ESHER.- The tenth
Esher Hall Antiques & Fine Art Fair opens from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 October 2017 in the Esher Hall at Sandown Park Racecourse, Portsmouth Road, Esher, Surrey KT10 9AJ. This prestigious annual event is frequented by interior designers, international collectors and people seeking something unique.
The majority of exhibitors are members of BADA and LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers. There is a good mix of disciplines: paintings, illustrations, photographs, luminograms, sculpture, lighting, glass, oriental ceramics and textiles, jewellery, silver, furniture, Tunbridge ware, clocks and furniture, for sale. Joining the exhibitors for the first time are MMX Gallery with vintage and contemporary fine art photography, Gråsilver offering original Georg Jensen & vintage Scandinavian jewellery and Granta Fine Art bringing contemporary and 20th century paintings, as well as 19th and 20th century European impressionists and works of art.
MMX Gallery is showing fine art photographic work by Michael Jackson, Valda Bailey and Neil Shirreff. Award winning experimental photographer Michael Jackson is a highly regarded leading practitioner in the art of luminography. Having eschewed traditional camera techniques in 2015, he now pursues this creative medium to bring the abstract forms of each print alive. Each luminogram is meticulously crafted by Michael Jackson in his darkroom, taking it through the many structured stages, treating it with selenium to intensify the print's tonality and three dimensional quality. Each one is unique and only one silver gelatin print is produced of each image. Jackson's #480 Flowers is priced at £2,400. Neil Shirreff's Fragmented Paintings series incorporates photographic print, light box and LED lights, taking the subjects back to basics and innovating to help the viewers share in their curiosity to see more than what is immediately visible. Where do we come from? What are We? Where Are We Going to? is £2,640 (edition of 7). Valda Bailey uses multiple exposures and intentional camera movement, removing the literal impression whilst not losing the feel of the landscape. Bailey's Eternal Flame (Koi Carp and blossom) is printed on museum glass, hand finished with gold leaf and copper; an addition of 5, it is framed and selling for £1,260.
A great selection of jewellery is for sale from a number of different exhibitors selling antique to designer pieces and this year including newcomer Gråsilver. The jewellery on Gråsilver's stand includes a rare handmade art piece: 18ct gold & sterling silver Windows bracelet designed by Ole Bent Petersen, Denmark, 17.5 cm long, c.1979, £3,200 and a selection of Georg Jensen vintage sterling silver bracelets, priced between £1,600 and £3,000. Plaza focuses on vintage and contemporary signed pieces from the major jewellery houses such as Cartier, Boucheron, Tiffany, Chopard, Mauboussin, Chaumet and Bulgari. Amongst the antique jewellery and objets d'art on T Robert's stand are some Murlle Bennett pieces including a 15ct gold, turquoise and pearl brooch, design attributed to Archibald Knox, c. 1905, £885 and a silver and enamel trinket box, Chester 1911, also £885. On the Granta Fine Art stand, paintings include the work of two Scottish artists: Mary Armour RSA, RSW (Scottish 1902-2000) and John Duncan RSA, RSW (1866 - 1945), as well as British artist Quentin Bell (1910-1996), son of Clive and Vanessa Bell and nephew of Virginia Woolf, who was born in the heart of the Bloomsbury Group. Former honorary president of the Glasgow School of Art and of the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, Scottish still life and landscape painter Mary Armour was unable to teach at Glasgow School of Art until 1951 because she was a married woman. Her oil on canvas Near Loch Thom Greenock is for sale priced at £11,850. Paintings by both contemporary and Victorian artists are for sale including The Artist's Studio by Edwin Hughes (1851-1904), oil on canvas, signed and dated 1877, £9,750 from Cambridge Fine Art. For visitors from London, Cambridge Fine Art also has Off the Creek, Hammersmith, oil on canvas, signed and dated 1901 by Gordon Arthur Meadows (British,1866-1937), £2,850 and Waterloo Bridge by Francis Edgar Dodd RA (1874-1949), £2,500.
Oriental ceramics and textiles are full of meaning and symbolism, often telling a story. Catherine Hunt Oriental Antiques has an impressive collection of antique Chinese ceramics (pre-1780) and textiles (pre-1900). A Chinese deep blue satinised silk panel, embroidered with a deer standing on a mound, the peonies, chrysanthemums, lotus and prunus blossom represent the four seasons. The deer was the animal to show filial piety, and considered to be the companion of Shou Lao, the god of longevity. The deer is also the emblem of a Chinese official's salary; the dark blue is associated with a fourth rank court Mandarin.
Antique furniture includes a large English oak table, c.1750, from Melody Antiques. Able to seat up to eight people, this usable and practical table folds up to just 24", has double gate legs for stability, two large end drawers and is available at a really realistic price of £1,875. A smart George I burr walnut chest of drawers, 34" wide, £6,900 is also on the stand together with some of their extensive and popular selection of Welsh oak dressers.
Taking centre stage on Garret & Hurst Sculpture's stand are Dancers of the Ballet Russe, a bronze duo by Austrian Stefan Dakon (1904-1997), c.1920, £3,895. Known for his depiction of Russian ballet school dancers, Dakon worked with Lorenzl and is collected around the world. Many of Dakon's models were used by ceramic manufacturer Goldscheider. Garret & Hurst Sculpture also brings a selection of 21st century bronze sculptures, both figurative and animalier.
BBC Antiques Roadshow clock expert Richard Price returns with a decorative horological selection, including a French empire bronze and Siena marble clock depicting a chariot drawn by two horses and driven by a bronze figure, c.1810, £5, 950. Fileman Antiques also returns with its magnificent collection of antique glass befitting many an occasion - from a large glamorous Regency period ormolu and cut glass chandelier, English, with six ormolu arms supporting drop hung diamond cut candle nozzles, c1820, £6,800 to antique drinking glasses and a pair of seven sided slice cut Victorian decanters in unusual emerald green, c.1840, £1,400 the pair.
Stephen Kalms Antiques from London's Silver Vaults has a fine collection of Omar Ramsden silver, including a mustard pot, mug and comport, priced between £2,000 and £6,000. From Kent comes Amherst Antiques with Tunbridge ware, including a twin compartment tea caddy veneered in amboyna with a view of Eridge Castle, c.1850, £1,295 and a glove box featuring the former farmhouse on Rusthall Common, c.1845, £625.
For over a year now, The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited has been supporting the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, the charitable arm of the Royal Warrant Holders Association. QEST scholar Wayne Hart is representing the charity and is bringing examples of his lettering and typography to share with the fairs visitors. He is willing to take on bespoke commissions.
Stephen Morris Shipping specialises in transporting precious art and antiques all over the world.
An expert will be on hand to securely wrap and deliver purchases anywhere in the UK or much further afield, as required.
Ingrid Nilson, director of The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited said, "This was the first boutique fair we introduced to the south of England, but it appears to attract people from much further afield. Sandown Park Racecourse has proved an easily accessible venue with its proximity to London and the M25. Ample free parking makes it the perfect location with marvellous views of the racecourse itself. For the past nine years, people have come from all over England and as far north as Scotland, as well as the USA, Europe and even Singapore. We try to make the fair an inspiring event for visitors to feel they can relax and take their time mulling over their purchases whether they are after a unique gift, something to impress visitors to their office or that they will enjoy and treasure in their home for years to come."