The elephant in the room
While I am on my annual two-week holiday in the very remotest parts of the Greek islands of Crete and Gavdos, I will re-publish the two...
Righteous Ridgway
A new column in Homes & Antiques, and this month we are visiting Ridgway in Staffordshire! Although many will know the name Ridgway, I...
Eagle's eyes
I thought I was going to move on from birds... but this week another bird came to tell a story... little did I know. Here I have two...
It's for the birds
Did you enjoy last week's birds? I have more birds today, although from the later 19th Century: the era called the Aesthetic Movement....
Ruffled feathers
You may have noticed that lately I've shown a lot of Derby porcelain - no particular reason other than that they are fantastic pieces,...
Wonderful Wales
This month my column at Homes & Antiques takes us to South Wales, where for a short but glorious period British porcelain making was...
Tablescape in gilt
In these post-pandemic days we have never seen so much interest in "tablescaping": the setting of a beautiful table to serve food to your...
Sweet as sugar
This week, let's have a look at the sucrier: that beautiful and indispensable part of the early 19th Century tea service. A sucrier is a...
Juno and Jupiter
Recently I came across a wonderful pair of Derby figures that have now flown off to a new home... but I still wanted to show them to you....
Satsuma from Worcester
Today I am introducing a very special and rare set of three vases, or garniture, made by Royal Worcester in the years 1872 and 1873. It...
