Decorative Art

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.

When Anthony Bernbaum curated the exhibition Archibald Knox, Beauty and Modernity, a Designer Ahead of his Time at the Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair in 2014, he was working in investment banking.

Collection amassed by Christie’s veteran Hugo Morley-Fletcher includes ‘special group’ of porcelain

A closer look at the post-war appreciation of the great designer including exhibitions and auction landmarks

One of perhaps only two known ruby red versions of the Whitefriars Banjo vase sold for £17,200 in Devon on April 9.

A fine example of early 18th century Ottoman metalwork sold for many times its estimate at Stockholms Auktionsverk (20% buyer’s premium) on February 20.

Dr Stephen Martin first encountered Archibald Knox in a New York bookstore in 1990.

Created shortly after the 1830 Revolution, when Louis Philippe ruled as ‘king of the French’, the ‘Service de la Chevalerie’ was a great example of romantic historicism.

Aesthetic Movement designers and artists were in thrall to the peacock and its extravagant plumage.

A Tiffany Studios favrile glass window depicting a tree-fringed river leading to distant mountains took $450,000 (£347,000) at DuMouchelles (24% buyer’s premium) in Detroit, Michigan.

These two silver lots bear the mark of Henry George Murphy (1884-1939), whose Falcon Studio produced some of the finest English silver of the inter-war era.

Only a decade ago Carlton Ware designer Violet Elmer (1907-88) was a relative unknown compared with her contemporaries Clarice Cliff, Susie Cooper and Charlotte Rhead.