Masterpiece opens this week.  We can now unveil our exciting new commissions, and recent discoveries of older pieces, which pay tribute to the Monarchy over the centuries from 1066.  Two such discoveries appear in this photograph of the White Drawing Room at Buckingham Palace.  The first is the amboyna and gilt library table in the foreground by Seddon and Morel.  We have a trio of similar tables and a related console table.  The second is the pair of candelabra after Clodion, set on swan tripod pedestals flanking the fireplace, other versions appear in major museums and stately homes including the Louvre and Highclere Castle – better known to many as Downton Abbey.

Amy Goodman and Vivien Mallock have collaborated to create this stunning, iconic portrait of Her Majesty riding Burmese at Trooping the Colour.  We have used it as the centrepiece of our stand and the cover of our brochure.  To view the ‘page-turner’ copy click here or if you would prefer a ‘real’ paper and ink book – please email charles@wickantiques.co.uk.

Charlie’s favourite pieces are the pair of sand paintings by Zobel, as he is in awe of the skill required to create such a tour de force out of sand and ground glass.  The one he is holding, above, shows Richard the Lionheart at the Battle of Acre.  The other depicts William I at the Battle of Hastings.  Please see this week’s blog.

Regular subscribers to our newsletter will know that we are always intrigued by a conundrum or two (see Enigmas and Puzzles - October 2021).  The image above shows the dramatic Gothic vaulted underside of a table designed by Augustus Pugin aged just 15.  This was part of a £200,000 (£250 million today) commission for George IV supplied to Windsor Castle by Morel and Seddon in 1828.  Why would you vault the underside of a centre table? Answers, as they say, on a postcard (or email) to charles@wickantiques.co.uk.

My father, Alan Russett, was a researcher at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich and wrote three books on noted marine artists.  He would have appreciated this oil painting by Frederick Winkfield showing a variety of both sail and steam ships in front of the Royal Hospital at ‘The Top of the Tide’.

As for me, I am captivated by Princess Alexandra of Denmark as the Princess of Wales in 1870.  The sculptor, Count Gleichen, himself a member of Queen Victoria’s extended family, kept this pair of bronzes of the future Edward VII and his wife, in his private collection.  A more sedate pair also showing ‘Bertie’ with a shotgun, but with Alexandra dressed as a shepherdess, can be seen at Sandringham.  Could it be that Alexandra’s fur-trimmed skating ensemble, with its short skirt exposing her shapely ankles, was deemed too risqué for Queen Victoria? 


One last entry that unfortunately didn't make the Jubilee PDF

Queen Victoria's silver coffee service by William Bateman & Daniel Ball