Washington, DC, December 2009—The Washington Antiques Show will feature rare and unusual antiques during its 55th year as one of the premier shows in the country at the Katzen Art Center at American University, January 7-10, 2010. The Show benefits children and families through the Thrift Shop Charities and is managed by the Antiques Council.

This year, 44 high-quality antique dealers from the United States and Europe will offer a wide range of period furnishings and decorative arts, jewelry, porcelains, ceramics, silver and architectural garden accents all displayed in the gallery-like setting of the Katzen Arts Center at American University.

Charles and Teresa Puckett of Akron Ohio always set up an intriguing booth filled with fascinating maps and rare manuscripts.  One of their most beautiful offerings is also appropriate to the meaning and history of the holiday season. A beautiful miniature painting from The Book of Hours entitled "The Flight into Egypt" and dating to 1460-80 depicts Mary seated on a donkey holding the baby Jesus.  Joseph walks beside them as they make their journey into Egypt. The Book of Hours were personal prayer books of a devote and status conscious society and were not only works of art but also cultural documents of their time.

E&J Frankel Antiques, one of the oldest galleries in the United States specializing in Asian Art, will be displaying some very special items from its collection. One of the oldest and most beautiful is a gray pottery Bactrain Camel with Persian Rider, which dates back to the early Tang Dynasty (618-906). A Blue and White Ovoid jar from China dates to the transitional period (1620-1660). This blue and white glazed hard paste porcelain jar bears the "Hundred Antiques" motif, a theme used to venerate the values and arts of antiquity.

George Subkoff, an important dealer in the field of American, English, and Continental furniture and decorative arts of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, will be offering a rare English Regency rent table that, according to the previous owner, was used by Dickens to write on when he was visiting his publishers. The table dates to 1815 and has a label on the back referencing the Dickens provenance. Sure to have a prominent place in his booth will be a pair of Philadelphia classical mahogany lyre base card tables with a Biddle family provenance circa 1815-1820. 

There will be a number of important fine art dealers at the show, among them McNaught Fine Art of Santa Cruz California, a specialist in both European and American paintings.  One of its most striking examples is a North African Coastal Scene, oil on canvas by Alfred Wordsworth Thompson, American 1840-1896. Thompson was an outstanding Orientalist painter who studied at the Ecole des Beaux Art in Paris and exhibited at the Paris Exposition 1878 and the Philadelphia Centennial 1876.

The Washington Antiques Show begins with a preview party on Thursday evening January 7.  Show hours are Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9, 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., and Sunday January 10: 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. 
 
For information on events and tickets, visit www.washingtonantiques.org or call 202-388-9560.