Belgium

Working in Japanese urushi lacquer requires patience. Harvested from the sap of the Rhus verniciflua tree, it is built up slowly, layer by layer, each stage requiring careful drying and polishing under controlled conditions.

The long-running BRAFA Art Fair in Brussels is traditionally one of the earliest events in the international art fair calendar.

A tribal art sale held by Lempertz (26/20% buyer’s premium) in Brussels earlier this year was led by an exceptional nkisi nkondi figure. Guided at €70,000-80,000, it hammered at €320,000 (£264,500).

Dealer Patrick Mestdagh (Galerie Patrick & Ondine Mestdagh) has partnered with gallery owner Sébastien Janssen (Sorry We’re Closed) to launch a new art and antiques fair in Brussels.

Georges Van Cauwenbergh is the director of Artimo Fine Arts Gallery, in the renowned Sablon antiques district of Brussels.

Event in the Belgian capital manages to combine sense of luxury with a friendly and relaxed atmosphere early on

For this year’s edition, the Brussels Antiques & Fine Arts Fair (BRAFA) will be celebrating its 70th outing.

This late 19th century silver mounted ceramic dish or coupe came up at the Belgian firm CR-Art Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) when it was bid to €7000 (£5835) against a guide of €2000-3000.

This Sèvres porcelain basket-shaped centrepiece was one of the highlights in a sale held by Ostantix Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) in Ostend on September 3-4.

On May 28 in Bruges, Carlo Bonte (28% buyer’s premium) offered The Hermit, Brother Luce, an oil study attributed to the French late Baroque painter Pierre Hubert Subleyras (1699-1749).

Police in the Netherlands have confirmed they have recovered two more diamonds stolen by armed robbers from The European Art Fair (TEFAF) in 2022.

Though the performer is largely forgotten today, two Bénévol-related items appeared at Bernaerts (25% buyer’s premium) in Antwerp as part of a Circus & Magic sale.

The 69th edition of BRAFA, Belgium’s longstanding art and antiques fair, starts this month opening to the public on January 28 and continuing to February 4.

Top prices set for majolica by the French Massier factory at auction in Belgium

Antwerp dealership Galerie Lowet de Wotrenge has made two sales to international institutions.