Europe

Sometimes there is no need for hyperbole: the story behind the auction on March 15 at Neumeister (27% buyer’s premium) in Munich was quite remarkable in itself.

A cast zinc figure of Odysseus is one of the prominent works of art at the Prussian Sale that Lempertz is holding in Berlin on April 24.

More than 2600 online bidders registered for the sale at Van Ham (25% buyer’s premium) in Cologne on February 24-25.

Still Life with Autumn Fruit and Bouquet of Flowers by the Swiss artist Johannes Dünz was probably conceived as one of four seasonal paintings.

For the first time in almost 30 years, Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt was forced to hold a sale without a public view and in an empty room.

The highest price at the sale of Modern and Contemporary art at Döbritz (22% buyer’s premium) in Frankfurt on March 6 was achieved for a mixed-media composition by the German artist Thomas Bayrle.

Tribal art specialist Zemanek-Münster will be holding a spring auction on April 24 in Würzburg.

A spectacular parure of sapphires and diamonds, from the collection of Napoleon’s adoptive daughter, Stephanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden (1789-1860), is for sale at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels auction in Geneva on May 12.

In today’s world of modern communication, it is inevitable that several Chinese collectors would discover a 16th century Ming Dynasty ritual vessel in the catalogue of a saleroom in a small town on the edge of the Black Forest in the south-west corner of Germany.

In 1935, Swiss designer Paul Fuller, who had emigrated to the US after the First World War, joined the Rudolf Wurlitzer Company as their chief designer.

Although in his day Walter Schulz-Matan was regarded as an important representative of Neue Sachlichkeit and Magic Realism, his market value with today’s collectors is way below the level of many of his colleagues.

Finette Lemaire specialises in tribal art and owns Galerie Lemaire in Amsterdam.

When designing his wellknown chairs, the Italian-American designer Harry Bertoia drew on his early experience as a jeweller and sculptor.

A Sèvres cabaret service painted with portraits of famous women was a New Year’s gift from a French empress

A painting by the French 18th century artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was discovered last January hanging on the wall in a local home.

Woman excluded from the guild of artists was nevertheless highly rated by kings and emperor

This 19th century Carrara marble group by the Florentine sculptor Odoardo Fantacchiotti featured in Genoa on March 16.

This gold-mounted trefoil shaped rock crystal tazza, dated to the 18th century, will feature in the sale of antiques, works of art, silver and jewellery at Veritas in Lisbon on April 14-15.