Decorative Art

Graham Slater’s collection that packed a Cambridge house provided 670 lots over two auctions

This Wedgwood creamware tea or punch pot commemorating the launch of a gun ship at Deptford in 1784 was among 29 lots from the collection of The Worshipful Company of Shipwrights sold by specialist Charles Miller.

The evolution of Berlin porcelain – produced by Royal Porcelain Factory founded in 1763 by King Frederick II of Prussia – was well illustrated by two vases which both went way over the estimates in recent sales.

Consigned from a private collection in Oxfordshire, a Wanli (1572-1620) mark and period blue and white jardinière sold for £40,000 at Chorley’s (25% buyer’s premium).

Glittering displays of glass will be on show at the upcoming Premier Fairs’ dedicated event at Himley Hall near Dudley in the West Midlands on Sunday, May 18.

Sad news last week as ceramics firm W Moorcroft Ltd announced that it had ceased trading as of April 30. It appointed Moore Recovery to assist with placing the company into voluntary liquidation.

Two enticingly estimated, early glasses from a west German private collection were fiercely contested in the online sale held by Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt.

As this year commemorates VE and VJ days, there are likely to be even more collectors and dealers than usual converging on the first of 2025’s biannual Britannia Medal Fairs on Sunday, May 11.

A large-scale work by Royal Worcester’s near-legendary craftsman George Owen (1845-1912) led a recent sale at Philip Serrell (20% buyer’s premium) in Malvern, Worcestershire.

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including works by Stuart Devlin being consigned to auction by the late designer’s widow.

Abbott and Holder is hosting an exhibition from April 24-May 10 celebrating the work of John Sutcliffe, one of the great decorative painters and colour experts of his generation.

As a token of their appreciation for his work as administrator of the region around the German town of Geldern, a few miles from the Dutch border, 16 mayors from local towns presented the Prussian politician and bureaucrat Georg von Eerde with a monumental silver centrepiece.

Archibald Knox (1864-1933) is known today as the genius behind the Cymric and Tudric ranges sold by Liberty & Co in the early 20th century.

Estimated at £500-800, this large Vauxhall salt-glazed stoneware tavern mug sold for £3400 at Moore Allen & Innocent (21% buyer’s premium) in Cirencester, Gloucestershire.