Decorative Art

Collection formed by South African surgeon who worked in London supplies exceptional examples

A George III bonheur du jour offered for sale at Roseberys (26/25/20% buyer’s premium) in south London provided a fascinating window onto the collecting tastes of the British aristocracy in the 18th century.

The second half of the 19th century was a key period in the European art pottery movement with much experimentation in glazing and design.

The lost art of murrine - the creation of complex patterns by fusing together slices of coloured glass cane - was rediscovered by glass blowers in the Venetian lagoon in the late 19th century.

It’s not often that a group of medals offered at auction includes two that were in fact officially revoked. However, a lot that appeared at an East Yorkshire auction house on June 27 reflected a notorious tale of colonial corruption.

Piece made by St Petersburg factory was produced to mark 1827 allied triumph over Ottoman forces

Auctions like this don’t come along often these days.

Bust once thought to be 18th century reassessed as 1st century AD after auction house’s research

The latest Homes & Interiors sale at Sworders included an extraordinary and highly personal relic from the Waterloo battlefield: a silver-mounted inkwell made from the ear of a war horse.

Battle saleroom Burstow & Hewett (20% buyer’s premium) recently sold the ‘contents of a Sussex manor house’ – the lifetime collection of a local antiques collector and dealer.

This stoneware pond by Robert Wallace Martin, measuring 6ft 6in (2m) across, comprises 40 architectural elements, each incised with fish and aquatic creatures among water weeds.

A Louis Comfort Tiffany pendant-necklace with matching ear clips in gold, star sapphire, moonstones, and enamel hammered for $200,000 (£148,000) at Doyle (28/27% buyer’s premium).

A recent sale of Modern Art & Design at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium) in Oxford included a local collection of 21 pots by John Ward (1938-2023).

A fine example of the Libertas Americana silver medal is estimated to fetch between £50,000-80,000 at Anderson & Garland’s Fine Silver and Objects of Vertu auction in Newcastle on July 22.