Keys

Collecting 18th century English porcelain is still a popular pursuit – but there’s no doubt that the core collecting audience is smaller than it once was.

Famille rose vases decorated with ‘Hundred Boys’ scenes are among the most commercial of all Qing ceramics.

The Islamic and Indian Art sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) on March 29 was topped by a diamond and emerald set gold pendant from the collection of Maharani Jindan Kaur (1817-63).

One of 250 copies of a ‘Special’ and signed first edition of Ian Fleming’s 'On Her Majesty’s Secret Service' is shown here.

The highest single price posted in the regions during the autumn series of Asian art sales was the £380,000 bid at Duke’s (25% buyer’s premium) in Dorchester for a monumental Sino-Tibetan gilt bronze devotional figure of Tara broadly dated to the Qing period.

The Aynsley factory’s reputation for good quality, unadventurous bone china tea and coffee wares made it the safe choice for many British households.

The third edition of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was the last of those published in 1843, coming out (appropriately) on Christmas Eve.

This near-complete Böttger Meissen tea set, c.1725, came for sale at Keys of Aylsham on September 1.

A solitary English blue and white porcelain coffee cup emerged from the relative anonymity of a one-line catalogue description and a £120-180 estimate to sell for £4100 at Keys in Aylsham on July 24.

Lowestoft porcelain is particularly admired for its sense of place: the close ties the factory on Crown Street (then Bell Lane) enjoyed with its local community in Norfolk and Suffolk between 1757-1802.

Keys’ forthcoming Modern Art and 20th Century Design Sale on February 24 includes a painting by Iraqi artist Faraj Abou (1921-84).

Books from the collection of the late Derek Cottam made a significant contribution to a Norfolk sale.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Harry Fidler oil.

Bid online to a record £3200 in a Norfolk auction was one of 375 copies of a 1924 Nonesuch Press work comprising the first chapter of Genesis…, as illustrated with a dozen woodcuts by Paul Nash.

A special selection of European continental porcelain coming up in UK auctions and abroad.

James Dodds (b.1957) has been described as both ‘East Anglia’s most famous Contemporary artist after Dame Maggi Hambling’ and as ‘boatbuilding’s artist laureate’.

Three modestly valued works selling at regional sales including a Harry Clarke.

A group of works on paper generated decent action at Keys’ (20% buyer’s premium) online-only sale of 20th Century design and modern art this summer.