The catalogue had suggested the pair of urns, embellished with serpents and lions, were hand-carved during the reign of Louis XV by one of the epoque's finest craftsmen. Taylor Thomson, daughter of the newspaper magnate Lord Thomson of Fleet, duly paid almost £2m for the pieces after a fierce bidding contest which thrilled the art world. However, 10 years on, Miss Thomson is claiming in court that the urns are nothing more than copies created out of cheap kitchen bowls used to grind cooking ingredients. In a case which could transform the way antiques and art are sold, Miss Thomson is suing Christie's, who organised the sale, and the seller, the Marquess of Cholmondeley. The high court in London heard yesterday that the urns were among family treasures sold in December 1994 by the young marquess, the lord great chamberlain of England, to help meet the costs of the family's seat, Houghton Hall in Norfolk. At the same auction a two-sided Rubens sketch went for £1.76m while a Jean-François de Troy oil painting fetched £3.85m. But most interest focused on the gilt-encrusted artworks. Lot 56 was, according to the catalogue, "a pair of Louis XV porphyry and gilt-bronze two-handled vases". They had, the catalogue suggested, been created in around 1760 by one Ennemond-Alexandre Petitot. Lord Hindlip, the former chairman of Christie's International, oversaw the sale as Ms Thomson, 41, who devotes much of her time to her family's passion for art collecting, and the arts patron Ann Getty bid furiously for the urns. Ms Thomson eventually secured her prizes, which had an estimate of between £400,000 and £600,000, for £1.9m. But later experts told Ms Thomson that the vases were fakes, worth no more than £30,000. One of the vases sat close to the judge, Mr Justice Jack, yesterday as Robert Miles QC, for Ms Thomson, described the urns as "inferior objects" probably dating in their current form from the 19th century and made in Italy. He said they was not a "scrap of evidence" they were made by Petitot, adding: "We say there has been a bit of sleight of hand here." Mr Miles claimed areas of the urns were "electrogilded", a process not developed until the 1840s, and said he would present evidence which suggested the vases may have begun as kitchen "mortars" (as in pestle and mortar). The bottom of the vases had been "sliced off like a boiled egg" and covered with cement or concrete. In short Mr Miles said they had a "pretty appalling finish" which did not bear comparison with similar urns in collections elsewhere.

A businessman involved in funding the Notting Hill Carnival has been criticised by race campaigners after calling for the event to be a more "civilised experience". Andrew Morris, who heads the Earls Court and Olympia Group, made his comments during a review of the plans for this year's carnival. Speaking at City Hall in London, he said: "I think it's got to be seen as a civilised experience for all persons. It's got to maintain safety and security." But Jennette Arnold, cultural adviser to the mayor of London, said: "I think it's disgusting use of language and totally inappropriate in this day and age. It's like something that comes from pre-slavery times." Claire Holder, who ran the event for 13 years until being sacked by a new management team, said: "I am shocked at the idea that it should be more civilised. What was uncivilised about it before?" Mr Morris insisted later he had not intended to cause any offence. -Hugh Muirr.