25 BLYTHE ROAD - Key Persons
Adrian Biddell comes to Olympia Auctions with vast experience, having worked for 27 years in Sotheby's, first in the Impressionist department for more than a decade, after which he ran the 19th century European paintings department for 16 years. He also ran Paintings and Fine Art at Chiswick Auctions with great success from 2019 - 2021.
Alexis Newson-Smith has worked with Matthew Barton at 25 Blythe Road since 2011.
Alexis started her career as a specialist at Sotheby's, where for many years she catalogued a broad range of Japanese and Chinese works of art and ceramics.
Antonia Grace joined 25 Blythe Road in 2013.
Antonia has previously worked with a number of high profile art dealers and consultants promoting and selling exhibitions and galleries. Her considerable experience has brought the auctions and other events at 25 Blythe Road to the attention of the national and international media. Antonia has organised a number of events including exhibitions of contemporary art and lectures by our specialists which have raised money for local charities such as Glassdoor homeless charity and West London Action for Children among others.
Arthur Millner held his first sale at 25 Blythe Road in 2013.
Arthur's career started at Sotheby's where he ran their Indian, Himalayan and South East Asian auctions in London.
Arthur has an MA in South Asian Studies from SOAS and has written and lectured on a range of topics in the subject. Recent lectures include ‘Fakes and Forgeries in Indian Art', ‘South Asian Export Furniture', ‘Tiles and Textiles in the Ottoman World' and ‘Early Indian Sculpture and its International Legacy'. He has published two books: ‘Damascus Tiles: Mamluk and Ottoman Architectural Ceramics from Syria', (Prestel, 2015), and ‘Indian Tiles: Architectural Ceramics from Sultanate India and Pakistan' (Prestel 2021). He has also written many articles and book reviews. Arthur vets a number of international art and antique fairs, including Olympia, LAPADA and Masterpiece in London.
Bruce Marchant is a leading expert in the field of collectible Film Posters and Memorabilia and is the third generation of a family of art dealers. He studied sculpture at Camberwell College of Arts, before undertaking a number of private commissions. Bruce first started collecting film posters in the mid-1980's, establishing a gallery in 1991 which has since produced more than a dozen publications and held a number of exhibitions. Bruce co-curated an exhibition of 20th Century Cinema Posters for the Suntory Museum in Osaka, Japan, which then went on to two further museums in Japan. Bruce frequently consults with clients on forming collections and archiving them. In addition to this work with private clients, he has worked with a number of institutions, including the Library of Congress, U.S.A, and the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences.
Charles Webb has worked with Thomas Del Mar at 25 Blythe Road since 2013.
Charles's interest in uniform started when he was at school and continued through his degree in Modern History at Oxford and his career in the army. On leaving the army, he joined the Militaria department of Christie's South Kensington, which was shortly afterwards transferred to Spink & Son. Charles has overseen the sale of a number of distinguished collections and rarities, including a hatchment from Lord Nelson's funeral car, the coronet and coronation robe of the Duchess of Connaught, a presentation sword to King Zog of Albania, a helmet of the Madras Horse Artillery, and the massive Goiris-Verhoef Collection of European Militaria.
He became a Military Knight of Windsor in 2004 and lives in Windsor Castle.
Charlotte Norman-Butler joined Olympia Auctions in 2020. Charlotte has a BA in Philosophy and French from Wadham College, University of Oxford and a MLitt. degree in History of Art from Christie's Education, London. Charlotte started her career in the art world at Christie's South Kensington in the Watercolours, Drawings and Maritime Pictures' Department before working for an Antiquarian Book dealer. Charlotte was called to the Bar in 2014 and worked as a Criminal Barrister before returning to the art world.
Job Titles:
- Accountant
- Chartered Management Accountant
Chris Ferdinando joined Olympia Auctions at the beginning of 2020. Chris is a Chartered Management Accountant and a transformational business leader who brings in years of experience in Corporate Finance and Administration. In his heyday, Chris competed in Athletics at an International level, and is now a keen sports enthusiast.
Gregory Irvine has worked with Olympia Auctions since 2022.
Gregory was formerly Japan curator at the British Museum, and then Senior Curator, Asian Department at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. He now holds the position of Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the V&A. As a curator, Gregory was principally responsible for the collections of Japanese metalwork including arms, armour and cloisonné enamels, and he continues to provide expertise in these areas. His research continues into enamels, collecting and exhibiting Japanese art in the UK and at International Exhibitions, and the changing western perceptions of Japanese art during the Meiji and Taishō periods. He retains strong worldwide links with museums, and collections held both privately and in universities. He provides curatorial advice and expertise to UK, European, Japanese and American museums, as well as lecturing in the UK, Europe, Japan and the USA for specialist and general interest groups.
Gregory's work has been widely published and includes: Meiji, Splendors of Imperial Japan, 1868-1912, Musée des Arts Asiatiques-Guimet, 2019 ; Namikawa Yasuyuki and Japanese Cloisonne. Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, 2017; Beyond Imagination: Treasures of Imperial Japan from the Khalili Collection 19th to early 20th century, Moscow Kremlin Museums, 2017; Japanese Art and Design, V&A Publishing, 2016; The Dresden State Art Collections: collecting Japan in the 19th Century, Arts of Asia, 2014; ‘Diplomatic Gifts of Japanese Arms and Armour in the Nineteenth Century' in East meets West, Diplomatic Gifts of Arms and Armour between Europe and Asia, Royal Armouries, 2014; Japonisme and the Rise of the Modern Art Movement: the Arts of the Meiji period, Thames and Hudson, 2013; Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, V&A Publishing, 2011; ‘Collecting Japanese arms and armour: a European perspective with an emphasis on the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum' in Oriental Art, Volume LV, No. 1, 2005; Guide to Japanese Art Collections in the UK, Hotei Publications/Japan Society, 2004; ‘The Japanese Sword' in Orientations, Vol. 32, No.9, November 2001; and The Japanese Sword, the Soul of the Samurai, V&A Publications, London, 2000.
Harry Moore-Gwyn studied at Oxford University and Christie's Education before gaining a place on the Graduate Trainee scheme at Sotheby's London. He has served as chairman of the picture vetting committee for the Winter Olympia Fair and was on the advisory committee for the Works on Paper Fair.
He has also written extensively on art, publishing catalogues on (amongst others) Sir George Clausen, Josef Herman, Sir William Orpen, Rudolf Sauter and Graham Sutherland. His work as a curator has included Kenneth Rowntree (Pallant House Gallery, Chichester and Fry Art Gallery, Saffron Walden) the catalogue of which (also co-written by Harry) was nominated for the 2016 Berger Prize for British Art History. He has also curated: Laurie Lee (Royal Geographical Society for the Works on Paper Fair), Conquest of the Skies (Science Museum (for the Works on Paper fair)) and Walter Bonner Gash (Alfred East Gallery, Kettering). In the summer of 2018 he curated the first major retrospective for thirty years on the British painter Henry Lamb at the Salisbury Museum (travelling to Poole Museum in 2019). His catalogue for the show, Henry Lamb: Out of the Shadows was published by Paul Holberton in the summer of 2018.
Henrietta joined Olympia Auctions in 2019.
Henrietta has a Master of Arts in History of Art and Architectural History from the University of Edinburgh. She previously worked at Sotheby's as an intern in the jewellery department and has an FGA Diploma in Gemmology.
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries
Ian Eaves has worked with Thomas Del Mar since 1996.
Ian's considerable experience started at the age of ten with his first school project on armour. In 1978 he became Keeper of Armour at the Royal Armouries in the Tower of London, a position he held until 1996. Since then he has worked as a freelance arms and armour consultant for a number of prominent institutions and collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Art Institute, Chicago, The Higgins Armory Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Royal Collection Trust, London, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Braziers, London and the National Army Museum, London.
Ian is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, London, has served as President of the Arms and Armour Society for twenty years and was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order by H.M. The Queen for services to the Royal Collection in 2016.
Ian's work has been widely published and includes: Arms & Armour in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen: European Armour, London, 2016; Catalogue of European Armour at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge 2002; The Armoury of the Castle of Churburg, Vol, II, London, 1996, (language consultant); and Armour of the Retinue of William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, in The Olympia Antique Arms Fair [Guide], London, 30 September 2017. He has also published a number of articles and reviews for the Journal of the Arms and Armour Society, Apollo magazine, Waffen- und Kostümkunde, Burlington Magazine, Council for British Archaeology and Livrustkammaren.
Janet Rady holds a Masters Degree in Islamic Art History from the University of Melbourne, and a BA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
Janet has extensive industry experience, spanning over thirty-five years from her time at leading auction houses and major commercial galleries including running the Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art and African Art department at Chiswick Auctions from 2020 - 2023.
Janet is in charge of two African and Middle Eastern Art Auctions a year, in the spring and autumn.
Jonathan Hills originally trained as a general valuer with an auction room in his native Suffolk but in 1987 he moved to West Sussex and joined Sotheby's as a valuer at their Country House auction rooms in Billingshurst. Coming from a horological family and with an interest in clocks, Jonathan was made Head of Clocks at Sotheby's in Sussex in 1992. In 2002 he moved to Sotheby's Olympia and in 2006 to New Bond Street where he remained as a Director and senior clock specialist until the beginning of 2024. An undoubted highlight of Jonathan's career at Sotheby's was his involvement in the sale of the collection of the late Dr George Daniels. Jonathan is a Past Master of the Worshipful Company of Clockmakers, a member of the British Horological Institute and a member of the Antiquarian Horological Society.
Josef worked as specialist and head of 20 th Century Design sales at Bonhams (1993-1995) followed by Sotheby's (1995-1997), before forming his own historical design consultancy working with private clients as well as public bodies and museums to establish and develop collections and source and secure important individual items.
Josef comes from a creative art and design background. He graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Architecture & Interiors, going on to work for leading architecture and design practices including Ron Arad Associates and David Chipperfield Architects before establishing his own practice, Huber Architects.
Alongside historical design research and design practice work, Josef has been involved in university-level education, spending the past 10 years until last year as director of post-graduate interior design at Chelsea College of Arts.
Justin has spent over 25 years as a senior jewellery specialist and historian, writing and lecturing on the subject of antique jewellery from the 18th to the early 20th century.
In 2002 he became a Fellow of the Gemmological Association of Great Britain and is also an Associate of the Society of Fine Art Auctioneers and Valuers. In 2011 he was admitted as a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths and soon after was awarded the Freedom of the City of London. He holds a degree in Modern History and English Literature and a post graduate diploma in Museum Management and Heritage Interpretation specialising in the 18th century Gothic revival and Strawberry Hill.
He has worked for many international auction houses, including Sotheby's, where as a senior specialist and associate director he worked on several important jewellery collections including, The Duchess of Windsor, Daisy Fellowes, Lady Hesketh, Vivien Leigh, the Duchess of Roxburghe and The Late Countess Mountbatten of Burma.
After studies in architecture, Martin Snape embarked on a career in fine art auctioneering, eventually specialising in furniture. Until 2012 he was for thirty two years senior English and Continental Furniture valuer at Sotheby's, Bond Street where he became a director. This entailed preparing and researching inventories and valuations for some of the great collections in palaces, country houses, embassies and other institutions throughout the UK and overseas, as well as involvement with some of the great dispersals such as Thurn and Taxis, Baden, Hannover and Chatsworth. He was also a lecturer at the Sotheby's Institute of Art where he presented courses on aspects of furniture history.
He continues to provide inventories and valuations of English and Continental furniture for various institutions and private clients.
Maryam Daoudi is an assistant and junior cataloguer in the British and Continental Paintings and Works of Art department, and the Modern and Contemporary Middle Eastern Art and African Art department. Maryam started her journey in the arts working in commercial and non-profit cultural organisations with a focus on Contemporary Art. She held an internship at Olympia Auctions and subsequently worked at Chiswick Auctions in both the Modern and Contemporary African and Middle Eastern Art, and 19 th and 20 th Century Photographs departments.
Matthew Barton has held auctions at 25 Blythe Road since 2009 when he founded his auction business.
Matthew has over thirty years' experience, having started as a specialist in the Silver department at Sotheby's Bond Street. Beginning with the cataloguing of a large collection of vinaigrettes, he went on to deal with some of the largest and best works by the Royal goldsmiths Rundell, Bridge & Rundell. He left London to run the antique sales of a Nairobi based auction business and then spent two years as a freelance valuation specialist in silver and works of art on the West Coast of America. Returning to Sotheby's in 1996, he became a Deputy Director, heading their Olympia Valuations department. Subsequently, as a Director of Lyon & Turnbull South, Matthew continued to focus on the fields of silver, vertu and works of art.
Max Rutherston has specialized in Japanese works of art for 26 years, and netsuke for the last 16. Over his career he has run the Japanese department at Sotheby's as well as the Japanese side of Asian Art dealers Sydney L Moss. He was Chairman of Asian Art in London for four years and is currently chairman of the Japanese vetting committee of the Masterpiece fair. He is a regular author of articles on netsuke, and has lectured at home and abroad in Russian, Italian and French..
Nicholas has worked in the London fine art market for over thirty years. For most of that period his focus has been on the arts from India and the Islamic world. He has worked as an auction house specialist at Sotheby's, where he became the Head of the Islamic and Indian Art Department.
Nicholas took an MA in Islamic and Indian Art and Archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, and has contributed articles and entries to a number of exhibition catalogues relating to this field.
Job Titles:
- Consultant for Matthew Barton and for Olympia Auctions
Job Titles:
- Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors
- Specialist
Philip Howell has worked with Matthew Barton at 25 Blythe Road since 2011.
Phil has been a specialist ceramics valuer and auctioneer for most of his career including thirty years at Sotheby's, where he was head of the European Ceramics and Glass department. Phil oversaw a number of flagship sales including The Chatsworth House attic sale, The Sir Gawaine & Lady Baillie sale of 18th century Meissen porcelain, The Grant-Dixon collection of 18th century Worcester porcelain, The Lambray collection of English delftware and The Colin Hanley collection of 18th century teapots.
Phil is a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors and has served on the Vetting Committee at the London Olympia Antiques Fair.
Sachiko Hori is widely recognised as one of the leading commercial experts in the field of Japanese art.
Born in Japan and educated at Kobe College in Nishinomiya, Japan, she started her career in 1993 working as a specialist in the Japanese and Korean Art Department at Christie's London and subsequently, at Christie's New York. In 1999, Sachiko joined Sotheby's as a Vice President and a lead specialist in Japanese art before forming Sachiko Hori Fine Art in 2009 and working as an independent consultant and specialist in Japanese art.
Sarah Perillo specialises in operations and planning. Born in New Zealand, Sarah has experience in operations, planning and research in the Pacific, Asia, Europe and the UK. Sarah has a Masters in Botanical Taxonomy from Queen Mary University, London.
Simeon Beever joined Olympia Auctions in 2019. Simeon has an honours degree in History from the University of London, having specialised in the English Late Medieval and early Tudor periods. A former employee of Sotheby's, Simeon spent more than a decade working as a Primary School teacher before re-joining the auction world here at Olympia Auctions.
Stephen graduated with a first-class degree in 'Fine Art Valuation' at Southampton in 1997. He has over 25 years' experience in the Chinese Art field starting his career with Phillips, then Bonhams and for the past 17 years in the Chinese Department at Sotheby's Bond Street, latterly as a Director.
Thomas Del Mar founded the saleroom at 25 Blythe Road in 2007, now Olympia Auctions, having started his own auction business with sales titled ‘in association with Sotheby's' in 2005.
Thomas started his career in Sotheby's Arms, Armour and Militaria department in 1994 where he worked on auctions in London, New York, Sussex and Zurich. In 2005 he oversaw the dispersal of the armoury of the Royal House of Hanover which continues to stand as a world auction record for an ancestral collection. In December 2005 he held his first sale ‘in association with Sotheby's'. Since then he has achieved a number of auction records and notable successes with British, European and American ancestral, institutional and private collections.
Thomas continues to work as a consultant to Sotheby's Worldwide on antique arms, armour and militaria.He is a member of the Meyrick Society, the Arms and Armour Society, the Gesellschaft für Historisches Waffen und Kostümkunde and a fellow of the British-American Project.Thomas sits on the vetting committee of the Olympia Art and Antiques Fair and is the co-founder of the Antique Arms Fair at Olympia.