Sotheby's

Alain Lesieutre was one of the dealers and authors who pioneered the revival of interest in Art Nouveau and Deco in the second half of the 20th century.

The library of William O’Brien, an Irish-born QC and High Court judge in the Victorian era, sold for a premium-inclusive £2.8m at Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on June 7.

A very rare ebonised sycamore and canvas side chair designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh for Kate Cranston’s home sold for $470,000 (£362,000) at Sotheby’s New York last week.

Among the pieces of Fabergé bringing competition at last week’s Russian art sales in London was this c.1909-13 silver vodka cup offered at Sotheby’s.

Not all the clocks that go under the hammer feature in dedicated horological sales. Pictured here is a selection of some recent highlights at Sotheby's auctions from mixed-discipline sales.

“It was one of those eureka moments,” said Rosemary Scott, Chinese ceramics specialist at Christie’s. “My colleague Jeremy Morgan was on a perfectly normal valuation visit when he walked into the drawing room and there, on the mantelpiece, he saw these vases. He couldn’t believe his eyes.”

Regarded by many as Gustav Mahler’s greatest song for voice and orchestra, ‘Ich bin der Weit abhanden gekommen’ was just one of many first-class performances featured in a 53-lot music sale conducted by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on May 23.

By definition ruyi sceptres are highly auspicious objects, favoured for their shape and ornamentation which together represent the propitious expression ‘as you wish’.

Many of the most famous artists and designers of the Art Deco era were employed to decorate the interiors of the luxury liner SS Normandie, a virtual floating palace to that most glamorous of inter-war design movements.

Even in the days of online catalogues, internet bidding and timed sales, the importance of bricks and mortar premises for an auction house can hardly be overstated.

The flagship auctions of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art in New York last week showed a recovery after a difficult 2016.