International

The auction season is only just getting into gear in September but as this is a hectic time of year for fairs and dealers, most auction houses are keen to capitalise on the potential footfall to the Grand Palais and the Left Bank dealers’ trails.

More than 90 exhibitors will gather at the Grand Palais in September for the Biennale Paris, France’s premier art and antiques fair.

All auctions are the same aren’t they? Well not exactly.

Christie’s has reacted quickly to rival Sotheby’s announcement of a new premium structure (ATG No 2306) by increasing its own buyer’s premium.

The Biennale has restructured as the fair evolves into an annual event. ATG talks to chief organiser and SNA president, Mathias Ary Jan, to hear how the changes are not just practical but cultural as well...

As France’s main tribal art showcase, the 'Parcours des Mondes', prepares for its latest staging ATG speaks to Pierre Moos, director of Tribal Art Management, organiser of the event. Moos outlines its origins, his role in its growth and how it has changed since its inception.

Sotheby’s has upped the ante in the digital auction space by scrapping buyer’s premium for online-only sales.

The Chinese auction market is attempting to tackle non-payments with a series of initiatives debated at the Chinese Antiques and Artwork Auction International Forum last week.

After a summer break, the next auction session at Duran Subastas in Madrid on September 21 will feature a special section of 33 lots of Ethiopian art, including intricately decorated wooden crucifixes, bibles, paintings and thrones, all coming to auction from a private collection.

More than 100 lots of robots and space toys feature in Morphy Auctions’ 1700-lot toy and doll sale to be held on September 16-17 in Denver, Pennsylvania.

Large-scale paintings of intimate domestic scenes are unusual in Chinese art. The Chinese export reverse-painted glass painting of a young mother nursing her infant son offered at Northeast Auctions in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, earlier this month is thought to be one of only a handful of full-size versions painted of this once popular image.

A Song dynasty brush washer, one of the few examples of Ru guanyao court ware still in private hands, will be offered by Sotheby’s Hong Kong with an estimate in excess of HK$100m on October 3.

It’s late August and the art market continues its summer slumber.

Dealers and auctioneers are again being targeted by scam guides that seek to extort large sums of money in return for inclusion in worthless trade listings.

The second, and final, instalment of the collection of the Viennese art dealer Reinhold Hofstatter will come up for sale at Dorotheum’s Vienna rooms on September 26.

Music, in printed editions rather than autograph scores, played a significant part in raising a premium-inclusive €1.65m (£1.45m) for the third portion of the Pierre Bergé library to come to auction.