Auction Reports

Surviving records for the London instrument maker Smith & Beck state this superb microscope from the brass and glass era was purchased on September 2, 1853, by Francis Herbert Wenham (1824-1908) – the British engineer who became a key figure in the improvement of the microscope.

A gap in many collections of 1960s James Bond posters often involves rarities to promote On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) starring George Lazenby.

Estimated at £800-1000 at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) but sold at £10,000 was this International Watch Company Luftwaffe pilot’s watch, c.1940.

Furniture by Robert ‘Mouseman' Thompson and more recent productions from the Kilburn workshop attracted the usual enthusiasm at Tennants (20% buyer’s premium).

Model produced for pilgrims and tourists to Jerusalem in mind is a highlight as specialist sales launch

In playing condition but with enough problems to be catalogued as ‘sold as seen’, a Nicole Frères brass inlaid music box was one of the unexpected stars of the first three-day sale to be held at Ripon auction house Elstob & Elstob (22% buyer’s premium).

Despite the restrictions on travel and viewing, the market for Chinese works of art has appeared remarkably robust in the year of coronavirus. ATG reports on the highpoints of the recent round of London and UK regional sales

In November 2008, Christie’s held a sale in London of Chinese works of art that included lots from the collection of Baron (1894-1991) and Baroness von Oertzen (1908-2007). The couple, who had settled in South Africa after the Second World War, acquired a deep knowledge of Chinese art and a large and varied collection, buying from the 1960s onwards.

The November 11 Islamic & Oriental sale at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Fernhurst was topped at £6200 (estimate £400-600) by this 19th century cinnabar lacquer table mirror.

The sale held by Matthew Barton at Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) on November 18 included a series of pairs of 6in (15cm) diameter porcelain bowls from a private European collection assembled in Hong Kong in the 1980s-90s.

Sotheby’s (26/21/14.9% buyer’s premium) Important Chinese Art sale on November 4 included two spectacular Qing dragon dishes – both consigned from continental European sources and both in near-perfect condition.

This 12in (30cm) high late Qing famille rose porcelain and hardwood table screen came for sale at Ewbank’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Send, Surrey, on November 12.

One of the unexpected high points of Bonhams’ (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) Fine Chinese Art sale on November 5 was a 8in (20cm) Yongzheng mark and period famille rose ‘butterflies and peonies’ dish.

“The first sight I had of the vase was from an old photograph and my heart skipped a beat,” said Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) specialist Lazarus Halstead of this spectacular 20in (51cm) Qing famille rose vase.

The unusual Chinese porcelain model (pictured below) forms the shape of a lingzhi stem vividly enamelled with a blend of green, blue and pink glazes. It measures 9in (23cm) high and carries a Qianlong (1736-95) mark.

The Bishop & Miller's (25% buyer’s premium) recent sale of Asian Art in Stowmarket was topped by two pieces of Chinese red overlay white glass: a brush pot with three ribbed bands and a scrolling foliate body and a vase with a scrolling leaf design.

Lyon & Turnbull’s (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Asian Works of Art in London on November 5 featured as its top-estimated lot, a 3in (8cm) diameter doucai ‘chicken cup’.

Semley Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Dorset secured one of the choice consignments this season: the Martin Robert Morland (1933-2020) collection of Chinese ceramics.

Sworders (25% buyer’s premium) latest Asian art sale in Stansted Mountfitchet included this ‘splashed’ gilt-bronze incense burner from the Qing (1644-1911) period.

The term 'qianjiangcai' refers to a ‘pastel coloured’ palette of enamels used by Tongzhi (1856-75) and Guangxu (1875-1908), porcelain painters in the years after the Taiping rebellion and the destruction of the Jingdezhen kilns.