Roseberys’ first Fine & Decorative auction of 2026 brings together over 450 lots of fine furniture, decorative arts, ceramics and glass, sculpture, ephemera, clocks and lighting. With estimates ranging from £60 to £25,000, the sale offers everything from accessible interior decor to rare and unique specialist objects.
Taking place on Wednesday 11 March, the auction includes standout selections chosen by the Fine & Decorative specialists Anna Evans, Jack Wallis, Michael Bateman and James Quarterman, who each highlight key lots from across the catalogue, from historic textiles and architectural sculpture to meteorites and early aviation photography.
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| Anna Evans Head of Furniture & Works of Art | Fine & Decorative, Sculpture & Clocks |
Jack Wallis Head of Sale: Fine & Decorative, Furniture, Works of Art, Sculpture & Clocks |
Michael Bateman Furniture and Rugs Specialist |
James Quarterman Ceramics & Glass Specialist |
Anna Evans’ Picks
Lot 262: A large Flemish Old Testament biblical narrative tapestry of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, probably Brussels or Oudenaarde, late 17th century
Estimate: £15,000 - £25,000
This 17th century tapestry depicts the biblical narrative of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba. It’s intricately woven in wool and silks, with an impeccable level of detail preserved. Solomon lounges in an ornate tent while the Queen of Sheba, richly jewelled and dressed in luxurious fabrics, gestures to the attendants at the head of her vast procession of men on camels and horseback, carrying gifts for the king.
The tapestry was likely produced in Brussels or Oudenaarde, the two principal centres of Flemish tapestry production in the 16th and 17th centuries. Brussels was the leading workshop centre of the Burgundian-Habsburg Netherlands, supplying large-scale, ambitious narrative cycles to elite patrons, while Oudenaarde later developed as a major producer for a broader noble and patrician market, often reworking successful compositions.
Tapestries in interiors are enjoying a revival. They add patina and richness to traditional schemes and can also be used to add depth to modern interiors.
Lot 20: A pair of marble lions, in the Romanesque Style, by Giovanni Rizzardi, c.1980
Estimate: £3,000 - £5,000
Marble lions of this type recall the sculptural guardians that traditionally flank the portals of Italian Romanesque churches, where they often served as column supports or symbolic protectors of sacred space.
This pair was carved by Giovanni Rizzardi, a sculptor active in Verona in the 1970s and 1980s, known for working in a consciously Romanesque-inspired idiom.
In a decorative scheme, the lions function as powerful sculptural accents. Their scale, symmetry, and alert, watchful poses make them ideal as flanking elements to an entrance, staircase or architectural threshold.
This pair comes with provenance from Phillippe Murat-Davide in 1980 and later appeared in a 2014 Sotheby’s sale 1,000 Ways Of Seeing: The Private Collection Of The Late Stanley J. Seeger.
Jack Wallis’ Picks
An iron meteorite, with a variegated gun metal-hued patina with ochre accents, weight approx. 3.53kg
At over a billion years old, this is the oldest object I’ve ever held! It’s fascinating to handle material created in the early history of the solar system and later fallen to Earth. This example landed in Arizona, an area that is relatively rich in fallen meteorites. The meteorite was purchased at the Mineralien Messe fair in Hamburg in the late 1990s and comes from the collection of a Baron and Baroness. With its substantial weight and rugged, brutal form, it functions as both a scientific specimen and a sculptural object.
Two notable lots in the sale relate to the Italian pilot and aircraft designer Carlo Francesco “Francis” Lombardi (1897-1983), a First World War flying ace and later founder of AVIA in Vercelli, where he designed light aircraft for training and touring. The first lot is a group of around 200 glass lantern slides, many showing aircraft, airfields, departures and arrivals, and aerial views from flights including Rome to Mogadishu and Italy to Japan. Mostly in black and white, they have the straightforward, documentary character of early aviation photography. They are accompanied by a scratch-built wooden slide viewer in the form of a castellated building, which gives us a sense of how these images were originally shown and shared.
Lot 102: Italian Aviation Interest: A collection of memorabilia relating to Francis Lombard
The second lot brings together Lombardi’s silvered bronze and verde antico marble trophy from the 1929 Challenge International de Tourisme, with a group of photographs, prints, route maps and related material, including images of the Fiat AS.1 monoplane and other aviation subjects. Offered directly from the family, the two lots are fascinating propositions to those interested in aviation history or early photography.
James Quarterman’s Picks
This set of twelve Minton pâte-sur-pâte dinner plates, retailed by Tiffany & Co. in New York in the 1930s, sits at the intersection of luxury retail and one of the most demanding decorative techniques in ceramics. Each plate is richly finished with gilt borders and alternating panels of blue and white slip decoration, featuring nymphs and stylised foliate trophies, with the central pâte-sur-pâte panels divided between work by Alboin Birks and Richard Bradbury.
Pâte-sur-pâte, introduced to Minton by Louis Solon in the late 19th century, was a slow and highly skilled process of building up layers of white slip to create a relief effect, and by the 1930s it had become one of the factory’s signature specialities.
They are beautifully proportioned, confidently decorated and in excellent condition.
Lot 140: A Westerwald salt-glazed grey stoneware Queen Anne ‘Royal’ mug, c.1702-14
This Westerwald salt-glazed stoneware ‘Royal’ mug dates from the reign of Queen Anne, around 1702-14, and is a strong example of early 18th-century German stoneware made for the export market. It is decorated with bold applied and sprigged scrolling foliage and rosettes on a deep cobalt-blue ground, picked out in pale clay and manganese. The body is further enriched with a roundel bearing the crowned initials ‘AR’, giving the ceramic both a decorative and commemorative character.
With its vivid colour contrast and assertive relief decoration, it is a mug clearly intended to be seen as much as used, and is typical of assured Westerwald production of the period. It is offered from a private UK collection of European stoneware.
Michael Bateman’s Picks
We have a strong selection of traditional English furniture in this auction. This George I bureau bookcase from the first quarter of the 18th century is particularly striking. With its mirrored upper section, bold architectural outline and richly figured veneers, it has a clarity and symmetry that feels quite contemporary. In a modern setting it would read less as a period curiosity and more as a statement piece, bringing structure without feeling heavy. At the same time, its restraint makes it versatile. Walnut was the characteristic cabinet wood of the George I period and it brings warmth and depth to a variety of interiors.
Alongside the bureau bookcase, the auction includes a set of twelve George II parcel-gilt walnut armchairs in the manner of William Kent, dating to the second quarter of the 18th century. With their carved scroll arms, padded backs and seats, and cabriole legs, they reflect the solid, sculptural taste of early Georgian furniture. Large sets like this were made for sizeable rooms and formal settings, and they still make sense in that context today, whether around a table or arranged along the walls of a dining room or reception space.
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