Front Page and News

The UK art and antiques trade is hastening its efforts to provide a sense of business as usual during unusual times after the UK government requested all ‘non-essential’ firms to close their premises to the public.

In this issue we feature 40 fabulous objects available to buy on dealers’ websites.

The Edinburgh and London auction house Lyon & Turnbull is to press ahead with its two April sales as ‘live online only’ events.

Objects relating to the rich history of Malta are perennial favourites at auction. This large early 18th century oil on canvas depicting a map of islands in the Maltese archipelago proved particularly popular in a sale of 15th to 19th century pictures held by Lempertz in Cologne.

An early coastal scene of Australia sold for more than five times its top estimate to an online buyer from New South Wales at Ewbank’s anniversary sale.

Fellows’ jewellery auction on March 26 was hosted in the Shropshire home of the Whittaker family.

Two versions of a rare mezzotint self-portrait by the Irish artist James Barry (1741-1806) excelled when offered for sale at Forum Auctions. Both plates, one an unrecorded proof impression, the other possibly inscribed by the artist, took multi-estimate sums from online bidders.

A superb collection of 61 pocket watches drew strong demand at a Surrey auction last week as remote bidders, using the phone and online platforms, competed for some outstanding 17th, 18th and 19th century examples.

Fair organisers were forced into making dramatic changes to their schedule as almost every event in the UK and Ireland was either cancelled or postponed last week, while many dealers were left facing the most challenging conditions for trading in living memory.

There’s an age-old adage that wherever there’s a willing buyer and a willing seller, the two cannot be separated. But the current outbreak of the coronavirus has had more effect in creating distance between these two than anything experienced in modern times.

Sim Fine Art has sold a 28-work collection of pictures by Second World War artist Paul Drury (1903-87) to the Science Museum in London.

The Open Art Fair, the new incarnation of what was the annual BADA fair in Chelsea, opened in hugely difficult circumstances on Wednesday March 18.

The recent sale of Clarice Cliff, Art Deco & Design at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury included 27 works by the studio potter William Staite Murray (1881-1962).

The collection of Rozenburg pottery and porcelain belonging to the late children’s television presenter John Noakes (1934-2017) was sold at a recent auction in Dorchester.

In an early test of the art market after the announcement of social distancing guidance, Sotheby’s latest ‘Made in Britain’ auction recorded a dramatic increase in online bidding.

With the coronavirus outbreak impacting the art and antiques trade, the number of fairs being cancelled or postponed is extensive.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak has set out a package of temporary measures to support businesses through the Covid-19 period of disruption.