Mallams

Fine art, specialist and decorative sales take place regularly in Oxford, Cheltenham and Abingdon. Consignments are received from across the country. It is one of the oldest businesses of its type in the world and remains independent by design.

As an auction house and estate agency, Mallams offers individuals, executors, organisations and institutions a range of services which enable them to buy, sell and value property, art and antiques at all levels.

One of the most eagerly awaited sales of the year was the inaugural Eastern and Oriental sale at Mallams in Cheltenham. T his new addition to the Mallams auction calendar recognised the growing demand and increased interest for works of art from the Middle East and Asia.

The auction offered more than 500 lots, including fresh-to-the-market property from local estates and included ceramics, textiles, paper hangings, prints, furniture, ivory, jade, cloisonné enamel, lacquer, carpets, bronzes and other works of art.

With Asian art week in London the previous week plenty of the overseas buyers were in the country and with only one or two provincial salerooms offering this sort of auction it meant that all the dealers and collectors were able to focus on these specialist sales.

Of special note was a large pair of 19th century Canton vases depicting extensive Chinese ceremonial scenes in bright enamel, with fo dog handles.

This is a good example of how far this sector of the market has come in the past few years; five to ten years past they would have probably sold between £2,000-£3,000. In the sale on 12th November, against an estimate of £5,000-7,000, they made £7,500 to a phone bidder from China, even though they had had some small restorations.

This theme continued throughout the whole sale, and Chinese ceramics from the Kangxi (1661-1722) and Yong Zheng (1723-1735) periods were particularly sought after. An extremely finely potted Kangxi blue and white brush pot, with warrior decoration suffered from having a chip and sizeable hairline crack.

Nevertheless, its quality shone through. With a four character Kangxi mark to the base which translated to ‘scholarship high as the mountain as the Great Bear’ it confirmed its quality and consequently surpassed its estimate and sold for £4,000.

It was not simply in the ceramic section that high prices were achieved. Further highlights included a red lacquer 19th century Japanese picnic box of hexagonal form fetched £3,200, an Indian wrestler figure made £2,500 and an 18th century Chinese ivory netsuke in the form of a figure holding an octopus raised £2,100. ] The Chinese presence in the room dramatically pushed prices up, and in its wake caused a few surprises and also meant that a number of items with higher estimates, which could have struggled, sold.

It was a pair of Chinese bronze elephant stands, with auspicious double gourd hangers which produced the biggest surprise of the day. From a private collector, who bought them at auction ten to fifteen years ago for no more than £100, they sailed past their estimate of £100-200 and quickly rose with fierce bidding in the room to a remarkable £4,000.

Mallams auctioneer Philip Smith said: “There is no doubt that the interest for works of art from Asia continues to strengthen as evidenced by our recent sale which attracted international interest.

“Following the hugely positive response we have received, sales of Eastern and Oriental furniture and works of art will now be a regular fixture on Mallams auction calendar as we continue to develop this area as one of our many specialties.”