Germany

Pictured here are five from a near-complete set of 41 polychrome terracotta figures of the Danse Macabre offered by Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) in Cologne. They are typical of the work of Anton Sohn (1769-1841), who settled in Zizenhausen near Stockach in 1799.

Without the signature and dedication, this crayon and pencil drawing of 'Dorfhaus mit Baum und Randsteinen' (Village House with Tree and Rocks), coming up for sale at Neumeister in Munich on July 16, would be virtually impossible to attribute to its creator.

A selection of early Continental silver from the 16th and 17th centuries was a notable feature of the Lempertz (25% buyer’s premium) decorative arts auction in Cologne.

At the 19th century international exhibitions, the Viennese silversmith Hermann Ratzendorfer (1845-94) gained a reputation for his mixed-media works in the neo-Renaissance taste.

It is thought that the German artist Adelheid Dietrich (1827-91), renowned for her incredibly detailed still-lifes of fruit and flowers, completed only 50 paintings during her career.

The sky was (almost) the limit at the recent sale at Bassenge (28% buyer’s premium) in Berlin when an Islamic celestial globe came up for sale.

It was a visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art sometime in the 1880s that inspired Louis Comfort Tiffany to produce his so-called Cypriote range of art glass.

For 300 years, from the 1520s to the 1820s, the great Gothic cathedral in Cologne remained unfinished – the building overshadowed by a large crane, which for centuries dominated the panorama on the banks of the Rhine.

The sale of Selected Works at Grisebach in Berlin includes this early photographic view of Paris, taken in the 1850s by Gustave Le Gray.

In April this year, the founder of the auction house Nusser in Munich, Ursula Nusser, died aged just 66.

Edvard Munch returned to the subject 'Woman in Moonlight – The Voice' on several occasions.

A memento of the last great age of transatlantic ocean travel can be found at the sale of Peter Karbstein in Düsseldorf on July 11.

Military uniforms reached their ornamental peak in the 19th century Western Europe – with the leaders of the day sharing in their ostentation

Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.

A black chalk drawing of a skeleton drew an extraordinary competition at a German auction house Lempertz at the end of last month. Estimated at €3000-3500, it attracted at least 15 bidders and was eventually knocked down at €420,000 (£381,820) to a French dealer.

A recent sale at Lempertz (25/20% buyer’s premium) was held in Berlin dedicated to works of art from Prussia. The outstanding favourite was a gold and enamel presentation box, a gift from the German Emperor Wilhelm II.

One of the central attractions in Rome is the Piazza Navona and the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers). It was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1650 at the behest of Pope Innocent X.