While the market-defining sales of Asian works of art are now held in New York and Hong Kong, the UK still holds its own.

Our selection of lots from six upcoming auctions

The Art & Design post 1880 sale at Duke’s in Dorchester on April 25 included 44 lots of William De Morgan tiles consigned by descendants of Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930), Earl of Balfour and prime minister from 1902-05. He is understood to have bought them directly from De Morgan in Fulham.

Our selection of lots from 13 upcoming aauctions

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 first auctions of the year at Summers Place Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Billingshurst – a live event on March 26 and a sealed bids sale on March 27 – included this pair of rare Portland stone groups of a nymph and satyr by Charles Sargeant Jagger (1885-1934).

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.

Found in a country house in Gloucestershire, this letter written by Lord Byron (1788-1824) to Major John Cartwright (1740-1824) sold for £6000 at Chorley’s (28.2% buyer’s premium inc VAT) on March 20.

A Copeland vase produced to mark 100 years of American Independence was among the highlights of the second tranche of the Flower collection of majolica.

Abell’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale in Los Angeles on April 17 included a spectacular Art Nouveau vase from the workshop of French ceramicist Clement Massier.

The stand-out performance in the March series of Asian art sales was a Qing monochrome clair-de-lune bottle vase offered by Freeman’s Hindman (26% buyer’s premium) in Chicago on March 24.

Turtle soup, which first became a delicacy on European tables with the emergence of the West Indies trade in the 18th century, was hugely popular among the elite of American society at the turn of the 20th century.

As an original Mercedes-Benz 300SL now costs something north of $1m, it is perhaps no surprise to learn that original accessories associated with the Flügeltürer are eagerly sought.

A collection of microscopes and other antique scientific instruments from the estate of Ohio scientist John A Davidson Jr (1939-2023) came for sale at Gray’s Auctioneers (20% buyer’s premium) on April 17.

Among the highlights of Sworders’ (25% buyer’s premium) Fine Interiors sale was a collection of antiquities formed by the late Sir Clinton Charles Donald Cory (1937-2022), 5th Baronet of Coryton.

'A New Chart of History' by the British chemist and natural philosopher Joseph Priestley is considered one of the most influential timelines published in the 18th century.