LONDON.- The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair returns to London’s West End and the five-star London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, London W1K 6JP from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 January 2023. Previously held annually until interrupted by the pandemic, this ninth edition is back to starting the year in style once again. The fair boasts a good mix of disciplines courtesy of members of The British Antique Dealers’ Association and LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers, who have signed up to exhibit. The fair has a magnificent international following including interior designers, collectors and, with its central location, lures overseas visitors to London, as well as people seeking unique pieces for their interiors.
Organiser Ingrid Nilson of The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited said “We are delighted to be back in Mayfair, at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square, joined by some impressive dealers, who exhibit at the major fairs in the UK and abroad. The exhibitors and my team are looking forward to putting on a fantastic, friendly fair and to welcoming back our followers and to introducing new visitors to the best from the best.”
Santos London joins the fair for the first time. Amongst the Chinese ceramics for sale are a superb pair of Chinese export porcelain chargers decorated in rich enamels from the famille rose (fencai) palette enamels with two horses and peonies, Yongzheng reign, Qing dynasty, circa 1730, POA. Another newcomer is W. Shanshan 珊然軒, expert in Asian pottery and sculpture. Amongst the pieces bound for the stand are a large red earthenware jar, Siwa culture (14th-11th century BCE), 44 cm high, £3,800 and a rare piece of painted pottery with four abstract cross, Majiayao culture, Machang type, circa 2300-1800 BCE, 40 cm high, £7,800. Mark Buckley Antiques also joins the fair for the first time, selling period furniture, paintings and sculpture and bringing a stylish Victorian figured burr walnut Wellington chest, made by A. Jewell from New Oxford Street, London, priced at £4,395. Another newcomer is the Oriental Rug Shop from Sheffield bringing exquisite handmade rugs and carpets.
Rare and unique items from different eras abound at the fair amongst which is a fine enamel and diamond box set with a watch, probably by Cartier, circa 1920, £6,500; a silver and enamel trinket box by Fabergé, the central stone being a pink topaz, £8,000 and, made for the Chinese market an extremely rare perfume necessaire in 18ct gold and honey coloured agate with rock crystal bottles, attributed to James Cox, circa 1780, £50,000, all from The Antique Enamel Company.
Those seeking a painting have plenty of choice with Burlington’s Summer Glory, an oil on canvas by Herbert Davis Richter (British, 1874-1955), £7,750. Also celebrating the Summer is Kaye Michie Fine Art with Summer Roses at Brighouse Bay by Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864-1933), oil on canvas, £25,000. Cambridge Fine Art brings The Tea Party by Delphin Enjoulras (1857-1951), £15,000 and The Gate of London by Henry Halsey Meegan (fl. 1907–1924), £2,750 both oils on canvas. Amongst the paintings for sale on John Robertson’s stand is Danielle and the Red Parasol an oil on canvas by the much-loved Royal Academician Ken Howard, who died in September this year aged 99 years. Haynes Fine Art is showing works by Edgar Degas, Mary Fedden and Marcel Dyf, as well as contemporary artist Haidee-Jo Summers. Granta Fine Art of Cambridge brings Battersea Park by Margaret Green (British, 1925-2003) showing a nanny pushing her charge in a pram with pops of colour from the scattered deckchairs, probably after entertainment at the park’s bandstand, £1,650. Born in West Hartlepool, Green won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art, where she won several prizes. She painted regularly in her Suffolk and London studios and taught at Walthamstow Art School, eventually to be recruited to the Royal Academy Schools.
Sculpture for sale at the fair includes an Art Deco bronze on green marble base ‘Jeune Femme et L’Agneau’ by Ari Bitter (French, 1883-1973), circa 1925, £3,450 from Garret & Hurst Sculpture. Primarily an animalier sculptor, Bitter worked in the studio of Louis-Ernest Barrias for several years from 1902. He exhibited at Le Salon des Artistes Français from 1912 to 1939. An Art Deco sculptural nickel- plated brass lamp with a kneeling woman is £1,250 from Morgan Strickland Decorative Arts, also showing an Art Nouveau cameo glass vase with dog roses by Daum, £3,950 and an Arts & Crafts Tudric pewter and Powell glass decanter by Archibald Knox for Liberty & Co, £2,400. Glass for sale includes a fabulous pair of Baccarat gilded red over green aquatic cameo vases featuring stylised waterlilies, signed Bourgeois Depose, made for Emile Bourgeois, the manager of France’s luxury retailer Grand Dépôt. Measuring 10” high, circa 1900, the pair retails at £3,600 from M&D Moir. Other glass comes from Mark J. West with silver from Stephen Kalms Antiques.
S&S Timms Antiques returns with period furniture, amongst which is a 19th century Regency period mahogany chaise longue of rare design and elegant decoration with its eagle’s head to the back, circa 1820, £7,800, as well as an early 18th century George I period walnut kneehole desk, circa 1720, £7,000 and a mid-century camphor wood military campaign chest with original brass handles and decoration to the corners, circa 1850, £3,950.
Clocks bring a home alive and BBC Antiques Roadshow expert, Richard Price, has an impressive selection, one of which unusually comes in the form of globe, both decorative and with a purpose. The six inch S. Smith & Son London empire globe rotates a silvered 24 hour equatorial chapter ring, supported on a column eight day movement in the base, circa 1905, £4,975. Smaller timepieces for men and women can be found with Timewise Vintage Watches by Rolex, Cartier, Breitling, Heuer, including a solid 18ct yellow gold Patek Philippe watch fitted with a dark brown Patek Philippe strap and 18ct gold buckle, £15,800, sold with an extract from the Patek Philippe archives confirming production of this watch in 1963 and its subsequent sale in January 1964.
Jewellery dealers include Plaza with a vintage amethyst, diamond and gold leopard pendant/brooch with emerald eyes, circa 1980s, £6,750 and Wimpole Antiques bringing an Oscar Heyman sapphire and diamond ring and matching earrings, each selling for £5,500. Anthea AG Antiques sells names such as Van Cleef & Arpels, Buccellati and Cartier. Markov is another jeweller, who also has Lalique and other glass, as well as some contemporary pieces for sale.
Although everything for sale is vetted for quality and authenticity, not all of the items are for the serious collector, there are some light hearted pieces to put a much-needed smile on people’s faces like a pair of Art Deco porcelain stylised
rook night lights by Gabriel Beauvais, £1,250 from Morgan Strickland Decorative Arts and Decanter Man, Danish glass by Jacob Bang for Holmegaard, circa 1926,
£980 from M&D Moir. The Antique Enamel Company has a remarkable hardstone and silver-gilt Parrot cocktail shaker by Wolfer’s Bros, which was retailed by Chaumet. The lid is in the form of a parrot with a black obsidian beak, the body with mother-of-pearl and silver-gilt feathers, the base in fluted bloodstone, provenance Lady Victoria White (Victoria’s Secret). A Black Forest Bear umbrella stand to greet visitors in the hallway would start the conversations flowing, £4,500 from S&S Timms Antiques.
The fair has its own light refreshments and being located in a five-star hotel in London’s West End, it comes with all the trimmings expected of a hotel of this calibre, complete with Gordon Ramsay restaurants and the award-winning Luggage Room bar. The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited continues to support the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) the charity dedicated to encourage and back excellence in British craftsmanship.
