Europe

For many decades, the name Arnold Topp meant little to art collectors.

One of Sandro Botticelli’s most iconic paintings was his 'Madonna del Magnificat', painted in the 1481. The title is taken from the opening words of the Virgin’s song of exaltation, 'Magnificat anima mea dominum' (My soul doth glorify the Lord), which she is writing in the book before her.

An exceptional, expanded and specially cased example of Ippolito Rosellini’s 'I Monumenti dell Egitto e della Nubia' of 1832-34 topped the bidding in a Fonsie Mealy (20% buyer’s premium) sale of the library from Howth Castle.

Star of the show at Dorotheum (28/25% buyer’s premium) in Vienna on November 9 was a large-format Venetian scene, painted by Luigi Querena in 1865.

The descendants of the Belgian collector Jef Vanderstraete have consigned this 20in (51cm) high gilt bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara Ekadashamukha to Lempertz in Cologne, where it is coming up for sale on December 11.

Russian interest drives €125,000 result in Germany.

A late 18th century clock at auction in Germany has links to a French architect.

A world away from the flat-pack furniture so familiar today, a Mid-century armchair has sold for what is believed to be a record price for IKEA.

On December 2, as part of its So Unique series launched in April, Millon holding a single-lot sale in Paris of a painting by the Italian artist Domenico Gnoli (1933-70) which has been in a private collection for over 45 years.

A group of sleek Deco furnishings designed in the 1930s by Eugène Printz (1879-1948) for a villa in Casablanca went under the hammer at Briscadieu (23% buyer’s premium inc VAT) in Bordeaux.

A collection of silver assembled over half a century by a Brussels general practitioner with a passion for 18th century French silver is to be offered for sale by Dupont & Associés, Morlaix Enchères, at Drouot in Paris on December 6.

La Biennale fair opens in Paris this week at the Grand Palais Ephémère and runs from November 26-December 5.

Fine Arts Paris, which returned for a physical staging at the Carrousel du Louvre after an online-only event last year, closed its doors on November 11 with the 55 exhibitors enjoying sales from museums and private collectors.

Leonardo Da Vinci’s work has long held a fascination, as a near-contemporaneous copy confirms

Guaranteed to attract attention at science and technical antiques specialist Auction Team Breker on November 6 was this remarkable Ericsson telephone.

I have been a collector of early old Sheffield plate of the first period, for more than 50 years, and continue to buy at online UK auctions. I am resident in France.

Dessert plate taken to St Helena exile by Napoleon demonstrates provenance value

Metz auction house will feature plenty of pieces of Meissen among the ceramics in its sale to be held in Heidelberg from December 9-11.

Multi-estimate sums are not confined to Chinese works of art.

This week Paris Photo, the French capital’s annual fair dedicated to photographs, takes place at the Grand Palais Ephémère from November 11-14.