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Stansted in Bloom 2021

Sworders is delighted to be sponsoring this year's Stansted in Bloom garden competition. If you're a resident of Stansted and are proud of your garden, now is the perfect time to show it off!

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

The Natural World of Émile Gallé

Born 1846 in Nancy, a hive of activity for French art, Émile Gallé became one of the most renowned figures allied with this area. Raised into the beginnings of a glass business started by father Charles Gallé, the material was never a mystery to him.

Picnic at the Petite Prom 2021

Sworders is once again proud to be sponsoring an evening of musical entertainment in a beautiful garden setting in Much Hadham.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

The George Daniels Collection

Highlighted amongst the lots in our July Design sale are drawings by George Daniels (1854-1940) - perhaps the most accomplished British stained glass designer working in the late Gothic and early Renaissance idiom from the 1890s until the Second World War - including designs for an impressive five-light window in the north aisle of Manchester Cathedral and extant stained glass windows in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk churches.

HOMES & INTERIORS, LATEST NEWS

Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust | Sworders Hosts Charity Auction

Sworders are delighted to be hosting a timed auction of objects, events, and experiences on behalf of Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust to aid the charity's fundraising for the restoration and repair of churches and chapels in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, and parts of Barnet.

LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, SPORTING ART

Sporting Art, Wildlife & Dogs | A Post Sale Review

Great prices were achieved in the fourth installment of our annual Sporting Art Wildlife and Dogs sales on Wednesday 2 June. Strong bidding was seen across all sections of the sale and topped by two large unframed canvases of the hunt ‘in full cry’ by John Nost Sartorius (1759-1828).

LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, FINE INTERIORS

A Roadshow Trump

Bought from an antiques dealer several years previously, the present owners of this painting wanted to know more about their dog. They took him along to a BBC Antiques Roadshow in July 2014 where it was instantly recognised as a copy of the dog in Hogarth’s “Manifesto” self-portrait painted in 1745.

Private Collections Lead Fine Interiors

Our June Fine Interiors auction features over 750 lots of furniture, works of art, paintings and silver, with a good showing of English and Continental furniture and decorative arts from the 17th to the 20th centuries to suit a variety of tastes and styles. Leading the sale are the selected contents from three impressive private properties.

A Stitch in Time

With the inclusion of two fine examples of embroidered samplers in our auction of Fine Interiors on the 29 and 30 June, we take a look into the world of domestic crafts, and how they have influenced the work of the modern and contemporary artist of today.

LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, MODERN BRITISH ART, SPORTING ART

Sporting Heritage | Peter Deighan Works Come To Auction

Our auction of Sporting Art, Wildlife and Dogs on Wednesday 2 June offers a number of captivating works by Irish artist Peter Deighan who is widely considered as one of the country’s finest Portrait and Sporting Painters.

LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, FINE INTERIORS, MODERN BRITISH ART

The Sally Hunter & Ian Posgate Collection | The Results

The sale of The Sally Hunter and Ian Posgate Collection concluded on Tuesday evening after over 10 hours of selling with extraordinary interest across the board achieving a 95% sold rate, taking the sale total to £737,830 including premium (£200,000 over the top estimate).

LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, MODERN BRITISH ART

Lithographic Fever | Sworders Sponsors Exhibition at The Fry

Sworders are proud to be sponsoring ‘Lithographic Fever’ at The Fry Art Gallery from 29 May - 31 October. The exhibition wonderfully illustrates Britain’s mid-century print boom and how colour lithography came into fashion.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN

Through The Lens | Important 20th Century Photography Comes to Sworders

Our next Design auction on July 13 will include a dedicated section devoted to photography. Providing the impetus to the new focus is the consignment of a very fine collection of photographs by important 20th century American and European photographers.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

“I was raised to appreciate the classical shapes and styles of Josef Frank"

Otto Billström joined our Design Department in January this year and believes his Scandinavian heritage aided his appreciation of 20th century design. Let's find out more about him...

Rare Yuan Shikai Rank Badges Come To Auction

Lot 190 in our auction of Asian Art on Friday 14 May is a rare collection of Chinese rank badges from the Yuan Shikai period (late 1915 to early 1916).

Women Artists Triumph in Modern British & 20th Century Art

Women artists put in a particularly strong showing at our recent auction of Modern British and 20th Century Art. Works by Mary Fedden, Bridget Riley and Paula Rego contributed handsomely to the April 20 sale total of £676,000.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

It Started With a Click

When writer and broadcaster Rosie Millard purchased a Georgian town house in North London with her partner, they turned to buying at auctions during lockdown to complete the refurbishment.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

Items From The Guardian’s Design Correspondent Come To Auction

Our Design sale on 4-5 May includes a group of Arts & Crafts items from the estate of the design writer and biographer Fiona MacCarthy OBE (1940-2020). Married to the Sheffield-based silversmith and designer David Mellor (1930-2009), who she first met when conducting an interview in 1967, MacCarthy’s background as a journalist for House and Garden and the Guardian helped to lay the foundations for seminal works on C R Ashbee, the Omega Workshops, William Morris, Eric Gill, and Stanley Spencer.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

Gabbertas Studio’s Most Iconic Designs Come to Auction

Sworders Design department is delighted to be offering a selection of some of the Gabbertas Studio’s most iconic designs, some of which are extremely rare versions of designs or prototypes made by the hand of Mark Gabbertas himself | DESIGN WEDNESDAY 5 MAY 2021

LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, MODERN BRITISH ART, SPORTING ART

Holt Festival Returns

Following Covid's cancellation of the Festival in 2020, the charming Georgian market town of Holt in Norfolk is delighted to be resuming its role as host of East Anglia’s celebration of creativity, Holt Festival, this summer, and Sworders couldn't be prouder to be sponsoring not one, but two art prizes this year.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN

Illuminating Icons | Max Ingrand for FontanaArte

Taking over from Pietro Chiesa as the artistic director of FontanaArte in 1954, Max Ingrand would lead the Italian design house to previously unseen frontiers, setting the artistic tone which defines the company to this day.

Controversial Letters From A Remarkable Archive Go Under The Hammer

A letter from the Nazi high command discussing arrangements for the visit by Edward Duke of Windsor in October 1937 is going under the hammer in our timed auction of Books and Maps (ending Sunday 18 April). The document signed on behalf of Adolf Hitler forms part of a remarkable archive related to Charles Eugène Bedaux (1886-1944) and his second wife Fern Bedaux, nee Lombard, (1892-1972).

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS

Ambience Encapsulated

Few designers of mid-century lighting are considered as pivotal as Hans-Agne Jakobsson. Continuing the aesthetic legacy founded by the godfathers of Scandinavian design, Alvar Aalto, Poul Henningsen, and Erik Tidstrand, Jakobsson drove the evolution of lighting concepts to new boundaries - and to bigger scales than ever before.

Update | Coronavirus (Covid-19)

The latest information on our forthcoming sales following the government's recent announcement

HOMES & INTERIORS, FINE INTERIORS

The One That Very Nearly Got Away

With an end to lockdown finally on the horizon, we take a few moments to continue a time for reflection, as Sworders' Chairman Guy Schooling recounts a whimsical tale of a treasured item that tried desperately to escape his clutches...

FINE WINE & PORT, LATEST NEWS

Cheers to that! Triumphant Results For Fine Wine & Spirits

Our timed sale of Fine Wine & Spirits, which ran from 5 - 14 March, was a triumph with a sold rate of almost 99% and a sale total of £113,130.

FINE INTERIORS

All The Small Things | 18th Century Doll's Houses Go Under the Hammer

Sylvia Ewen from our Picture Department takes a look inside a late 18th century dolls house belonging to BAFTA award-winning costume designer Evangeline Harrison, ahead of it going under the hammer in our March Fine Interiors auction.

20TH CENTURY ART & DESIGN, LATEST NEWS, PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, FINE INTERIORS, MODERN BRITISH ART

Badgemore Grange | The Sally Hunter & Ian Posgate Collection

The impressive collection, charting the lives of an artistic couple, is to be auctioned at Sworders in the Spring.

OUT OF THE ORDINARY

The Original Super Model | Photographs Of Pre-Raphaelite Beauty To Be Sold

Original photographs of a well-known Pre-Raphaelite beauty - the muse of William Holman Hunt and the mother of Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell - come to auction at Sworders in the spring. The two albumen prints of Julia Prinsep Stephen are expected to achieve £500-800 as part of the two-day Out of The Ordinary sale on April 13 and 14.

PAINTINGS & SCULPTURE, SPORTING ART

Jane Oakley | A Retrospective on Sporting Art

As we prepare for our next Sporting Art sale, to be held on Wednesday 2 June 2021, Head of Pictures Jane Oakley takes a look back at some of the successes of the sale from the last three years.

OUT OF THE ORDINARY

The Smallest Show On Earth

The UK’s only surviving Victorian flea circus comes for sale in our April Out of the Ordinary Auction. The miniature attraction, known in its pomp as the Professor Len Tomlin Flea Circus, has been consigned by Ankie Wild, who ran the Ribchester Museum of Childhood until 1995.

Latest News, Views & Insights

Stansted in Bloom 2021

The Natural World of Émile Gallé

Picnic at the Petite Prom 2021

The George Daniels Collection

Beds & Herts Historic Churches Trust | Sworders Hosts Charity Auction

Sporting Art, Wildlife & Dogs | A Post Sale Review

A Roadshow Trump

Private Collections Lead Fine Interiors

A Stitch in Time

Sporting Heritage | Peter Deighan Works Come To Auction

The Sally Hunter & Ian Posgate Collection | The Results

Lithographic Fever | Sworders Sponsors Exhibition at The Fry

Through The Lens | Important 20th Century Photography Comes to Sworders

“I was raised to appreciate the classical shapes and styles of Josef Frank"

Rare Yuan Shikai Rank Badges Come To Auction

Women Artists Triumph in Modern British & 20th Century Art

It Started With a Click

Items From The Guardian’s Design Correspondent Come To Auction

Gabbertas Studio’s Most Iconic Designs Come to Auction

Holt Festival Returns

Illuminating Icons | Max Ingrand for FontanaArte

Controversial Letters From A Remarkable Archive Go Under The Hammer

Ambience Encapsulated

Update | Coronavirus (Covid-19)

The One That Very Nearly Got Away

Cheers to that! Triumphant Results For Fine Wine & Spirits

All The Small Things | 18th Century Doll's Houses Go Under the Hammer

Badgemore Grange | The Sally Hunter & Ian Posgate Collection

The Original Super Model | Photographs Of Pre-Raphaelite Beauty To Be Sold

Jane Oakley | A Retrospective on Sporting Art

The Smallest Show On Earth

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