Europe

The London watchmaker John Ilbery, active from 1780-1839, is credited with the invention of the ‘montre chinoise’, highly ornate goldenamel watches made for the Chinese market.

The year 1907 was a decisive one in the artistic development of Lyonel Feininger (1871- 1956). In the previous year he had left his wife and family and moved with his new partner Julia Berg to Paris, where their son Andreas was born.

The sales of Asian art at Lempertz in Cologne traditionally devote a large selection to Japanese works of art and the auction on December 7-8 is no exception.

Among the lots in the sale of porcelain and works of art at Metz in Heidelberg on December 15 about 80 Asian pieces come from an old German collection that was on loan to the state museums in Berlin for many decades from 1963 onwards.

A number of works designed by some of the biggest names in the Wiener Werkstatte association are to be offered in the Jugendstil auction at Dorotheum on December 12. Among them are two brooches designed by Josef Hoffmann.

Take nine five-clawed dragons, add 19 bats and place them among swirling clouds and breaking waves and you have the décor of a very rare 18th century iron-red and underglaze blue moon flask that is one of the star lots at Nagel in the sale in Salzburg on December 6-7.

In 1921, the opening of the spring trade fair in Leipzig was accompanied by inauguration of the socalled Porzellan Palais.

Anteo Subastas in San Sebastian, Spain, is offering an example of a Mexican colonial silver devotional altarpiece in its next auction on November 28.

In the end, it was diamonds, not cake, that triggered the tragic downfall of Marie-Antoinette (1755-93) and her family. Even though the doomed queen was innocent of conspiracy, it was the affair of a diamond necklace that lit the powder-keg of revolution.

Art Richelieu Castor-Hara is offering a single-owner French collection featuring Old Masters and modern paintings, and classic furniture in a sale at Drouot.

This diamond and sapphire tiara, which is to be offered for sale by Bruun Rasmussen on November 30 in Copenhagen, has a long and distinguished Danish royal provenance.

Artcurial has made something of a habit of offering parts of the Eiffel Tower, pieces that were removed as part of periodic restorations of the famous landmark on the Paris skyline.

Veritas will offer a Jiajing armorial dish (c.1530-50) in its next auction in Lisbon on November 27-29.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 13-23, 2018.

By the 1950s, as the global economic landscape improved, luxury was making a comeback and so too was the prolific use of diamonds in the jewellery of France’s premier ateliers.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from November 6-17, 2018.