LONDON— With some prestigious new exhibitors and a blockbuster loan exhibition from the historic Castle Howard, built by Sir John Vanbrugh in 1699, the 36th annual Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair, taking place in the grand hall of the beautiful Olympia exhibition space June 5–14, looks set for success. The fair, which hovered comfortably in the mid-market for many years, has now moved considerably upscale, with ever grander booth designs and more international dealers.

There are 220 exhibitors this year, some 10 less than the fair’s goal, according to fair director Freya Simms of London’s Clarion Arts, but a very respectable number nonetheless. On the collectors preview day June 4, attendance was up significantly over last year’s figures — 7,549 versus 5,114 — and, if early reports are any indication, buying was up over last year as well.

Adrian Alan of London had the most dramatic booth at the fair, filled with a collection of eight grand pieces that 19th-century furniture maker François Linke created for the Paris Universal Exposition in 1900 in his distinctive style — a marriage of rococo and Art Nouveau styles. An ornate Louis XV-style bed made of kingwood and marquetry with gilt-bronze sculptural mounts and depicting allegories of love was sold on the opening weekend to a client who came to London especially to see it, at well over £1 million ($1.6 million).

Two similarly extravagant pieces by Linke — an ornate bookcase and writing desk — will be offered for sale after the fair ends, says Louisa Alan, one of three directors of the gallery, because they are waiting for clients who are coming to see them. The desk also has a theme of love, while the bookcase has an allegory of culture overcoming ignorance.

Spectacular furniture could also be found at the stands of dealers Pelham Galleries of London and Carlton Hobbs of New York. Pelham showed a £1 million French 18th-century bed that Pelham director Alan Rubin says “has the sexiest story on the show floor.” The bed is attributed to architect Claude-Nicholas Ledoux, who created it for the famous dancer and courtesan Marie-Madeleine Guimard’s bedroom, known as the “Temple of Terpsichore” after her most famous dance role. Rubin says there has been considerable interest in it.

Hobbs, a first-time exhibitor, brought a set of three early-18th-century Austrian maritime oil paintings with polychrome carved relief hinged panels and a rare set of Chinese painted wallpaper, dating from the last quarter of the 18th century, that formerly hung in Colonial Williamsburg.

Doing well across the opening was English oak furniture. Beedham Antiques of Berkshire, England, sold six 18th-century French baroque panels depicting the sacrifice of Isaac, an Elizabethan four-poster bed, and an Elizabethan cupboard, while David Pickup of Burford, England, sold a set of late-18th-century Gothic hall chairs made for an English country house for “just under £20,000.”

The Tomasso Brothers, who were exhibiting for the first time, reported sales of bronze and marble sculptures in the £50,000 range. One of the stars of the Leeds dealers’ booth is a 1702 white marble bust of Prudenza Feroni by Giovacchino Fortini that is priced at £175,000 and had two European collectors interested in it, according to the Tomassos.

Jewelry is always a big draw at Olympia, and this year was no exception. One of the most interesting stands was that of London’s Didier Antiques, which was showing a selection of 20th-century artists' jewelry, including a Picasso brooch priced at £85,000 and a pair of earrings by Jesus Raphael Soto for £22,000. London gallery 21st Century Jewels, meanwhile, had already sold a 1927 coral, onyx, and diamond Art Deco pendant by Rene Boivin for a “six-figure price.”

The Netherlands’s Vanderven & Vanderven Oriental Art sold a Kangxi bowl for £45,000 and a pair of blue and white Kangxi ewers for £60,000, both to English collectors. It was also showing a group of 15 armorial plates depicting the coats of arms of Holland, France, and England and various cities in those countries. The set is priced at £450,000. “Only 23 armorial plates from this set are known,” said director Clemens Van der Ven.