Christies wins £1.9m vase fight

Auction house Christie's today won its appeal over the authenticity of a set of 18th century vases.

Taylor Thomson, who bought the Houghton vases for £1.9 million in 1994, won her High Court action last year after claiming that the ornate urns were not 18thcentury Louis XV works but imitations dating from the 19th century worth £30,000 at most. But today three Court of Appeal judges ruled that the auction house had not been negligent when it dated and catalogued the vases.

Ms Thomson bought the artefacts at auction as part of a sale from the Marquess of Cholmondeley's Norfolk seat, Houghton Hall.

The sale catalogue described the urns as Louis XV vases designed around 1760 for Philip, Duke of Parma or a courtier by Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot.

A spokesman for Christie's said: "The judges unanimously endorsed our conclusion that these magnificent works of art were accurately described by our experts as 18th century and that they were correctly catalogued."