Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Bids pour in for Asian art as £800,000 teapot and Kangxi rediscovery highlight latest sales series
18 November 2019A Qianlong teapot which made £800,000 in Dorchester provided the stellar result among some exceptional Asian art lots offered for sale in the UK regions and Ireland last week.
Five lots to watch at auction this week including a rediscovered Paul Nash painting, a tripod table and a rare sampler
18 November 2019With estimates from £600-70,000, here are five previews of upcoming sales this week.
Pick of the week: Porthia Prints take pride of place
18 November 2019An archive of material relating to Porthia Prints, a short-lived company that harnessed the talents of a host of St Ives artists, proved a sell-out success at Lyon & Turnbull’s Modern Made auction in Fitzrovia, London. The 24-lot section of original designs and textiles came for sale ‘from an important St Ives artist’s estate’.
Insurance fire marks sell in a blaze of glory
18 November 2019The practice of placing a metal mark on a building to indicate insurance against a fire started in earnest after the Great Fire of London (1666). Each insurance company had its own fire service and distinctive logo.
A clockwork gramophone playing chocolate discs and a Cartier silver case – five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
15 November 2019ATG’s selection of hammer highlights this week includes a Cartier silver presentation cigarette case with the monogram of the King and Queen of Belgium.
Little silver collection coming to auction includes big rarities
11 November 2019The Little collection of early English silver is coming to Christie’s London on December 3. The auction comprises 26 domestic vessels from the Tudor and early Stuart periods that survived the tumult of the Civil War period. Some pieces are considered the last of their type in private hands.
Qing magnificence rules across Asian Art in London sale series
11 November 2019Market-fresh examples of Qing imperial splendour dominated a week of auctions timed to coincide with this year’s Asian Art in London event.
Archive from the queen’s dress designer excels
11 November 2019A Cecil Beaton sketch of Christian Dior working in his studio in Paris sold for £5200 (estimate £500-700) as part of the estate of society dress designer Ian Thomas (1929-93).
Five lots to watch at auction this week including a Kutchinsky brooch, a ceramic fire mark and a signed Oliver Cromwell document
11 November 2019With estimates from £300-6500, here are five previews of upcoming sales this week.
Oved’s animal magic
11 November 2019It was not catalogued as such, but this silver ring modelled as a standing lion with a gold-coloured mane is designed by Moshe Oved (1885-1958), the owner of celebrated Bloomsbury antique shop Cameo Corner where jewellery expert John Benjamin first learnt his trade.
The sign of the Knights Templar
11 November 2019This early medieval gold ring dates to the time of the Crusades – its decoration of a five-fold ‘Jerusalem’ cross suggesting a link with the Knights Templar.
Eyeing a fine demantoid
11 November 2019The first demantoid garnet (a type of andradite) was discovered in the Urals in the mid 19th century. Russian miners were immediately struck by the highly refractive nature of the gem and its exceptional fire and gave it a name that compared its flashing green colour to the eyes of a demon.
The Speedy before space
11 November 2019The Watch Sale at Fellows in Birmingham on November 26 includes this Ref 105.002-62 Omega Speedmaster chronograph.
Sprinkling a little stardust
11 November 2019The 1961 International Exhibition of Modern Jewellery, organised jointly by the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and the Victoria and Albert Museum, was the world’s first international display of contemporary jewellery.