Dear Friends
Welcome to our March newsletter.
With Spring around the corner and with it hopefully some much needed respite from these atrocious weather conditions. Storms Ciara and Dennis the menace have certainly left a trail of misery and destruction in their wake across the UK, whilst much further afield can you begin to imagine the devastation caused by the Australian bush fires, such a tragedy for the people and coupled with the loss of millions of animals, apparently 30% of the Koala population have been wiped out, the highlights on tv were heart breaking, Is it natural weather patterns or global warming, opinion still remains divided but evidence certainly points to the latter, and its vital that we all do our bit to try and help.
Fortunately as antiques and art dealers we are in a very green industry where passing down antiques & works of art from generation to generation will undoubtably help to slow down mass production of modern tat, and with it the significant movement of goods across vast oceans and in the sky. It feels at long last that the younger generation are catching on to the fact that not only are antiques green, but they represent incredible value and come with a much longer shelf life than certain famous “flat pack” brands.
In our daily lives we are experiencing a seismic change and it is to be encouraged, as a family we pick up paper bags for fruit and veg by shopping locally at farm shops wherever possible, we actively recycle on a daily basis, we no longer eat meat, and as if by some miracle Mrs Sly has even cut down the washing machine and dishwasher days, undoubtably all little changes that will help. On the flip side I drive a big diesel car to comfortably cover the thousands of miles of travel a year that this industry requires, and still seem trapped by many of life’s other apparent must haves, so are we as a family carbon neutral, I doubt it very much, but at least we are listening, watching and talking about it, and that has to be a good thing.
In the enamel section of our gallery I would like to draw your attention to these highly decorative Cloisonné enamels by the Ando company, a perfect opportunity to bring the Springtime feeling into your home.
In our members area this month we have opted to feature this stunning Silvered bronze Okimono of a Snow Egret, the fine quality Bird fitted upon its original naturalistic carved wood base is signed by the highly regarded artist Hidenao, a specialist in Bird okimono during the Meiji period, it has arrived to us direct from a UK Gentleman’s collection;
| You may handle this Bird and many other fine Japanese works of art at our first event of the year in the stunning setting of Wilton House, Ryan and I look forward to seeing many of you there, if you require complimentary tickets please e-mail steve@steveslyjapaneseart.com |
Finally for this month I am delighted to report further growth in the dealer base at 2Covet.com with Asian art specialists from galleries in London and an antique furniture and works of art specialist from the north of England, all subscribing to our vision for a high quality dealer led marketplace.
Please take the time to have a look around and hopefully find something you covet at 2Covet
