25 February 2021
News
17 January 2021
W.A.S. Benson: furnishing and lighting the Arts & Crafts interior
NOTE: Click individual images to see full-size picture William Arthur Smith Benson (1854-1924) inherited his love of art and beauty from his mother Elizabeth. His father, also William, was a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn and his son together with five... Read More...29 October 2020
Charles Francis Annesley Voysey (1857-1941): furniture
Voysey’s furniture makes a distinctive and distinguished contribution to turn-of-the-century interiors. His designs, materials and production methods epitomize the dichotomy of the Arts & Crafts Movement's between tradition and modernity; between individual craftsmanship and machine production. In the later 1890s... Read More...
17 October 2020
Modern Gothic Furniture by Charles Bevan
Charles Bevan (probably active by circa 1860-circa 1882 was a talented and influential furniture designer, working in the 'Modern Gothic' style. Details of his life and career, however, remain elusive (see Simon Jervis, ‘Charles, Bevan and Talbert’ in The Decorative... Read More...
13 September 2020
Speaking from Experience: Legacy firms on Navigating Marketplace Ups and Downs
This note appeared as part of a series of ‘interviews’, conducted by Laura Beach, at the end of a front page article celebrating ‘The Liverants of Colchester: Thoughts on Turning One Hundred’ published in Antiques and the Arts Weekly, 18 September…
Read More...27 August 2020
From the archive: Chinese reverse painted glass pictures
Philip Blairman took an early interest in eighteenth-century ‘Chinese mirror paintings’. Our records show him handling such work from the 1920s onwards. Blairman held several exhibitions of glass pictures. A catalogue, sadly undated, is included in the archive, but it…
Read More...12 July 2020
Museums and Mentors, Scholarship and Friendship: Stories from the world of fine ceramics dealing
The organisers of Masterpiece rose to the challenge of keeping this year’s cancelled fair alive through a much admired online programme. If you missed it during the fair, you might enjoy these entertaining anecdotes from four leading dealers in ceramics,…
Read More...6 June 2020
George Bullock (died 1818): a Regency sculptor, designer and cabinet-maker
Today, far more is known about George Bullock than when Brian Reade drew particular attention to this now much admired designer and cabinet-maker in Regency Antiques (1953). It was not until the following decade that others began to take an... Read More...
14 May 2020
Alfred Morrison (1821-97): a patron and collector of decorative arts
Alfred Morrison inherited a vast fortune from his father James Morrison (1789-1857). Even in an era famous for the collecting habits of the nouveaux riches, James Morrison stands out. His son Alfred (fig. 1) was not only a voracious collector... Read More...
2 May 2020
Christopher Dresser: a Victorian designer
Dr Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) was a prodigious designer of applied arts (objects for household use and decoration). He is recognised as one of the world’s earliest independent industrial designers, associated over a period of nearly forty years with many different... Read More...
17 April 2020
News from London
2020 will be a year we shall never forget. As I write from the relative comfort of my home, it is impossible not to reflect on the millions so less well placed to cope with this pandemic, even in the…
Read More...20 February 2020
TEFAF, Maastricht, 2020: a celebration of Regency design – and more
For three generations, H. Blairman & Sons has enjoyed a reputation for Regency design. On the occasion of the bicentenary of the Prince Regent’s accession as George IV, we are devoting a substantial part of our stand at TEFAF, Maastricht…
Read More...6 December 2019
New Address: 15, Queen Anne’s Gate, London, SW1H 9BU
15, Queen Anne’s Gate is a distinguished early eighteenth-century house in one of London’s most charming streets, to the south of St James’s Park and just a short walk from Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. The house was…
Read More...17 June 2019
Kelmscott Manor: Past, Present and Future
Nearly five years ago, the Society of Antiquaries of London organised a small fund-raining auction to kick-start an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund to secure the future of Kelmscott Manor, William Morris’s ‘heaven on earth’. Last November, the Society…
Read More...6 June 2019
Masterpiece, London, 27 June-3 July 2019
It is with pleasure that we are, once again, exhibiting at Masterpiece, London. The elegant architecture of Sir Christopher Wren’s late seventeenth-century Royal Hospital forms an appropriate backdrop for a fair that brings a rich and varied display of works…
Read More...20 April 2019
Pair of chairs for Walter Morrison (1836-1921): a new discovery
Walter Morrison, the ninth (of eleven) children born to James Morrison (1789-1857) and his wife Mary (1795-1887) was just twenty-one when his father died leaving him £300,000 (a fortune that today would be the equivalent of £28m) and the Malham…
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