Germany

Sometimes there is no need for hyperbole: the story behind the auction on March 15 at Neumeister (27% buyer’s premium) in Munich was quite remarkable in itself.

A cast zinc figure of Odysseus is one of the prominent works of art at the Prussian Sale that Lempertz is holding in Berlin on April 24.

More than 2600 online bidders registered for the sale at Van Ham (25% buyer’s premium) in Cologne on February 24-25.

Still Life with Autumn Fruit and Bouquet of Flowers by the Swiss artist Johannes Dünz was probably conceived as one of four seasonal paintings.

For the first time in almost 30 years, Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt was forced to hold a sale without a public view and in an empty room.

The highest price at the sale of Modern and Contemporary art at Döbritz (22% buyer’s premium) in Frankfurt on March 6 was achieved for a mixed-media composition by the German artist Thomas Bayrle.

Tribal art specialist Zemanek-Münster will be holding a spring auction on April 24 in Würzburg.

In today’s world of modern communication, it is inevitable that several Chinese collectors would discover a 16th century Ming Dynasty ritual vessel in the catalogue of a saleroom in a small town on the edge of the Black Forest in the south-west corner of Germany.

In 1935, Swiss designer Paul Fuller, who had emigrated to the US after the First World War, joined the Rudolf Wurlitzer Company as their chief designer.

Although in his day Walter Schulz-Matan was regarded as an important representative of Neue Sachlichkeit and Magic Realism, his market value with today’s collectors is way below the level of many of his colleagues.

When designing his wellknown chairs, the Italian-American designer Harry Bertoia drew on his early experience as a jeweller and sculptor.

Gold coin rejected at first but now identified as once owned by renowned Russian collector

Abraham Louis Breguet is generally considered to be the greatest watchmaker of all times, responsible for numerous inventions, which revolutionised the art.

This watercolour and pencil drawing from 1833 which became the star lot at a recent sale at Nusser (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich had an imperial connection.

One of the attractions of the March 24-26 sale at Siebers in Stuttgart is a collection of 18 paintings by 19th century Polish artists who primarily belonged to the Munich school. The works were the property of a family of textile merchants, who moved from south Germany to Lodz, south west of Warsaw, in the 1930s.

Among the works of art on sale at Hampel in Munich on March 25-26 is a so-called Pendule au Manège from the early 19th century.

Hugo de Groot, also known as Hugo Grotius, was a Dutch philosopher, political theorist and theologian. His publication 'On the Law of War and Peace' in 1625 earned him the status as the ‘father of international law’.

Marie Louise Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (1755-1842) was one of the most prolific painters of her era, creating up to 1000 works of art, the majority of them portraits.

Among the surprises at a Contemporary art sale at Ketterer (25% buyer’s premium) in Munich was the result for a work by the painter-poet Henri Michaux.