Decorative Art

A new record for an empty English medicine bottle was set by BBR Auctions in Elsecar, North Yorkshire when a Victorian flask of ‘Dr Sibley’s Solar Tincture’ took £8200.

At just over 17in (42cm) high, the 1920s Wedgwood vase (shape 2465) is among the largest produced in the Fairyland Lustre range.

Coalport porcelain, like that produced at Derby, is renowned for its quality and decoration, drawing inspiration from work produced at the celebrated Sèvres factory.

A new selling exhibition at Jupiter Antiques this weekend features a selection of the porcelain specialist’s more affordable pieces.

Art and antiques dealer Gordon Watson sold part of his collection at auction last week, raising £842,939, including premium.

A large collection of 17th century Chinese porcelain could be broken up and sold after a family feud among the heirs of Sir Michael Butler, a former aide to Margaret Thatcher.

Lord and Lady Attenborough’s collection of Pablo Picasso ceramics will be up for auction in November at Sotheby’s in London.

Forty-two ceramic artists have been chosen from 100 applicants to exhibit at the three-day Ceramic Art York event which opens tomorrow at the city’s Museum Gardens.

As part of Alfies Antique Market’s week-long 40th anniversary celebrations, the Antiques Young Guns will provide a pop-up shop for their members at the centre.

Opposition to the ‘outsourcing’ of UK hallmarks overseas is gathering momentum in the trade. Campaigners say the use of British hallmarks in India threatens a 700-year-old system for stamping precious metals.

This George III coconut cup with silver strapwork mounts sold by Lyon & Turnbull of Edinburgh provides a glimpse of the close relationship that existed between Scotland and Russia in the late 18th century.

A group of British silversmiths, jewellery retailers and manufacturers has launched a campaign against the ‘outsourcing’ of UK hallmarks overseas.

When in the middle of the century Suffolk collector Hugh Marsham Townshend (1878-1967) was amassing a collection of gold-mounted porcelain scent bottles and other trinkets, most were thought to be the products of the Chelsea porcelain works or a shadowy enterprise known as the ‘Girl in a Swing’ factory.

Police are appealing for help following the theft of £10,000 worth of silver from a church in Blockley, near Moreton-in-Marsh in Gloucestershire.

A collection of motoring mascots formed by Robert White, a leading UK camera retailer, will be offered at Bonhams next month. Offered in single-owner sale in London on September 19, the consignments include 37 examples by René Lalique.

A Tudor stained glass panel attributed to Galeon Hone, glazier to King Henry VIII, has been stolen from the 16th-century Withcote Chapel, near Market Harborough in Leicestershire.

The V&A have acquired an early form by the artist-potter Hans Coper (1920-81). Made in 1955 in the studio Coper shared with Lucie Rie in Paddington, London, the large bowl was the subject of a temporary export ban in 2015 in the hope a UK buyer could be found.

Studio pottery has been hogging the arts and crafts headlines for a while now. In recent years collectors have really taken this field to heart and items produced by 20th century designers such as Lucie Rie and Hans Coper have been drawing strong bids at auction.

Among the works sold over estimate at today’s silver and jewellery auction at Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet was a rare silver-gilt three-piece teaset that tripled expectations when it was knocked down at £4100.

Culture Minister Ed Vaizey has placed a temporary export bar on a 17th century Florentine pietre dure table top. It was sold in December at Sotheby’s in London for £3m.