International

Charles Carroll’s printed copy of the Declaration of Independence – discovered earlier this year in a Scottish family home – sold at auction in Philadelphia for $3.7m (£2.85m) plus premium.

Old Master paintings come up for sale throughout the year in France but the summer season traditionally mounts a number of dedicated auctions in the field.

Some of the world’s most famous Old Master paintings have been highly regarded for many centuries, carrying a reputation that has led to them being replicated and copied by other artists – sometimes soon after their creation.

Some lots in a recent Chicago sale were quite enormous – like a near-complete run of Limited Editions Club publications from the years 1929-2010.

Stuttgart auction house Nagel called it ‘beyond doubt one of the most important gilt-bronzes to appear on the market for many years’ – and the monumental Ming dynasty Sino-Tibetan figure of the wrathful deity Vajrabhairava did not disappoint.

The export of Italian art has become easier following changes made to the country’s cultural laws.

Pauses to lockdown easing across the UK may affect plans for larger art and antiques events, fairs and markets in the coming weeks, while in Ireland a lifting of restrictions has begun.

Determined international bidders knew exactly what they were looking for at a sale of icons and Russian works of art held by Dr Fischer (28% buyer’s premium) in Heilbronn.

A copy of Ratzer’s 'Plan of the City of New York…' offered as part of a Doyle (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) sale in the spring left much to be desired.

For over a century, a 5ft x 6ft 4in (1.52 x 1.93m) painting of Samson and Delilah had slumbered as the work of an unknown Italian artist in a German private collection.

In 1922, Theo van Doesburg, gave a course at the Bauhaus in Weimar, devoted to the artists’ group De Stijl he had co-founded some five years before.

In the 1960s, the Austrian painter Günter Brus (b.1938) regularly made the headlines with his artistic happenings, which often involved covering himself and his models in paint and on one occasion, in 1965, led to him being arrested.

In the course of the 19th century, the company founded by Henrik Fredrik Jansen became one of the most important manufacturers of furniture and furnishings in Amsterdam.

Li Keran, who died in 1989, is considered to be one of the most influential Chinese Contemporary painters. He not only taught a generation of young artists; he is credited with the revival of Chinese landscape painting.

The sale in 1872 of a silver pocket watch manufactured by Patek Philippe in Geneva to the jeweller and retailer Gondolo & Labouriau in Rio de Janeiro marked the beginning of a highly successful and mutually profitable business partnership that lasted until 1927.