The golden age of Chinese furniture spanned the Ming (1368-1644) to middle Qing (1644-1912) dynasties, when furniture suddenly leaped away from previous lacquered softwoods towards austere and refined pieces crafted from Southeast Asian hardwoods. The emphasis was on simplicity, often with little or no decoration, wonderful timber selection and complex mortise and tenon joinery. No […]
The phrase “being born with a silver spoon in your mouth” does not deserve the unpleasant connotations that it has in today’s society; we only need to look at ancient civilizations and their practices to see why. Silver has been used since its discovery 5000 years ago and has been synonymous with wealth and currency […]
With an eclectic range of contemporary, vintage and antique pieces available, jewellery auctions are an excellent place to consider when looking to source a diamond. As with any major purchase or investment, doing some informed research and becoming familiar with the market is highly recommended. Read on to discover how to get started, with key […]
Leonard Joel’s annual Women Artists Auction is a much-anticipated event for collectors, showcasing an exciting collection of works by female artists that are now demanding the academic and commercial recognition they so rightfully deserve. This year’s exhibition continues to focus on artists of the early 20th Century, a turning point for many artists when overseas travel and […]
Born into a family of silversmiths originally hailing from the Greek village of Kallarrytes, at the age of 20 a young Sotirios Boulgaris and his silversmith father moved to Italy to escape the political insecurity and lawlessness in their homeland. Following on from a number of successful jewellery start-ups around Italy, in 1905 Sotirios Boulgaris, who […]
The Private Collection of Trevor Kennedy AM in November will feature what is considered by many to be the finest private collection of Decorative Arts relating to Australia’s colonial and Federal history. A sizeable number of items, including the Australian history related tranche of another important private collector: Ruth Simon, have never before been seen […]
Curating the beautiful and collectable, great and small As you read this, we will have already conducted our first Fine Art and Fine Jewels & Timepieces auctions in a strictly virtual environment, with no public gatherings or in-person appointments. In Sydney, with our salerooms under less stringent public measures, we continue to welcome our […]
The French kiln glass technique pate de verre is among my personal favourite categories of Art Nouveau glass. With its distinctive malleable aesthetic and soft colouring, often processing a subtle luminous glow, it most certainly conveys the epithet coined by the Egyptians, ‘stone that flows’. I remember holding a Gabriel Argy Rousseau pate de verre […]
Recognized as one of Australia’s leading portrait painters of his time, we are honored to present a collection of works by Wes Walters as part of this Thursday, 1st October’s Art Salon auction. Working in a non-figurative, abstract style since the beginning of his artistic career in the early 1960s, it was not until 2001 […]
Every artwork has a story, and it is the role of the art specialist to weave together as many fragments of that story as possible. In today’s technological age, records are more available than ever before but there’s still something to be said for examining the physical painting to piece the clues together. Whilst the […]