Decorative Art

Sometimes there is no need for hyperbole: the story behind the auction on March 15 at Neumeister (27% buyer’s premium) in Munich was quite remarkable in itself.

Michael Harris signature piece sells well at auction alongside Louis Osman silver spoons set

This particular form of English delft puzzle jug, with its distinctive knopped neck, seems to be peculiar to the second half of the 17th century.

With hindsight, the boast made by the Flying Steam Company – 'To China in Twenty-Four Hours Certain' – was a tad ambitious.

This set of 11 toby jugs modelled as the Allied commanders of the First World War made by Wilkinson will be offered at Skinner in Massachusetts from April 12-22.

A Sèvres cabaret service painted with portraits of famous women was a New Year’s gift from a French empress

Woman excluded from the guild of artists was nevertheless highly rated by kings and emperor

Experiments with porcelain at the Swansea factory began in 1814 with the arrival of William Billingsley and Samuel Walker from the Nantgarw China Works.

This gold-mounted trefoil shaped rock crystal tazza, dated to the 18th century, will feature in the sale of antiques, works of art, silver and jewellery at Veritas in Lisbon on April 14-15.

Having postponed the sale in November and again in January, Chorley’s finally got to sell an exceptional private collection of early English porcelain in Prinknash Abbey, Gloucestershire, on March 24.

The work of French designer Fred Brouard (1944-99) is not uncommon at sales in France and the US but seldom appears at auction in the UK.

Although catalogued simply as ‘a 19th century Art Nouveau glass’ and estimated at just £30-50, a letter that accompanied this rare wine glass gave a clue to its origins.

This rare Bow figure was spotted by English porcelain specialists at Kingham & Orme’s (23% buyer’s premium) two-day auction of Fine and Decorative Arts.

It was a white-glove result for 58 lots of silver card and vesta cases/matchsafes collected by Joseph and Miriam Poser offered for sale by Doyle (26% buyer’s premium) in New York last month.

The sale at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Macclesfield on March 18-19 included a collection of 18th century English porcelain figures offered in around 30 lots.

The Winter Antiques Sale at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) was topped by consecutive bids of £17,000 each for two Regency white marble busts.

Two very different ceramic objects illuminated The Spring Auction at Halls (20% buyer’s premium) in Shrewsbury on March 17.

This pair of 1970s-80s stoneware models of hoopoes carry the monogram 'AG' for Lady Anne Gordon (Dowager Marchioness of Aberdeen (1924-2007).