Olympia summer fair cancelled
The Art & Antiques Fair Olympia 2021 scheduled for this June has been cancelled. However, the Winter Art & Antiques Fair is still planned to take place, celebrating its 30th anniversary on November 1-7 at the west London exhibition centre.
In a statement sent to dealers, fair director Mary Claire Boyd said: “Sadly we have come to the conclusion that it is not practical nor advisable to run the fair this June. I understand this will be as big a disappointment to you as it is to us.”
Boyd said she is also in discussions with Olympia to confirm the dates for June 2022.
Grist joins pictures team at Bellmans
Bellmans has taken on Michael Grist as a senior picture specialist. He joins recently appointed head of department, Julian Dineen, at the Sussex auction house. Bellmans plans four Fine Picture sales a year, along with the regular Interiors Sales.
Grist started his 20-year career at Sotheby’s in 1999. For the past eight years he has been a director of St James’s gallery MacConnal-Mason.
Sunbury launches Instagram show
The organiser of Sunbury Antiques Market at Kempton Park Racecourse has launched an Instagram showcase for traders from the event.
Dealers can join Sunbury Stallholder Showcase which goes live on Instagram on Tuesday, February 9.
Organiser Edward Cruttenden of Sunbury Antiques said: “Let’s hope this is a stepping-stone for people to like and follow their pages and hopefully become great new clients until we are back to the market we all just love.”
Export bar on £2m George III watch
A £2m pocket watch once owned by George III has been temporarily blocked from export by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to give a UK institution the chance to purchase it.
The watch was sold at Sotheby’s on July 14, 2020, and the owner applied for an export licence. Now a UK institution has until April to raise £2.4m (the hammer price plus fees and VAT) to keep it in the country.
The Breguet Four Minute Tourbillon watch was made by Abraham-Louis Breguet and is thought to be one of fewer than 10 tourbillon watches in existence.
The watch has a certificate No 4178 from the Breguet firm in Paris on June 29, 1808, showing it was issued to its agent in London, Recordon, for George III. The watch was signed by Recordon, rather than Breguet, perhaps to disguise the sale to the British king during the Napoleonic Wars.
The decision on the export licence will be deferred until April 28 and could be extended until September.
Photo London clicks back with 2021 date
Photo London has announced new dates for 2021.
It takes place on September 9–12 with a preview on September 8. The event will be held as before at Somerset House on the Strand.
Piasa makes joint appointment
French auction firm Piasa has announced a joint appointment of Olivia Anani and Charlotte Lidon as co-directors of its African and Modern Contemporary Art department. Their first auction of Africa and Modern and Contemporary Art is scheduled for May 19.
Lidon previously worked at galleries and later joined Sotheby’s in 2011 in its department of Classical Arts of Africa and Oceania. Anani worked at auction houses Sotheby’s, Phillips and Christie’s.
Lost Masterpieces makes a return
Coronavirus restrictions delayed the filming of a new series of Britain’s Lost Masterpieces but it has now returned to TV screens.
The fifth series, with presenters Dr Bendor Grosvenor and Emma Dabiri, is being shown on BBC4 and is also available on BBC iPlayer.
The first episode last week featured a visit to Brighton Museum to investigate whether Francesco Trevisani and Joos van Cleve painted two religious pictures.
Petworth hopeful of go-ahead in May
The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair is scheduled to take place in May this year, restrictions allowing. It was one of the few fairs that could go ahead last year as it is held outside in a purpose-built marquee in the National Trust’s Petworth House, West Sussex. Dealers are currently signing up for the event scheduled for May 7-9.
Most read
The most viewed stories for January 28-February 3 on antiquestradegazette.com
1 Mother’s portrait of her son proves £100,000 sleeper at Colchester sale
2 ‘Lockdown locket’ of Henry III could go home to France
3 Sandro Botticelli portrait takes $80m at Sotheby’s Old Master auction in New York
4 Victorian kidney-shaped desk and a Cromwellian gold medal are among five auction highlights
5 Rare George III watch barred from leaving country in hope it can be bought by a UK buyer
In Numbers
$30m
The top estimate for Rembrandt’s Abraham and the Angels which was withdrawn from Sotheby’s Master Paintings & Sculpture auction on January 28. The auction house announced last week that it has now sold the work privately for a sum within its $20m-30m estimate.