Founder Members

  • The Rt Hon Lord Brooke
  • Jonathan Horne
  • Geoffrey Bond
  • Mark Bridge
  • Robert Brooks
  • Robert Butler
  • Dermot Chichester
  • Mark Dalrymple
  • Anthony du Boulay
  • Michael German
  • Philippa Glanville
  • Anna Haughton
  • Brian Haughton
  • John Hudson
  • Valerie Kaufmann
  • Stephan Ludwig
  • Nicholas Shaw
  • Michael Shortall
  • Kevin Smith
  • Nicholas Somers
  • Kim Tassel
  • Eleanor Thompson
  • Clemens Vanderven

The Company of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors

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The Company of Arts Scholars, Dealers and Collectors is a Guild of the City of London.

Membership is open to those engaged in the study, curation, collection and trade in antiques, antiquities and objects of decorative and applied art. It also welcomes those engaged in the many associated support businesses such as restoration and conservation, insurance, event organisation, tax and legal advice, packing and shipping.

The Company is unique in bringing together such a range and depth of knowledge and expertise. The membership is united in a shared enjoyment of the past and a desire to encourage appreciation and knowledge of the decorative arts, now and in the future. As a result, meetings are not only convivial but always provoke a lively and productive exchange of views.

It is the Company’s aim to sustain and enhance the standing of those employed in this sector by recognising past achievements and by fostering future excellence through scholarship.

These ends are furthered by the Company’s charitable funds which provide a number of educational bursaries as well as supporting publications, exhibitions and other projects.

The Company takes a wide view of the role of the decorative arts in the community, encouraging diversity and good citizenship.

Having been recognised as a Company without Livery in 2010, it is now the Company's aim to progress to full Livery status.

Close Me

The Company has taken as its emblem this marble head of Mithras of about 180-220 AD. It was discovered during the excavation of the late Roman temple of Mithras just off Queen Victoria Street after the Second World War and is now in the Museum of London.

Mithras was a complex cult figure embodying light, truth and regeneration.

To the Company of Art Scholars this emblem represents the history which lies everywhere beneath the surface of the City of London.