Still bearing the physical scars of battle, a monumental Union Jack flown by HMS Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar led Christie’s Exceptional Sale in London on July 1. It tipped over the estimate ...

A ‘lost’ landscape by JMW Turner (1775-1851), thought to be the first oil painting the artist ever exhibited, sold for £1.5m at Sotheby’s latest Old Master evening sale. Depicting a former hot spa in ...

An extraordinary Elizabethan swagger portrait drew dramatic competition at Bonhams’ latest Old Master sale. The three-quarter-length painting of the opulently dressed Sir Edward Monins of Waldershare ...

The ‘Mambury’ set of 10 apostle spoons, made by the prolific and renowned Daniel Cary, London 1607. Silver spoons with finials in the form of the Apostles – each with his identifying emblem – were ...

A painting by Canaletto (1697-1768) once owned by the first British prime minister Sir Robert Walpole sold for £27.5m at Christie’s latest Old Master evening sale.

British studio pottery moved into new financial territory at the end of June with the sale of a vase by Dame Magdalene Odundo (b.1950) for £570,000. The price is not just an auction high for a living ...

After 1840, F. & R. Pratt of Fenton in Staffordshire, became the leading (but not the only) manufacturer of multicoloured transfer printed pot lids and a huge range of related wares. Long admired for ...

A 3½in (8.5cm) Lowestoft royal commemorative mug from c.1790-95 inscribed ‘Long Live The King’. The design was hitherto unrecorded and it was thought to relate to a period when George III was in ...

"In their view, we Londoners know little about God, and nothing about pottery". Royal Doulton's rise from London makers of domestic stonewares to an internationally-recognised Staffordshire Potteries ...

The Regency style, spanning the period 1810-30, is characterised by bold use of classical ornament drawn from Greek and Roman sources and the exotic touches provided by the growth of empire. This burr ...

Political caricatures often appear at auction as part of group lots, such as this example of Thomas Rowlandson’s ‘Accomodation Ladder’ which appeared as part of an album of 43 prints at Dominic Winter ...

Nigerian artist Ben Enwonwu (1917-94) is sometimes described as ‘the first African artist to gain international recognition in the modern art world’. He was dubbed ‘Africas greatest contemporary ...