BLENHEIM PALACE HOSTS ANTIQUES FAIR FROM 18 TO 21 APRIL 2013

KEE@FSWMAG.COM
BLENHEIM PALACE IS TRULY A MAGNIFICENT PALACE THOUGH IT IS OWNED BY THE DUKE OF MARLBOROUGH AND NOT THE ROYAL FAMILY. 

Blenheim Palace is the home of the Dukes of Marlborough! This stately pile is worthy of an Emperor! Or me.

Indeed Blenheim Palace is one of a few manors that are officially called 'Palace' with full approval of the British Royal Family. 

So if you are visiting England in April, make sure you drop by Blenheim Palace which is open to the paying public and buy something from the Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers' Association Fair.

The trip to have a lookee inside Blenheim Palace and its gardens is worth the trip! Trust me! I have been there and have not recovered from the splendour as its interiors are more ostentatious than mine!

Kangxi octagonal plate, 1710. RM 25,000

Worcester porcelain plaque, 1820. RM 5,800


BLENHEIM PALACE HOSTS

THE COTSWOLD ART & ANTIQUE DEALERS’ ASSOCIATION FAIR

Thursday 18^th – Sunday 21^st April 2013

‘The best provincial fair in the antiques calendar’

 ‘We never realised the depth of quality and quantity of art and antiques in the Cotswolds. 

The fair has opened our eyes’

‘The Palace : what a stunning setting for the display of antiques’

The Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers’ Association Fair returns for the second occasion to the elegant setting of Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire OX20 1PP from Thursday 18^th to Sunday 21st April 2013.  Lady Henrietta Spencer-Churchill, eldest daughter of the present Duke of Marlborough, has kindly accepted to be the new Patron of the Association. 

Building on last year’s hugely successful inaugural event, where over 4,000 visitors visited the fair, already there is palpable excitement and positivity from the 29 exhibitors taking part.  The fair is to be staged over four days and has been enlarged to accommodate extra stands.  All the initial exhibitors have rebooked and the seven new dealers exhibiting are  Andrew Dando, Freshfords Fine Antiques, Hallbakker, Elizabeth Harvey-Lee, Kinghams Art Pottery Ltd, Kyffin Gallery, Stuart Boyd and Spencer-Churchill Designs Ltd.  The addition of the fair has significantly enhanced the profile of The Cotswold Art & Antique Dealers’ Association (CADA) and the membership has grown to 47 quality dealers.   Blenheim Palace is the ‘perfect fit’ to host the fair and it provides a unique experience for the visitor and consolidates the Cotswolds as the antiques centre for the scholar, the collector and the interior designer.  Everything is for sale with prices ranging from £100 to £150,000.

The fair takes place in the stunning settings of The Orangery and Campaign Rooms which overlook the Italian Garden at Blenheim.  The very best of every discipline is showcased creating a rich tapestry of history and culture including clocks and barometers, early needlework and antique boxes, garden ornaments and statuary, jewellery, silver and glass, carpets and textiles in addition to all kinds of fine furniture and decorative items, Oriental and English ceramics, fine art and much more.  

Highlights within the fair include a couple with a Blenheim connection such as an exquisite early 19^th century silk embroidery of Britannia mourning the death of Nelson from Witney Antiques.  Distinguished visitors were sometimes received by the Duke of Marlborough but on the occasion when Horatio Nelson visited Blenheim Palace in 1802 with Lord and Lady Hamilton, the 4^th Duke refused to receive him and greatly offended Nelson by sending out his refreshments into the park and not the palace.  John Howard at Heritage has sourced a dish from the very rare ‘Foliage Border Series’ which carries a transfer mark on the back ‘Blenheim Oxfordshire’, dated around 1820 and with a price tag of £750.

Amongst the line up of paintings in the fair are ‘A Portrait of a Lady’ by Charles Edward Halle (1846-1914) from Sarah Colegrave 19^th & 20^th Century Pictures;  a ‘Still Life with Tankard and Vase’ by J.B. Priestley OM (1894-1984), the celebrated English novelist, playwright and broadcaster who took up painting late in life when he lived with his third wife, Jacquetta Hawkes, at Alveston near Stratford upon Avon from the Titian Gallery; an original etching, c 1890, of La Dance a la Campagne by Pierre Auguste Renoir (1841-1919) from Elizabeth Harvey-Lee priced at £10,000;  and self portrait of John Jones by Sir Kyffin Williams RA (1918-2000) from the Kyffin Gallery at £70,000.  An exquisite watercolour from Derek Newman is by John Fulleylove RI (1845-1908) of ‘The Thames, Oxford, Christchurch College beyond’, signed 1887.  For a more contemporary feel, John Noott Galleries are showing work by Peter Barker of local Cotswold scenes such as ‘Swans by the River Coln’.

Collectors of porcelain will enjoy the antique Grainger Worcester porcelain rectangular plaque hand painted with a view of the Royal Crescent, Bath after an 18^th century engraving by William Watts, c1820 from Andrew Dando priced at £1,150; a Martin Brothers sculpture of a grotesque bird, dated 1897 from Kinghams Art Pottery for £27,500; and a rare ceramic tray designed by Carl Sigmund Luber and manufactured by Johanne van Schwartz, c1905 for £1,400 from Hallbakker.  Chinese ceramics include a famille verte  octagonal plate made during the Emperor Kangxi’s reign, c 1710, £5,000 from Catherine Hunt Oriental Ceramics.   

Many different styles of furniture adorn the fair from a superb George III period mahogany, satinwood, tulipwood and kingwood library breakfront bookcase from W R Harvey & Co (Antiques) Ltd for £150,000; a pair of early 18^th century walnut armchairs with contemporary needlework, c 1725 selling at £14,500 from Kit Alderson; a Regency rosewood library desk chair, c 1815 from Freshfords Fine Antiques selling for £6,500;  and for lovers of oak Moxhams Antiques are bringing a late 18^th century oak potboard dresser from South West Wales with many of the iron cup hooks still remaining, priced at £4,950.

Montpellier Clocks are showing a fine rosewood library clock by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, c 1830, who was a distinguished clockmaker, succeeding his father as head of the family business and Clockmaker to the Crown.  More choice is available from Formby Clocks who are bringing a good  ebony veneered bracket timepiece with pull quarter repeat on two bells by Jonathan Lowndes of London, c 1695. 

Curiosities in the fair include a Brighton Pavilion sewing compendium inspired by Nash’s Brighton Pavilion, the dome enclosing a pin cushion, the lower section a thimble, tape, waxer, pin cushion and needle case, c. 1820, for £6,500 from Hampton Antiques.  Jewellery is well represented by Howards Jewellers bringing an Art Deco yellow and white diamond pendant necklace, c 1925.  A rare neo-classical claret jug decorated with scenes from the compositions of John Flaxman RA is one of the many pieces of interesting glass found on Jeanette Hayhurst’s stand.   Textiles include a 19^th century silk Ikat coat from the Ferghana Valley, Uzbekistan, c 1860s, in perfect condition, for £4,000 from Legge Carpets, also showing a fine silk Kashan rug from Iran, late 19^th century, priced at £2,000.

Not forgetting the outdoors, Architectural Heritage are bringing a pair of mid 19^th century wrought iron gates stamped by the maker Butterley who was responsible for many prestigious commissions, priced at £2,800 and a pair of mid 18^th century Bath stone finials originating from Barford Park, Somerset for £12,600.

Event:                           The Cotswold Art & Antiques’ Dealers Fair at Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire,

OX20 1PP

Date/Opening times   18^th – 21^st April 2013, 10am – 5.30pm daily

Entry:                            Complimentary invitation available from CADA website (www.thecada.org) admits 2 to the Fair and the Palace grounds

Enquiries:                      CADA at Heritage, 6 Market Place, Woodstock, 

OX20 1TA  M: 07831 850544 or 07855 443913

Transport:                                 Jct 9 of M40; Oxford British Rail; London Oxford Airport (Kidlington); A signposted.  Free parking

Website:                       www.thecada.org

Pair of Bath stone finials from Barford Park, Somerset, RM 63,000

Bet you have seen this in full colour! This preparatory sketch of 'La Dance ala Campagne' is an etching by Renoir with his signature circa 1890. RM 50,000

The Doge's Libary, Venice, original etching 1740. RM 20,000

Large glass pitcher/ewer by Charles Schneider 1926. RM 6,800

Rosewood library clock by Vulliamy, 1830. 

Pocket sundial and compass by Negretti & Zambra, London, 1850

Ceramic tray mounted on WMF (famous silversmith) circa 1905. RM 7,000

Art Deco yellow and white diamond pendant necklace

Charming, extremely rare and in fine condition, a sewing compendium designed as Brighton Pavilion 1820. RM 32,500

Darling painting of 3 cutie doggies by Valentine Thomas Garland called 'The New Litter' 1902. RM 62,500

Frank Moss Bennett, 'Admiral Blake with Letter',  RM 74,500

Pair of early 20th century lead garden planters. RM 9,000

Extremely rare kneehole desk from William and Mary period, by Thomas Pistor, 1690. RM 250,000. Perfect for a Malaysian tycoon

Britannia Mourning the Death of Nelson, silk embroidery with watercolour details, early 19th century. Horatio Nelson actually visited Blenheim Palace in 1802 with Lord and Lady Hamilton but the 4th Duke of Marlborough refused to receive him and greatly offended Nelson by sending out his refreshments into the park and not inside the palace! I love it!