TEFAF, Maastricht, 2017: still the best
We spent an enjoyable weekend unpacking a truck-full of crates, each revealing a piece of furniture, an object or a picture, soon to be placed or hung on our expanded Maastricht stand. Thanks as ever to Aston Spinks (see below)…
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The Winter Antiques Show: ready to go
On Tuesday morning, so far spared the traditional Winter Antiques Show snow, we arrived at the nonetheless frigid Armory. Our shippers battled the mêlée of ‘troublesome trucks’ jockeying for position on a gridlocked Lexington Avenue. But, without the slightest hint…
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Sitting comfortably, on chairs designed by Thomas Chippendale the Younger
During a recent visit to Salisbury, I took some time to enjoy the magnificent cathedral. Walking past the north transept, my eye was caught by a life-size seated figure. On inspection this turned out to be a funerary monument to…
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Variations on a theme: two armchairs designed by C.F.A. Voysey (1857-1941)
C.F.A Voysey’s armchair, with a heart-shape in the back, is one of his most recognisable designs. The armchair with rush seat (above) is a close variant of this widely published model, which is itself known in various forms; see, for…
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Charles Lepec: two recently identified works
As was acknowledged during their lifetimes, the crucial relationship between the fabulously wealthy patron and collector Alfred Morrison (1821-97), and the supremely talented enamel artist Charles Lepec (1830-90), led to much of Lepec’s artistic output, during the 1860s, finding a…
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Ivory: what is the latest?
According to the entirely justified headline to an online article in Apollo, ‘Antique ivory poses no threat to elephant conservation: in fact, it needs protection itself’ (see here). We all love elephants, and who brought up on Jean de Brunhoff’s Babar (below)…
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Summer is coming, so we are told…
Just back from Chicago, where I was kindly invited to speak to the Antiquarians at the Art Institute of Chicago, on ‘Alfred Morrison (1821-97): an overlooked patron and collector of decorative arts’. This remarkable maecenas lived in Carlton House Terrace,…
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William Shakespeare: a table incorporating part of his mulberry tree
23 April 2016 marks the four hundredth anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Shakespeare (1564-1616) is revered as the greatest figure in English literature. Although long admired, it was not until the Great Shakespeare Jubilee arranged in 1769 by the actor…
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Local authority budget pressure threatening Lancaster’s Gillows collection at the Judges’ Lodgings
Time is rapidly running out to find a solution for the Judges’ Lodgings Museum in Lancaster, and its renowned collection of furniture by Gillows, the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ cabinet-maker. Against the brutal background of cuts to local authority budgets, Lancashire County…
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News from New York: that was the WAS that was…
A long stay on the East Coast for the Winter Antiques Show began with a day in Washington. It seems that fatigue is casting a shadow over many of the groups involved in the battle to retain the free movement…
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The Winter Antiques Show 2016
The year is barely three weeks old, but here we all are, back in New York for the Winter Antiques Show. This long running fair, established in 1955, supports the East Side House Settlement, which was itself founded in 1891….
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Philip Blairman: some early memories, in his own words
Since 2013, Mark Westgarth, based at the University of Leeds, has been investigating ‘Antique Dealers: the British Antiques Trade in the 20th Century’. This project grew out of his earlier work that culminated in A Biographical Dictionary of Nineteenth Century…
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A Thomas Hope chandelier identified
Lost works of art are sometimes hidden in plain sight. Such is the case with a magnificent chandelier that undoubtedly once hung at Thomas Hope’s Duchess Street mansion in London, and later at his country house the Deepedene, Dorking, Surrey….
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A pair of chairs after a design by Thomas Hope (1769-1831)
The seemingly simple form of this pair of Regency ‘tub’ chairs exemplifies Thomas Hope’s timeless genius as a designer. Their apparently effortless curved backs seem redolent, for example, of the 1920s ‘art deco’ seat furniture by designers such as Emile-Jacques…
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The Autumn Season begins: PAD, and an American trip
The atmosphere at PAD, the Pavilion of Art and Design held each October in Berkeley Square, was scintillating. The show was packed for the duration and, quite simply, worked. Visitors from across the globe loved the ambience created by our Parisian organisers, while the equally international exhibitors benefited from the response to their carefully created stands. During a mild autumn week, with Frieze Masters up in Regent’s Park, London’s art market felt in rude health.
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PAD 2015: first preview this afternoon
As ever, the set up for PAD was a delight. This may be accounted for by our pleasure in this event; by the friendly atmosphere created by the organisers and exhibitors alike; by the range of fascinating materials brought by…
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