’s premium).

Sotheby’s From Earth To Fire sale in Bond Street on November 1 was topped by a kunstkammer object with a Rothschild provenance.

The doors have closed on what could be the final edition of the 'Winter Art & Antiques Fair Olympia' after almost three decades.

With sales of post-1860 design a seasonal fixture round the country, an argument could be made for Scottish auctioneers Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) having a geographical edge.

Classic names of 20th century design and a high-priced mystery artist provided the eye-catchers outside the fine art at the October 26 Decorative, Contemporary Art and Design sale held at Ewbank’s (22.5% buyer’s premium).

Dated by the Edinburgh auctioneers to c.1815-17, a group of watercolours made on a voyage to the Middle and Far East was bid to a far higher than expected £13,000 in a 650-lot Lyon & Turnbull (25/20% buyer’s premium) sale of October 11.

Stourbridge auctioneer Will Farmer held the first of his biannual Decades of Design sales at Fieldings (17.5% buyer’s premium) 12 years ago and rather wishes he had copyrighted the phrase – now almost a generic term for post-1860 dec arts sales.

Published by Ackermann in 1819 in its ‘Repository of the Arts’ journal, Four & Twenty Hobby-Horses All of a Row is an amusing coloured aquatint, accompanied by verses (by one L Harrison) that begin “Hobby’s the word, and onward sliding, All London Town is set a-riding:”.

Offered at a wider-ranging, paintings and decorative arts sale at Dreweatts (24% buyer’s premium), this Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian lustre vase, below, would have stood out at a post-1860s design sale.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.

The October 17 Swann Galleries (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale focused largely on early printed medical, scientific and travel books but also included, at $24,000 (£18,180), a first edition in Greek of the works of Herodotus.

Alongside its usual biannual sewing sale, Warwick auction house Bleasdales will offer art and antiques from the estate of a British noble family.

Dating from 1812, this pair of terrestrial and celestial library globes of 12in (31cm) diameter was made by the well-known London firm of John & William Cary.

Artcurial’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) auction focus on Charlotte Perriand, the celebrated 20th century French designer and a current hot ticket in the design market, took the form of a select sale of just 20 lots chosen to showcase her strengths and versatility.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period October 26-November 1, 2017. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.