International

The Bavarian capital city of Munich is an ever-expanding centre of prosperity, home to the carmaker BMW, leading insurers and major industrial concerns as well as numerous IT businesses.

The first round of Munich auctions took place at the end of September and produced several notable results for paintings and sculpture. They include a rare appearance at the rostrum for a work by a Greek artist who studied in the Bavarian capital and a 19th century Orientalist subject painted in Rome by a German artist shortly after a return journey from Greece.

October is Munich is a busy time for art and antiques with two major fairs running concurrently in the city. ATG looks at what will be in store for visitors.

ATG picks out a selection of highlights from upcoming auctions in Munich.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi will more than double the Old Master auction record when it is offered at Christie’s New York next month.

“My lord, because I know that you will take pleasure in the great victory which our Lord has granted me on this voyage, I write you this letter, by which you will learn how… I crossed to the Indies, where I found many islands populated with innumerable inhabitants; and I have taken possession of all of them…”

When the French literature section of the great Bradley Martin library was sold in 1989 (at Sotheby’s Monaco), an 1845 first of 'La Reine Margot' by Alexandre Dumas père was offered as part of a job lot of three of his works that sold for FFr11,500 (£1100).

Irish dealer organises events in Dublin with another coming up next month...

TEFAF’s move onto the New York scene, with a spring and autumn fair in the heart of Manhattan, swings into its next stage with the second edition of TEFAF New York Fall from October 28-November 1.

An unusual medals sale has led to an unusual outcome. An application is to be made to export from Canada the Victoria Cross group won by heroic Lieutenant Colonel David Currie after it was bought by a British private collector.

MADAM – I feel that I must take issue with Robin Butler over his attempt to blame the EU for the lamentable fiasco that was this year’s Lille Braderie (‘Blame the EU for Braderie’, Letters, ATG No 2310).

Sotheby’s Hong Kong autumn series posted benchmark sums in two Chinese works of art categories. Records were broken for both ceramics and carved jade.

A 130-lot collection of studio pottery, featuring many of the best-known British names in the field, both past and present, was the focus of Cottone’s (18% buyer’s premium) sale of the estate of Annette McGuire Cravens in Geneseo, New York on September 22.

Italy has approved new laws relaxing the country’s art export regulations.

The Master Drawings New York (MDNY) initiative has expanded its brief for 2018 to include painting and sculpture dealers among its 30 participants for the first time.

Bibliomania has been running for three years at the Espace Champerret in the 17th arrondissement in Paris. The biannual fair draws around 100 exhibiting dealers from across Europe (including Pablo Butcher from Oxford).