Decorative Art

Cotswolds dealer Paul Shutler has sold a pair of EW Godwin-designed andirons to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

A recent sale at Marion Antique Auctions (20% buyer’s premium) in Marion, Massachusetts included a large Meiji vase by Kanamori Soshichi (1821-92).

Although 17th and 18th century Jamaican silver is some of the rarest colonial plate, two small waiters sold at auctions in the north of England in as many months.

Dovecotes also cause a flutter in North Carolina as British pottery achieves strong prices

One of the eight York Rose brooches given by Prince Albert to the bridesmaids who attended his marriage to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon in 1923 sold for £15,000.

This imposing pair of 3ft 8in (1.09m) high hexagonal form vases combine both early 19th century Chinese and later 19th century French craftsmanship.

A recent sale marked the first time that the Geneseo, New York, house Cottone Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) has handled a piece of René Lalique (1860-1945) jewellery.

A Japonisme foo dog vase by Émile Gallé (1846-1904) hammered for $35,000 (£26,440) against a guide of $3000-5000 at Rago (27% buyer’s premium) in Lambertville, New Jersey.

Doulton figures and jugs depicting the famous and not-so-familiar include sought-after rarities

An extensive collection of art, antiques and silver from Corby Castle, one of Cumbria’s most historically important mansion houses, will go under the hammer in a three-day sale at Tennants from January 22-24.

Every one of the 300 vases and figures from German collection gets away on the day

It was little surprise that Kinsky (25% buyer’s premium) in Vienna was given the legacy of Michael Kovacek, a specialist dealer in Art Nouveau and Art Deco, to sell.

Irish silver rarely appears at German auctions but when it does, it seldom goes unnoticed.

In his workshop records for the period October 1739 to January 1740, Johann Joachim Kaendler, Meissen’s most accomplished modeller, noted his creation of a “life-sized jay sitting on a trunk, naturally depicted, next to him is a life-sized squirrel seated on a branch, modelled in clay, along with other appropriate ornamentation”.

Many single-owner collections appeared in the pages of ATG this year, usually as they came up at auction. The silver collection of the late Michael Baggott and the art, books and memorabilia collection of the late Barry Humphries were among the stand-out sales.

The latest sale at Alastair Gibson Auctions in Kent was led by a stellar example of Meiji or Taisho era cloisonné: a pair of imperial presentation vases by Nagoya master Hattori Tadasaburo.

While the market for post-war Whitefriars has waxed and waned in the past three decades, in 2025 several very active collectors have driven saleroom prices forward once again. It has been a strong year for the Geoffrey Baxter Textured range in particular.