Germany

The vendor of an early 19th century glass offered as part of the February 21-24 sale at Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt will have been astonished by the result.

In 1903, only one year before his death, Emile Gallé was commissioned by the Belgian company Solvay et Cie with the creation of a bowl to mark the 30th anniversary of its factory in Dombasle.

Italian design is in the spotlight at Quittenbaum in Munich on March 19.

Many late 19th and early 20th century art collectors were entranced by Wilhelm Kuhnert’s (1865-1926) realistic portrayals of exotic animals in the wild.

Cologne auction house Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) opened its auction year with a sale of African and Oceanic works of art in Brussels.

Soon after the Italian coin engraver Benedetto Pistrucci moved to England in 1815, he received a prestigious task from William Wellesley-Pole, the Master of the Mint. He was commissioned with the creation of a series of new gold coins for George III.

Among the technically most complex pieces ever created in the porcelain manufacture in Meissen were the so-called 'Schneeballen-Vasen' (snowball vases).

The work of Belgian artist celebrated in his day is coveted by modern collectors judging by latest sales.

Malagan figures played an integral and complex role in the rituals of the tribes of New Ireland, the north-eastern province of Papua New Guinea.

Only a few months after several ornamental pieces of silver by the Viennese designer Dagobert Peche, one of the leading lights of the Wiener Werkstätte, caused a sensation in Düsseldorf (ATG No 2613, the auction house Kinsky (28% buyer’s premium) achieved an impressive result for a work by him.

The decision by Cologne auction house Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) to postpone the sale of Max Pechstein’s 1909 Expressionist work Selbstbildnis, liegend (Self Portrait, lying down) from June to December 1 proved to be a wise one.

A German collector consigned 28 carpets for the November 25 sale at Rippon Boswell (25% buyer’s premium) in Wiesbaden.

While auction prices for works of art from Japan can scarcely compete with those achieved for pieces from China, the sale at Hargesheimer (28% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf on November 30 showed that there is still a healthy market for netsuke.

The combination of a pre-eminent maker and a perfect provenance made a late 18th century pocket chronometer one of the most sought-after pieces at Dr Crott (25% buyer’s premium) in Mannheim on November 18.

By all accounts, the Bulgarian prince and later Tsar Ferdinand I was a passionate railway enthusiast.

A private collector in London had his work cut out to secure a painting on offer for €2000-3000 at Nagel (29.5% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart.

When it was last on public view, at a Berlin exhibition in 1981, the Portrait of a Black Courtier was attributed to the early 18th century Prussian court painter Antoine Pesne.

Once believed to be by Rubens, work hidden away during the war is now thought to be a copy by a pupil

The biggest surprise of Wendl’s (21% buyer’s premium) extensive general sale in Rudolstadt on October 25-28 was the seemingly never-ending exchange of bids for an early 18th century Old Master which had a starting price of €900.

Without doubt, the sensation of the German auction season was the emergence of a sketchbook belonging to the German romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich at Grisebach (32/27% buyer’s premium) in Berlin.