28 2nd April 2011 dealers’ dossier


Anna Brady reports


email: annabrady@atgmedia.com tel: 020 7420 6625


Little things mean a lot


I VISITED the busy, if not heaving, opening morning of Ingrid Nilson’s second Tortworth Court Antiques and Fine Art Fair, held at the Gloucestershire hotel from February 25 to 27, and exhibitors were generally a relaxed and satisfied bunch. The three-day Luxury Antiques


Weekends are small – ‘boutique’ to use the fashionable fairs term of the moment – and Ingrid is evidently a popular and efficient organiser, who recognises the value of small gestures such as organising a dinner at each ‘weekend’ for the exhibitors which fosters the jovial atmosphere. These fairs are not the site of epic sales


(around £10,000 tends to be the price ceiling for Ingrid’s events) but Tortworth produced good four-figure sales for a few, including Garth Vincent Antique Arms & Armour from Lincolnshire, who took around £7000 for a musket and matching bayonet, c.1790, which came from a collection of arms and armour from Shirburn Castle, Oxfordshire. There was also a taste for traditional


English furniture, and Bedfordshire-based S&S Timms Antiques sold a mahogany bowfront chest of drawers c.1770 for £4500. Guy Dennler had several sales between £2000 and £4000, while Freshfords from Bath sold a rosewood Gillow library chair for £3500 to an existing client from whom they hadn’t heard in a long time. Dates for the third Tortworth Court


are confirmed as Friday Sunday, February 24-26, 2012.


Bathtime for every decorator…


THE queue on the first day of the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair (March 10-13) was a who’s who of the London decorative trade It’s invigorating to visit a fair with


such a positive buzz on the opening day, and the air was thick with the hum of deals being struck with both dealers and decorators – the trade following for this event has always been strong. Forget fancy loos and airs and graces –


The Pavilion, the fair’s venue, has the feel of a school hall and the atmosphere is informal. But unfussy presentation keeps stand rents low, and pricing was keen so you had to move fast, as a number of the stands were almost cleared out within a couple of hours. No doubt a good few pieces will


appear again at the event’s more upmarket London cousin, the Battersea Decorative fair, in May, and I confess the ATG contingent also took home a few pieces. However, the American trade has been


sorely missed since the recession stopped many from making the trip – they were once valuable customers at this fair. Organiser Robin Coleman


commented: “From the beginning of the set-up there was an electric atmosphere and the exhibitors really threw themselves into it with enthusiasm and team work. “I think the visitors picked up on


this. The right mix with the right people through the door made it a success


Above: satisfied exhibitor John Corbett on his stand at the Bath Decorative Antiques Fair, where, left, Wiltshire dealer Anthony Cole, from nearby Warminster, also enjoyed the four-day event.


Attracting more private buyers to


sustain the fair over the weekend has been a main aim of the organisers’ marketing effort in recent years, and it seems to be paying off. Others who reported a good


fair included Arabesque from Warwickshire, who sold a dry scraped painted bureau bookcase to the trade, first-time exhibitor Damien Green of DJ Green from Sheffield. Blighty from Cheltenham sold a


and we all enjoyed it. I was particularly pleased to see Spencer (Swaffer) at the head of the queue as usual.” One happy exhibitor was John


Corbett from Winchester. John does not have a shop and rarely exhibits at fairs, standing at Bath just once before, six years ago. He now plans to be back “every year from now on”, declaring the fair to be “absolutely fantastic”. Although this fair is often dubbed a


one-day event (if not one-hour, as so much business is done at the start of the trade preview), John thinks this is no longer the case, as he – and others – did business every day, selling items ranging from champagne glasses to an R.W. Winfield iron rocking chair, for prices between £20 and £3000.


large amount right at the start of the show to one very well known dealer from Arundel, whose stickers claimed objects all over the fair. Apparently he had not come with great expectations given the climate but found so many things he had to hire a van to take them home. Much in evidence this year was


painted furniture, ceramics and other objects from Eastern Europe, predominantly from Romania and Hungary, alongside the more usual Swedish and French folk art, which is becoming increasingly expensive and more difficult to source. One of the main importers of this


Eastern European material is John Cornall from Warwick, who had a good fair, selling seven pieces on the Friday morning after restocking following the Thursday trade preview. Eastern European items previously


purchased from John also appeared on the stands of a few other dealers.


Francesca ready for arrival of textile


Left: Poet, a bronze by Etienne Melingue, 1839, sold for around £1000 from Garret & Hurst Sculpture at Tortworth Court Antiques and Fine Art Fair.


LAST week, I mentioned the surge of Spring Islamic sales that hit London in early April, and the new London Antique Rug and Textile Art Fair (March 31 to April 3) that will hope to make the most of the arrival of collectors to the capital. As is the case with most of the major


sales series, dealers join the fray, too, with independent exhibitions. After 30 years in the business,


Francesca Galloway needs little introduction as a specialist in both Islamic art and all manner of textiles, an interest sparked during her time at Spink during the 1970s, a period when the Iranian


revolution led to an influx of immigrants to London and the subsequent introduction of these dedicated Islamic sales in the capital. At her gallery at 31 Dover Street,


London, Francesca tends to hold a couple of exhibitions a year around these interests and her next is a show of Islamic Courtly Textiles from April 4 to May 6. No doubt about it, these are luxurious


productions, showpieces to display power and wealth, dating from the 14th to the 19th century and including silks, embroidery and painted cottons from the Mughal, Ottoman and Safavid courts.


The earliest productions come from


Mamluk Egypt and Islamic Spain, extending through to those from late Ottoman Turkey and 19th century Islamic Indonesia. Particularly fashionable at the moment


are the intricate silk weaves made for the Safavid court in Iran, but also popular are the equally elaborate Ottoman silks. Francesca is also known for Indian painted cottons, and this show also includes those made both for the Mughal and Hindu courts and for export. Prices range from £1500 to £180,000. Contact 020 7499 6844. www.francescagalloway.com


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