International

About 80% of the global art market by value takes place outside the UK. The largest art market in the world is the US with China in third place (after the UK) followed by France, Germany and Switzerland.

Many more nations have a rich art and antiques heritage with active auction, dealer, fair, gallery and museum sectors even if their market size by value is smaller.

Read the top stories and latest art and antiques news from all these countries.

img_37-2.jpg

Books, maps and prints auction previews

08 May 2026

A selection of upcoming highlights at UK, US and European auctions

img_48-1.jpg

Sixteenth century Old Master sleepers awake in Switzerland

08 May 2026

In recent sales at Artcurial, Bailly, Beurret and Widner (25% buyer’s premium) in Basel, works of art from the renowned collection of Lotar Neumann in Gingins have been consigned by his descendants and achieved notable results.

Primavera vase by Ercole Barovier

Cracking price for rare crackled Primavera glass

08 May 2026

Vases and other vessels employing the Primavera technique belong to the rarest types of glass produced in Murano.

Zsolnay charger by Armin Klein

Actor star value pushes up prices

08 May 2026

Collection of popular and well-respected Austrian figure puts in a notable performance at auction

Giuseppe Castiglione painting

Earliest known Castiglione court painting to headline Sotheby’s Hong Kong series

01 May 2026

Asian Art Week at Sotheby’s Hong Kong will be led by the earliest extant court painting by the Italian Jesuit artist Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766).

img_30-1.jpg

De László portraits rediscovered in North Carolina auction

01 May 2026

Two pictures relating to the family of former US president George HW Bush added to catalogue raisonné

Stair Cabinet 2742IE

‘Try to find another one that’s not in a museum’

01 May 2026

This Flemish Baroque carved ebony table cabinet shown below opens to reveal intricate silk needlework images of flowers to the inside of its three doors.

img_29-1.jpg

Beauty of Brancusi’s world caught on camera

01 May 2026

Galerie Negropontes has turned to photography to explore the work of another canonical artist.

img_13-1.jpg

Big bucks for British documents as James I royal warrant and Trafalgar order of battle emerge

01 May 2026

Two choice British documents emerged across two different sales at Amherst, New Hampshire firm RR Auction (25% buyer’s premium).

img_14-5.jpg

Naturalist got into a flap after his pigeons book was hijacked

01 May 2026

While many people have a decided aversion to pigeons, this did not apply to the bidders at Kiefer (25% buyer’s premium) in Pforzheim, Germany.

img_13-3.jpg

Ignatius Sancho second edition sells in New York

01 May 2026

Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African, tells the remarkable story of an African born on a British slave ship who earned a place among the London elite.

Andrew Jones 01 2742IE

Dublin-made Egyptian revival mirror brings competition between 16 bidders

01 May 2026

An Irish Regency overmantel mirror in Egyptian Revival style by the Dublin artisan Joshua Kearney (1797-1849) hammered for $22,000 (£16,400) against a $6000-8000 guide at Andrew Jones Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Los Angeles.

img_28-5.jpg

London and Paris trio team up for Orientalism show

01 May 2026

'At the Door of the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus', c.1889-91, was painted by Gustav Bauernfeind (1848-1904), one of the leading Orientalist painters of Germany.

Showplace 2742IE

Bidders will be the judge

01 May 2026

In 1950, the Swiss artist, architect and designer Pierre Jeanneret (1896-1967) joined his cousin Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (who had assumed the pseudonym Le Corbusier) to create a new capital of Punjab.

Doyle 01 Silver Ewers 2742IE

Buyer splashes out on British wine and water ewers connected to American high society

01 May 2026

A pair of Edwardian wine and water ewers by London silversmith Sydney Bellamy Harman, 1910, tied for the most-expensive lot at a recent Doyle (28% buyer’s premium) auction.

Landry 01 2742 IE

Get your claws into Supersol

01 May 2026

A rare vinyl and rubber Supersol monster toy seized top-lot status with its vivid blue-green vinyl claws at a recent sale at Landry Pop Auctions (22% buyer’s premium) in Lambertville, New Jersey.

Fontaine's 01A Galle 1 2742IE

Gallé sideboard ripe for a new owner

01 May 2026

According to the lot notes, 11 wood veneers from Macassar ebony to burr maple were used in making the c.1903 Émile Gallé Épis de Blé sideboard.

Mary Magdalen fragment

Headless Mary Magdalen Old Master by Gentileschi takes more than five-times estimate at Vienna auction

30 April 2026

A fragmented Old Master portrait by Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654), with the head and shoulders of the sitter cut out, took a hammer price of €650,000 (£563,305) at Dorotheum.

Screenshot 2026 04 29 193704

Museums boost results at Asia Week New York

30 April 2026

Museums came prepared to buy at the recent staging of Asia Week New York.

Katrin Stoll

Munich auction house Neumeister to close

27 April 2026

German auction market in shock after news that Neumeister will close.

News

Categories