Culture Round-Up: The Silver Lining of London’s Art Revival

Charlotte Metcalf is the Editor of Great British Brands and for three and a half years was co-presenter of Break Out Culture, a weekly podcast with former Minister of Culture, Lord Vaizey. She currently podcasts for The Oldie magazine and is the magazine’s supplements editor. She is also a film-maker, author and journalist. She reports regularly for Thomas Lyte on cultural events, exhibitions, fairs and publications that are of interest to the communities of the craftspeople we represent and celebrate, with a particular focus on goldsmiths and silversmiths.

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London thrives as a global art hub with two new fairs rising from the ashes of 2023’s Masterpiece Art Fair.

Every June for 12 years Masterpiece Art Fair drew an enthusiastic international art crowd to Chelsea’s Royal Hospital for its bountiful display of treasures from round the world. Then in January 2023, due the brutal combination of Covid and Brexit, it was announced the fair was cancelled. It was a shock that threatened to unseat London as an international fulcrum for contemporary art and design.

So, it’s heartening that the baton has been passed on to and firmly gripped by two newer fairs, Eye of the Collector and the Treasure House Fair, both started by people closely involved with Masterpiece. Taking in place in Chelsea at the end of the month, both are pledging to offer even more interesting and immersive voyages of discovery into the world of rare beautiful objects, art, design and antiques.

(Above image: Nazy Vassegh, Founder of the Eye of the Collector, Image courtesy of Alex Board)

Eye of the Collector

Nazy Vassegh, CEO of Masterpiece for four years, founded Eye of the Collector, now in its fourth edition, as an art platform and fair that offers a curated presentation of art and collectible design in beautiful architectural surroundings. Previously it was held in the at the historic 2 Temple House on the river but this year it moves to the 1859 Grade II listed Garrison Chapel at Chelsea Barracks. The Romanesque-Byzantine style chapel, deconsecrated in 1990, provides an ideal setting for the works Nazy has selected. This year, to add a fresh perspective, there is a greater emphasis on international art, with galleries from Europe, the Middle East and Asia participating for the first time.

For anyone interested in silver and beautiful metalwork, two exhibitors will be of particular interest, Based Upon and Three One Four Studio, both challenging the boundaries of where art and functionality collide. Based Upon’s innovative and distinctive resurfacing techniques were used to clad the walls of major restaurants and hotels, from Nobu on Park Lane to Gordon Campbell Gray’s hotel in Beirut. It continues to bring its techniques to wrestle metal and other materials into gigantic, beautiful forms like its ‘Ribbon’ series of bars, reception desks, banqueting tables and wall installations, sought out by international clients with big enough palaces, yachts and mansions to house them. On display at Eye of the Collector will be its piano, ‘Twist/D’, representing an exploration of the synthesis of form, function and experience, and an experimental collection of four ‘Glyphs’, smaller talismanic bronzes.

(Above image: “TWIST/D” Piano by Based Upon, Image Courtesy of Based Upon)

Three One Four is also known for pushing the boundaries of design, traditional craft and state-of-the-art production and specialises in custom-designed functional art. It will be showing some of its signature designs similar to its ‘Bust’ coffee table. The team utilise in-house state-of-the-art machinery and tooling to interchange materials seamlessly and adjust scale and size.

Treasure House Fair

Alongside Eye of the Collector, Treasure House Fair, now in its second year, is running until the 2nd July at Chelsea’s Royal Hospital, with 70 galleries from round the world participating. It was founded in 2023 by Thomas Woodham-Smith and Harry Van der Hoorn, the co-founders of Masterpiece, and brought to life within six months of Masterpiece closing. The fair claims to be a ‘Trove of the Rare and the Exceptional’, spanning a broad scope of disciplines from natural wonders (like a 180-million-year-old pregnant Ichthyosaur dinosaur fossil, a 50,000-year-old Woolly Rhino skull, meteorites and rare 100-carat gems) to mankind’s creativity, going back 5,000 years back to early Cycladic sculpture from the recent preparatory works for portraits of our King and the late Queen.

(Above image and credit: Royal Hospital Chelsea)

Lovers of silver will be thrilled to see exhibits from renowned silver dealers Wartski and S.J. Shrubsole among others. Wartski is known as a Fabergé specialist and its connection with the Royal Family dates back to its founding in 1865. Its recent commissions include the wedding rings of King Charles, Queen Camilla and Kate, Princess of Wales. One of Wartski’s exhibits is a silver Fabergé cigar cutter from around 1908, modelled as a carp and bought by 4th Earl Howe, HM Queen Alexandra’s Chamberlain.

(Above image: Silver cigar cutter by Carl Fabergé, St. Petersburg, circa 1908, Image courtesy of Wartski)

Shrubsole was founded in Europe over a century ago before relocating to New York. Silver lovers will be able to see close-up William III silver wall lights by John Barnard, a George II English Silver Epergne by Elizabeth Godfrey, a Charles II silver porringer and stand by John Winterton and a William IV Silver Presentation Shield for the 1st Life Guards by Paul Storr, one of history’s finest silversmiths.

Koopman Rare Art is also exhibiting work by Paul Storr, including a set of eight extremely rare Regency candlesticks and four George III silver wine coolers, that he crafted in 1810 for the Earl of Coventry. Also at Koopman is an elaborately decorative pair of Earl of Kildare candelabra by George Wickes and an intricate 19th-century French figural centrepiece by Gustav Odiot.

(Above image: Paul Storr, Earl of Coventry’s Wine Coolers, 1810, Image courtesy of Koopman Rare Art)

Not to be missed is a display of Japanese silver from Laura Bordignon, who specialises in Japanese art, particularly metalwork and okimono carvings from the Meiji period. She will be showing dsigned silver boxes, vases, shibayama koros (lidded, sometimes handled, urns) and kodansus (small box chests for storing personal effects and incense). There’s also an elegant silvered bronze egret, perched on a tree trunk, by Masatsune.

Adrian Sassoon, known primarily as a dealer and expert in ceramics, is showing some exceptional silver pieces, including brand new work by Hiroshi Suzuki, a master silversmith with work in the V&A and the Msueum of Art and Design in New Work.

(Above image: Hirushi Suzuki, Large Seni Vase, 2024. Image courtesy of Adrian Sassoon)

Finally, given Thomas Lyte is in the business of making many of the world’s most prestigious trophies, don’t fail to visit Wick Antiques to see the craftsmanship involved in creating the 1829 Royal Yacht Club silver gilt racing trophy.

Both fairs are testament to the strength of the British art market – the world’s second largest – and to London remaining a powerful magnet for international collectors. It’s particularly cheering that silver and metalwork are centre stage at the fairs, suggesting an ever-growing fascination with the craft, both traditional and contemporary.

Eye of the Collector: 26th to 29th June at Garrison Chapel, Chelsea Barracks – eyeofthecollector.com

Treasure House Fair: 27th June to 2nd July at Royal Hospital – treasurehousefair.com

Charlotte Metcalf’s Culture Round-Up Series: