WEST SUSSEX.- The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair returns for three days in May to the grounds of the National Trust’s Petworth House, Petworth, West Sussex from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 May 2024. Unusually, this event has taken place successfully every year since its inception, despite having to move dates on more than one occasion, last year as a result of King Charles III’s coronation. Even in 2020 and 2021, when the fair had to move months to take place safely during the pandemic, this fair has always been extremely well attended by collectors, interior designers, south of England residents and others from around the UK and abroad. Brilliantly supported by the local market town, which looks forward to this annual event with much anticipation, the businesses in Petworth put on a great show for the influx of visitors and this year will be no exception.

Some 60 exhibitors are gathering in the purpose-built marquee with their latest and finest stock. Tom Rooth is currently in the Cambrian mountains of Wales creating his honeycomb to create a buzz on his stand for his tremendously popular hand drawn ceramics. Honeycomb by Tom Rooth, comprises a number of individually underglazed pencil on glazed earthenware, surrounded by wooden frames covered in 23.5 carat gold leaf, signed, numbered, inscribed and dated (on the reverse). Queen bees are fired with gold lustre and are priced at £225 (the bees are £195 each), with £10 of each piece sold going to the Wildlife Trusts.

Gladwell & Patterson is returning having debuted at this fair last May, where contemporary British artist Peter Symonds proved most popular. The success of Symonds’ paintings has encouraged him to paint a series of paintings around West Sussex and his home county of Surrey and Gladwell & Patterson is delighted to confirm that he will be on their stand over the course of the weekend as artist-in-residence. One such painting, Bosham Harbour, has already been completed and is planned for display ticketed at £8,500. A highlight on the stand was painted by local artist Ivon Hitchens (1893-1979). Wildflower Wood is an oil on canvas abstract landscape by Hitchen, painted towards the end of his life, in 1975, after he had left London for Lavington Common, very close to Petworth, and is priced at £`160,000.

John Stanley of Blackbrook Gallery is bringing the finest painting he has ever had the privilege to have pass through his hands - “a real historic piece.” Weighing the Fleece, an oil on canvas with a price tag of £45,000, is signed and dated T. Weaver Pxt 1817 and depicts the landowner, his factor and his shepherd recording the weight of the fleeces from his two rams and ewe with the panoramic landscape behind with cattle and sheep grazing.

Jeroen Markies Art Deco has an impressive selection of Art Deco and mid-century furniture and accessories for sale, amongst which is a pair of French mid-century moustache backed club chairs in vintage green leather upholstery, circa 1940 and a pair of French Art Deco club chairs, moustache backed with studded back and walnut feet in vintage green leather upholstery £4,250; an Art Deco Woburn sideboard by Gordon Russell, designed by Dick Russell in 1933, £2,650; as well as a satin birch veneered cocktail cabinet, £4,650 and a burr walnut writing desk, £3,450, both by Heal’s of London, circa 1935.

Returning after a successful first showing in 2023, Jacksons Antique brings a Jaegar LeCoultre Atmos clock, circa 1945, £450; oriental pieces, as well as a pair of French empire candelabra featuring Apollo and Daphne, £11,975. Campaign furniture and travel accessories specialist, Christopher Clarke Antiques has a pair of late 19th century Karelian birch travel candlesticks, the design of these Brighton Bun candlesticks allows the dishes to form the case to hold the unscrewed sconces, one dish with a threaded section which the other receives to screw the two parts together, £450.

A highlight on M&D Moir’s stand is a René Lalique presentation plate Mouettes, commissioned by the city of Paris to be given to King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth in 1938 on the occasion of their first and only state visit to Paris. This is almost certainly the rarest pieces made by René Lalique, only one other example has ever come on the market, probably from the Paris shop, where it was part of a window display in 1938, and was acquired from the grandson of an employee, who was given it, as the plates were not allowed to be sold. The Moir’s plate comes complete with an original black and white press release photograph of the presentation, priced at £4,850 the set. The super rare photograph is stamped on the reverse ‘Reproduction Interdite’ (Reproduction forbidden).

Animal lovers cannot help but be entranced by Markov’s 18ct gold two terriers brooch, each wearing a ruby and diamond collar respectively, £850. For cat lovers, Markov has an 18ct gold Italian pill box, in the shape of a cat, by Serafini, £4,500. Greenstein Antiques returns with an original Art Deco old cut 1.5ct diamond solitaire ring set in platinum, £12,950, one to be snapped up by a couple looking for a special engagement ring? Shapiro & Co. is bringing an 18ct gold Imperial topaz and natural pearl necklace, circa 1870, £12,500. Dansk Silver by Jane Burgett exhibits again with a Georg Jensen silver necklace designed by Per Hertz in the 1960s with the wavy shaped links and considerable weight at 105g, £1,250.

Ottocento has a gallery in the centre of Petworth and also takes a stand at the fair and is bringing an offset lithograph in colours Studies of the Human body, signed by Frances Bacon (Irish, 1909-1992) and numbered 182/250, 1980, £5,200 and Portrait of Madame Raoul Dufy, gouache on paper, signed, inscribed and dated ‘à ma femme Raoul Dufy 1915’ by Raoul Dufy (French, 1877-1953), £25,000. Another artist returning to the fair is Michael John Hunt, whose acrylic on canvas Sea breeze and blooms is priced at £16,000 from The Hunt Gallery. David Brooker Fine Art returns after successfully exhibiting last year with a selection of English marine paintings and landscapes, including a harvest landscape, oil on canvas by John Horace Hooper, circa 1800, £2,950, as well as The artist’s studio by the Irish/English painter Ken Moroney, circa 2000, £2,450.

Antiquated is one of the dealers in the Petworth Antiques Market, who is bringing a Venetian silvered armchair covered in hessian, circa 1800, £1,200. Andrew Muir returns with vintage ceramics. Silver, clocks and vintage watches can also be found for sale within the fair.

Tickets to the fair are £10 each, including a catalogue and re-admission, through Eventbrite. The tickets include complimentary access to visit Petworth House and view some of the nation’s treasures during the three days of the fair. In a reciprocal arrangement, National Trust members can visit the fair free-of-charge.

As usual, there will be light refreshments available in the fair, an antiques fair courtesy bus taking people to and from the centre of Petworth and parking is free for antiques fair visitors right outside the marquee.