TWO JAPANESE IMARI STANDING FIGURES

Recommended features

• • 

  • Studio visit: Michael S. Smith

    ​​The designer and decorator shows us around his Santa Monica HQ, and enthuses over the forthcoming Rooms as Portraits auctions in London and New York

• • 

  • The tastemaker: Martin Brudnizki

    The world-renowned interior designer selects favourite objects from our forthcoming Interiors sale in London on 13 September

• • 

  • The A-Z of furniture: Terminology to know when buying at auction

    From applique and back splats to veneering and wingbacks, an essential glossary of furniture terms

• • 

  • To gild or not to gild — that is the question

    Artists, patrons and critics have argued for centuries over the right way to frame a painting. Ultimately, it’s a matter of personal taste, says Andrew Graham-Dixon

• • 

  • The blissful intimacy of Courbet’s Femme endormie aux cheveux roux

    Ahead of Christie's inaugural European Paintings auction on 31 October, Arne Everwijn discusses Courbet’s radical nudes

• • 

  • A guide to suzani textiles

    ​​Christie’s Islamic Art specialist Xavier Fournier explains all you need to know about these exquisite embroidered panels​