Auctions

This month’s Asian art series in New York could be the last sales to avoid the new trade tariffs that have been imposed by the Trump administration.

This terracotta group of Bacchus and Ariadne was once associated with the Florentine late Baroque sculptor Giambattista Foggini (1652-1725) but is now thought to be his contemporary Giuseppe Piamontini (1664-1742).

The Northern Wei dynasty (386-534 AD), founded by the nomadic Tuoba clan, was the most long-lived and most powerful of the northern dynasties prior to the reunification of China under the Sui. Most importantly for Chinese art history, the ruling royal family were converts to Buddhism.

A Victorian taxidermy case of four New Zealand birds by Rowland Ward of Piccadilly sold for an unexpected £7000 (estimate £100-200) at Windsor Auctions (18% buyer’s premium) in Berkshire.

A group of three watercolours depicting Indian scenes attributed to Major General John Brownrigg Ballasis (1806-90) attracted interest at a timed sale held this summer by 1818 Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) in Milnthorpe, Cumbria.

Bid to €10,000 (£9100) in a timed online sale at Fonsie Mealy (25/20% buyers premium) this summer was a two-volume collection of medical and other receipts compiled by Mrs Mary Leadbeater (1758-1826).

On September 12 Brunk Auctions of Asheville, North Carolina, is holding a single-owner sale comprising the estate of William N Banks Junior from his Georgia property, Bankshaven.

South London auction house decided to press pause but was rewarded with a bumper result

It was catalogued as 18th or 19th century but this 2½ x 3½in (6 x 8.5cm) ivory plaque was more probably a product of medieval Christendom.

Appropriately enough, the very first lot offered in a sale called Eureka! was one that focused on scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, was an autograph manuscript of seven pages of annotated design drawings by Thomas Edison relating to his work on light bulbs.

Although hampered by Covid-19 and the ongoing issues surrounding imports of Chinese works of art, the September series of Asian art auctions in New York appears – like most sales in the US – to be remarkably unscathed by recent geopolitical events.

This 11in (28cm) high French automaton black marble and gilt bronze ‘quarter deck’ clock has a figure of a sailor and a captain at the stern.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period August 27-September 2, 2020. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Two very different Chinese vases took the limelight at a recent sale Fieldings (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Stourbridge.

An intriguing Indian miniature portrait drew strenuous competition against an estimate of just £30-50 at Clarke’s (18% buyer’s premium) in Shaftesbury, Dorset.

This three-piece painted cast-iron garden seating set dated to the third quarter of the 19th century is one of the lots from the Collection of A Connecticut Gentleman that is to be offered for sale by Freeman’s of Philadelphia, on September 15.

Included in Hindman’s September 15 sale of Jewellery in Chicago will be a group of pieces designed by Jean Schlumberger for Tiffany & Co. Among them is this green beryl and diamond ‘Bird on a Rock’ brooch.

A two-day sale of works from an Atlanta estate home, White Oaks, will take place at Ahlers & Ogletree in Atlanta, Georgia on September 12-13 featuring a wide range of European and American fine and decorative art.