Sotheby's

A political cartoon showing the face of Margaret Thatcher emerging from the side of her handbag was one of the top lots at the Sotheby’s London auction of Gerald Scarfe’s drawings this week.

Christie’s Old Masters evening sale on July 6 will be led by Francesco Guardi’s 'The Rialto Bridge with the Palazzo dei Camerlenghi' which is expected to fetch more than £25m.

Eighty-six lots of ceramics by Pablo Picasso come up for sale on April 10 in Sotheby’s annual dedicated auction in London.

An exceptional Xuande mark and period ‘fish pond’ bowl, trumpeted by Sotheby’s as among the greatest examples of early Ming blue and white porcelain in private hands, sold in Hong Kong for HK$229m (£22.9m) on April 4.

A large, late masterpiece by JMW Turner (1775-1851), one of few such works still in private hands, appears at Sotheby’s this July with an estimate of £15-25m.

The collection of 33 'La Tauromaquia' prints, to be offered at Sotheby’s Prints & Multiples sale in London on April 4, carries an estimate of £300,000-500,000.

Ex-Sotheby’s worldwide head of Contemporary art Cheyenne Westphal is starting her new role at Phillips this week.

The latest series of Impressionist & Modern and Contemporary art auctions in London showed a dramatic improvement on the equivalent sales last year and the overall premium-inclusive total represented a record in terms of sterling.

A snowstorm expected to hit New York over the next 24 hours has led to changes to ‘Asia Week’ auctions scheduled for this week.

A rotund Boris Johnson in a polka-dot clown outfit; Barack Obama in a Superman costume getting clobbered by a giant fist; the naked figure of George Bush crouched in the grass like an ape – these are among the illustrations to come under the hammer at Sotheby’s upcoming sale of works by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe.

A shimmering floral landscape by Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) was knocked down at £42.5m at Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist & Modern art in London on March 1.

Sotheby’s returned to profit in the fourth quarter of 2016, attributing this to improved commissions and growing market confidence, though sales for 2016 overall were down.

A selection of Ming dynasty objects are to be offered for sale at Sotheby’s New York next month.