The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited is organising a brand new event – The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair – in the grounds of Petworth House, the magnificent National Trust property in West Sussex, which inspired such great British artists as JMW Turner and J Constable. Petworth House and Park recently featured in Mike Leigh’s film Mr Turner. To be held from Friday 8 until Sunday 10 May 2015 and supported by Smiths Gore and Upperton Vineyards, The Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair will be held in a marquee in the 700 acre deer park, which surrounds the late 17th century Grade 1 listed mansion and borders the Sussex town of Petworth.
A wonderful excuse to visit the fair this May is that each ticket also gains free entry to Petworth House (and Park) to see all its treasures, including paintings by JMW Turner and Van Dyck. In a reciprocal arrangement, Petworth House ticket holders and National Trust members can also have free entry to the fair.
A treat is in store for art lovers, with several exhibitors offering a wide range of paintings and sculptures from antique to contemporary. Horton London is bringing Auguste Rodin’s Femme qui se peigne, a 24cm tall bronze, inscribed A. Rodin and numbered 1 of 8, priced at £25,000 and A Water Party, oil on canvas signed by John James Chalon (1778-1854) and dated 1836, £3,600. Chalon painted many scenes around the Richmond and Twickenham area including a famous view from Richmond Hill. Haynes Fine Art of Broadway has collections of oil and watercolour paintings by Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902), Heywood Hardy (1894-1933) and Edward Brian Seago (1910 – 1974), including Seago’s On the Dunes, oil on canvas, with a price guide of £100,000 to £150,000. Other picture dealers include Sarah Colegrave Fine Art, The Jerram Gallery from Dorset, Elford Fine Art, Baron Fine Art from Chester and The Canon Gallery from Northamptonshire.
Worthing based Wilsons Antiques has paintings celebrating the Sussex coast with Thomas Bush Hardy’s watercolour of Littlehampton Harbour, c1880, priced at £2,750. Other Sussex exhibitors include Petworth dealer Ronald G Chambers Antiques offering a wide range of the finest quality mahogany, rosewood and walnut antique furniture dating from 1700 to 1910, as well as objets d’art; Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, from the nearby hamlet of Egdean, selling contemporary art and sculpture; Tim Saltwell with Regency and Edwardian fine furniture and interior accessories, including a fine Napoleon III gilt bronze and blue Celeste Sèvres style porcelain mantel clock, c1870, £7,950 and a late 19th century Viennese enamelled and gilt plaque of large proportions König Tristan und Isolde depicting King Tristan’s death, signed T Schmidt, c1899, £5,950; Garret & Hurst Sculpture bringing 19th century bronzes, including a fine early signed bronze cast of Giselle by pioneer of animalier sculpture Pierre-Jules Mêne (1810-1879). The canine piece comes complete with a rare name plaque and original documentation hidden inside, dated 1850, POA; and Augustus Brandt with its eclectic stock from French Louis XVI style crystal chandeliers to magnificent carved gilt mirrors, including an 18th century Tuscan giltwood console table with Cipollino marble top, priced at £38,000.
Spectacular pieces of jewellery can be found from a number of dealers at the fair. London-based Richard Ogden Ltd is bringing an Edwardian openwork platinum brooch set with a large cushion cut aquamarine (approx 24 carats) and rose cut diamonds, selling for £3,800 and an unusual, quirky tsavorite garnet and diamond set grasshopper brooch, mounted in 18ct white and yellow gold with cabochon ruby set eyes, £5,275. Penny Corah & Rosie Manning have an 18ct gold bracelet with central shamrock, comprising approximately 5.5 carats of diamonds outlined in jet, £6,240. Other jewellery dealers include Horton London, T Robert, Markov and Sue Brown. The Antrobus Basket is an exceptionally fine George III silver fruit or bread basket by Joseph Story and William Elliott, London, 1810, £8,950 from Mary Cooke Antiques Ltd. The silver base of the basket has a wooden underside, as seen with silver based wine coasters, and is engraved with the Arms for Sir Edmund Antrobus, 1st Baronet of Antrobus Hall, County Chester.
There is a great opportunity to pick up antique furniture from a number of specialists. Freshfords Fine Antiques from Bath is bringing a George III mahogany inlaid secretaire bookcase in the manner of Gillows of Lancaster and London, c1795, £13,850; a late 19th century French kingwood, mahogany and gilt bronze mounted table ambulante with circular onyx top, signed F. Linke, c1900, £9,500 comes from Tim Saltwell and Guy Dennler Antiques & Interiors’ grand Regency George III mahogany pieces and attractive oriental lampbases always prove popular. Melody Antiques comes with oak and country furniture. Pars Rug Gallery’s oriental carpets and rugs would grace any country house, a perfect foil for antique or contemporary furniture.
With over 30 antiques shops, Petworth itself is a favoured destination for collectors of antiques, fine and decorative art, so it seems fitting to add a stylish antiques fair to the area. Some 35 specialist dealers, predominantly members of LAPADA The Association of Art & Antiques Dealers and the British Antique Dealers’ Association, will showcase their finest wares including traditional furniture, jewellery, silver, antique and contemporary paintings and sculpture, glass, clocks, oriental rugs and carpets, objets d’art and much more. Unique to this new event is a sculpture park with a number of art dealers providing differing works of art for outdoors, with works by local and other artists shown by Moncrieff-Bray Gallery, The Jerram Gallery and others. Augustus Brandt is also providing garden objects.
Ingrid Nilson, director of The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited said, “We are most grateful to the National Trust for inviting us to hold this new event. We are excited to work with them and have the support of the Petworth Antiques & Decorative Arts Association and The Petworth Business Association and are looking forward to building a thoroughly attractive event for visitors from far and wide. The grand 17th century Petworth House boasts an internationally important art collection. Together with its ‘Capability Brown’ landscaped country park, it will provide a magnificent backdrop for our newest fair.”
Refreshments are available throughout the day. Tickets for the antiques fair cost £10 each and can be bought in advance from organisers – The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited -or on the door. There will also be free parking for antiques fair visitors in a specially located nearby car park. For tickets or more information please contact The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited on +44 (0)1797 252030 or visit the website www.petworthparkfair.com