News

Cheffins of Cambridge are celebrating what must rank as one of the most dramatic – and certainly one of the highest – prices ever recorded in the UK provinces after their February 11-12 sale that included a pair of white marble seated figures by Sir Henry Cheere (1703-81).

Total turnover at UK picture and sculpture sales in 2003 was down 10 per cent on the previous year, according to figures just published by Art Sales Index. This reflects the similar contraction in the international market during the 2002-2003 season announced by ASI in the autumn.

THE new money laundering regulations come into force next month, creating new legal requirements for auctioneers and dealers who wish to accept large cash payments from their clients.

Wrotham Park, Hertfordshire, situated just 14 miles from Central London, has been the home of the Byng family for over 250 years but it is best known to a wider public for the starring role it played as the face of Gosford Park, the stately home in the eponymous Robert Altman film that brilliantly analyses the life of a country house above and below stairs.

ISLAMIC ART: A MAJOR donation hase been given to the Victoria and Albert Museum, to enable it to completely refurbish its Islamic Gallery, home to the famous Ardabil carpet and many other treasures from the Middle East.

AFTER a couple of years in the country, London dealer Alasdair Brown has returned to Chelsea and is preparing to dive back into the London trade melee.

FAR from the traditional image of the stuffy bookseller, Mayfair-based Biblion, who deal in antiquarian books and first editions out of Davies Mews, W1, are celebrating St. Valentine’s Day with what can best be described as a sonnet-o-gram.