International (print edition)

With options to sell at regular intervals in North America, Europe, Hong Kong or China, the major auction houses and their vendors take a global view of the Asian art market.

Mid March in Manhattan is when the art market turns its cultural and commercial face east. This is the first of two New York Asian auction series (the other is in September), but what distinguishes the spring event, dubbed Asia Week New York (AWNY), is the input of dealer exhibitions.

As well as the ‘big three’, a clutch of other US salerooms will be holding specialist Asian art sales in mid March.

Morphy Auctions’ March 1-2 Premier Firearms Sale in Denver, Pennsylvania, includes various other militaria categories, such as edged weapons.

A signed and inscribed first edition of F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has hopes of selling for as much as $100,000 in Heritage Auctions’ Rare Book auction on March 7 in New York.

English furniture, works of art and decorations of the most traditional kind were the object of a 365-lot, single-owner sale held by Doyle (25/20/12.5%) buyer’s premium in New York.

The entire contents of a Bordeaux town house are to be offered for sale in the city by Briscadieu on March 3.

An oil on canvas by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (Seville, 1617-82) which has recently been examined and published by Dr Benito Navarrate Prieto, and incorporated into the body of Murillo’s work, is a highlight of the next paintings auction at Ansorena, Madrid, on March 6-8.

Among the lots offered in the March 9 Books and Manuscripts auction at Bonhams New York is an Isaac Newton work now with parallels to the rather more modern Harry Potter books.

Among the most popular of the collectable bronze and ivory figures created by the Paris-based sculptor/designer Demêtre Chiparus are his models of dancers.

When Bill Kime, senior decorative arts specialist at the Waddington’s (20% buyer’s premium) saleroom, was contacted early last year by a couple from British Columbia about selling their collection of Martinware, he jumped at the chance.

A selection of stand-out lots in upcoming sales.

An 800-year-old hurdy-gurdy, thought to be the oldest in Europe, features in a collection of 450 musical instruments from a German private museum coming up at auction.

Detailed and dark, the prints of Gerald Brockhurst (1890-1978) offer striking portraits of both the famous and fictional from the first half of the 20th century.

The American West was the theme of a 43-lot, single-owner collection offered as part of the January 17 sale held by Sotheby’s New York.

Bargueño desks, designed to hold documents and money, originated in Renaissance Spain and remained popular through the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.

Asian art sales are always unpredictable, more often than not in a positive sense.

Drawings fair now also includes paintings and sculpture to complement the core focus...

For Master Drawings New York this year, London dealer Martyn Gregory is focusing on one female artist and her output during her extensive (and, for the time, very intrepid) travels around the world.

An auction series devoted to Old Master paintings, drawings and works of art has long been a feature of the first month of the year in New York for Sotheby’s and Christie’s.