🛍️ Sales season!

ON THE MARKET

A FANTE ASAFO FLAG (20th Century)

£500 - 800

Fante refers to a group of people living across the central fishing villages of Ghana. These are often referred to as war flags but Asafo companies' roles were much broader. Responsible for sanitation and roadworks, protection of state goods, local policies, conducting funeral rights, and community entertainment. The flags usually depict the company name which is taken from a local proverb. Very cool objects with a rich history and are used frequently by interior designers.

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GLENFARCLAS

20 Year Old Port Pipe

£300 - 400

Here is a special release from the Speyside family-owned distillery. With only 600 bottles they were snapped up very quickly. Beautiful etched Glencairn decanter and a handsome presentation box. 20 years old and 50.5% abv this is a very tempting estimate for such a bottle.

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JIRI HAUSCHKA

September

£4,000 - 6,000

A Czech painter working in Prague. A style so close to the great Peter Doig that you would be forgiven for muddling them. A snob might say 'derivative'. I would say it costs 1000x less and be happy with a beautiful painting.

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DUNCAN ROSS

Vase

€1,500 - 2,000

This artist makes ceramics using Terra Sigillata. It's an ultra-refined clay slip that the Greeks and Romans used instead of glazes. Indeed, it has an ancient feel to it. His ceramics are in many important collections across the world. Including the UK, US, NZ and appropriately, Athens. An alluring object.

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YOSHIJIRO URUSHIBARA

Tulips

£150 - 200

Urushibara was a Japanese artist who travelled to London as a young man and stayed for good. He was an influential figure in the printmaking scene in the UK and Paris. The British Museum where he once worked as a restorer has a large holding of his works. His woodblocks are beautifully crafted and come at super affordable prices.

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Sotheby's private sale jewellery.

Finally, if you're looking for a bit of special bling, have a browse of Sotheby's online sale. Hundreds of items, all top brands (Hermes, Chanel, Van Cleef, Bulgari, Tiffany, Cartier). Prices range from $300 to very expensive.

BROWSE HERE

SLEEPER

Pictured left: Catalogued as 'Flemish School'

Estimate: €2,000. Sold for: €108,800.

Presumably thought to be an early oil sketch by Van Dyck for his lamentation (pictured right).

EXHIBITION

The Last Caravaggio

May 1610. Caravaggio is in Naples working on the last picture he'd ever paint.

Two months later, he died in mysterious circumstances. But it was during his final tumultuous years that Caravaggio made some of his most striking works.

London, National Gallery. Free

BOOK

NEW BOOK

Petrarch and Sixteenth-Century Italian Portraiture

The volume presents a wide-ranging investigation of the ways in which Petrarch’s legacy informed the relationship between visual and literary portraits in sixteenth-century Italy.

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