France

A finely crafted Louis XIV period mirror frame attributed to the skilled royal cabinetmaker Jean Armand was one of the star performers in the Classics sale held in Paris by Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr (28/27/21/14.5% buyer’s premium).

French firm holds auctions relating to earlier monarchy and Napoleon

International museum and institutional interest is always a feature of the Salon du Dessin but this year it was even more marked with nearly 500 curators attending.

Sheet of various figures and body parts in red and white chalk set an auction record for Primaticcio

Silverware with connections to key figures from the famous French firm of Puiforcat proved to be a major component in a sale of items from a Parisian family collection held by Beaussant Lefèvre (28% buyer’s premium).

A traditional ensemble of art and antiques that had come from a property in the department of Ille et Vilaine attracted no shortage of attention when it went under the hammer at Ivoire Nantes (24% buyer’s premium) earlier this year.

Collection included timepieces presented to intrepid French pilots

Jean Dunand was an Art Deco period craftsman known above all for his skill in the technique of lacquer and a good example of his craftsmanship was the star turn in a sale of decorative arts held by Tajan (26/21/14% buyer’s premium).

Among the more extraordinary forms of French furniture is the ‘machine pneumatique’ – a device used in the Age of Enlightenment to demonstrate the mysterious properties of the vacuum or ‘the energy of the nothingness’.

Before his death on St Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte said: “What nothing will erase, what will live forever, is my Civil Code.”

Tiara takes highest sum as jewellery supplied to an aristocratic family features in Paris sale

March is traditionally the month for drawings and works on paper in Paris, a magnet that attracts enthusiasts from around the world to the French capital.

Staged in England from medieval times through to the early 19th century, bear baiting provided a popular theme in ceramic art in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The Spirit of Ecstasy sculpture was created by Charles Sykes as a mascot for Rolls-Royce cars.

Elaborate cruet frames from the pre-revolutionary period stand out in a traditional sale selection

Lost from view for a century, a three-figure bronze group by the sculptor Camille Claudel (1864-1943) made an auction appearance in Orléans on February 16.