International (print edition)

Bruneau closes the year with a December 14 sale of Comics and Toys, for which Travis Landry, its director of pop culture, will join forces with ‘event entertainment company’ Altered Reality Entertainment.

A selection of books relating to conjuring dating back to the 17th century is one of the features of the latest Potter & Potter Magic sale to be held on December 14 in Chicago.

A Japanese Meiji period shibayama inlaid lacquer shodana will feature in the Asian works of art section of Weschler’s Capital Collections auction on December 13 in Rockville, Maryland.

A pair of Castelli maiolica plaques will feature in Artcurial’s mixed-discipline sale of furniture and works of art in Paris on December 16-17.

Pictured here is a selection of notable Old Master results from recent sales in Cologne and Munich where international bidders battled with German dealers and collectors.

Old Masters are much to the fore in the calendar across Europe at this time in the auction season.

The Bordoni and the Luini were not the only strong results achieved in the Drouot auction centre in the November sales.

Plenty of opportunities were available to purchase Old Master or 19th century works for more affordable prices across Paris last month. Pictured here are three works from recent auctions.

The Château de Pontchartrain and the Phélypeaux family who lived there for almost two centuries was much in evidence as a provenance in the recent sales in Paris.

The large collection of predominantly English ceramics offered by Stair Galleries from a New York collector included examples of 18th century porcelain from many of the major English factories.

After their intitial interest in Wedgwood, the Starrs went on to collect other examples of early English porcelain, some of which was keenly pursued in Sotheby’s sale.

A more recent purchase for the Starrs was this late-18th century, 10¼in (26cm) high, black basalt two handled amphora, from the section of encaustic-decorated wares that were inspired by classical attic vases.

Another of the highest prices in the Stair Galleries’ sale of a New York ceramics collection came for this Staffordshire rarity.

Plenty of affordable Wedgwood from all eras was available in the Stair sale.

High selling rates at two American salerooms show how the market can absorb traditional ceramics in volume when estimates are realistic

Early-18th century porcelain scent bottles from Chelsea and the St James’s factory have been the object of increasing interest and value in recent years. Some high-flying examples emerged in the sales in New York.

The most expensive piece in Sotheby’s Arnhold sale was a lot that made a dramatic increase on its $4000-6000 estimate. This 7½in (19.5cm) diameter blue and white saucer dish (below) was an early example of blue and white Meissen from c.1721-22 that had Japanese Palace inventory marks.

The Starrs collection at Sotheby’s featured 25 reticulated vases or decorative objects produced by George Owen for Royal Worcester, most them purchased at auction in the early 1980s.

The first incarnation of the porcelain factory in Höchst near Frankfurt existed for exactly half a century. It was founded in 1746, making it the second-oldest producer of porcelain in Germany after Meissen.

Although her career as a photographer lasted only some 16 years, Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79) is acknowledged as a pioneer of the medium, creating a remarkable oeuvre of portraits and other photographic compositions.