Decorative Art

It has been an undeniably difficult few months for antiques dealers with shops and centres shuttered and fairs cancelled. However, online events such as the recent ‘virtual’ 'Masterpiece' fair have helped generate some business, and many shops are now open under the usual restrictions.

A selection of early Continental silver from the 16th and 17th centuries was a notable feature of the Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) decorative arts auction in Cologne.

At the 19th century international exhibitions, the Viennese silversmith Hermann Ratzendorfer (1845-94) gained a reputation for his mixed-media works in the neo-Renaissance taste.

This set of George III silver wine coolers by Robert Garrard, London, 1803, is priced at £175,000 from Koopman Rare Art.

Catalogued as French and late 19th century, this 5in (12cm) drinking vessel offered by Lisbon saleroom Renascimento appears to be an electrotype of the famous Warren Cup.

In Koller’s mixed-owner auction of furniture and decorative arts, it was a rare example of 18th century Italian silver that took centre stage.

Silver made in both Britain and the Continent provides a wide variety for buyers via auctions and dealers across the globe. Here ATG picks out a selection of 13 recent sales and upcoming lots.

This 12½in (31cm) ruby lustre jar and cover, a textbook piece from William De Morgan’s Sands End Pottery (1888-1907), was the star at a recent sale at Bowler & Binnie (16% buyer’s premium) in Dunfermline.

Well known for an encyclopaedic knowledge of British history, Robin Simpson (who died in February) was the leading collector of commemorative ceramics.

It was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art sometime in the 1880s that inspired Louis Comfort Tiffany to produce his so-called Cypriote range of art glass.

In April this year, the founder of the auction house Nusser in Munich, Ursula Nusser, died aged just 66.

Collector’s philosophy for his compulsive pottery buying chimed with Buddhist beliefs

Included in Morphy Auctions’ fine and decorative arts sale to be held in Denver, Pennsylvania, on July 14-15 is a selection of scent bottles made by the Stourbridge firm of Thomas Webb.

The summer fine art antiques and jewellery auction to be held by Case Antiques in Knoxville, Tennessee, on July 11-12 will include this George III silver epergne by Thomas Pitts I.

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

This 19th century, c.1860, gilt bronze and cut-glass comport will feature in Roland Auctions’ June 27 Estates sale at Glen Cove, New York.

In 1765 the engineer and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton (1728-1809) visited Paris, where he observed first-hand the workshops of bronziers and the wares that were proving hugely popular with Georgian Britain’s elite.

Friedrich Goldscheider (1845-97) is famous for founding the Goldscheider ceramics factory which was set up in Vienna in 1885.

As the implementation of the Ivory Act 2018 draws closer, it is approaching closing time at the last-chance saloon for UK owners who wish to monetise Art Deco chryselephantine sculpture.