Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Qing art: on a mission to learn new tech
30 May 2022Chinese emperors certainly got the message when it came to artistic advances
Previews: issue 2545
30 May 2022A selection of 11 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK and Ireland.
Tantalising prospect of owning a clock and a Zoffany
30 May 2022The recent auction at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) included the firm’s biannual horological offering.
Vienna porcelain tea bowl and saucer stars in our pick of five auction highlights
27 May 2022ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a rare bowl and saucer decorated by Ignaz Preissler, the Polish master of the ‘hausmaler schwarzlot’ technique.
'Kitchen' vase flies to £1.2m at Dreweatts and leads UK Asian art sales
23 May 2022A £1.2m house record at Dreweatts was the highlight of the recent round of UK Asian art sales.
A Buddha in the hand at 350-times estimate
23 May 2022This 900-year-old Pala dynasty bronze figure of a Buddhist deity beat all expectations to bring £210,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Sworders’ Asian Art sale in Stansted Mountfitchet on May 13.
Masterpiece to include Wrest Park treasures
23 May 2022Clock specialist Carter Marsh will dedicate much of its stand at Masterpiece London to the third and final part of the remarkable John C Taylor collection of horological items.
Man Ray sets the photographic record straight
23 May 2022Man Ray’s 'Le Violon d’Ingres' has set a new record for a photograph, selling for $10.5m (£8m) at Christie’s in New York.
A Bristol delft polychrome plate and a Walter Sickert drawing are among six lots to watch
23 May 2022With estimates from £300-6000, here are six previews of items coming up at auction this week.
Punk poster dumped on the floor had a lucrative future
23 May 2022This original concert poster advertises the second of two now legendary punk rock concerts in Manchester in the summer of 1976.
How Wenlock was key to Olympics launch
23 May 2022This large iron lock and key is inscribed Presented to WP Brookes Esq by a Member of the Wenlock Olympian Class May 18th 1869.
Pick of the week: Top tables with a touch of Chippendale emerge in Edinburgh
23 May 2022This pair of satinwood demilune console tables with their fine marquetry and carved details are of exceptional quality and workmanship. The Thomas Chippendale workshop is a good candidate for their manufacture.
A £105,000 Chinese vase found among the bric-a-brac
23 May 2022This rare doucai porcelain vase, with Qianlong marks and probably of period, provided a classic tale of discovery in the saga of the Chinese boom.
Previews: issue 2544
23 May 2022A selection of 15 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK and Ireland.
‘Am I not a Man…’ relic is a rarity in glass form
23 May 2022The medallion of a kneeling slave asking the rhetorical question 'Am I Not A Man And A Brother?' was first made in 1787 on the founding of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
With this marriage chest I thee wed
23 May 2022Translating simply as ‘a box with drawers’ but so much more exotic than that, a rare Spanish Renaissance caja con cajones was the outstanding lot at Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood’s (25% buyer’s premium) quarterly fine art sale in Exeter.
French photographer Gustave Le Gray’s Napoleon III army album comes to auction
21 May 2022Phillips will offer a recently discovered copy of Gustave Le Gray’s famous 'Souvenirs du Camp de Châlons' at auction in London next week.
Exceptional Chinese ‘nine dragon’ vase stars in our pick of six auction highlights
20 May 2022ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a Qianlong mark and period doucai 'nine dragon' vase that made 10-times estimate at Sotheby’s.
‘Practical man’ makes Chippendale marquetry discovery
16 May 2022A specialist in 18th century marquetry believes he has identified the craftsmen responsible for inlaid decoration on some of the finest English furniture.
A Knibb golden opportunity: table clock emerges in German auction
16 May 2022This Charles II ebony and silvermounted table clock by the London golden-age clockmaker Joseph Knibb (1640-1711) emerged for sale in Germany.