Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Fleamarket find joins the national ceramics collection
06 January 2020A white porcelain sculpture made in the experimental years of the Chelsea factory has been acquired for the national ceramics collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Pick of the week: Embroidery panels point to six figures
06 January 2020A sale of art and antiques from a Worcestershire manor house included the rare appearance at auction of two examples of Opus Anglicanum.
Rusting BP enamel sign is The Winner in Welsh sale
06 January 2020Rescued from a skip, a rusting British enamel advertising sign sold for £10,400 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) at auction in Carmarthen.
Falangcai enamel bowl heads Paris Asian series at €3.25m
06 January 2020A Yongzheng (1723-35) mark and period falangcai enamel bowl sold for €3.25m (£2.8m) to lead the recent round of Asian art sales in Paris.
Wedgwood vase, Minton tile and Victorian carriage clock – six lots to watch at auction this week
06 January 2020With estimates from £40-12,000 here are six previews of upcoming items this week.
Asian art in Los Angeles: late Qing vase draws bids at Bonhams
06 January 2020This 12in (30cm) cong form vase with elephant-head handles is decorated in qianjiangcai enamels by Cheng Men (1833-1908) – one of the best known of the late Qing period porcelain painters.
Rediscovered Giambologna bronze cast bought by Versailles
24 December 2019A ‘rediscovered’ lifetime cast of Giambologna’s 'Rape of a Sabine' topped Sotheby’s sell-out sale of works from the collection of the Count and Countess of Ribes in Paris.
Second ‘lost’ Marlborough gem sparkles in Cambridge
23 December 2019An intaglio ring became the second of the ‘lost’ Marlborough jewels to surface at auction in 2019 when it sold for £36,000 (plus 22.5% premium) in Cambridge.
Royal Copenhagen in Newcastle
23 December 2019This 12½in (31cm) Royal Copenhagen blanc de chine vase offered by Newcastle’s Anderson & Garland (22% buyer’s premium) on December 5 has an underglaze ‘three waves’ mark dating to c.1870-90.
Japanese snake slithers beside maps and cup
23 December 2019Alongside two key early maps of colonial North America (see News, ATG No 2422) the sale at Ramsay Cornish (20% buyer’s premium) in Edinburgh on December 7 was distinguished by five-figure bids for two rare items.
Pick of the week: Faraday iron filings create a magnetic pull on bidders
23 December 2019Michael Faraday’s laboratory notebook from 1851 includes a series of diagrams illustrating what he called ‘magnetic lines of force’ – the magnetic field lines that are central to the study of electromagnetism and electrochemistry.
Airfix D-Day advance to four figures
23 December 2019A recent sale at C&T in Tunbridge Wells included an unexpected bid of £1700 (estimate £50-70) for three unopened Airfix models.
Wight place, right time for censer
23 December 2019The relatively short reign of the Ming emperor Xuande (1425-35) was considered a high point in the production of bronze works of art.
Cocteau ceramics price pushes the goat out
23 December 2019In the 130th anniversary year of the birth of Jean Cocteau (1889-1963), a collection of ceramics by the leading figure of the French avant-garde was a sell-out at Bonhams’ Prints and Multiples sale on December 11-12.