THE ANNUAL PETWORTH PARK ANTIQUES & FINE ART FAIR OPENS FRIDAY 8 TO SUNDAY 10 MAY 2026
The annual Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair returns to the grounds of the National Trust’s Petworth House in the market town of Petworth in West Sussex this May. Opening for the twelfth consecutive year, this three-day event taking place from Friday 8 to Sunday 10 May 2026 will be opened by Lord Egremont, whose family previously owned the property. Now under the auspices of the National Trust, Petworth House holds a magnificent collection of the nation’s art for visitors to the property to enjoy.
This year’s Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair, organised by The Antiques Dealers Fair Limited, features a plethora of disciplines from some 60 dealers gathering in the marquee, specially constructed for the occasion, overlooking Petworth House and its 700-acre deer park designed by Lancelot
‘Capability’ Brown. The fair is a wonderful opportunity to see so many specialities from dealers around the UK congregating from as far north as Aberdeen, as well as some of the nation’s treasures, as there is a reciprocal arrangement between the National Trust and the fair organiser, so that antiques fair ticket holders can visit Petworth House, its grounds and Pleasure Gardens free of charge over the three days of the fair. In return, National Trust members can have complimentary access to the fair on all three days.
There are a number of highlights to be found amongst the variety of disciplines heading to this popular event in West Sussex with many more to be discovered in person. Reindeer Antiques brings a rare example of work by a female cabinet maker, Ann Lee Warner. This early 19th century lacquer cabinet on its original lacquer stand is decorated inside and out with mythical Chinese landscapes,flowers, bamboo and vine leaves. It retains its original brass maker's label which is engraved with Ann Lee Warner Fecit A.D. 1815, priced at £21,000. Continuing with furniture, William Cook always produces a great looking stand, this year with a Regency period mahogany 52 inch centre table attributed to Gillow, circa 1810; a Queen Anne walnut chest on stand retaining the original handles and cabriole legs, circa 1710 and an early 19th century French mahogany console table with the original marble, circa 1820 planned to be on show. Furniture destined for Walton House Antiques’ usual stand in the foyer entrance, which it shares with Cambridge Fine Art, includes a fine George III Regency writing table in the manner of Gillows of Lancaster with fluted legs, circa 1810, with a price tag of £3,450.
Oriental Rug Shop exhibits again bringing a variety of sizes and traditional designs, which work so well with the antique furniture, including a pair of Persian Kashan rugs, signed, approx. 200 x 140cm, circa 1930, £2,250; a late 19th century north-west Persian Kurdish long rug, approx. 325 x 125cm, £4,250 and a Bakhtiari garden rug, approx. 200 x 150cm, circa 1930, £1,750. Three clock specialists are exhibiting at this year’s Petworth Park fair. Frodsham Clocks is joining regular exhibitors the BBC Antiques Roadshow horological expert, Richard Price and also Olde Time. A top-quality piece from Frodsham Clocks is a Mercer 8-day mantel chronometer no: 608, dating to 1926, set in a burr yew case with brass banding signed by the retailer T.S. Cuthbert, Glasgow, £16,500, usually used as an aid to marine navigation. Only a few hundred of these chronometers were cased as mantel clocks to be used domestically; this one comes with its original key.
Other newcomers joining regular exhibitors at this fair include BrecklandAntiques from Norfolk specialising in the Arts & Crafts period; Hispanic Antiques from Sheffield; Muse The Sculpture Company from Gloucestershire;The French Glasshouse from London; and Galerie Betty Charles from Suffolk with modern art (1860-1960) from Europe and the UK, as well as contemporary art by ‘Future Masters’. Breckland Antiques brings an extremely rare silver, enamel and glass inkwell, designed by Charles Ashbee (1862-1942) for the Guild of Handicrafts, Chipping Campden, clearly hallmarked for London 1906, £4,200.
Regular exhibitor Andrew Muir also has an interesting and rare Art & Crafts inkwell beautifully carved and decorated with grotesque sea monsters and with a jewelled finial by Edgar Simpson, circa 1905, £4,500. Grotesque fish and jewelled stones also feature on Andrew Muir’s rare Guild of Handicraft silver toast rack, circa 1905, £9,500. He also brings ceramics and glass by Daum and Emile Gallé. First time exhibitor The French Glasshouse has antique glass, including a rare Argy-Rousseau vase, circa 1920 and a large Daum landscape vase, circa 1900, each priced at £9,500.
Muse The Sculpture Company exhibits large size sculpture for outside and interiors. Callaghans of Shrewsbury returns with paintings and contemporary sculpture after its successful debut in Petworth Park last year. Art & Horse Racing Gallery specialises in contemporary paintings and sculpture, this yeardevoting some of its stand to the work of Czech born Milan Ivanič, who nowlives in the Lake District. Ivanič’s paintings are in private collections in many countries and have been selected and exhibited in several London exhibitions, including The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, The BP Portrait Award exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery and The Discerning Eye exhibition at The Mall Galleries. A sizeable book Fields of Marks about the life and work of the artist can also be bought, priced at £30, with Roz Ivanič signing copies on Sunday, the final day of the fair. Freya Mitton deals in Modern British art. Amongst the art bound for her stand are Yellow Lillies, an oil on canvas signed and dated 1982 by Mary Fedden, RA (1915-2012), £16,500 plus 4% ARR and Ken Howard RA’s oil on canvas board Bathers at Almhros Beach, Early Morning priced at £3,800 plus 4% ARR.
Art on Sarah Colegrave’s stand includes Costume Design for the Ballroom Scene – My Fair Lady signed by Sir Cecil Beaton, CBE (1904-1980), pencil and watercolour heightened with white with provenance from the collection of Roy Astley, £1,900. Following the war, Beaton started designing stage sets and costumes for London and Broadway. His most lauded achievement for the stage being the costumes for Lerner and Loewe’s 1956 musical production of My Fair Lady for which he won a Tony. He then went on to use his designs for the 1964 film adaptation starring Rex Harrison and Audrey Hepburn. Beatonwon the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for this production.
Contemporary paintings by Michael John Hunt feature on The Hunt Gallery’s stand, including a view of Petworth House, which seems to have been painted exactly from the position of the antiques fair’s marquee. Many of his other paintings are exquisitely perceived and crafted viewing a glimpse of an interior. Specialist in early animal portraits, Blackbrook Gallery returns with Harlequin, a chestnut horse, oil on canvas, signed and dated Claude L. Ferneley 1874, £3,950 and another oil on canvas, this time Friesian Prize Bull, which won at the Royal Smithfield show in 1922, signed and dated W. A. Clark 1922. Art & Horse Racing Gallery brings more contemporary animal art, including a bronze bust of Red Rum by Maureen Coatman (British 1919-2005). Over the impressive length of her career, one of England’s leading artists, based in West Sussex,
Anna Pugh’s paintings have been much sought after and are treasured pieces in private collections throughout the world. Rarely have her works come back into circulation. Anna’s paintings have that innate quality of drawing the viewer in to a narrative within the painting; larger than life animals frolic in surreal landscapes steeped with oversized blossoms and capering insects… a glimpse of an unfolding story shows the natural world enlivened by touches of the surreal. A few of these paintings are bound to appear on Art & Horse Racing Gallery’s stand. Animals and nature are very present at the fair in various forms. An early 20th century patinated bronze sculpture of Psyche (Butterfly Woman) signed by Franz Mazura, Austrian, £2,250 can be found on Jacksons Antique’s stand. With
Sarah Colegrave is Tigers, a gouache by Kay Nixon (1895-1988), who lived in India for 25 years, where she illustrated for the Times of India, designed 30 nature posters for the Indian State Railways, painted horse portraits and a mural of wild duck for the Bombay Natural History Museum. She also decorated the interior of a maharajah’s private home. After returning to England, she wrote and illustrated numerous children’s animal stories and painted animal portraits. Perhaps her best-known illustrations were for the Brer Rabbit series and her covers for Enid Blyton books. Petworth art gallery Ottocento continues to exhibit at the fair, as well as opening its gallery’s doors in town. On its way to Ottocento’s stand at the fair is Girl in a Snood, a refined profile portrait reflecting the crisp draughtsmanship and fresh, modern sensibility characteristic of the artist, Nina Hamnet (British, 1890-1956).
Dating from 1930 and with a provenance from the collection of Benjamin David Silverman, it is priced at £15,200. Other Petworth based exhibitors include Vintage Lily and Antiquated, both dealing out of Petworth Antiques Market. Glass of All Ages returns to exhibit glass and pottery, amongst which is a bowl with sgraffito horses by Marianne Starck for Bornholm pottery, £395 and two signed pottery bowls, one featuring trees, £195, and the other oak leaves, £280, by Ralph Jandrell. Antique ceramics can be found with Jacksons Antique, amongst which is a Japanese Meiji period 15-piece cloisonné enamel tea set executed in the Chinese style and richly detailed throughout with gilded interiors and accents, circa 1910, £4,950.
W. Shanshan 珊然軒 plans a special exhibition with a focus on early Chinese sculptures in stones and ceramics with a few rare marble works. One example is a marble Buddha from the Northern Dynasties (5th - 6th century AD), North of China, 25cm high (including the stand), priced at £11,500. During the Northern Dynasties (4th -6th centuries), Buddhism was dominant and Buddhist stone sculptures flourished. In particular, those made in marble were rare and associated with families with higher status, the majority of the surviving sculptures are missing their heads and hands, due the nature of the stone and possible destruction during constant regional conflict during that period. The small and elegant marble Buddha still retains a trace of red and black pigments.
First time exhibitor Hispanic Antiques brings a gilt and polychrome scale reduction model of an arch from the Alhambra, Granada from the studio of Enrique Linares, circa 1900, priced at £1,950. The model features a plaster relief of a window arch with borders of foliate arabesques, arcading, stylised foliage and calligraphy of the repeated Nasrid motto 'There is no greater conqueror than Allah' - Wala ghaliba illa Allah set within a period ebonised frame. There is tiled decoration to the lower half and the base is inscribed No26 Enrique Linares es propiedad. For those interested in jewellery, there is plenty to choose from, whether seeking an engagement ring or something more unusual. From T. Robert, there is a fine pair of 14ct gold Russian demantoid garnet, ruby & diamond Mask cufflinks, circa 1900, £2,850. A fine silver, gold, sapphire, moonstone and jadeite clip brooch, in the form of a naturalistic floral wreath, by highly regarded Arts & Crafts jeweller Dorrie Nossiter (1803-1977), circa 1925, can be found priced at £3,200 from Breckland Antiques. Gråsilver and Dansk Silver by Jane Burgett are two Scandinavian jewellery specialists bringing original Georg Jensen pieces with Gråsilver also producing vintage gold pieces, including vintage Hermès jewellery. Shapiro & Co brings a platinum mounted yellow diamond andtapered baguette cut diamond stone set ring, circa 1990, £19,750. Other jewellery experts exhibiting include Plaza and S. Greenstein & Co. Ltd. An impressive display of silver is coming with Stephen Kalms Antiques. There is so much more to discover when visiting the fair.
Tickets are £10 each (including programme and re-admission) in advance through Eventbrite or on the door. Light refreshments are available in the fair and parking is free for antiques fair visitors right outside the marquee. A courtesy bus runs between the marquee and the centre of Petworth for those wishing to explore all that is on offer in the market town.
