UK

Two contemporary exhibitions in London next month feature artists with an interest in the imagery and techniques of the past.

It has been a generally encouraging spring at the UK rostrum. A latest look back at half-a-dozen auctions at major rooms reveals strong demand across the board of interests, and across the centuries to near the present day.

An early work by Yiannis Tsarouchis (1910-89) topped Bonhams’ Greek Sale in New Bond Street on May 2, selling above estimate at £120,000 (plus 25/20/12% buyer’s premium).

A trademark bronze sculpture by Lynn Chadwick (1914-2003) was the best-seller at a Modern and Contemporary Art & Design auction held by Chorley’s (20% buyer’s premium) at Prinknash Abbey Park in Gloucestershire.

Last year the UK’s regional salerooms were treated to a generous handful of five- and six-figure bids for unappreciated masterworks of Aboriginal and Oceanian art – a Maori putorino or bugle flute sold to a French dealer for £140,000 at John Nicholson’s of Haslemere among them.

From dealers Charlie Bates and Matthew Nellist of Jeffrey and Day comes a story about Jean-Baptiste Godin, a 19th century French industrialist and enlightened innovator.

Chinese ceramics tend to dominate Asian sales in the UK, but occasionally other mediums get to share the limelight.

British artists dominated Sworders’ (23% buyer’s premium) Modern & Contemporary prints sale in Essex, with works by Banksy, Patrick Hughes, Damien Hirst, Bridget Riley and Grayson Perry all getting away.

The 57-page UK ivory ban bill which was published last week deviates little from the proposals announced in April. Here ATG picks out some important points to note.

The best of the furniture from the contents of Faringdon House went to a Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) Interiors sale, but perhaps the more interesting items from the 18th century Oxfordshire manor were handled by Wiltshire saleroom Kidson-Trigg (20% buyer’s premium).

A stellar single-owner offering of works by the Scottish Colourists will be offered in a dedicated sale at Sotheby’s.

The oil on canvas 'Rock Hill with Wild Boar' is among the pictures on offer at Browse & Darby’s exhibition featuring the works of British artist Anthony Fry (1927-2016).

Morgan Denyer of Rose Antiques Fairs explains the thinking behind the date changes to his fairs at York Racecourse...

This Bow porcelain figure of Polyhymnia, the Greek mythological muse of sacred poetry, hymn, dance and eloquence, is among the pieces on offer at this summer’s 'Ceramics Mayfair'.

MADAM – I have a deep concern that our political masters do not properly understand what they are proposing to unleash with their submission to well-meaning but ill-informed pressure groups over the ‘total’ ban on the sale of ivory in this country.

Bought in a French flea market as a set, seven 19th century salt-glazed fish-shaped spirit flasks were entered into Hannam’s (23% buyer’s premium) sale at Selborne as separate items, each estimated at £80-120.

Gemma Redmond of Gemma Redmond Vintage specialises in costume jewellery and stands at the Windsor Antiques Fair.

Throughout the furniture depression, late Victorian and Edwardian chairs and sofas produced by the London firm of upholsterers Howard & Sons maintained their prices.

It’s all in the family for new fair organiser Emma Sheridan. Her father Gary Sheridan is GNB Fairs, with antiques and collectors’ fairs running at eight venues in the UK, including three in Suffolk and one at the Dover Cruise Terminal.

T Crowther & Sons was founded in 1880 in Fulham and was well established before the First World War. The company was split into two sections in the 1940s: Albert Crowther trading from Syon Lodge and T Crowther & Sons in Fulham.