PETWORTH.- In the middle of May, Petworth will be abuzz with visitors from around the UK and maybe even a few interior enthusiasts from abroad when The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair marquee goes up, opening for the eighth year in a row for three days from Friday 13 to Sunday 15 May 2022. Situated in its usual place in the Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown grounds with views overlooking the 700 acre deer park, watched by the National Trust mansion, Petworth House, some 60 dealers are gathering to share their latest acquisitions for collectors, designers and interested buyers to view.
Restrictions to the pandemic have eased and an antiques fair ticket once again gives the holders access to visit Petworth House and its magnificent collection of Britain’s art, including works by J.M.W. Turner, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Hieronymus Bosch, Titian and Grinling Gibbons, whose 300th anniversary was celebrated last year.
On the subject of anniversaries, our own much loved Queen Elizabeth II is celebrating her platinum jubilee this year. Several exhibitors are bringing royal inspired items, amongst which is View of Westminster Abbey oil on paper by Felix Runcie Kelly (1914 -1994) with an asking price of £12,500 to be found on Karen Taylor Fine Art’s stand. The painting was a commission for the Dunlop Rubber Company Limited and used as a full-page advertisement in 1953 to commemorate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in numerous publications including The Queen and The Illustrated London News. Full of movement, Lifeguard Escort - The Coronation is a pen and ink, red crayon and watercolour on tinted paper by Feliks Topolski (1907-1989), selling for £4,600 from Sarah Colegrave. It is signed and inscribed ‘To Slim’ (Slim Hewitt, the photographer). In 1958, HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh commissioned Topolski to create a large scale mural for Buckingham Palace depicting the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. The Queen’s grandfather, King George V, celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 1935, which was captured on canvas by Sir Peter Markham Scott (1909-1989). The Night of King George V Silver Jubilee, 6th May 1935 is signed and dated and inscribed ‘Jubilee Night’ on the reverse, priced at £12,500 from Rountree Tryon Galleries. The painting has a royal provenance, as Mary, Princess Royal, the only daughter of George V and Queen Elizabeth II’s aunt, purchased the painting from the 1935 exhibition at Ackermann Gallery.
More recognisable coronation items for sale include a beautiful Arts & Crafts Cymric silver and enamel spoon by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., £2,650 from Morgan Strickland Decorative Arts. Commemorative glass includes two rare Regency crown scent bottles made for the coronation of King George IV, English, 1820, with an asking price of £650 and £850 and a fine pair of Queen Caroline engraved commemorative goblets, English, c.1821, £850 from glass specialist Fileman Antiques.
Not just restricted to British royals, items for sale include a high quality carved walnut display cabinet, inlaid with heraldic beasts and the monogram of Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden, Germany, c.1850-1860, sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, reigning from 1856 to 1907 from Hatchwell Antiques. For the first time, tribal art will be for sale at the Petworth Park Fair with a fine prestige basket from the Kuba people of Congo, c.1930, that would have been used to hold jewellery and rare items owned by a royal lady, £360 from Tribal Arts & Textiles.
Slightly more irreverent royal images come from Haynes Fine Art selling Chris Levine’s Lightness of Being, £16,500 for the silkscreen with Swarovski crystals (60/100) or £36,000 for the lenticular print. From first time exhibitor, Michael Hoppen Gallery, is Tim Walker’s signed archival photograph Claire Foy, Smoking Queen, Fashion: Alexander McQueen. London, 2017.
Michael Hoppen Gallery is also showing the work of 19th century gardener and photographer Charles Jones (1866-1959), who grew and photographed vegetables, fruit and flowers. The photographs for sale aren’t editions – they were made by hand, using glass plate negatives and so there is generally only one print of each photograph Charles Jones took. Prices range from four to five figure sums. In 1893, he is recorded as being Head Gardener at Ote Hall near Burgess Hill in Sussex.
Another highlight on Karen Taylor Fine Art’s stand is Wooded landscape with track and pool, black chalk with stump over pencil on laid paper by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. (1727-1788), priced in the region of £25,000. Petworth art gallery, Ottocento, returns with a fine and eclectic collection, amongst which is an oil on canvas by Claude-Joseph Vernet (French, 1714-1789) Fisherman by a Cascade in a Gorge, priced at £52,000.
Exhibiting at Petworth Park for the first time last year, Oriental porcelain dealer Santos London returns with an important and rare Chinese export porcelain soup tureen and cover with ribbed body and stand of monumental size, after a Meissen form, Qianlong reign, Qing dynasty, c.1750 and a fine and rare Chinese porcelain teapot and cover, decorated in famille verte (wucai) palette enamels, the spout and handle decorated as branches with the same enamels, Kangxi reign, Qing dynasty, c.1700. Other ceramics can be found on the Jupiter Antiques stand and Tom Rooth is currently working on new ceramic designs, including a giant honeycomb, complete with bees, to launch at Petworth Park.
BBC Antiques Roadshow clock expert Richard Price has a J.B. Delettrez porcelain and ormolu mantel clock, c.1875, £4,850, as well as a French Bleu de Roi porcelain lyre clock garniture, c.1900, £8,950. Another fine piece of horology is a Victorian skeleton clock, c.1860 to be found with returning exhibitor Olde Time. On a smaller scale are the vintage watches to be found with Timewise.
Campaign furniture specialist Christopher Clarke Antiques is showing General George Mackenzie Steuart’s teak Anglo-Indian campaign chest with secretaire and superstructure. Made in the Goa/Malibar region around 1830, it is priced in the region of £10,000. Other impressive pieces of furniture come from William Cook Antiques with a large 17th century Charles II oak dresser base, c.1680, £6,850; a 19th century octagonal satinwood centre table, £3,350 and a William & Mary period walnut bureau bookcase of unusually narrow width, c.1700, £18,500. Cocktail cabinets for sale include an Italian wooden one with brass detail and fully mirrored interior from the fifties, £4,500 from L&V Art and Design. Jeroen Markies Art Deco brings an Art Deco burr walnut demi-lune cocktail cabinet by Harry & Lou Epstein, c.1930, £8,900. From Hatchwell Antiques comes a "Dealer B" Mark 30 anti-sub torpedo mounted as a glass top table, ideal for a bachelor pad or modern penthouse, £12,000.
Bronzes, glass and other interior accessories can be found with Hickmet Fine Arts, amongst which are two exceptional late 19th century bronze equestrian studies of Hunter at Rest and Tired Hunter, both by the English animalier sculptor John Willis Good (British,1845-1879), c.1870, each with an asking price of £10,500. Glass specialists M&D Moir return with an early signed Maidenhair fern Emile Gallé cameo vase, c.1900, £1,350. Fileman Antiques brings a fine Baccarat butterfly paperweight, 1850, £2,200 and a pair of richly cut Victorian lustres with turnover tops hung with unusual collared queen drops, 1860, £1,250 the pair.
Sussex and the southern counties have moved many artists to paint the landscapes over the years. Burlington shows Old Bosham Harbour – Low Tide, oil on canvas by Augustus William Enness (British, 1876-1948), signed, £6,500. The Abbey Gatehouse, Battle Abbey, Sussex is a watercolour by John Inigo Richards, R.A., F.S.A. (1731-1810), priced at £1,800 from Karen Taylor Fine Art, also bringing another watercolour A view of Tunbridge, Kent by Paul Sandby, R.A. (1731-1809), with a price tag in the region of £35,000.
Many of us have been dreaming of travelling abroad, since the restrictions of the pandemic. A plethora of art inspired by foreign lands is ready to grace people’s interiors. From Haynes Fine Art comes an oil on canvas of Ponza Harbour by Edward Brian Seago RBA, RWS (British, 1910-1974), £89,500. Panoramic View of Eze and Cap Ferrat, Côte d'Azur is an oil on canvas by Gabriel Deschamps (French, born 1919), £18,000 from Burlington; and the ever popular subject of Santa Maria della Salute, Venice an oil on panel by Carlo Grubacs (Italian, 1810-1870), £8,200 from Ottocento. Not forgetting the children, 19th century naive animal art paintings specialist Blackbrook Gallery has a traditional dapple grey rocking horse for sale, which should provide hours of fun, £1,295.
Jewellery dealers abound with T. Robert, Greenstein Antiques, Diamonds4you, Dansk Silver and Shapiro & Co. Amongst the jewellery for sale is a French 18ct. gold, diamond and natural pearl wyvern and snake pendant/brooch with removable fittings, c. 1895, £12,500 and an extremely rare 15ct. gold and opal bracelet by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co., c.1905, £6,500 from T Robert. Scandinavian jewellery for sale includes a Georg Jensen sterling silver and 18ct gold bracelet with hidden clasp, no 409, designed by Regitze Overgaard, £1,150 from Dansk Silver; while Diamonds4You has a silver chair pin cushion, maker Levi and Salaman, Birmingham, dating from 1903, £150 and an Art Deco diamond and platinum brooch, £4,800. Greenstein Antiques has a 1920's Swiss enamel brooch set in 18ct. yellow gold depicting the picturesque Jungfrau mountain range, £1,195 and a 1970's vintage bombe diamond ring set in 18ct. white gold, £4,950. Amongst the jewellery and objects on Shapiro & Co‘s stand is an Edwardian 18ct yellow gold and platinum ruby and diamond bracelet, c.1905, £4,750.
Newcomers to the fair this year include Justin Evershed-Martin Fine Art & Design, Karen Taylor Fine Art, L & V Art and Design, Michael Hoppen Gallery, Rug Addiction, Shaw Edwards Antiques, Tribal Arts & Textiles and The Swan Gallery bringing maps amongst which is Wallis's Plan of the Cities of London & Westminster, John Wallis, dated 1786, £475.
Organiser Ingrid Nilson of The Antiques Dealers Fair Ltd said, “We are incredibly lucky to have the full support of the National Trust, the Petworth Business Association and the local art galleries and antiques shops, some of whom also take a stand within our marquee. In addition, new this year is 2Covet coming on board to assist as Marketing Partner. 2Covet is not only an online selling platform but also owns the long-standing Chelsea Antiques & Fine Art Fair. The Petworth Park Fair will benefit from 2Covet’s extensive reach across social media and other platforms.”
“As pandemic restrictions have relaxed, we are delighted that the National Trust is once again offering antiques fair ticket holders complimentary access to Petworth House and Park over the three days of the fair and we continue to welcome National Trust members offering free entry to the fair. We pride ourselves on providing a relaxing venue for visitors to enjoy a day out or even a weekend with all that is offered by the market town. This year, we have new Petworth caterers at the fair – Cherry’s Deli – who I am confident will offer some delicious refreshments for our visitors to enjoy overlooking the ‘Capability’ Brown designed park.”
Elizabeth Lee of PAADA said, “Petworth Art & Antique Dealers Association will again have a stand at the annual Fair in May. This gives a valuable insight into the stock of the many dealers in Petworth and competition for space on the stand is fierce!”
Tickets are £10 each and can be booked through Eventbrite at https://tinyurl.com/y4f5nsk3 and include complimentary access to Petworth House and Park over the three days. Free entry to the antiques fair for National Trust members. See
www.petworthparkfair.com for more information.
