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Antique dealers, interior designers or those with an eye to stylish decor in their own homes all need recourse to supplies of antique style furnishing fabrics whether it is to recover that Edwardian settee, recreate a 17th century tapestry-lined interior or give a period feel to those worn-out seats on a set of Regency chairs.

Interior decorators may well be familiar with the work of ARC prints, the Battersea firm based at 1-6 Andrew Place, SW8.Their high quality reproductions of antique engravings of Piranesi vases, Roman architectural studies and David Roberts Middle Eastern landscapes can be seen on the walls of many an antique shop or stand as well as providing a stylish focal point to domestic interiors.

FOR a while now wicker furniture has been fashionable. It dates back to Ancient Egypt and from the 1870s to the 1930s was very popular indeed, moving indoors from the porch and summer house and being used extensively in cruise liners and airships.

Russian Works of Art: ALTHOUGH like the silver sale that preceded it, the buying mood was selective for the 343 lots of Russian works of art offered by Sotheby’s Olympia on November 21, it still totalled a respectable £684,000 for the 215 lots that changed hands.

François Curiel, head of Christie’s France, has set a precedent by winning permission to direct sales in France. It is the first time that the Conseil des Ventes, France’s auction watchdog, has authorised anyone who has not passed the traditional commissaire-priseur’s exams to hold the gavel.

Five days after Sotheby’s auction, a smaller, 152-lot Russian sale comprising works of art and pictures went under the hammer at Christie’s South Kensington’s rooms on November 26 and here too buyers picked over the contents with 60 per cent changing hands.

The name Stanley J. Seeger will be familiar to many art collectors and auction goers for there have already been no fewer than five auctions of his works of art and pictures since 1993, ranging from 88 works by Picasso sold in New York to Contemporary art in Milan and 18th-20th century British pictures in London.