Europe

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

“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.

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.

Jewellery owned by Marie Valerie Hapsburg, the favourite daughter of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, will be auctioned by Dorotheum in Vienna on November 27.

Among several auctions devoted to Old Master and 19th century paintings taking place in Paris this month will be the 66-lot sale held at Sotheby’s on November 19.

This sheet of studies of a monkey in red chalk on paper by the St Petersburg-born artist Alexander Jacovleff (1887-1938) will be offered in Il Ponte’s sale of 19th century paintings and sculpture in Milan on November 21.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

The Carrousel du Louvre will be the setting for the 'Fine Arts Paris' fair which opens to the public next week with a five-day run from November 13-17.

The German artist Franz von Stuck is generally associated with portraits of sultry, mystical fin-de-siècle women, laden with symbolism.

Parsonage Museum ‘determined to make the most of second opportunity’ to own miniature manuscript