News

The Lockheed Lounge by Australian designer Marc Newson beat its own record as the most expensive work to sell at auction by a living designer when it fetched £2.1m at Phillips in London.

A leading dealer in Japanese works of art says he will go out of business if sales of ivory in the UK are banned.

Briefly owned by Louis XVI, who intended them for the Louvre, this 13in (33.5cm) high pair of fine gilt-bronze-mounted kakiemon porcelain and Egyptian porphyry brûle parfums sold for £1.65m at Sotheby’s in London this week.

This Italian baroque bronze depicting ‘Ganymede and the Eagle’ by Massimiliano Soldani-Benzi (1656-1740) proved the highlight of Lyon & Turnbull’s recent sale in Edinburgh.

US insurance firms Crystal & Co and AIG Private Client Group are working together to create a new product for owners of conceptual art.

A key component of this spring’s series of Islamic auctions was Bonhams’ 30-lot consignment of objects relating to Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore.

The Conservative Party Manifesto pledges to “press for a total ban on ivory sales” despite recent assurances from the Government that they would not damage the legitimate antiques trade.