Europe

A piece of furniture produced for the French king heads back to former repository now open to the public

The 69th edition of BRAFA, Belgium’s longstanding art and antiques fair, starts this month opening to the public on January 28 and continuing to February 4.

It was in the hope of saving on the huge sums spent procuring works of art from abroad that Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Louis XIV’s minister of finance, began inviting craftsmen to work at the Gobelins royal manufactory on the outskirts of Paris.

In one of the last auctions to take place at Drouot in 2023, a newly discovered portrait by Jean-Honoré Fragonard was pursued to €2.5m (£2.17m) at Boisgirard-Antonini (30% buyer’s premium).

Very much the highest price in a recent sale held by Beaussant Lefèvre (28% buyer’s premium) at Drouot was the €95,000 (£82,610) paid for a rare Gallé glass vase.

The extensive auctions at Schuler (23/20/16% buyer’s premium) in Zürich always contain at least one truly spectacular result and the latest three-day sale was no exception.

The work of Belgian artist celebrated in his day is coveted by modern collectors judging by latest sales.

Malagan figures played an integral and complex role in the rituals of the tribes of New Ireland, the north-eastern province of Papua New Guinea.

Only a few months after several ornamental pieces of silver by the Viennese designer Dagobert Peche, one of the leading lights of the Wiener Werkstätte, caused a sensation in Düsseldorf (ATG No 2613, the auction house Kinsky (28% buyer’s premium) achieved an impressive result for a work by him.

The decision by Cologne auction house Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) to postpone the sale of Max Pechstein’s 1909 Expressionist work Selbstbildnis, liegend (Self Portrait, lying down) from June to December 1 proved to be a wise one.

A German collector consigned 28 carpets for the November 25 sale at Rippon Boswell (25% buyer’s premium) in Wiesbaden.

While auction prices for works of art from Japan can scarcely compete with those achieved for pieces from China, the sale at Hargesheimer (28% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf on November 30 showed that there is still a healthy market for netsuke.

Among the star attractions at the 60-lot evening sale of works from the collection of Hubert Guerrand-Hermès (1940-2016) at Sotheby’s Paris was a carved and regilded Louis XVI chair.

The market for Lucie Rie ceramics continues to reach new heights.

The combination of a pre-eminent maker and a perfect provenance made a late 18th century pocket chronometer one of the most sought-after pieces at Dr Crott (25% buyer’s premium) in Mannheim on November 18.

By all accounts, the Bulgarian prince and later Tsar Ferdinand I was a passionate railway enthusiast.

A private collector in London had his work cut out to secure a painting on offer for €2000-3000 at Nagel (29.5% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart.