Innholdsfortegnelse for Special 2023 i Homes & Antiques

As readers of H&A, your interest in antiques is a given, and I'm sure you are regulars at your local antiques shops; your homes furnished with an eclectic mix of old and new. But have you ever wondered why we revere old things and when collecting antiques, as sold by dealers, first began? We sent Rhiannon Batten in search of the answers and you can read her lovely history of the antiques trade on page 31. Elsewhere in this issue, we look at the work of Paul Scott, who has taken the ancient art of Japanese kintsugi and applied it to classic British blue-and-white ceramics, subverting some of the familiar motifs along the way. Ceramic art has long been fertile ground for political protest and Paul's works follow in this…

Fabric Wallpaper…

THE GLOBEMAKERS Peter Bellerby Most of us have someone in our lives for whom it is difficult to buy gifts – perhaps it's a friend who already has everything, or a child with ever-changing tastes. For Peter Bellerby, it was his father who proved tricky to treat on special occasions, and a quest to find the perfect birthday present led him down the path of globemaking. As a former naval architect, Peter felt a globe would be something his father might really engage with. In his new book, he relays the journey that took him from renovating houses and travelling the world to convincing his friends to help him create bespoke globes that capture a timeless aesthetic but are still accurate (and useable) today. Each chapter covers a different part…

LAPADA 2023 Originally laid out in the 1700s by architect William Kent, tree-lined Berkeley Square is now in the heart of London's West End. A stone's throw from the chic shops of New Bond Street, the Hatton Garden jewellery quarter and afternoon tea at Claridge's, it has also been the location for LAPADA's annual London fair since 1993, a highly anticipated event until 2020 and Covid-related disruptions. But, this October, following a three-year pause, the familiar pavilion will open its doors once more. The LAPADA fair, now rebranded as LAPADA Berkeley Square Fair, brings together over 100 dealers, who between them showcase thousands of years of extraordinary objects, ranging from Roman antiquities to antique jewels once owned by the Russian royal family. An afternoon at the fair feels a bit…

● Both originate from Arita in Japan, shipped out of the harbour of Imari ● Kakiemon usually contains elegant nature-themed images in rusty red, green, yellow and fresh blue ● Followed by the more decorative Imari, in underglaze cobalt blue and liberal overglaze red and gilt, and also other colours ● The Chinese Kraak-style compartments were added to European export porcelain, not to the Japanese domestic market ● Chinese Imari imitations usually don't have gilt, as this was not available in China ● British makers quickly started imitating it – and added the gilt again ● Gradually, the British added English roses, birds, festoons, ribbons – anything you can imagine!…

1. Henry's last queen Estimate £600,000–£800,000 Sold £3.4m When this portrait of Katherine Parr, the last of King Henry VIII's six wives, went up for sale at Sotheby's in the summer, it became the most valuable Tudor painting ever sold at auction. The oil-on-oak panel, depicting Katherine dripping with pearls and jewels, is attributed to the artist Master John, and came from the collection of the Earl of Jersey, whose forebears bought it in 1848 for just over £70. Scholar, music lover and patron of the arts, Katherine was most likely painted around 1547–48, shortly after the King's death in January 1547. This portrait is one of only two surviving contemporary paintings of her, the other being a full-length work also attributed to Master John, on display at the National…

REVIEW The Randolph Hotel, Oxford An Oxford institution, The Randolph was long the place to stay in the city's historic heart (particularly for fans of Inspector Morse; its legendary Morse Bar often appeared in the long-running TV series, a tribute to the fact that author Colin Dexter used to write his novels there). After a slight slump in fortune, however, it is now part of the Graduate Hotels group. A recent refurbishment has breathed new life into this grand Victorian Gothic-style building, while managing to retain its iconic charm. The renovated interiors feature wallpaper and fabrics carefully selected to echo local wildlife and native plant species, while guest rooms are named after Oxford University's literary alumni – a theme continued in the hotel's restaurant, The Alice. A culinary wonderland serving…

Doe & Hope If you're looking for something rare and unusual, it's worth scouting out James Gooch's remarkable inventory, as natural history pieces often crop up. Currently available is a beautiful Victorian lepidopterist's collecting cabinet, c1870, with 24 airtight numbered drawers, still housing 344 specimens of butterflies. Priced at £2,900. @doeandhope; doeandhope.com The Home Bothy Sam and Barney regularly include the curious and bizarre in their stock. Currently, they're offering a collection of 18 small minerals, corals and fossils from France, c1930–1950, each one mounted on a small oak stand with its original label, for £340. You can buy online or visit their large warehouse in West Sussex by appointment. homebothy.co.uk; @thehomebothy Rag & Bone Bristol Online store Rag and Bone sells wonderfully intriguing antiques, art, design and homeware sourced…

Geoff Westland started the business in 1969. Previously he'd transported antiques for a prominent Parisian dealer and was so inspired by their business model that he founded Westland London, seeking to emulate the grandeur he so admired. The business grew quickly, and Geoff became one of the leading dealers of antique fireplaces globally. Our showroom has evolved over time to encompass a large ground floor with individual galleries organised by period, which gives our visitors a clear idea of the distinctive styles available. Our upstairs showroom is more eclectic, with glittering chandeliers hanging above a selection of fireplaces and decorative antiques. When we're helping a customer to choose a fireplace, we first ask for basic information, such as the period of the property and the dimensions of the chimney breast…

Designer Peter Ellis readily admits that he and his partner, Hamish Davies, did not have especially high hopes when they decided to view the 400-year-old Wiltshire malthouse that is now their home. ‘When we first saw the details, we thought it might be a bit too ‘beamy’ and traditional for our tastes,’ Peter laughs. But, intrigued by the garden, they decided to take a look, viewing the house on a chilly Friday in January five years ago. ‘A fire crackled in the grate, there was bread baking in the Aga, and the whole house had such a welcoming feel,’ Peter recalls, adding that their doubts about the beams were dismissed in the face of all the historic details and the ‘higgledy-piggledy layout’, which they loved. Within weeks, the deal was…

THE AUCTION Rothschild Masterpieces 11th–13th October, Christie's New York As a family, the Rothschild banking dynasty were collectors of global renown; so famous that they even have a style named after them – Le Goût Rothschild – which means amassing the best of everything. Now, a sale of Rothschild riches is taking place in New York, appealing to deep-pocketed buyers. The auction reflects the connoisseurship of Baron James de Rothschild and his wife, Betty, and their son, Baron Alphonse, and his wife, Leonora, who lived in Paris in the 19th and early 20th centuries. ‘The sale will be both scholarly and sumptuous, with some 600 lots up for auction including furniture, enamels, maiolica, Renaissance jewels, silver and paintings,’ says Jonathan Rendell, deputy chairman of Christie's Americas. The sale is expected…

Collecting When collector and specialist dealer David Moulson bought some pewter plates and porringers at auction, which had been found in the cargo of a shipwreck off the coastline of the Dominican Republic, some of them still had ancient barnacles clinging to them. ‘The ship was probably a Spanish one. It sank in the 1550s, on its way to the colonies in South America,’ explains David. The ‘Punta Cana Pewter Wreck’ as it is referred to by collectors, contained the largest cache of English and European pewter ever discovered – some 1,200 pieces – which divers had to painstakingly chisel free from the calcium carbonate rock that encased it. For David, whose interest was originally piqued back in 1972 after reading a book called British Pewter & Britannia Metal: for…

I'm amazed at how affordable antiques have become. Take the trio of 19th-century black basalt cream jugs sold by Leighton Hall Auctions for a meagre £15 in 2022. Or the two early 19th-century black basalt teapots (plus coffee pot with associated lid) which sold for £40 at Tennants this year. Infinitely preferable to brand-new ceramics bought at a department store or homeware chain! Black basalt is the lesser-known relative of the more famous coloured Jasperware (often made in that distinctive Wedgwood blue), and even if the rarer examples run into the thousands of pounds, modest antique pieces (especially if manufactured by unknown Staffordshire factories) can be surprisingly affordable. Black basalt is a hard, fine-grained stoneware made from Staffordshire clay, calcined ochre, ironstone slag and manganese dioxide, which –at the time…

As a teenager, I mudlarked on the river Thames, between Billingsgate and Queenhithe in the City of London. That's how I became interested in the field. I was fascinated by the history behind the items I found; trying to work out what they were and which period they were from. One of my best finds was a 16th-century gold seal ring with a revolving seal; on one side are the initials of the owner, and on the other an enamelled skull. It dates to about 1560 and my feeling is that it belonged to the Lord Mayor of London at that time. I still have it – it's one of my joys. From the mid-1980s I started writing about the things I found, as well as dealing in them, and…

Folk tale The interior designers behind Studio HÁM are brother and sister Tom and Kate, whose style combines antique furniture and classic upholstery in modern colour palettes. For their first foray into wallpaper they have collaborated with Dado Atelier on four designs that reference motifs found in folk art. Cabin Stripe in Rust, pictured, is £165 per m. dadoatelier.com Frill seekers Add a touch of romance to plain duvet covers with a delicate frill. The Provence pillowcases from Sukun are made from 100 per cent cotton, surplus factory fabric and finished in a dusky-pink trim. £55 per pair. sukun.co.uk What to Buy Now JIM PARTRIDGE PIECES In our last Modern Made sale, we offered 22 lots by the Shropshire-based artist cabinetmaker, Jim Partridge (1953-), including some cutting-edge pieces made for…

‘We thought it would be fun to look back through our archives at some of the products we have sold in the past,’ explains Jamie Bebbington, managing director of Aston Matthews. ‘We have boxes of old brochures and adverts, mostly printed in black and white, and rather yellowed with age. It was fascinating browsing through it all – from classic pieces of the 1930s to the brightly coloured suites of the ’70s. But, as we are particularly well known for our cast-iron baths, we decided a bath should be our anniversary mascot.’ Still independent and family run, Aston Matthews has had premises in north London since 1823, where it started out as an ironmongers. On the streets of Islington you can still spot the company's cast-iron coal-hole plates – circular…

Flicking through the pages of Country Life in 1974, Sir Nicholas Mander, historian and businessman, noticed an advertisement announcing the private sale of a Gloucestershire country estate. He knew immediately the house was Owlpen Manor – widely considered to be one of the most romantic Tudor houses in the south of England, with one of the earliest examples of an English domestic garden. The property as it stands today dates back to around 1450, but an extensive archive charts a history that starts at around 1220 and involving just two families until it was abandoned in 1815. Owlpen slept through the industrialisation of the 19th century to be awoken in 1925 by Norman Jewson, the first new owner in over a century. Sir Nicholas was well aware of Jewson's tenure…

Crewelwork is embroidery with wool, on linen or cotton cloth. It makes no restrictions on style of design or use of particular stitches, but the wool should be fine two-ply twist, known in the past as ‘cruell’, a word thought to describe the curl in a thread. The most famous historic crewelwork is the misnamed Bayeux Tapestry. Stitched in the years following the victory of William the Conqueror over the English King Harold in 1066, this is a crewelwork made up of a series of individual panels. Despite its topic, and being commissioned by William's half-brother, Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, this crewelwork is thought to have been stitched in England, using worsted wool from Worstead in Norfolk. Crewelwork almost disappeared in the next six centuries, though references to ‘cruell’ yarns…

‘Pewter is low maintenance. I dust it and use Renaissance Wax, which is an inert microcrystalline wax developed to protect leather and metal. It leaves a very thin layer on the surface, then you just give it a rub and it protects the surface from oxygen, dust and damp. ‘Some collectors like to clean pewter back to within an inch of its life as if it's just come out of the pewterer's workshop, but I prefer a more aged look. My pewter pieces mostly have a dull, greyish sheen.’…

The Grand The third-oldest theatre in England, Lancaster's Grade II-listed Grand, has been in continuous use since 1782, though the current interior dates to 1908, when it was rebuilt in Edwardian style following a fire. Now owned by Lancaster Footlights – an amateur drama group that's been running since the 1920s – the theatre hosts a year-round programme of plays, musicals, dance performances and concerts, as well as three Christmas pantos. Monthly tours offer architecturefocused visitors the chance to revel in the theatre's elegant horseshoe balcony, ornately plastered proscenium, and plush red velvet seating. lancastergrand.co.uk Theatre Royal Nicknamed The Lane, after its Drury Lane location, this London marvel is one of nine Grade I-listed playhouses in the UK. Though the current building dates from 1812, its site has played host…

Aged 14, Christopher Howe stumbled upon the world of antiques via a junk shop where he bought a 1950s carpet that he still owns today. This purchase marked the beginning of a lifelong journey into the world of antique treasures and craftsmanship – not only selling antiques, but using them to inspire and inform his designs. What role do antiques play in your work? Antiques were the start of all we do at Howe, and remain the main influence. While new furniture and lighting have become the most common elements of the interior design world (with many antiques dealers turning to furnituremaking when the world turned dramatically to midcentury and then to noughties ‘minimal’), I have, from day one, designed and made classically inspired pieces alongside selling antiques. Learning how…

THE ANTIQUES THAT SHAPED ME What first sparked your interest in antiques? When I emigrated from Swaziland to London in 1982, I rented a tiny bedsit for two years on Blenheim Crescent just off Portobello Road. I worked as a waiter in Covent Garden until I started getting acting jobs and I had plenty of time to explore the antiques stalls on Portobello. I had never before seen such a treasure trove that one could rummage through, and I bought whatever I could afford. I also liked to buy from two London dealers: Mollie Evans on Richmond Hill and Sylvia Napier on the King's Road, who specialised in oversized maximalist everything, the antithesis of corner cabinet-nookery. Tell us about the first antique you bought I fully recall that the first…