Latest News Articles by Roland Arkell
Pick of the week: De Morgan’s Frightened Bird flaps to £27,000
07 December 2020This 14in (36cm) diameter ‘double lustre’ shallow dish or charger by William De Morgan (1839-1917) is decorated in the so-called ‘Frightened Bird’ pattern.
A Louis Wain cat mug, a Giuliano pendant and a Charles Dickens' cheque are among the six lots to watch at auction
07 December 2020With estimates from £80-8000 here are six previews of upcoming items this week.
Hawking a silver vervel at £18,500
07 December 2020This early 17th century silver vervel or hawking ring includes in italic script Kyng James and the quartered arms of the Stuart kings.
Christie’s moves Asia to Paris
07 December 2020Christie’s is moving its Asian art sales from London to Paris and Hong Kong from next year.
Flying with balloons? You’re having a giraffe
07 December 2020Like many grand country estates, the 17th century Grade I-listed Palladian house Aynhoe Park, seat of the Cartwright family until 1959, endured a 20th century decline.
Owner history of recusant chalice
07 December 2020With the defeat of Catholic attempts against the Protestant monarchy in the 17th and 18th centuries, penal laws were imposed in Ireland.
Lloyd bowl and Beddall service
07 December 2020Small Britannia standard silver bowls are the signature pieces the Scottish silversmith Michael Lloyd (c.1950).
Spoons – the great English survivors
07 December 2020As hugely personal items and of relatively small melt value, spoons represent the great majority of English domestic silver items surviving from the pre-civil war period.
Previews
07 December 2020A special focus on stand-out lots in decorative art & design auctions coming up this month.
Stitches in time for the Restoration
07 December 2020A rare Charles II commemorative silver thimble sold for £980 at Bleasdales (20% buyer’s premium).
Top-selling Chinese bowls star in our pick of five auction highlights sold this week
04 December 2020ATG’s weekly selection of items that caught bidders’ eyes includes a rare pair of Chinese porcelain blue and white bowls that doubled estimate in Bath.
Pick of the week: Rev Gilpin champions the Romantic ideal
30 November 2020The artist, cleric, schoolmaster and author William Gilpin (1724-1804) is best known as a champion of the Romantic idea of the picturesque.
Making moves for Anglo-Saxon ‘chess piece’
30 November 2020Estimated at £6000-8000, an Anglo-Saxon bronze gaming piece – a metal-detecting find for the consignor – sold for £95,000 (plus premium) at the latest auction at TimeLine in Harwich, Essex.
Odundo vase achieves record for single work by living potter at Maak auction
30 November 2020London studio pottery specialist Maak achieved a record £200,000 (plus 20% buyer’s premium) for this vessel by Magdalene Odundo (b.1950).
A John Knibb clock dial and a bronze portrait of WB Yeats’ muse are among the five lots to watch at auction
30 November 2020With estimates from £120-3000, here are five previews of upcoming items this week.
Dragons of the Qing as spectacular dishes sell at Sotheby's
30 November 2020Sotheby’s (26/21/14.9% buyer’s premium) Important Chinese Art sale on November 4 included two spectacular Qing dragon dishes – both consigned from continental European sources and both in near-perfect condition.
Guangxu in pastel shades
30 November 2020The term 'qianjiangcai' refers to a ‘pastel coloured’ palette of enamels used by Tongzhi (1856-75) and Guangxu (1875-1908), porcelain painters in the years after the Taiping rebellion and the destruction of the Jingdezhen kilns.
Lucky lacquer at Surrey sale
30 November 2020The November 11 Islamic & Oriental sale at John Nicholson’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Fernhurst was topped at £6200 (estimate £400-600) by this 19th century cinnabar lacquer table mirror.
Auction previews: issue 2470
30 November 2020A selection of 13 upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK and Ireland.