ARTFIXdaily News Feed - Breaking News from the Art World

Wayside Inn Antiques Show shines in second year

Antiques and the Arts / May 24th, 2011

Forty-six dealers assembled a fresh and inviting display of art and antiques, particularly strong in Americana and New England paintings, for the second annual Wayside Inn Antiques Show in Sudbury, Mass., from May 13 to 15. Guy Leblanc, the historic inn's Director of Marketing, cheerfully ...

Antiques Week in New York: Showstoppers at the fairs

New York Times / January 20th, 2011

A bevy of antiques shows, auctions, museum exhibitions and gallery events are underway in New York City through this weekend. At the Park Avenue Armory, 75 dealers in the Winter Antiques Show (through Jan. 30) represent the creme-de-la-creme of high-end antiques. Among this year's show ...

Exhibition of antique Spode serves up every pattern online

ArtfixDaily / January 3rd, 2011

Casual collectors, appraisers, museum curators and decorative arts aficionados can now browse through every known blue Spode pattern in a new interactive online exhibition of the famed English ceramic. In November, Delaware's Winterthur launched the Spode Exhibition Online ...

Hong Kong sales reach record heights

wall Street Journal / December 5th, 2010

Art, jewellery, wine and Chinese antiques were snapped up by eager buyers at a series of sales in Hong Kong last week. Christie's raked in $409 million, a season record total for Hong Kong, the world's third largest auction center following New York and London. About 80% of buyers were from ...

Quick tour of the new wing at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

ArtfixDaily / December 1st, 2010

With only three hours to take in the magnificent, $504 million-dollar Art of the Americas Wing addition to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, first impressions made all the difference. Beginning in the clean-lined and airy Ruth and Carl J. Shapiro Family Courtyard, an impressive new feature ...

Meissen among treasures in Christie's Nov. 23 sale

ARTFIXdaily's ArtWire / November 15th, 2010

The year 2010 marks the tri-centenary of the Meissen Porcelain Factory (1710-2010).  This accomplishment alone is a standing testament to the ingenuity and creative fervor of its craftsmen. Located in eastern Germany, Meissen was the first place in Europe to produce high quality porcelain ...

£53 million Chinese vase smashes record

Daily Mail / November 14th, 2010

A dusty antique vase sat on a wobbly bookshelf in a modest home outside of London since the 1930s, until it sold at Bainbridge's auction for an incredible £53 million on Nov. 11. The 16-inch tall 1740 Qianlong dynasty vase with a fish motif is the most expensive piece of Chinese porcelain ...

Imperial vase skyrockets above $32 million at Sotheby's sale

Reuters / October 8th, 2010

Sotheby's seven-day series of auctions in Hong Kong culminated in HK$3.08 billion ($400 million) worth of Asian art, jewelry, wine and watches sold. The total for this biannual sale soundly exceeded the $400 million tally for the auction firm's annual Asian sales of 2009. Imperial treasures ...

Early 20th c. decorative arts soar at Rago auction

ArtfixDaily / October 8th, 2010

Rago Arts and Auction Center totalled a strong $5.6 million for 1,380 lots in its 20th c. Design sale, from October 1 to 3. Pieces dating from the early 20th century, including Roycroft furniture and metalwork, which completely sold-out, elicited fierce bidding "at levels not seen since 2007," ...

TRIO OF EXHIBITIONS ILLUMINATING POST-WAR JAPANESE CONTEMPORARY CERAMICS AT JOAN B. MIRVISS LTD.

ArtfixDaily / September 29th, 2010

Continuing with her on-going effort to present cutting-edge contemporary Japanese ceramics, Joan B. Mirviss will present three consecutive exhibitions illuminating the world of post-war contemporary ceramics in Japan. Never before has a comparable series of exhibitions of this magnitude been ...

Kroll painting, Chinese export smash auction estimates

ArtfixDaily / September 16th, 2010

Ten Chinese Export armorial plates, conservatively estimated at $1,000 to $2,000, catapulted to a final bid of $16,157.50 (including 15% buyers premium) at Cleveland-based Aspire Auctions' recent sale ending Sept. 2. The Kang Hsi (circa 1720) plates, noted as heavily glazed with carved rims, ...

Solid sales at Baltimore Summer Antiques Show

ArtfixDaily / September 4th, 2010

The 30th Annual Baltimore Summer Antiques Show, from September 2 to 5, sustained a high gate as well as notable retail and trade business over Labor Day weekend. More than 550 exhibitors displayed nearly 200,000 objects from antiquarian books, fine art, jewelry, and silver, to textiles, ...

Clear as Mud: Early 20th Century Kentucky Art Pottery

ARTFIXdaily ArtWire / June 27th, 2010

Clear as Mud: Early 20th Century Kentucky Art Pottery, edited by Warren Payne, is a ground-breaking new book on the art pottery produced in Kentucky during the first half of the 20th century. From Cornelison Bybee to Waco, Louisville Pottery Co. (Cherokee) to Hadley, ...

A decadent Meissen tea set unveiled in London

ArtfixDaily / June 24th, 2010

The ultimate high tea accessory for summer is part of an extensive Meissen collection assembled by London's David Brower Antiques in celebration of the German porcelain manufacturer’s 300th anniversary.  Nestled on quaint Kensington Church Street, amongst the largest collection of ...

Gilbert Stuart to star in Grogan & Co.'s June auction

ArtfixDaily / June 2nd, 2010

Gilbert Stuart (1755-1828), famous for his presidential portraits of George Washington, also depicted the American leader’s war enemy. General Charles Rainsford, a British officer responsible for recruiting Hessian soldiers to fight the colonists during the Revolutionary War, was painted in ...

Antiques found in Silicon Valley; Ceramics, Americana to feature in two fairs

ArtfixDaily / May 24th, 2010

"Antiques Roadshow" will air its last episode taped in San Jose on Thursday night. The heart of the high-tech region yielded up some treasures including a circa 1815 chronometer and a suite of lithographs by marine artist Frederic Cozzens (1846-1928). Also in San Jose, the new Vintage Glass, ...

Connecticut country home, pile of antiques on the block

/ May 19th, 2010

In an American antiques circles, Litchfield, Connecticut, and its rural surroundings, is a favorite destination. Established dealers such as father-and-son Peter Tillou and Jeffrey Tillou are a mainstay in this classic New England town in the Northwest Hills. For those looking to settle into ...

Wedgwood Museum woes

BBC / May 13th, 2010

The collections of Britain's Wedgwood Museum, a repository of artifacts chronicling the pottery firm's 250-year history, is in jeopardy. Opened in 2008, the museum was hard hit by the economic downturn, went into administration last year with £400m in debts and a hole in its pension fund. ...

America's oldest hostelry hosts new antiques show

Community Advocate / May 6th, 2010

Longfellow's Wayside Inn in historic Sudbury, Mass., is holding its inaugural Antiques Show May 14 through 16. Nearly 50 premier antiques dealers from around the country will offer American art, American and European furniture, ceramics, silver, books, jewelry, folk art and more. American ...

Keno Auctions debuts with record-smashing Chippendale chest

Antiques and the Arts / May 4th, 2010

A record price for New York furniture was set at Leigh Keno's inaugral auction last weekend. The James Beekman Chippendale carved mahogany chest of drawers from the shop of Thomas Brookman, with carving attributed to Henry Hardcastle, circa 1752, estimated at $200/600,000, sold for ...