Rare objects of beauty for everyone to see
THE country’s leading private art galleries, antique shops and jewellery stores, stocked to the rafters as they tend to be with objects that are beautiful, rare and pricey, can be intimidating places if you just fancy a browse. Enduring the gaze of a sales assistant who knows you have no intention of buying anything is hardly the most edifying thing.
That’s one of the things that Masterpiece London is designed to solve. The selling exhibition, which made its debut last year in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, is a celebration of beauty, rarity and craftsmanship, and a much more approachable way to experience fine objects than a snooty Mayfair salon. It returns next week, opening on Thursday.
“The idea is that it’s the best of the best, but it’s for the non-expert, the connoisseur and the collector alike,” says founder and chairman Thomas Woodham Smith. Last year, 118 dealers, shops and producers exhibited their wares, a number that has risen to 150 this year. Faberge jewellery, antique English furniture, Bugatti cars, plenty of fine art and even a Spitfire fighter plane will be on show, most of it for sale.
“A lot of people have felt that decorative and fine art has a decreasing relevance to the modern age, but I think it does have relevance,” says Woodham Smith. “At Masterpiece you see both antiques and new creations, and it gives the present context – the emphasis is on the past and the future, and they both reflect each other.”
Even if you don’t fancy splurging in ultra-expensive pretty things, you can indulge in other ways. Caprice Holdings are providing the food, with Harry’s Bar on hand to run the cocktail bar and Ruinart champagne doing tasting sessions.
Timothy Barber
30 June-5 July, South Grounds, Royal Hospital Chelsea. www.masterpiecefair.com