Thousands upon thousands of people saw how magnificent the outside of Harewood House (near Leeds, UK)  looked at Le Grand Départ of the Tour de France in July. Now people have the chance to see inside and visit the sumptuous State Rooms at a very special price of £5, saving £9 on the adult ticket price, when they attend The Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Harewood. The Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Harewood is being held in association with Knight Frank’s Harrogate office and opens in The Marquee, Harewood House, Harewood, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS17 9LQ from Friday 12 to Sunday 14 September 2014. This is an unmissable event for collectors, interior decorators and first time buyers.

 “We have moved the timing of this event to coincide with Harewood House, one of the Treasure Houses of England, being open to the public,” said Ingrid Nilson, director of The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited. “We are most grateful to the Harewood House Trust and are working with the team there to create an even better experience. They have generously agreed that visitors to The Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Harewood can also benefit from a special deal to visit Harewood House with its Robert Adam interiors and works by such masters as JMW Turner, Thomas Chippendale, Joshua Reynolds and El Greco and its magnificent Sèvres porcelain exhibition in the State Rooms.”

Harewood House is the family seat of the Earl and Countess of Harewood. The 7th Earl of Harewood was a great music enthusiast and was particularly involved in opera, so may well have appreciated the 1920 oil painting ‘The Palace of the Queen of Voluptuousness’, a design by Maurice Denis (1870-1943) for the first scene of the first act of Vincent D’Indy’s opera ‘La Legende de Saint Christophe’ for which Maurice Denis designed the sets and costumes in 1920, which David Powell Fine Art is offering for £26,000.         

Silver specialist Jack Shaw & Co from Ilkley is bringing a tempting selection of their best stock, including a George III York silver cruet set stand with ‘bright cut’ decoration to the platform and five original cut glass bottles by James Barber, 1812, selling for £2,250.

Penny Corah and Rosie Manning are bringing a French platinum, cabouchon, ruby and diamond ring, c1910 with wonderful workmanship and a superb Victorian butterfly brooch with emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds, with a price tag of £4,600. Other jewellers at the fair, including Anderson Jones and T Robert, cannot fail to entice.

Beautiful 19th century English antique porcelain and pottery from Carolyn Stoddart-Scott includes a Spode pottery floral two-handled footbath, pattern no 938, c1835, £1,145 and a set of ten Chamberlain Worcester porcelain crested soup plates, c1810, selling for £2,600. Other English ceramics on her stand include Ridgway, Coalport, Mason’s Ironstone, Copeland, Minton, Wedgewood and Doulton.

 Yorkshire’s T.L. Phelps celebrates 30 years of fine furniture restoration this year. Tim Phelps’ attendance adds another dimension to the fair. His clients include such luminaries as English Heritage and the National Trust, stately homes and a host of antiques trade and private clients. He will be on hand to discuss visitors’ requirements and offer advice.

Harewood House is well known for its magnificent Chippendale furniture, the largest collection in private hands. Furniture exhibitor, Freshfords Fine Antiques from Bath is bringing a George III Chippendale period carved mahogany serpentine concertina action games table, c1760, priced at £11,850. Other pieces include an elegant George III mahogany serpentine window seat in the French Hepplewhite style, c1785, £7,650 and a George III Hepplewhite period satinwood veneered bonheur du jour by Gillows of Lancaster and London, c1785, £16,500. Regency furniture from S&S Timms Antiques includes a pair of Regency mahogany D shaped card tables with satinwood banded and inlaid decoration, English, c1790, £18,800, a mahogany window seat hall bench, English, c1830, £5,500 and late 19th century burr walnut kidney shaped side cupboard with ebonised and marquetry inlay, English, c1880, £3,250. M&N Oriental Rugs are showing their finest silk and wool carpets and rugs, the perfect foil for antique furniture.

Country oak furniture specialist Peter Bunting has a number of 16th and early 17th century carved stone heads from manor house doors or windows, priced from £1,200. Odyssey of Southport deals in antiquities and is bringing a rare Iron Age carved stone head of the mask type, probably made by the Iceni tribe, before AD 61, POA. This Celtic moustachioed piece is larger than life size and fashioned from a flat slab of stone.

First time exhibitor Marais Fine Arts from Guernsey specialises in 20th and 21st century modern and contemporary British and South African art, including ‘Cecilia Street after the Rain’ by David Botha (1921- 1995), oil on canvas laid down on board, 19.5 x 29.5 inches, 1978, selling for £19,500. Cambridge Fine Art has paintings by a number of northern artists including William Mellor, (1851-1931) and William Hemsley, RBA (1819-1893) and Ashleigh House Fine Art returns with a collection of Victorian paintings. Chester based Baron Fine Art’s selection of watercolours, oil paintings and drawings includes ‘River Wharfe’ by Donald McIntyre (b 1923), acrylic on board, priced at £7,900; contemporary Yorkshire artist Richard Firth’s large oil of ‘Brittania Vigilant & Satania Racing off Cowes’, £16,000, and the smaller ‘The America’s Cup 1930 Lipton’s Last Challenge’, £3,950. York Minster was the favourite subject of York topographer George Fall (1848-1925). Fall studied at York School of Drawing and taught at Selby. His views of York are selling for £450 each.

The fair is supported by Wilson Mitchell & Co Ltd, a partner practice of St. James’s Place Wealth Management, whose advisers will be on hand to talk to interested visitors at the fair.

Tickets to this year’s Antiques & Fine Art Fair at Harewood cost £5 each, which includes free access to the grounds (originally designed by ‘Capability’ Brown) and below stairs at the Grade 1 listed Georgian Harewood House. For a special price of a further £5,antiques fair ticket holders can gain access to Harewood House’s renowned State Rooms, the current exhibitions ‘In Pursuit of the Exquisite: Royal Sèvres from Versailles to Harewood,’ and ‘Henry Moore at Harewood’, a saving of £9 on the adult ticket price. Harewood House is also offering bespoke guided tours over the three days of the antiques fair. These must be booked by telephoning +44 (0)113 218 1000.

http://www.harewoodfair.com/