News

THE remarkable sums paid in London for high quality Islamic works of art arrived in the provinces in June.

AN ambitious project to record every oil painting in public ownership across the UK has started with the backing of leading lights of the art world.

THE first victory for a new art recovery company, a statue stolen from one of Yorkshire’s finest stately homes almost two years ago has been recovered in Chicago.

BONHAMS are to set up separate client trust accounts for vendors to protect their money during the sale process. They are the first of the three major international auction houses to do so and the move effectively throws the gauntlet down to Sotheby’s and Christie’s to follow suit.

THIS technical marvel of the ancient world, pictured right, known as a Roman glass diatretum or cage cup, was cut out of a single blank of glass to form two layers. The solid inner cup is linked to its outer cage only by a series of delicate struts.

DEALERS should be aware of a stolen cheque scam that targets regular Internet bankers.

TWENTIETH century and Contemporary art underlined their status as the key growth areas for the major auction houses when London’s June round of Part I Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary sales netted £120.4m. Six months ago the equivalent sales took £94m, while back in June 2003 – when war was raging in Iraq – they could only muster a relatively modest £81m.