Chris Holmes Antiques

Chris Holmes Antiques Decorative antiques ranging from antiquities to mid-20th Century design. Showroom and Gallery in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire, UK.

Open weekdays by appointment or catch us by chance! CATCH US BY CHANCE OR MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! We advise calling ahead if you are making a special visit. Chris Holmes Antiques specialises in bringing you rare, unique and beautiful antiques from some of the finest sources around Britain and Europe. First located in Harrogate, Chris has now expanded and re-located to a grand Grade II listed building in Knaresborough on historic Finkle Street (located centrally near the station). Over two floors you will find an elegant showcase of interiors and exterior pieces: from Roman and Greek artefacts to exquisite 16th and 17th Century Italian decorative furnishings; mid-20th Century icons and architectural salvage; alongside contemporary art, paintings and sculpture from Chris Holmes Art Ltd. With over 30 years experience in the antiques trade Chris Holmes Antiques is renowned for his uniquely distinctive identity and individual approach to interiors, inspired by a reverence for the past and a desire to preserve it for future generations. Contact Us:

+44 (0) 7771 962 494
[email protected]


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CATCH US BY CHANCE OR MAKE AN APPOINTMENT! Chris Holmes Antiques and Art
22–24 Finkle Street
Knaresborough
North Yorkshire
HG5 8AA

Good garden sculpture deserves a closer look.Chris introduces this finely cast group of three bronze cranes, influenced ...
03/10/2026

Good garden sculpture deserves a closer look.

Chris introduces this finely cast group of three bronze cranes, influenced by Japanese Meiji-period decorative arts. Individually modelled poses, carefully worked plumage and elegantly arched necks give the group a compelling sense of movement.

The beautifully weathered green and brown patination brings depth to the casting, especially amongst planting. Three freestanding sculptures with real presence — whether beside water, in a courtyard or framed by foliage.

Heights: 92, 74 and 67 cm. Message us for details.

03/10/2026

Good garden sculpture deserves a closer look.

Chris introduces this finely cast group of three bronze cranes, influenced by Japanese Meiji-period decorative arts. Individually modelled poses, carefully worked plumage and elegantly arched necks give the group a compelling sense of movement.

The beautifully weathered green and brown patination brings depth to the casting, especially amongst planting. Three freestanding sculptures with real presence — whether beside water, in a courtyard or framed by foliage.

Heights: 92, 74 and 67 cm. Message us for details.

A striking set of four English buff terracotta garden urns, circa 1860–1880.Boldly modelled as woven baskets, with twist...
01/10/2026

A striking set of four English buff terracotta garden urns, circa 1860–1880.

Boldly modelled as woven baskets, with twisted handles, foliate rims and substantial pedestal bases, they have all the character you want from old garden pieces — sculptural form, weathered surfaces and layers of historic paint.

Unmarked apart from the impressed model number 16, the quality of the moulding points to a substantial British pottery.

A strong, decorative set — and particularly good to find all four together.

40 cm wide × 56 cm high.

01/10/2026

A striking set of four English terracotta garden urns, circa 1860–1880.

Boldly modelled as woven baskets, with twisted handles, foliate rims and substantial pedestal bases, they have all the character you want from old garden pieces — sculptural form, weathered surfaces and layers of historic paint.

Unmarked apart from the impressed model number 16, the quality of the moulding points to a substantial British pottery.

A strong, decorative set — and particularly good to find all four together.

40 cm wide × 56 cm high.

27/09/2026

Some sales mean more than others.

Recently, we had the privilege of finding a new home for this extraordinary Russian Orthodox reliquary cross, made in Yaroslavl in 1791 and carrying within it relics of some of the most revered saints of the Orthodox Church.

Today, more than two centuries after it was made — and after a remarkable journey through the Baltic states, Berlin and eventually Britain — the cross has begun an entirely new chapter.

Sergey and Nikita have very kindly shared with us these incredibly moving films of its arrival in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where it was solemnly received and blessed at the Church of St Prince Vladimir. The community gathered to welcome it, families came together to pray before it, and the cross has now been placed permanently within the church for generations to come.

As antique dealers, we spend our lives looking after objects that have passed through countless hands and places before reaching us. Very occasionally, we are fortunate enough to see where their story goes next.

To have played a small part in returning this 235-year-old sacred object to a living place of worship — where it will once again be cherished, prayed before and cared for — feels incredibly special.

Our heartfelt thanks to Sergey and Nikita for entrusting us with a glimpse of this extraordinary moment and for allowing us to share it.

A remarkable journey. And, we hope, a very happy homecoming.

You don’t often find a pair like this.A remarkable pair of hand-carved English red sandstone urns dating to the Stuart p...
27/09/2026

You don’t often find a pair like this.

A remarkable pair of hand-carved English red sandstone urns dating to the Stuart period, likely from Cheshire or the surrounding region.

Broad shallow bowls, naïve foliate carving, hand-punched decoration and beautifully irregular tooling give them an wonderful sculptural presence.

Almost certainly made as architectural status pieces rather than practical planters, they may once have flanked the entrance, courtyard or drive of a small manor house or country estate.

Over 300 years later, they remain one-off and individual — and just as striking indoors as they are in a garden.

37 cm wide × 33 cm high.

26/09/2026

A fountain from America’s Gilded Age — and what a beauty.

Attributed to J. W. Fiske Iron Works of New York, this late 19th-century zinc fountain has everything we love in garden antiques: scale, sculpture, movement and extraordinary surface.

Three herons rise amongst reeds, rocks and aquatic foliage beneath two broad scallop-shell basins, designed for water to fall from tier to tier.

Best of all, it still retains its separate circular zinc pond basin — a remarkably useful survival which means the fountain can be installed as a complete feature rather than requiring a permanent pool to be built around it.

Fiske was one of the great names in American ornamental metalwork, producing elaborate fountains for parks, estates and private gardens from the mid-19th century onwards. Their catalogues offered clients an extraordinary choice of interchangeable basins, figures, pedestals and sprays, and this bird-filled pedestal closely relates to documented period designs.

The layers of old paint are part of the magic: softly flaking after generations outdoors to reveal glimpses of the blue-grey zinc beneath.

At 170 cm high, with a 150 cm diameter basin, it has real presence without being overwhelming — just as suited to a walled garden or courtyard as a larger landscape.

A wonderfully romantic piece of American garden history.

Available now at Chris Holmes Antiques.

A fountain from America’s Gilded Age — and what a beauty.Attributed to J. W. Fiske Iron Works of New York, this late 19t...
26/09/2026

A fountain from America’s Gilded Age — and what a beauty.

Attributed to J. W. Fiske Iron Works of New York, this late 19th-century zinc fountain has everything we love in garden antiques: scale, sculpture, movement and extraordinary surface.

Three herons rise amongst reeds, rocks and aquatic foliage beneath two broad scallop-shell basins, designed for water to fall from tier to tier.

Best of all, it still retains its separate circular zinc pond basin — a remarkably useful survival which means the fountain can be installed as a complete feature rather than requiring a permanent pool to be built around it.

Fiske was one of the great names in American ornamental metalwork, producing elaborate fountains for parks, estates and private gardens from the mid-19th century onwards. Their catalogues offered clients an extraordinary choice of interchangeable basins, figures, pedestals and sprays, and this bird-filled pedestal closely relates to documented period designs.

The layers of old paint are part of the magic: softly flaking after generations outdoors to reveal glimpses of the blue-grey zinc beneath.

At 170 cm high, with a 150 cm diameter basin, it has real presence without being overwhelming — just as suited to a walled garden or courtyard as a larger landscape.

A wonderfully romantic piece of American garden history.

Available now at Chris Holmes Antiques.

25/09/2026

You’ll want to look closer.

Our new collection is now online — exceptional garden antiques, sculpture, architectural pieces and objects we simply couldn’t leave behind.

Discover the details. Explore the collection. Subscribe for first sight of what arrives next.

chrisholmesantiques.co.uk

A love story painted in pine, dated 1805.This wonderfully evocative Swedish marriage or dowry box retains its original s...
19/09/2026

A love story painted in pine, dated 1805.

This wonderfully evocative Swedish marriage or dowry box retains its original soft blue-green ground, decorated by hand with roses, scrolling foliage and floral motifs in the northern Swedish folk tradition.

The initials and date painted across the front are perhaps its most compelling detail: a reminder that pieces such as this were made for a particular person and a particular moment in their life, rather than simply as decoration.

Its painting relates to the celebrated decorative tradition of Hälsingland, where local and itinerant painters covered furniture and interiors with richly expressive floral ornament during the late 18th and 19th centuries.

There is wear, fading and surface loss, but that is precisely what gives the box its presence. The decoration has mellowed rather than disappeared, leaving something wonderfully atmospheric and deeply personal.

Swedish, dated 1805.

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22/24 Finkle Street
Knaresborough
HG58AA

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