London

A black and white chalk on paper drawing of Jupiter and Antiope by Johan Zoffany (1733-1810) was among the highlight sales during London Art Week (LAW).

The 52-lot auction of furniture, paintings and works of art collected by members of the Rothschild family was among the most animated during a packed week of London showpiece sales.

In what could well be a first, all 10 of Christie’s top evening sale lots on June 17 were sculptures. The group comprised the works of four blue-chip sculptors – Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Elisabeth Frink and Barry Flanagan – and contributed much of the overall total at £11.3m.

Much of the pre-sale publicity from Bonhams’ June 15 Mod Brit focused on Eric Gill’s (1882-1942) Girl with a Comb in her Hair (1928) – a market-fresh carved head and torso valued at £200,000-300,000 and admired for its unusual pose and luxuriant wavy hair.

After a bullish 2018 for the major Modern British art sales in London – during which Christie’s posted its strongest evening sale to date – results from the first ‘Mod Brit’ series of 2019 looked a little flat by comparison.

A complete set of the Metellus 'Speculum orbis terrae' publications that featured in ATG No 2399 was not the only lot to record a six-figure result in the June 5, King Street sale of the Mopelia collection of atlases and travel books.

Two recent auctions offered a number of 18th and 19th century English novels by authors unfamiliar to many readers but who are nevertheless in demand through their rare surviving works.

A Cricket Match (1938) by Mod Brit giant LS Lowry (1887-1976) was the fitting headliner at Sotheby’s. Offered in the midst of the Cricket World Cup, the 18in x 2ft (46 x 61cm) oil on canvas showing a back-street match played by local children in Salford sold for a mid-estimate £950,000 to a UK private buyer.

Abbott and Holder offers this 1940 oil on canvas of Regents Canal, Paddington, as part of a large, single-owner collection on offer in the Bloomsbury gallery.

Combining fine 18th and 19th work by major silversmiths with rarities of scholarly interest, the comprehensively catalogued silver sale at Chiswick Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) appealed to specialists across the market spectrum.

Two men will appear in court in connection with the 2017 theft of rare books from a west London warehouse.

Talisman, the large King’s Road emporium of antiques and interiors , is marking its final months with 50% off all stock. Owner Ken Bolan kicked off the sale earlier this month and it continues until doors finally close on the shop on July 31.

In the spring of 1940, Eric Ravilious (1903-42) spent three weeks in Grimsby during his role as a war artist.

Beyond the Horizon was the title given to the remarkable Mopelia collection of atlases and travel books offered in a June 5 sale in London.

This silver tennis bangle, below, triggered a classic singles match at auction.

A set of three George II silver tea caddies by the famed English silversmith Paul de Lamerie (1688-1751) was one of the stand-out sales in the opening days of 'Masterpiece London'.

Our weekly selection from salerooms and dealerships.