Decorative Art

A German silver cigarette case, sold for £4600 at C&T Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) in Tunbridge Wells on October 24, was engraved with a detailed scene from the Siege of Mafeking – the famous Boer War defence of a small town commanded by Robert Baden-Powell.

Tony Horsley specialises in English porcelain and pottery and is among those exhibiting at the next edition of Art & Antiques for Everyone (November 15-18).

A pottery has stood in the Welsh village of Ewenny for five centuries but the collecting market tends to focus on those pieces produced under the influence of the Arts & Crafts movement in the late 19th century.

“It was a great deal of work,” said Adam’s (20% buyer’s premium) managing director James O’Halloran of the operation involving the removal of 700 lots – including the ‘Armada Table’ and other massive pieces – to the Drogheda stately home venue of Townley Hall for sale.

Heading the 800 lots of silver which opened the three-day sale at Lawrences (22% buyer’s premium) in Crewkerne was a 11¼in (28.5cm) tall flagon by Thomas Walker, Dublin, c.1750-60.

Bigger and better sales for Midlands and Surrey auctioneers and a successful debut auction for the new York venture Duggleby Stephenson (17.5% buyer’s premium) made for an encouraging start to autumn.

The appearance of the 19th century Meissen figure based on Kaendler’s original Count Bruhl’s Tailor begins to bring to mind Monty Python’s Green Knight as he rides undaunted into UK auctions despite his increasingly battered state.

The multi-talented Deco designer and artist Jean Dunand (1877-1942) is one of the names celebrated in Christie’s selected design sale in Paris on November 14 with around 20 pieces in different media.

Nine centuries after it first became a thriving art form, Limoges enamel ware remains a popular choice as evidenced by a tazza offered by Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium).

A private collection of more than 30 pieces of Pilkington’s Lancastrian lustre excelled when offered at Lyon & Turnbull (25% buyer’s premium) in Edinburgh on October 10.

Presented to Captain William Lonsdale (1799-1864) in 1842 by the people of Melbourne in recognition of his services to the founding colony, the Lonsdale Silver Presentation has remained in his descendants’ care for 176 years.

If the work of the best modern and contemporary artists is typically confined to a small coterie of London auctioneers, then the same cannot be said of the best modern and contemporary ceramics.

In 1997, the year Kate Malone (b.1959) graduated from the Royal College of Arts, Knightsbridge-based Adrian Sassoon showed her work at The International Ceramics Fair & Seminar.

Born in Paris, now based in Falmouth, Michel François trained as a sculptor but switched to ceramics, becoming artist in residence at the Bernard Leach Studio.