Auction Reports

The well-known miniature portrait of Sir Walter Raleigh by Nicholas Hilliard (c.1547-1619) in the National Portrait Gallery was painted c.1585, the year after Raleigh was knighted.

Following the major sum for a rare picture painted in India by Arthur William Devis (1762-1822) at Gorringe’s, another work by the artist flew over estimate a fortnight later in Devon.

Pictured here are two lots of seat furniture that impressed bidders in recent auctions in Gloucestershire and Cheshire.

Warrant for Madame du Barry, mistress of Louis XV, sells well eight years after last auction appearance

Many items from a group on offer in west London had been displayed at National Trust sites

Russian porcelain is still in demand, especially those early Soviet-era pieces from the years following the Revolution.

Embroidered samplers can appeal to buyers for all kinds of different reasons.

The distinctive Anglo-Japanese tables designed by the architect GW Godwin in the later part of the 19th century are known as Smallhythe tables, after the example found in Smallhythe Place in Kent which was the home of the actress Ellen Terry.

Country house contents, global interest and a packed room of bidders - what more could an auctioneer wish for?

The familiar heart symbol - that today is ‘read’ as love - made its first appearance as a rebus in the late Medieval era.

Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980) took great delight in making cameo appearances in the films he produced and directed.

This 8in (19cm) high vase may belong to a select group of Ming cloisonné enamel vases dating to the Xuande period (1426-35).

A Rolex used by Spanish sailor and scientist Vital Alsar Ramirez (1933-2020) during his Amazon and Atlantic expeditions in 1977 sold for £10,000 at Halls (24% buyer’s premium).

Giles Grendey (1696-1780) was a well known English cabinetmaker with a workshop in Clerkenwell, a member of the Joiners company rising to Master.

This stained glass panel painted with two female nudes against a watery background flanked by the words 'FAR' and 'END' to the sides and 'SALVE' at the bottom was keenly pursued at Adam Partridge (20% buyer’s premium) in Cheshire on February 28.

This large rectangular earthenware trough, measuring 20in (21cm) across the handles, is part of the range of flower containers made by the Fulham Pottery for the society florist Constance Spry (1886-1960) from the mid-1930s to the 1950s.

The latest edition of The Oak Interior auction held by Bishop & Miller (25% buyer’s premium) in Stowmarket on February 28-29 majored heavily on metalwork.

Three-hundred lot sale of the Art Deco classic shows signs of the market returning to 1990s boom time

The Clarice Cliff, Art Deco & Design auction at Woolley & Wallis (26% buyer’s premium) in Salisbury on March 20 included this rare 10in (25cm) vase, shape no 375, decorated in the Archaic pattern mirroring a capital design from a temple in Luxor.

Two sales of the classic furniture include items featuring direct family history