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.

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Yorkshire’s Brontë Parsonage Museum secures rare manuscript at Paris auction

18 November 2019

The Brontë Parsonage Museum has secured an 1830 autograph miniature manuscript by a 14-year-old Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) that was auctioned at Aguttes in Paris.

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Artemisia Gentileschi’s Lucretia takes record in Paris auction

18 November 2019

Artemisia Gentileschi’s painting 'Lucretia', which was in a private collection for more than 40 years, has made a new record for the artist at an auction in Paris.

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The web shop window: English furniture in French style

18 November 2019

Thousands of items are available to buy from dealers online. Here we pick out one that caught our eye this week.

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Bernhard Hoetger's 'light and shadow' ceramic figure emerges at German sale

18 November 2019

After training in Düsseldorf and Paris, where he had met Rodin and Maillol, both of whom had a major influence on his work, the German sculptor, painter and architect Bernhard Hoetger (1874-1949) joined the artists’ colony in Darmstadt in 1911.

British and Irish book auctions: November 19-30, 2019

18 November 2019

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

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A price not to be sneezed at

18 November 2019

In the first decades of the 19th century, watchmakers in many parts of Europe made a living by producing highly ornate watches and gold boxes, many of them for Chinese buyers.

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Snail netsuke from Nagoya crawls into Cologne auction

18 November 2019

During the late 18th century, schools of netsuke carving were established throughout Japan.

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The railway that carried escaped slaves to freedom

18 November 2019

Sporting a distinctive hairstyle and beard that the cataloguer suggested “…would never again be replicated until early 21st-century Brooklyn”, the photograph below was part of a slavery and abolition-themed lot sold for $80,000 (£64,725) in an Americana sale held in New York by Swann (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) on September 25.

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Pupil follows master’s example

18 November 2019

It is no coincidence that a glass bowl designed by Carl Witzmann (1883-1952), which was sold at Dr Fischer (28% buyer’s premium) in Heilbronn on October 19, reminded bidders of works by the great Austrian designer Josef Hoffmann. Witzmann was, after all, one of his pupils.

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Key inscription boosts 1891 copy of Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'

18 November 2019

While the binding, with Charles Ricketts’ familiar gilt design on the front cover, is not in the best of conditions, an inscription on the half-title of this example of one of the 250 large paper copies of Oscar Wilde’s 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' published by Ward Lock in 1891 ensured that it set an auction record.

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Rococo couple by Höchst in autumn glory

18 November 2019

The first incarnation of the porcelain factory in Höchst near Frankfurt existed for exactly half a century. It was founded in 1746, making it the second-oldest producer of porcelain in Germany after Meissen.

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Final slice of Soo Pieng

18 November 2019

In recent years, Geble (22.61% buyer’s premium) in Radolfzell has sold several paintings by the Singaporean artist Cheong Soo Pieng (1917-83) from a German collection.

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Dorotheum saleroom’s seven heaven

18 November 2019

Dorotheum (28/25/22/18% buyer’s premium) in Vienna could boast two seven-figure prices in as many days, including the highest Austrian auction price of this year so far.

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Vintage print of Julia Margaret Cameron's 'The Dream' offered at Berlin auction

18 November 2019

Although her career as a photographer lasted only some 16 years, Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79) is acknowledged as a pioneer of the medium, creating a remarkable oeuvre of portraits and other photographic compositions.

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Einstein surprise at Stuttgart auction

18 November 2019

One of the biggest surprises at Nagel’s (33% buyer’s premium) sale in Stuttgart on October 16-17 came right at the end of the auction.

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Schiele reveals his artistic manifesto

18 November 2019

“There is no such thing as modern art, there is only art and it is perpetual.” The author of these lines was, perhaps surprisingly, the highly modern Austrian painter Egon Schiele and are part of an artistic manifesto written on July 17, 1911.

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Family values at Munich saleroom

18 November 2019

The private collection of the late auctioneer Rudolf Neumeister was on offer at the saleroom bearing his name – which is now run by his daughter.

Fine Arts Paris to expand in 2020

15 November 2019

The Fine Arts Paris fair opened to the public this week at the Carrousel du Louvre with the announcement of major expansion plans for its 2020 edition.

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Antiquities stolen from Afghanistan returned with help of British Museum and Met police’s Art and Antiques Unit

12 November 2019

Sculptures of Buddha dating from the 4th-6th centuries smuggled out of Afghanistan nearly 20 years ago have finally been returned to the country’s national museum.

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