Christie's

Christie’s says its London spring sales programme is the “strongest it has ever had” despite concerns of a no-deal Brexit.

Pictured here are two exceptional pieces of Art Deco jewellery sold by Christie’s Paris (25% buyer’s premium) for multi-estimate sums on December 4.

A large bronze Cambodian ceremonial bell from the south-east Asian Bronze Age was the top-seller at the Peter Petrou: Tales of the Unexpected auction at Christie’s last week.

A recently released new film about the relationship between Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots, one in which certain historical liberties appear to have been taken concerning the generally accepted belief that the two women never actually met, brings a topicality to a letter offered last month in London.

An unusual Chinese School picture of a 17th century Dutch missionary scene led Christie’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) £2m sale of topographical pictures in London.

A work once said to have “…set the course for the modern world by its effective destruction of the anthropocentric view of the universe” made a rare auction appearance.

Much of the pre-sale interest in the 19th century paintings offered at the major London rooms centred on two landscapes by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium).

Adam Smith’s own copy bearing his simple bookplate makes £750,000 in London auction.

Edward Coley Burne-Jones (1833-98) was the toast of London during the latest Victorian art sales held in the capital, where buyers continued to covet blue-chip Pre-Raphaelite art, market-fresh material – and invest in female names.

For many years New York’s major salerooms mounted auction series of Old Master paintings, drawings and sculpture in the first months of the year immediately following their Americana series.