London

Portobello Road dealers are cleaning up after “a month of rain in 90 minutes” flooded homes and businesses in the area last week.

The outstanding lot in the arms and armour sale held in London on June 30 by Thomas Del Mar (25% buyer’s premium) was the £96,000 16th century Augsburg close helmet illustrated on the front page of last week’s ATG (No 2501).

Among the earlier printed books, Bibles played their part in a wide-ranging auction held by Forum Auctions (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium), and none so financially well as a fine, clean example of Robert Estienne’s Greek text Bible of 1550.

Among the properties included in the June Thomas Del Mar sale was the McEwen collection of bows and associated items which proved unexpectedly popular raising £30,000, around four times its top estimate.

This late 18th century Indian watercolour view was painted in 1796 by Thomas Daniell (1769-1837).

Three pistol lots came to the fore at a recent sale at Bonhams (27.5/25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) in London.

A Renaissance helmet sold at a London auction will be reunited with its garniture (set of armour) after being bought by Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA).

Exhibitors at London Art Week have reported a good flow of visitors to galleries as well as demand for the online series of talks.

Two Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drawings created national news last week as Christie’s posted a record for a sketch by the great master in London while a court in Paris is to determine whether another can be legally exported from France.

The overall performance of the latest London sales of Old Master pictures and ‘important’ works of art was fairly mixed but the auction houses did at least welcome the return of some big-ticket items.

A set of remarkable wine glasses that had remained in the same family since the 18th century was one of the highlights among quality items in two sales.

This splendid Leeds pearlware horse, c.1810, was one of two offered at Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) on June 8 as part of a sale that combined property from seven titled vendors.

Some exceptional pieces of Lowestoft featured in Bonhams’ (27.5/25% buyer’s premium) sale on June 23 – many of them from a single vendor.

Back in 1990, following a famous and much-repeated Henry Sandon valuation on BBC Antiques Roadshow, a late 17th century slipware owl jug and cover was acquired by the Potteries Museum in Stoke-on-Trent for £22,000.

Koopman Rare Art has moved to Mayfair after more than 50 years in the London Silver Vaults on Chancery Lane.

Portobello and Golborne Markets are now running on Sundays as well as the Saturdays throughout the summer until August 11.

Based on Warring States (475-225BC) archetypes, archaistic bronze ritual wine vessels, zun, formed as tapirs became popular during the Northern Song period, remained so through to the Qing dynasty, and are major draws in Western salerooms today.

As recently as a decade ago relatively little attention was paid to Iraqi niello silver.