PETWORTH.- Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair opens from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 May in the extensive grounds of Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex for the tenth year. This acclaimed annual event attracts interior designers, collectors and those who enjoy surrounding themselves with fine and interesting art, decorative accessories and furniture. Always supported by the National Trust and the local market town, the businesses in Petworth put on a great show for the influx of visitors and this May will be no exception. In addition, antiques fair ticket holders receive free entry to Petworth House, over the three days, to view some of Britain’s treasures housed within. In a reciprocal arrangement, National Trust members gain free entry to the fair. A complimentary courtesy bus travels between the fair’s marquee and the centre of Petworth, ensuring visitors can take in all the art and antiques, as well as hospitality on offer in the area.

A number of dealers are exhibiting for the first time this year, joining those returning with fresh stock, all putting on a magnificent display to inspire the visitors. Newcomers include Galerie Arabesque from Stuttgart in Germany offering items for sale for a classic country house appeal bringing textiles to 18th century Delft tiles and vases, which can be made into attractive lamps. A set of Delft plates starts from £50.

Glass is well represented at the fair, especially from local fair regular Fileman Antiques. The fifth-generation family business continues to concentrate on all things glass from large chandeliers and other lighting to drinking vessels and paperweights. First time exhibitor Alderney & Wright is coming with antique to mid-century glass, including a set of six cut glass French champagne coupes, c.1890, £350 the set and a Nils Landberg ‘Mermaid’ vase engraved for Orrefors and signed to the base, c.1940, £1,200. Returning exhibitor M&D Moir has an amazing René Lalique presentation plate Mouettes commissioned by The City of Paris, to be given to King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth (later known as the Queen Mother) in 1938 on the occasion of their first and only state visit to Paris, £4,850. When purchased, the customer will also receive the original black and white press release photograph produced for the occasion. This is almost certainly the rarest René Lalique plate made by him, probably from the shop in Paris. The plate appears to have been unused and the photograph, although handled over 80 years, is in excellent condition.

Walker Galleries, from North Yorkshire, joins the fair for the first time with Friday Night along Leeds Road, a signed oil on canvas by Helen Bradley (1900-1979), priced at £42,000 and Jeunes Peupliers en Provence, Mont St. Victoire, oil on canvas, signed by Marcel Dyf (French, 1899-1985) selling for £18,500 and one of several Mary Fedden OBE RA paintings coming up for sale at the fair is The Black Teapot, signed oil on canvas, priced at £22,000. Kaye Michie Fine Art also brings two small Mary Fedden watercolour and gouache on paper paintings - Iris and Poppies, each priced at £5,800.

Art & Horse Racing Gallery is unusually based in a racing yard in Newmarket and run by former apprentice jockey, veterinarian, now trainer and co-owner of St Wendred’s racing yard (with her husband), Ilka Gansera-Leveque. Unsurprisingling, several of the paintings and sculptures appearing on this stand are equine art by British and international contemporary artists, amongst which is Bridget, Kendra Haste’s wire sculpture of the inaugural Epsom Oaks winner in 1779. The gallery also owns all of Sussex based Anna Pugh’s remaining original paintings, including her last painting Mists of Time, acrylic on board, £14,500, painted in 2022 before her eyesight sadly failed. One of England’s leading folk artists admired as a colourist and story teller, Anna Pugh’s paintings have been for sale at The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair for several years with former gallery, Lucy B. Campbell, the first year being a complete sell-out.

Other first time art dealers exhibiting include Paul Mayhew Fine Art bringing Activities at the Docks, Concarneau an oil on panel by Aloysius O’Kelly (1853-1936), signed and dated 1914, £5,000. Aloysius O’Kelly, one of the first Irish artists to study in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, was part of the artists’ colony at Concarneau which included Paul Gauguin. Another newcomer, Nick Waters Art was fortunate to acquire a number of Blair Hughes-Stanton’s oils and watercolours from his family in 2006. A highlight on his stand is a good-sized oil on canvas, dated 1926, featuring women enjoying themselves in an indoor pool, believed to be in central London but the precise location has not yet been identified. Vistavka Fine Art joins the Petworth Park fair displaying a selection of fin-de-siècle works on paper created either by French or foreign artists influenced by cosmopolitan Paris around 1900s. Some of the works on display will be by Louis Legrand, James Tissot, Paul César Helleu, Maurice Denis, Jacques Villon, Bror Nordfelt, Manuel Robbe and Tavik Simon.

Additional newcomers include Anthony Fell Antiques bringing antique period furniture and works of art; Ruddy with a mixture of 18th to 20th century decorative furniture, objects and paintings, some with humour and suitability for today’s interiors in line with their style of formal to fun. Winsor Birch Ltd sells art and sculpture by internationally acclaimed artists and Oriental Rug Shop from Sheffield is bringing a range of antique and vintage Persian rugs.

Freya Mitton is showing an oil on canvas by Ivon Hitchens this year. Divided Landscape is stamped twice and authenticated on the reverse by M.C. Hitchens and John Hitchens, £80,000 plus 4% ARR. Gladwell & Patterson exhibited last May for the first time and this year is delighted to be reuniting a beautiful abstract landscape by Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979), Wildflower Wood, painted in 1975, with its locality. Hitchens abandoned London for Lavington Common, very close to Petworth. Painted towards the end of his life. This wonderful abstract is a grand ode to the senses, an atmospheric experience of walking within a woodland of wildflowers, priced at £160,000. Joining the gallery as artist in residence on the Gladwell & Patterson stand is British contemporary artist Peter Symonds, who lives nearby in Surrey. His landscapes of the surrounding countryside truly resonate with collectors. Of particular significance is an evocative landscape of Bosham Harbour, with a price tag of £8,500.

The Hunt Gallery features the work of Michael John Hunt, offering a chance for visitors to meet the artist, who is going to be on the stand all three days of the fair. Previously, Michael John Hunt painted Petworth House viewed from the location in the park where the antiques fair marquee stands. A new work coming to the fair is a large acrylic on canvas The Smithy priced at £30,000, a masterful glimpse into the artisan soul of a bygone era. Hunt’s brushstrokes immortalise an old, traditional forge in painstaking detail, illustrating the craftsmanship of a blacksmith meticulously shaping red hot metal on the anvil, surrounded by an ensemble of tools.

Ottocento has a gallery in the centre of Petworth and also takes a stand at the fair and is bringing an offset lithograph in colours Studies of the Human body, signed by Frances Bacon (Irish, 1909-1992) and numbered 182/250, 1980, £5,200 and Portrait of Madame Raoul Dufy, gouache on paper, signed, inscribed and dated ‘à ma femme Raoul Dufy 1915’ by Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953), £25,000. Differing eras of marine art can be found with David Brooker Fine Art, Cambridge Fine Art and contemporary marine paintings by Richard Firth including American Yacht Vigilant Racing Off Cowes on Baron Fine Art’s stand.

Sarah Colegrave Fine Art is exhibiting a group of about 30 landscape watercolours by artist Joseph Arthur Powell (1876-1961), affordably priced around £200 to £1,000. Having studied under his father he, too, became a successful landscape watercolourist and is best known for his delightful studies of Surrey and Sussex, in particular he worked near his home at Plaistow; on the Sussex Downs and the area around Rye where his parents had retired in later life. These watercolours come by descent from the family of the artist.

Blackbrook Gallery specialises in 19th century animal portraits amongst which is pair of paintings of prize sheep bred by Sir J.C. Thorold Bart at Dyston Park, oil on canvas, by T. Yeomans, signed and dated 1834, with a provenance from Sudeley Castle, £29,500 the pair. Whilst on the subject of sheep, Walton House Antiques brings a rare early 18th century oak pegged box seat lambing chair, £895 as well as an 18th century French kingwood bombe fronted commode with ormulo mounts and handles, topped with a stunning original shaped marble top, priced at £2,650.

Jeroen Markies Art Deco returns with Art Deco and mid-century furniture and accessories, amongst which is a pair of moustache backed French Art Deco club chairs, £3,950 the pair; a burr walnut veneered cocktail cabinet by Harry & Lou Epstein, £6,800; an Art Deco linen cupboard by Betty Joel in Australian walnut veneered on mahogany with satin birch interior, £2,850 and an Art Deco eight seater extendable dining suite by Hille of London comprising six dining chairs and two carver armchairs with solid walnut legs and arms, the extendable dining table in burr walnut veneered on a solid walnut base with a drop in leaf, £12,500 the suite. Art Deco and Art Nouveau bronzes and glass can be found with Hickmet Fine Arts.

Campaign furniture specialist Christopher Clarke Antiques has a pair of late 19th century Karelian birch travel candlesticks, the design of these Brighton Bun candlesticks allows the dishes to form the case to hold the unscrewed sconces, £450.An oak and mahogany campaign chair bed by Morgan & Sanders of Catherine Street is an ingenious and useful space saver, c.1810, £3,950. More antique furniture and interior accessories can be found on the stands of Mark Buckley Antiques and William Cook Antiques. William Cook is bringing a large George III London repeater bracket clock, circa 1785, £4,500. BBC Antiques Roadshow antique clock expert, Richard Price is exhibiting and more clocks can be found with Olde Time.

Jacksons Antique debuted at the fair last year, returning this time with Japanese Satsuma vases; a pair of French empire candelabra featuring Apollo and Daphne, £11,975; a Swiss Black Forest oversized tobacco jar in the form of a dog, c.1890, £1,800 and an Austrian bronze galleon lamp by Franz Bergman, circa 1985 £9,500. Andrew Muir and James Miles Ltd share a stand to show their vintage ceramics, including pieces by Clarice Cliff (1899-1972).

Jewellery from different eras and styles can be found from T. Robert, Plaza, S. Greenstein & Co. Ltd and Shapiro & Co with an Imperial topaz and natural pearl necklace in 15ct gold, circa 1870, £12,750. Markov exhibits again with an 18ct. gold two terriers brooch, each wearing a ruby and diamond collar respectively, £850. Georg Jensen jewellery can be found with both Dansk Silver by Jane Burgett and Gråsilver, the latter bringing gold pieces by the Danish company too.

Silver can be found with J.H. Bourdon-Smith Ltd and Stephen Kalms Antiques and boxes aplenty with Mark Goodger Antiques, amongst which is the Duchess of Sutherland’s (Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria) mechanical feathered burr walnut vanity box by Betjemann & Son with silver hallmarks for Thomas Whitehouse, dated 1869, £8,500.

There is an enormous choice for animal lovers, not least Le Chat (stalking cat) by Theophile Hingre (French, 1832-1911), a rare and early bronze cast number 4, 1,895 from Garret & Hurst Sculpture. Tom Rooth is currently in the Cambrian mountains of Wales crafting his honeycomb to create a buzz on his stand for his tremendously popular hand drawn ceramics. Honeycomb by Tom Rooth, comprises a number of individually underglazed pencil on glazed earthenware, surrounded by wooden frames covered in 23.5 carat gold leaf, signed, numbered, inscribed and dated (on the reverse). Queen bees are fired with gold lustre and are priced at £225 (the bees are £195 each), with £10 of each piece sold going to the Wildlife Trusts.