Paul, 24, is a junior specialist in the decorative arts department at Christie’s Auction House in London
As a junior specialist, I’m responsible for?
Preparing Decorative Arts auctions. My role is mainly researching, pricing and cataloguing pieces ahead of their sale.
This involves spending a lot of time handling artworks, which can range from a 18th century French commode once in the apartments of Queen Marie-Antoinette to Audrey Hepburn?s hand-annotated Breakfast at Tiffany?s script.
By inspecting and researching these objects close up, I determine whether they?re genuine pieces, adaptations or later reinterpretations of older objects, establishing their age, maker, and country of origin.
This helps me and my team decide if the artwork is eligible for sale, and together we then come up with a fair estimate for which we think the item should sell. Then I research each lot for inclusion in the auction catalogue, also writing an academic essay on its history and ownership.
Ahead of the auction, we prepare a public view of all the objects in our galleries, which involves curating rooms and creating a dialogue between artworks, which is always great fun.
I got my job?
By applying to the Christie?s Graduate Training Programme. I was already familiar with the company, having completed my Master?s degree in Fine and Decorative Art at Christie?s Education.
During my studies we attended many auction previews and met a lot of Christie?s specialists. I was then ...