Quality shows through at Melbourne Antiques Fair

Fresh from success at the recent 21st AUSTRALIAN ANTIQUES & FINE ART FAIR, May 18-22, 2011 in Sydney, a group of thirty Australian dealers have come south to Melbourne, to exhibit in leafy Malvern at the Malvern Town Hall - the traditional home of Antiques Fairs in Melbourne for over 50 years. Sales were very solid in Sydney with several exhibitors taking over six-figures; and collector enthusiasm was evident in interest shown in serious pieces.

MELBOURNE ANTIQUES FAIR over Queen's BirthdayWeekend (9th-13th June 2011) is a triumph in diversity, with the emphasis on quality. British furniture from the 18th-20th century, together with Continental furnishings and Australian pieces, offers many decor possibilities. A Queen Anne walnut bureau (pictured), circa 1710 and exhibited by L.J.Cook and Company of Camberwell, Melbourne, is a worthy bearer of the description 'fine furniture'. As the centrepiece of a furniture collection, it epitomises great design, wedded to use of wonderful timbers and skilled cabinetmaking.

Australian paintings by exemplary artists such as Arthur Boyd, Albert Namitjira, John Percival, Sir Hans Heysen and Russell Drysdale are accompanied by works of contemporary painters and sculptors. Works on paper, master drawings and original prints & maps, exhibited by several specialists, further develop the visual arts aspect of the Fair. The range is demonstrted by a hand-coloured lyrebird engraving by J.B. Pretre, 1837 (exhibited by Sebra Prints, Camberwell, Melbourne); and a hand coloured woodblock print by Thea Proctor, entitled 'The Swing', 1925 (exhibited by Day Fine Art ,Sydney). Thea Proctor was one of the emerging group of Australian women artists and printmakers in the early part of the 20th century, a contemporary of George Lambert and Margaret Preston, and a founding member of the 'Contemporary Group', promoting the aspirations of forward thinking artists of the day and provided exhibition opportunities for their work.

A highlight of ceramics on show at the Fair is a monumental Wedgwood exhibition vase in blue Jasperware, dating from 1864 and standing 56cm tall (exhibited by Lee Bradshaw Antique Wedgwood, Carlton, Melbourne). The subject depicted is 'The Birth and Dipping of Achilles', a scene from Homer's Iliad in which Achilles' mother, Thetis, dipped the infant for protection into the waters of the river Styx, immersing all but his heel by which she held him. The only part of his body that remained mortal was his 'Achilles' heel', with dire consequences in the battle for Troy. The modelling by Camillo Pacetti was made in 1788 with reference to the Luna marble disc in the Capitoline Museum in Rome.

A Japanese Katani vase decorated and signed by the little known master, Bizan, dates from the Meiji period and is a feature of a display of Japanese objects, inro, netsuke, woodblock prints and weapons on the stand of Kiernan Galleries. Thomas Kiernan is an acknowledged expert on Satsuma style ceramics and has written a recent book on subject 'The Best Book on Satsuma' (2008). 20th century objects, furniture and fashion accessories from the jazz era are very popular: one object is a gold-flecked green glass bowl by the Daum Bros. in collaboration with metal artist and designer, Louis Majorelle, c1920 (Online Antiques).