UK

London Art Week kicks off a host of events on June 30. Based in Mayfair and St James’s, LAW brings together more than 40 galleries as well as three auction houses in a celebration of historic painting, sculpture and drawing.

“I’m enjoying quite a honeymoon period,” said Mark Law, new joint owner of Dreweatts (24% buyer’s premium). He took on the day-to-day running of the Newbury auction house on May 9 ahead of taking over formally with investor partner Gavin Alexander later this summer.

The art and antiques trade associations are preparing to “forge new relationships” with Michael Gove, who has replaced Andrea Leadsom as environment minister in charge of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

A quintessential English village is how Buriton, near Petersfield in east Hampshire might be described. It nestles at the foot of the South Downs and boasts two pubs, a church, a large village pond with ducks and a village hall.

A still-life by Dora Carrington (1893-1932) starred in Mallams’ (20% buyer’s premium) Design & Modern British & Post-War Art sale, selling just shy of the artist’s record.

A tiny 19th century Venetian oil by Frederico del Campo (1837- 1923) went under the hammer for the first time in a century at Catherine Southon (18% buyer’s premium).

Stock-buying trips prove successful for one American as she heads back to Blighty once more...

Leading regional salerooms are reaping the rewards of the bullish Modern British art market with more robust results.

Every year in July the railings on tree-lined Josephine Avenue in Brixton become a vibrant space; an open-air gallery exhibiting more than 1000 pieces of work from over 200 artists, printmakers and photographers.

John Slade of Take Five Fairs has regretfully had to cancel all his future Tolworth A3 antiques and collectables fairs held at the Tolworth Recreation Centre, near Kingston in Surrey.

The Charing Cross Collectors’ Market, at the bottom of Villiers Street, near Charing Cross Station, has to be one of the longest running niche fairs in London.

Comprising what amounted to a crowded Regency household, fully and elegantly furnished and inhabited by half a dozen bisque or parian dolls, a c.1820 mahogany dolls’ cabinet was the outstanding offering from C&T Auctioneers (18% buyer’s premium) in Tunbridge Wells.

Led by the 17th century Goan hardwood, ivory and bone tabernacle which took a 100-times-estimate £36,000 from a European bidder (see Pick of the Week, ATG No 2294), a recent sale at Chiswick Auctions (22% buyer's premium) also included a tribute to a quintessential Victorian imperial hero – General Gordon.

The library of William O’Brien, an Irish-born QC and High Court judge in the Victorian era, sold for a premium-inclusive £2.8m at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 7.

In its ongoing exhibition, the Bohun Gallery includes emerging artists alongside leaders in the British art market such as Elisabeth Frink, John Piper and Mary Fedden.

In our continuing series looking through the keyhole of ‘bricks and mortar’ shops in 2017, ATG talks to Paula Rippingale Mills, who runs Rippingales Antiques and Collectables in Suffolk.