The Gallery
About Grantwell
A private gallery with a narrow, carefully chosen stock of Chinese porcelain. No premiums, no bidding, no theatre — the object, the price, and an honest account of what it is.
What We Carry
One subject,
chosen narrowly.
Grantwell Arts deals in Chinese porcelain — blue and white, famille rose, doucai and openwork wares — and very little else. No furniture, no paintings, no bronzes. Staying with one subject is the only way a gallery of this size can truly know what it is selling.
Stock comes to us from private collections, from estates, and from the trade. We buy one piece at a time, and we decline far more than we take.
If you are able to visit, do. Porcelain reads completely differently in the hand than it does on a screen, and we would always rather you held a piece before you bought it.
How We Describe Things
Three principles.
Photographed as it is
Photographs are of the actual object, taken in daylight against a plain ground, with nothing edited out. If there is a chip, a hairline, a firing flaw or an old restoration, it is in the photograph and it is written in the entry.
Attribution stated carefully
Where we are confident of a period we say so plainly. Where we are reading the style rather than proving a date, the entry says “after” or “in the taste of” — and that means exactly what it sounds like. We would rather undersell a piece than oversell it.
Nothing withheld
Ask for more pictures, the base, the mark, exact measurements, or a look under ultraviolet light. They are sent the same day, and the answer is the same whether or not it helps the sale.
Good to Know
Buying & shipping.
How to buy
Send an enquiry through the site or by email and the piece is held for you. We accept bank transfer, card and cheque. Nothing is sold until it is paid for.
Packing & delivery
Double-boxed and foam-packed by hand, insured for the full purchase price. Delivery anywhere in the continental United States is included in the price.
International
We ship worldwide. International carriage, insurance and export paperwork are quoted individually before you commit; import duties and taxes are the buyer's responsibility.
Returns
Thirty days from delivery, for any reason, for a full refund of the purchase price. Send it back the way it came and you will not be asked to justify it.
Selling & Consignment
We buy, and we
tell you straight.
If you have inherited a piece or hold a collection you are considering releasing, send photographs — the whole object, the base, and any mark — together with the height and whatever history you know. There is no charge for an opinion.
We buy outright and we take objects on consignment. And if a piece would do better at auction than in a dealer's hands, we will tell you that rather than quietly buying it cheap.
Visit
Come and
handle the work.
Viewings are private and by appointment, Monday to Saturday. Write ahead and the pieces that interest you will be out of the case and waiting.