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Georgina Gough

Having been surrounded by antiques and works of art for all my life, I joined the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1968 instead of studying archaeology as originally planned. At the V & A, I was involved in setting up exhibitions both within the museum and for travelling around the country (mainly to schools and art colleges) and this enabled me to study a wide variety of items from 16th c Italian bronzes to David Hockney etchings, Chinese porcelain to Charles Rennie Macintosh.

A brief change of direction took me fund-raising to the Royal Opera House (lovely) and selling Chelsea properties (not so lovely) before joining the family firm of Ronald A Lee Fine Arts, housed in a quirky former coaching inn in the heart of Mayfair. The company, which then consisted of my father Ronald Lee, his business partner R T (Peter) Gwynn, my brother Charlie and myself, dealt in many areas of the fine and decorative arts with an emphasis on 17th century English clocks, furniture and arms and armour. We enjoyed good relationships  with many major museums both within the UK and further afield and a number of our purchases can now be found in public collections.

In 2004, I was persuaded by the eminent pottery dealer, Jonathan Horne, to help him set up a new City Guild for the decorative arts, which I am pleased to relate is about to be awarded full Livery Company status as the Company of Arts Scholars. It also operates a Charitable Trust providing funds for people and projects connected with the decorative arts and I am happy and proud to say that I am its Clerk. (see www.artscholars.org)