Europe

Two Qing soapstone seals sold to a Chinese bidder for Dkr1.1m (£130,640), around 100 times their estimate, at Bruun Rasmussen (24 % buyer’s premium) in Copenhagen on November 29.

December is traditionally a month when Paris focuses attention on sales of Asian art, with auctions in the rooms across the city and at the Drouot centre.

This carved wooden figure of Guanyin dating to the Song dynasty (900-1279 AD) will be the headline entry of the Asian art sale to be held by Leclère at Drouot on December 16.

An exceptionally rare, complete copy in a 17th century binding of Hernán Cortés’ Praeclara Nova maris Oceanii Hyspania… of 1524 sold for a six-times estimate €240,000 (£212,390) at Hartung & Hartung (20% buyer’s premium) in its November 6-7 auction.

Described as the ‘Proustian Holy Grail’ by Sotheby’s Paris (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium), one of just five special copies printed on Japanese paper of Marcel Proust’s Du côté de chez Swann sold for a premium-inclusive €535,000 (£471,780) in a sale of October 30.

A red and black chalk portrait of a Renaissance French prince soared to a multi-estimate price of €810,000 (£736,365) when it went under the hammer in Monaco last month.

Plaudits were deserved in Paris on November 27 for Camille Claudel (1864-1943) when Artcurial’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) dedicated sale of 20 of the sculptor’s works were offered direct from her family.

A mammoth skeleton, carved zitan brushpot and gold watch made in London are among the varied lots on offer in upcoming French sales.

Paintings and an unusual form of 17th century entertainment are potential highlights at three Madrid suctions.

A philosopher of mathematics, the human consciousness and language, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was described by his teacher Bertrand Russell as “the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived”.

A mix of surprising and more predictable results emerged in the first round of Old Master auctions in Germany and Austria this autumn.

Among the many hundreds of services manufactured in Meissen, the Schwanenservice (Swan Service) is one of the most exclusive – a fact not lost on today’s collectors of 18th century German porcelain.

When he was tired of his Paris apartment looking like an IKEA showroom and wanting to expand his interest in antiques, Nicolas Martin set out to investigate the trade.

The material connected with William Butler Yeats in the family home of his son, the late Senator Michael, has proved as controversial – and profitable – as the great man’s writing itself.