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René Lalique had already enjoyed a hugely successful career as a jewellery designer in the Art Nouveau taste before he ventured into glass manufacture and the Art Deco.

Marion Antique Auctions’ (23% buyer’s premium) May 4 sale included a 1913 yachting trophy made for the winner of the Eastern Yacht Club Cruise. That winner turned out to be Elena, a 136ft vessel owned by railroad baron Morton Plant (1852-1918).

A spectacular 19th century Steinway concert grand piano sold for $80,000 (£64,000) at Nadeau’s (23% buyer’s premium).

The Memphis Miliano design movement was born on the evening of December 11, 1980, when architect-designer Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) invited young creators and architects to discuss the future of Italian ‘post-modern’ design.

Manuscript ‘sold in 1776’ at forerunner of Sotheby’s emerges in New York sale

An oil on canvas of a German scene was probably on display at Louis Comfort Tiffany's Long Island home, sold in the 1940s.

Like all artists born in the 19th century, Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) underwent a traditional academic training, studying at the Vienna Kunstgewerbeschule (now the University of Applied Arts, Vienna) from 1876-83.

New Orleans art, antiques and jewellery firm MS Rau is expanding and will open a second seasonal location in Colorado, on June 6.

When James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) arrived in Paris in 1855 determined to pursue a career as an artist, printmaking was experiencing a revival.

An auction of traditional European decorative arts at Sotheby’s New York (20/10% buyer’s premium) on April 16 included this New Zealand Arts & Crafts presentation casket.

The March 14 sale at Willow Auction House (25% buyer’s premium) in Lincoln Park, New Jersey, included a New York private collection of leaded and stained-glass panels.