An English walnut campaign chest with a long secretaire drawer is among the highlights at the Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this month.
Offered by Christopher Clarke Antiques for £3850, the chest, c.1870, comprises a number of drawers and pigeonholes with a drawer front that releases to become part of the work surface of the desk. Unlike other pieces of its type, it measures just 2ft 8in (81cm) tall, allowing the user to sit rather than stand to use it.
The Gloucestershire firm, which specialises in campaign and travel items, comes to the fair with a variety of objects including travelling candlesticks, a converting chair bed, and even an example of Platt’s ‘Improved Patent Portable Folding Boot & Shoe Stand and Drier’, c.1900, which promised users it could hold ‘the largest number of boots in the smallest possible space’.
Old and new faces
Garret & Hurst Sculpture brings Le Chat by Theophile Hingre (1832-1911), bronze cast number 4, 8½in (22cm) long, priced £1895 at Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair.
Hosting around 60 exhibitors, a mix of new and returning dealers, the fair runs from May 17-19 on the grounds of the historic West Sussex property.
“It does feel remarkable that we are already coming up to the 10th edition of this annual fair, launched in May 2015 at the invitation of the management at Petworth House,” says fair director Ingrid Nilson of Antique Dealer Fairs Limited.
“Time has flown – a quarter of this year’s exhibitors were present at the very first event, and many others have taken part on a regular basis for the past five to six years.”
The fair was able to go ahead in 2021 when many others were forced to postpone or cancel and that fact, coupled with its popularity, continues to have a positive knock-on effect.
Nilson says: “A substantial waiting list has built up and we look forward to welcoming several new exhibitors this time round, adding a fresh touch to the eclectic mix of disciplines on offer.”
This René Lalique presentation plate, Mouettes, was commissioned by The City of Paris to be given to King George VI and his wife in 1938 on the occasion of their state visit to Paris. M&D Moir offers it at Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair for £4850 together with the original black and white press release photograph.
Among the newcomers is Galerie Arabesque travelling from Stuttgart, Germany, to offer its selection of ‘classic country house stock’ such as textiles, 18th century Delft tiles and vases. Also fresh to the fair,
Alderney & Wright brings mid-century glass, Walker Galleries features fine art and Anthony Fell Antiques offers period furniture.
Returning exhibitors include Kaye Michie Fine Art, Fileman Antiques, M&D Moir, David Brooker Fine Art and local dealership Ottocento.
Sarah Colegrave Fine Art, another returning dealer, brings a selection of around 30 landscape watercolours by British artist Joseph Arthur Powell (1876-1961). Offered at prices ranging from £200-1000, they include examples from his best-known group of works, studies of Surrey and Sussex. The selection has come by descent through the family of the artist.
A Ford on the Mole, Surrey by Joseph Arthur Powell (1876-1961), watercolour, 11 x 15in (28 x 38cm, available at Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair for £550 from Sarah Colegrave Fine Art.
More attractions
Among the ancillary attractions of the fair is a reciprocal arrangement with the National Trust which allows members free entry to the fair, while ticket holders are allowed entry to the house. A shuttle is available from the marquee to the centre of Petworth, a centre for arts and antiques firms and a growing number of shops, restaurants and cafés.
