Europe

WHEN TEFAF Maastricht opens its doors next March, something will be different. An extraordinary sequence of events means that for the first time, the world’s two biggest auctioneers will effectively stand as exhibitors at the world’s most important fair for specialist dealers in fine art and antiques.

The 2001 Irish heritage laws are again being tested after a local council announced its intent to stop the sale of an 18th century fireplace on the grounds that – although not fitted in the property until the early 1970s – it is now an essential feature of the house.

Giuseppe Eskenazi, London’s pre-eminent dealer in Chinese works of art, has been appointed a Chevalier (Knight) of the Légion d’honneur for services to the arts.

The reform of auction law forced itself to the top of the agenda when delegates from SYMEV, France’s national auctioneers association, sat down at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris on October 3 for their annual conference.

CHRISTIE’S are to centralise all Italian sales in Milan and will concentrate on Contemporary and Modern art, Old Masters and jewellery.

Sara Kenny, a former director of the fine art department at Hamilton Osbourne King, is to conduct her first major sale since the Dublin property giants pulled out of the auction business in August last year.

ESTABLISHED in London since 1928, Pelham Galleries have moved out of their well-known Mayfair showrooms in Mount Street and are now based in their greatly expanded gallery at Rue de Varenne, Paris.

ON September 12 – the week the Paris Biennale returned to the Grand Palais – Paris celebrated another notable development on the city’s art scene with the launch of Galerie Historismus at 9 Place de Vosges, the oldest square in Paris.

CAPITALISING on the recent closure of Christie’s book department in Rome, Bloomsbury Auctions have opened a new saleroom in the Eternal City. It represents the first overseas venture for the Maddox Street book specialists who in recent years have expanded their interests into art, prints, collectables, coins and medals.

DESCRIBED on their website as a place to find “Designer Secondhand Goods of the 20th Century”, Les Puces du Design is a popular street event held biannually in Paris for the last 15 years.

THIEVES have raided a fair in Belgium and stolen antique jewellery from one of Europe's leading dealers in period jewellery.

THE Edvard Munch paintings The Scream and the Madonna have been recovered by Norwegian police. They were stolen from an Oslo museum two years ago.

Warwick University have validated a new MA in the History and Business of Art and Collecting offered by The Institut d’Études Supérieures des Arts (IESA) in Paris and run in partnership with the Wallace Collection.

The power of one major collection to transform an auction company’s figures was dramatically shown this month when Christie’s France announced sales figures of €122.8m (including premiums) for the first half of 2006.

CINOA, the international confederation of art and antiques dealers, have put bringing on the next generation of the trade at the top of their agenda.

A COURT ruling means new Venice auction house San Marco can proceed with their July 8-9 sale - but only under strict conditions.

Italy has witnessed a sudden, perhaps unexpected, surge in its auction scene with a series of record-breaking sales at Sotheby’s, the most remarkable of which has been the Milan sale of a cycle of Tiepolo canvases on May 30.

Auction house acquire leading Old Master dealer with debts of $26m

Cadogan Tate Fine Art have launched a new weekly transport service from London and Paris to Switzerland to meet the growing demand for discreet fine art transport.