Auctions

Underlined by a £65,000 bid for a table cabinet, the attraction of Indo-Portuguese furniture – that combines familiar European forms with the exotic lure of the East – is as strong today as it was in centuries past.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from March 12-23, 2019.

Lyon & Turnbull is holding an auction of Modern & Contemporary art, sculpture and design at The Mall Galleries in London on March 27 under the title Modern Made.

Among the lots drawing keen interest at Sworders’ Modern British and 20th century sale in Essex on February 26 was a privately consigned 2ft x 2ft 8in (61 x 83cm) oil on canvas of Burmese women collecting water by Royal portraitist Gerald Kelly (1879-1972).

Rather sparsely catalogued, this unusual 14in (36cm) Lalique glass dish with a lovebirds design had emerged from a local unpaid storage unit into Hannam’s (23% buyer’s premium) February 18-20 sale in Selborne. Given a here-to-sell estimate of £150-200, it took £4200.

Some buyers regard sales of dealers’ stock as a minus on the grounds that the lots have been ‘seen’. Others view them as a plus, reckoning the material has already been the choice of an expert.

A 16 x 15in (42 x 38cm) linocut by Great Bardfield artist Sheila Robinson (1925-88) more than doubled its estimate to sell for £1000 at Cheffins (22.5% buyer’s premium) of Cambridge.

MADAM – Having received issue No 2381 of your informative magazine, I discovered an advert for a forthcoming sale in March with two items I much desired.

ATG’s selection of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com from the period February 28-March 6, 2019. This includes both the highest prices over estimate and the top prices paid online.

Seventeenth century philosophical work sold in Sussex discusses nature of life and death.

Strauss is holding its latest auction in Cape Town on March 18. Running to more than 600 lots, it offers a wide mix of material: 19th century, post-war and contemporary art, antiques and decorative arts, Asian works and jewellery.

Women artists – historically overlooked in scholarship and undervalued on the market – have emerged more and more at auction over the last few years.

Dreweatts’ Modern and Contemporary art sale in Newbury on April 3 will offer a range of Modern British pictures, including a selection of St Ives School group works. However, one of the main highlights in this category is a wartime painting by John Armstrong (1893-1973) which carries an estimate of £20,000-30,000.