Sotheby's

A £1.2m house record at Dreweatts was the highlight of the recent round of UK Asian art sales.

Underlining the recovery of the post-covid art market, at the very top-end at least, the latest series of 20th and 21st century auctions in New York posted a record total for a flagship auction fortnight.

A soapstone seal used by the emperor Qianlong to express his approval of paintings and calligraphy in the imperial collection sold at auction in Hong Kong for HK$131m (£13m) on April 29.

Letter to adviser in 1592 underlines her frustration at the French king’s policies

Street view by British artist offered in Orientalist sale sells at four times estimate

The sale of Important Chinese Art at Sotheby’s on May 11 includes this monumental Kangxi famille noire vase estimated at £220,000-280,000.

It was a white-glove result for the sale of works from the collection of André Mourgues at Sotheby’s Paris (25/20/10.9% buyer’s premium plus 1% overhead premium) where the 79 lots raised a premium-inclusive total that was just a shade under €10m.

An Isnik fritware tile familiar to ATG readers made its second visit to the saleroom last week.

In the wake of new sanctions on Russia, auction houses Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams have cancelled sales of Russian art in London scheduled for June.

Running to 63 photographs, a virtually complete set of those produced for Carleton Watkins’ 1863 publication '…Photographic Views of the Falls and Valley of Yosemite' in Mariposa County, California featured in a January 27 sale at Nate D Sanders (25% buyer’s premium) of Los Angeles.

A number of UK auction houses have stopped taking bids from buyers in Russia in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

A Surrealist painting by René Magritte (1898-1967) led the latest round of Modern and Contemporary art sales in London.