This week I have a very fine Derby figure for you of a "Ranelagh" dancer from the 1760s. She would originally have come with a male companion - I am still on the look out to find him. Her name comes from the Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea, London. These were the most popular pleasure grounds. If you've watched Bridgerton on Netflix you will have seen the important role pleasure grounds played in 18th and early 19th Century society; it was where eligible ladies and gentlemen woul

The "Grand Tour" inspired tea service I showed two weeks ago was popular - and it is already on its way to a lucky buyer. Today I have another beautiful tea service that is inspired by the Etruscan treasures that became so popular in the late 18th and early 19th Century. Made by New Hall, this tea service is from about 1810 and it is made in the characteristic "hybrid paste" porcelain that New Hall produced: this was a hard-paste porcelain that had been slightly adjusted. It

Spring, so far, hasn't gone as planned. I had expected the joy of longer days and the first flowers to be my main focus by now, but instead the world has taken a very sad turn and all our attention is on the tragedy unfolding in Eastern Europe. But even so... it is still spring, and there are many reasons why we need to honour the beauty of spring, even now, and I would say: especially now! How fitting that in this month's issue of Homes & Antiques I was asked to write about

With the increased interest in history and the visual arts in the 17th and 18th Century and as travel became easier, young gentlemen of means were sent out for what we would nowadays call a "gap year" - although these journeys could last as much as three to five years. The destination was the great cities of Europe, and in particular Italy with its newly excavated cultural treasures. Young gentlemen would spend time in Rome, Florence and Venice and visit sites such as Pompeii