Decorative Art

Cellars and attics at famous Norfolk estate are cleared out as part of ‘housework’ to allow guided tours

This Dutch East Indies gold mounted tortoiseshell betel box hammered at £15,000 (plus 24% buyer’s premium) on the opening day of the sale held by Mellors & Kirk in Nottingham on February 11-12.

Estimated at £200-300 but sold for £4200 at Charterhouse (25% buyer’s premium) in Sherborne, Dorset, were two design books from the Royal Doulton workshop floor.

Teacher turned designer was part of the Royal Doulton team creating some of the first HN figures

Sir Bruno Welby (b.1928), a member of both the English Ceramic Circle and the French Porcelain Society, has bought European porcelain since the 1950s.

The Sir Bruno Welby collection (see main story in this edition) sold at Woolley & Wallis shone the spotlight on two familiar names from the early English porcelain literature: Jefferyes Hamett O’Neale (1719/20-97) and Fidelle Duvivier (1740-after 1796).

Susan Pickett, a retired community nurse from Cornwall, is vice-chairman of The Daniel Ceramic Circle. Her own collection of items made by the H&R Daniel manufactory began when she was looking for a plate to fit a space on a dresser. One piece soon became three, which later became more than 200.

Chanel No 5 was perfected in the late summer and autumn of 1920 by the French-Russian chemist and perfumer Ernest Beaux.

The collection of Selim Zilkha (1927-2022), founder of Mothercare, represented a stern test of the market for early English silver.

Daisy Makeig-Jones’ lustre designs for Wedgwood arrived at precisely the right time.

Many of the pieces will go to the Far East after London auction held by Alistair Gibson

The second designated Islamic & Indian Art auction held by Lyon & Turnbull (26/25% buyer’s premium) in London included a group of market-fresh Indo-Portuguese mother-of-pearl vessels.

Credited with saying “an army marches on its stomach”, Napoleon Bonaparte knew the value of eating well, both at home and on the road.

This group of three Meissen models of hares ranges in size from 3in (7cm) to 6in (16cm).

The Arabian Knights model of Princess Badoura is best known as the largest figure from the Royal Doulton HN series.