London

Last year there were fears the Metropolitan Police’s Art & Antiques Unit would be closed after two of its members were seconded to the Grenfell Tower fire enquiry. However, in December the team was reunited and a new boss Det Sgt Rob Upham, with 23 years’ experience in the Met, was brought in to lead the team. ATG caught up with him recently.

Tutu, a previously lost portrait by Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) of the Ife royal princess Adetutu Ademiluyi set a new record for the artist at Bonhams’ Africa Now auction.

E&H Manners holds a selling exhibition of rare English porcelain figures in its Kensington Church Street gallery this month.

Don’t call it dated, fusty or old-fangled. The British Antique Dealers’ Association (BADA) is here to prove that antiques have a place even in contemporary homes.

Works by Pablo Picasso (1881- 1973) dominated the latest series of Impressionist and Modern art auctions in London, with Gurr Johns securing nearly all of them.

“Mid-century is pretty unstoppable as the ‘new antique’ with exhibitions on Fifties and Sixties designers like Charles and Ray Eames and Harry Bertoia now regular events,” says Lucy Ryder Richardson, founder with Petra Curtis of the Midcentury Modern Shows.

The 20th century portraitist Meredith Frampton (1894-1984) achieved remarkable success in a relatively short career.

German-made painted wood Noah’s arks, appealing to folk art and toy collectors alike, don’t get much better than the mid- 19th century example sold at Bonhams Knightsbridge.

Over a period of four decades, from the 1930s-‘60s, the Italian artist Marino Marini (1901-80) returned again and again to the subject of horse and rider.