English Furniture & Works of Art

Contact

• London

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    Orlando Rock

    Chairman, Christie’s UK

    Orlando Rock

    Chairman, Christie’s UK

    orock@christies.com+44 20 7389 2031

    Orlando Rock is Chairman of Christie’s UK. He is recognised as one of the world’s leading specialists in the decorative arts, and has been with Christie's for 25 years.
    
    Orlando works closely with the Chairman’s office teams and the specialist departments. Orlando has travelled extensively around the UK working closely with clients, professional advisors, institutions and those responsible for some of the most important historic houses in the country. Formerly Director and Head of Private Collections and Country House Sales, he was the inspiration behind the highly successful Exceptional Sales, now held annually in both London and New York.
    
    Orlando started at Christie's London in 1990, having graduated with first class Honours in History from the University of Bristol. He transferred to Christie's New York in 1998, where he oversaw many historic sales including those from Houghton, Bute and Longleat, to French furniture from the Alexander and Riahi Collection. In 2002, Orlando returned to London to head the newly-established Private Collection and Country House Sale Department. He was appointed Deputy Chairman of Christie’s UK in 2009, becoming Executive Director of the UK Chairman’s Office the following year. In 2012 Orlando was appointed Deputy Chairman of Christie’s in Europe and the following year, International Head of Decorative Arts - before becoming UK Chairman in 2015.

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    Thomas Williams

    International Head of English Furniture & Clocks

    Thomas Williams

    International Head of English Furniture & Clocks

    twilliams@christies.com+44 207 752 3239

    Thomas joined Christie’s in 2024 assuming overall responsibility for English Furniture & Clocks. Prior to joining Thomas spent 13 years at Sotheby’s during which time he was involved in many of the department’s most successful auction sales.

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    Alix Melville

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    Alix Melville

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    amelville@christies.com+44 (0) 20 7389 2226

    Alix joined Christie’s Decorative Arts department in May 2022 as a Junior Specialist working primarily with the English, European, and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art departments. Since joining she has worked on the Exceptional sales in London, Provenance Revealed: Galerie Steinitz and is co-head of the biannual Collector sale series in London. Before joining Christie’s Alix was with another leading auction house in London for three years and prior to this worked for two years as an advisor to a private collector. She holds an MA in Art History from the University of St Andrews with a particular focus on English and European Decorative Arts from Baroque to Art Nouveau. She was awarded the Trethowan scholarship for her undergraduate dissertation where her research was responsible for the re-attribution of two Broadwood & Sons decorated pianos housed in museums in London and Birmingham, historically attributed to the artist Edward Burne-Jones, to the lesser known female artist Kate Faulkner. After graduation she moved to Italy where she completed the postgraduate certificate program in Art Crime and Cultural Heritage Protection with the Association for Research into Crimes Against Art. She also holds a Diploma in Art Profession Law and Ethics from the Institute of Art and Law in London.

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    Benjamin Berry

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    Benjamin Berry

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    bberry@christies.com+44 (0) 20 7389 2775

    Benjamin joined Christie’s Decorative Arts department as a Cataloguer in 2021 and has worked on the biannual Collector sales as well as contributing to the phenomenal success of the sale of the collection of Hubert de Givenchy in June 2022 and the London Exceptional Sale in July 2022. Enthused by history and research, Benjamin works primarily with the English, European, and 19th Century Furniture and Works of Art departments. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Classics and German from Oxford University and prior to joining Christie’s worked with museums and auction houses in the UK and Germany.

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    Thais Hitchins

    Cataloguer

    Thais Hitchins

    Cataloguer

    thitchins@christies.com+44 (0) 7771380779

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    Sale Enquires The Collector

    Sale Enquires The Collector

    TheCollectorNY@christies.com

  • 

    Sale Enquires

    The Collector: London

    Sale Enquires

    The Collector: London

    CollectorEnquiries@christies.com

• New York

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    William Strafford

    Deputy Chairman, Senior International Specialist

    William Strafford

    Deputy Chairman, Senior International Specialist

    wstrafford@christies.com+1 (212) 636 2348

    Will Strafford, Senior International Specialist, European Furniture and Decorative Arts, has been based in New York since 2003 and was head of the European Furniture department from 2003-2012. Prior to that he ran the European Furniture sales in Christie’s King Street from 1999-2002 and worked as a European Furniture specialist in Christie’s New York from 1993-1999. The landmark sales he has worked on include Works of Art from the Wernher Collection (2000), the Collection of the Late Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild (2000, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (2000), the Doris Duke Collection (2004), the Partridge and Segoura sales (2006) , the Van Cliburn Collection (2012), the Collection of Djahanguir Riahi (2012), the Peggy and David Rockefeller Collection (2018), and the Desmarais Collection (2019). Mr. Strafford has a degree in English and History of Art, and more than thirty years of experience in the auction business.

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    Allison Cox

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    Allison Cox

    Head of Sale, Associate Specialist

    acox@christies.com+1 (212) 484 4813

    Allison Cox is an associate specialist in English Furniture and Decorative Arts in New York. She holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in History from the Johns Hopkins University where she concentrated on social and cultural histories, as well as material culture studies. She received her master’s degree with distinction in Museum & Artifact Studies from Durham University in the United Kingdom. Prior to joining Christie’s, she was with another international auction house in New York. She is also a member of the Furniture History Society and the Georgian Group.