International

About 80% of the global art market by value takes place outside the UK. The largest art market in the world is the US with China in third place (after the UK) followed by France, Germany and Switzerland.

Many more nations have a rich art and antiques heritage with active auction, dealer, fair, gallery and museum sectors even if their market size by value is smaller.

Read the top stories and latest art and antiques news from all these countries.

2746 AB US Heritage Asterisk 1

Original Asterix cover art earns its laurels

29 May 2026

An original piece of Astérix cover art painted by Albert Uderzo (1927-2020) sold for an $360,000 (£267,000) at Heritage Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Dallas, Texas.

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Vanderbilt collection dishes out British treats

29 May 2026

Geneva’s blue ribbon jewellery sales are not the obvious place to find a suite of mid-18th century English silver dessert plates.

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Author’s powers of Persuasion

29 May 2026

Two-in-one edition of the first and last Jane Austen novels had sat undisturbed in a hallway for over 50 years

John Lavery painting linked to ‘Madonna of the Lakes'

Rediscovered Lavery painting found among convent contents to appear at auction

28 May 2026

On June 9-11, Victor Mee Auctions will offer one of the largest convent and ecclesiastical sales ever held in Ireland.

Giambologna sculpture

Giambologna cast emerges at California auction

22 May 2026

An undated cast of Giambologna’s Allegory of Astronomy hammered for a remarkable $500,000 (£367,325) at San Rafael Auction Gallery in California.

Inchiquin Emerald

Hancocks offers emerald from historic family

22 May 2026

A jewel associated with an ancient Irish family has come on the market in London.

Christie’s auctioneer Adrien Meyer

New York series boasts confidence as Jackson Pollock sails to record $157m

21 May 2026

The latest round of Modern and Contemporary art sales in New York showed the top-end of the market gaining momentum with a series of record prices for leading names in the sector.

Egyptian stele

Egyptian stele stars at TEFAF New York

20 May 2026

David Aaron kicked off TEFAF New York with the sale of its star piece, a 3300-year-old Egyptian stele from the reign of Pharaoh Thutmose IV.

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Buyer gets a grip on exceptional Louis XV cane handle

15 May 2026

Among the highlights of the Fine Jewellery sale at Adam’s in Dublin on May 12 was this remarkable Louis XV hardstone, gold and gemset cane handle.

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Bidders battle it out for a marvellous Miklosch watch

15 May 2026

A seemingly never-ending bidding match ensued at Cortrie in Hamburg on May 9 for a tourbillon-watch by the German watchmaker Richard Miklosch (1939-2014) .

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Silver linings as Sir Robert Walpole’s first seal salver sells at $190,000

15 May 2026

Sir Robert Walpole’s first seal salver re-emerged from a century in a US private collection to sell for a hammer price of $190,000 (£140,500) in New York.

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Kutchinsky shines in Stuttgart

15 May 2026

With Sixties and Seventies style again part of the collecting zeitgeist, vintage Kutchinsky pieces are now common currency for the best of the UK’s antique and vintage jewellery dealers and auction houses. However, it also pays to look further afield.

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Da Messina discovered in private collection

15 May 2026

This oil on panel portrait of a saint is an addition to the small number of autographs by Quattrocento painter Antonello da Messina.

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Hondius extras make a world of difference to Mercator maps

15 May 2026

Jodocus Hondius’ additions for his edition of Gerhard Mercator’s pioneering 'Atlas Sive Cosmographicae Meditationes de Fabrica Mundi et Fabricati Figura' made the work one of the most accomplished collections of maps from the early 17th century.

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How bible translations in China spread the word

15 May 2026

One of two translated versions that appeared almost simultaneously emerges in German saleroom

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Museums on the hunt for drawings and works on paper in Paris

15 May 2026

Institutional purchases have become a major feature of the Salon du Dessin works on paper fair

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Letters from French and Scottish queens who shared tragic fates

15 May 2026

The sales at Stargardt (20% buyer’s premium) in Berlin are an important rendezvous for autograph dealers and collectors.

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Moreau festive designs for birth of the Dauphin are now celebrated by the Palace of Versailles museum

15 May 2026

The artist Jean-Michel Moreau the younger (1741-1814) was employed from the 1780s onwards as a dessinateur des Menus-Plaisirs.

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Focus on Murano includes Martens vase

15 May 2026

London dealer Liliane Fawcett, who since 1984 has traded from Notting Hill as Themes and Variations, began acquiring Italian post-war glass just as the secondary market was forming.

Keats' love letters

Keats’ love letters returned to family after theft now come to auction

12 May 2026

A rare group of eight autograph letters by John Keats (1795-1821) to his fiancée Fanny Brawne that had been stolen in 1989 but later recovered are now heading to Sotheby's.

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