Decorative Art

This George III silver table snuff box by Phipps and Robinson, London 1814, is engraved to the cover with a plan of the battle of Talavera in the Peninsular War.

This late Victorian carved lime and soft wood panel is by James Peake (c.1839-1918), a carver and gilder.

A number of key sales for dealers and collectors of antique silver were postponed earlier this year. However, plenty is on offer this month and with lockdown in England set to recede, April features a bumper crop

The sale at Bellmans (22% buyer’s premium) in Wisborough Green, West Sussex, on March 8-11 included an example of Alexander Crichton’s famous walrus silver and glass claret jug.

Included in Cottone Auctions’ March 27 sale in Geneseo, New York, this Russian imperial plate dates from the reign of Tsar Nicholas II.

A recent sale at Dawsons’ (23% buyer’s premium) sale in Maidenhead included two George IV tablewares by Edward Farrell chased and embossed with tavern scenes in the manner of Dutch genre painting.

A late 19th century christening bowl offered by Hampshire auction house Hannam’s (23% buyer’s premium) was admired both for its artistry and ownership history.

Osenat is holding one of its periodic sales titled L’Empire à Fontainbleau in its Fontainebleau saleroom on March 22.

Bolstered by a strong melt price of over £15 an ounce, domestic silver hollowwares and flatwares are selling strongly. However, it is the pieces of collectable value – novelties, provincial rarities and the work of the best Georgian, Regency and Victorian smiths – that continue to perform best in the market

This Neo-classical silver tea service combines the talents of two giants of the Regency era.

This Victorian silver and enamel cigarette box is decorated to the lid with humorous scene from John Surtees’ Jorrocks, Jaunts and Jollities.

British Studio Ceramic is Messums Wiltshire’s third annual show.

A specialist in early European sculpture and works of art, Matthew Holder established his eponymous gallery in 2011 on London’s Portobello Road.

If the famous image of the Milton Shield by Elkington and its £800-1200 estimate drew a double-take at a recent auction, there was good reason.

A tankard said to be made from the hide of Oliver Cromwell’s warhorse was the toast of an auction in Dorchester.

Hugo de Groot, also known as Hugo Grotius, was a Dutch philosopher, political theorist and theologian. His publication 'On the Law of War and Peace' in 1625 earned him the status as the ‘father of international law’.

A cigarette box engraved with the facsimile signature Captain Falcon Scott may have been a piece the Antarctic hero gave to a fellow explorer he offended.

This silver teapot has London hallmarks for 1792 and a maker’s mark for silversmith Michael Plummer who worked out of Gutter Lane, London, from 1791-95.

The Madoura pottery founded by Suzanne and Georges Ramié in Vallauris, a village in the south of France renowned for pottery production, was a popular place for many artists in the post-war years. From 1948-55 Pablo Picasso lived in Vallauris and divided his time between painting and creating ceramics at Madoura.