UK

The United Kingdom accounts for more than one fifth of the global art market sales and is the second biggest art market after the US.

Through auctioneers, dealers, fairs and markets - and a burgeoning online sector - buyers, collectors and sellers of art and antiques can easily access a vibrant network of intermediaries and events around the country. The UK's museums also house a wealth of impressive collections

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Auction house Spink helps Captain Tom remount medal collection

06 June 2020

Captain Tom’s full medal set has been remounted and re-presented to him following work by auction house Spink.

‘The Bay of Naples’ by Ivan Aivazovsky

Aivazovsky posts highest price for a painting sold online during the lockdown

04 June 2020

The latest sale of Russian art at Sotheby’s posted the highest individual price for a painting sold at an auction so far during the worldwide lockdown. However the online sale’s overall total was 46% down on the equivalent live auction held last year.

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Collection from Portobello Road market trader comes to Berkshire auction

03 June 2020

The house contents of Portobello Road market stalwart Joan Dunk (1930-2019) is to be sold in Newbury next week.

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Mary Queen of Scots' prayer book comes to auction in London

02 June 2020

A prayer book that once belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-87) will be offered at auction during Christie’s Classic Week of sales.

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The grand reopening pushed back to June 15 for auction houses and antiques shops in England

01 June 2020

Date for English trade premises to accept visitors again is now set and Covid-19 safety measures planned

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An Arts and Crafts lamp, an Ercol bench and a Roman bronze foot are among the five lots to watch at auction this week

01 June 2020

With estimates from £200-20,000 here are five previews of upcoming items this week.

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Roman bronze arm leads Daniel Katz sale at Sotheby’s

01 June 2020

A Roman bronze from the 1st century AD drew fervent competition and led Sotheby’s sale of works from the collection of London dealer Daniel Katz.

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Visions of East Anglia – and Venice – at selling exhibition

01 June 2020

This pastel of Venice by Leonard Squirrell (1893-1979) forms part of an online exhibition that features him and two other contemporaries also from Suffolk, Harry Becker (1865-1928) and George Thomas Rope (1846-1929).

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Georges Folmer’s online retrospective

01 June 2020

'Composition bleue' (1940-42), an oil by French artist Georges Folmer (1895-1977), is on offer at Waterhouse & Dodd’s online retrospective 'Il n’y a pas de hasard en Art'.

British and Irish book auctions: June 2-20, 2020

01 June 2020

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions (online only at present because of the Covid-19 alert).

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Faces from Cecil Beaton’s book of the beautiful people

01 June 2020

Turning heads at Bonhams Knightsbridge’s sale of Modern British art was a group of 22 pen and ink drawings by Cecil Beaton (1904-80) which formed part of the photographer’s 'The Book of Beauty' published in 1930.

Export licensing unit reopens with digital applications

01 June 2020

The Export Licensing Unit (ELU), which closed under the March lockdown, has reopened with a new temporary procedure.

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Far Eastern works from Earls of Crawford and Balcarres lift auction North of the Border

01 June 2020

Scotland’s key role in the 18th and 19th century China trade has a legacy. Some of the nation’s country houses remain the repository of important Far Eastern works of art.

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Happy returns for John Minton bankside scene

01 June 2020

Work on paper outperforms more traditional works at Bonhams Knightsbridge lockdown sale of Modern British art

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Qing porcelain made for Islamic market and collection of European traveller shine at Chiswick sale

01 June 2020

It was not just the great and good of 18th century Europe and North America who commissioned the Thirteen Factories at Canton to embellish Chinese porcelain blanks with family armorials or subjects copied from prints.

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Gown from the wardrobe of Madame Lombard Bedaux turns heads at Essex auction

01 June 2020

This couture gown, sold for £360 at Sworders (25% buyer’s premium), was once owned by the woman who hosted the wedding of Wallis Simpson and the Duke of Windsor.

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Cummings and goings at Harper’s

01 June 2020

As we mentioned in ATG No 2443, David Harper has been busy fitting out his antiques shop in Barnard Castle, a town that hit the headlines recently for other reasons, as you have probably noticed.

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No place like home: Holly Johnson opens showroom in Knutsford

01 June 2020

As antiques businesses prepare to reopen across the country, Holly Johnson Antiques is set to launch a new showroom in Knutsford, Cheshire.

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Pick of the week: Dinky cars made up of parts in South Africa add up to £6500 result

01 June 2020

South Africa leaving the Commonwealth in 1961 had serious consequences for British exporters – particularly when withdrawal was followed by imposition of an import tax on luxury goods.

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Auction previews: issue 2445

01 June 2020

Sixteen upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

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