The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair @ The London Marriott
In January 2023, the post-pandemic return of The Mayfair Antiques & Fine Art Fair occurred. This fair is a traditional, high-quality event held in the glamorous Westminster Ballroom and foyer of The London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. There, visitors were able to enjoy the eclectic choice on offer within the relaxed atmosphere and the comfortable surroundings of the five-star hotel in the heart of Mayfair.
The London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square exterior facade by night. Photo courtesy of Gail McGuffie.
Established as the first major event of every new year in London since 2013, this January 2023, after an induced pause due to the global pandemic, the fair returned with its original aim of presenting a varied selection of high-quality art and antiques. With exhibitors primarily drawn from BADA, The British Antique Dealers' Association and LAPADA, The London Association of Art & Antiques Dealers, the event featured 40 specialist exhibitors and offered for sale a vast range of classy pieces, including jewellery; traditional and contemporary paintings and sculpture; period furniture; rugs and carpets; clocks and vintage watches; early to modern glass and silver; English and Oriental ceramics; early Asian pottery; enamels and objects of vertu; and many other desirable items.
Burlington Booth. Photo by Beatrice Gallello.
The coexistence of a broad range of disciplines aligned successfully with the other main aim of the fair, producing a distinctly original aura and allowing visitors to purchase items ranging from £100 to six figures.
For this reason, the average buyer visitors may encounter at the fair tends to be private individuals who buy a piece to enjoy and cherish while enjoying a day out in the capital. This year it was registered an influx increment of new attendees who seek out the quirky or glitzy or want to experience a new kind of shopping adventure. Although other types of buyers could be found wandering the stalls inside, namely either members of the trade or interior designers making purchases for clients or future projects.
Paul Emile Lecomte, Le Vieux Port, La Rochelle et l’Eglise Saint-Sauveur. Burlington Booth. Courtesy of Gail McGuffie.
What made this fair unique was the excellent storytelling present behind every piece exposed. This allowed every visitor to observe and construe the reality of daily life within a surrounding that enveloped the fair in a calm and relaxed atmosphere - certainly an unusual feeling for frequent fair-goers, but welcomed nevertheless.
Enhancing this feeling was the enthusiasm of gallery representatives, who were always keen to start a conversation about their exhibitors and collections. For example, during the visit, the viewer could discover the precious pieces of Plaza Jewellery and be warmly greeted by its representative, who demonstrated all of his enthusiasm when talking about the jewellery business that started in the mid-1980s in Nice, France, and whose prestigious designs is inspired by the glamour of the French Riviera. But continuing walking around the main hall, the visitor also had the unique opportunity to admire closer the paintings exposed in the multiple corners, such as the works exhibited in the Lucy B. Campbell Gallery corner. In the middle of the hall, the Gallery founded in 1984, which represents emerging, contemporary British, European, and American artists, photographers, and sculptors presented the framed acrylics on board by the great colourist and storyteller Anna Pugh Ok, So You Draw A Frog, 2022, and Indian Summer, 2020.
Lucy B. Campbell Corner. Photo by Beatrice Gallello.
Even if the quality of the art exposed was incredibly high, what enhanced the experience was seeing the live performance of the future British craftsmanships, which are part of the QUEST, the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust, and supported by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited. On Thursday, 12, and Friday, 13 January 2023, Poppy Field sculpted clay live together with Gordon Robertson, who showed his metalwork creations. While Poppy combines traditional sculpting techniques with a painterly application of clay and bold to bring her subjects to life and capture their intangible essence, Gordon is a metalsmith specialised in hand-etched surfaces focused on forging organic and intricate patterns to create timeless and eminently collectable designs.
Certainly, during these performances, the viewer was invited to participate in the demonstration and discovered how much their art contributes to the cultural environment of London. For instance, in 2021, Poppy Field won her first public commission: two-meter bronze monuments of Her Majesty The Queen and Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh. These will be installed in niches on The Royal Albert Hall’s South Porch façade in late 2023.
Sculptor Poppy Field at work. Photo by Beatrice Gallello.
For the visitors that showed up during the weekend, two other QUEST members presented their works and explained their philosophy. The Hand Embroidery Artist Susannah Weiland demonstrated to the public her unique embroidery on leather, and Sarah Baldi discussed her bookbinding innovations. During Susannah’s performance, she explained how much her work is influenced by the colours and textures of the natural world. Her presentation perfectly transmitted how she combines her love of tonal black and white pencil drawing with colourful delicate hand embroidery and beading to create luxury pieces of art and decorative cushions.
QEST Susannah Weiland. Photo courtesy of Gail McGuffie.
While Sarah narrated her story and explained how her recent overseas experiences led her to relocate to London in 2017 and improve her techniques in design binding, she relayed her ongoing mission to continue studying the tradition and researching different technical approaches to reinvigorate the bookbinding sector with new ideas and experimentations to sustain this craft to pass her knowledge to the next generations.
QEST Sarah Baldi. Photo courtesy of Gail McGuffie.
Furthermore, it was also an incredible educational event thanks to the daily talks hosted and guided by Dr Shanshan Wang. This year, the new exhibitor W. Shanshan 珊然軒, an expert in ancient Asian pottery and sculpture, hosted daily talks about Chinese Neolithic pottery, the Silk Road and cultural exchange between the West and East, and the Tradition and techniques of Korean and Japanese ceramics. These 30-minute talks offered the opportunity to handle some of the ancient pieces, unearth the true meanings behind Chinese iconography, enrich visitors’ understanding of the cultural exchange between China and the Western, and discover their history and techniques. Hosted in her corner, she showed works of Early Chinese Ceramics during the talks, and the experience offered to the listener encapsulated the expression of multiple cultures that coexisted in China between 5000 - 220 BCE.
Dr Shanshan Wang. Photo courtesy of Gail McGuffie.
Overall, The Mayfair Antiques and Fine Art Fair is one of London’s hidden art fair gems. It is the ideal place for those wanting to whet their visual appetite with eclectic antiques and art, and also for those wanting to buy the finest antique pieces. Every corner has a multitude of exciting pieces that fulfil the desire of every collector. Even if London’s annual art fair roster has decreased in size as a result of the cancellation of the Art & Antiques Fair Olympia and Masterpiece London, this fair proves how this scene remains alive and kicking, remaining a calendar staple that people want to see.
Beatrice Gallello
En Plein Air Editor, MADE IN BED