Germany

Portrait miniatures by the renowned British artist face a different and difficult modern mindset

Neumeister (25% buyer’s premium), a stalwart of the German auction market, held its last auction in Munich this summer.

For over 300 years, 12 generations of the Liechti family in the northern Swiss town of Winterthur built clocks.

In retrospect, it was a blessing for Victor-Gabriel Gilbert (1847-1935) that his parents did not have the money to finance his training at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris.

Toy specialist Lankes (25% buyer’s premium) in the small Bavarian town of Döhlau could harvest a bumper crop of good results during its sale of July 20-24.

Hargesheimer (25% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf devoted an auction to the sale of 61 works of art from the collection of a couple from Wiesbaden who had spent many decades amassing sculptures and old master paintings.

Scheublein (27% buyer’s premium) offered 1000 lots from the collection of a branch of the Bavarian royal family this summer.

Bidders from as far afield as Saudi Arabia vied for an ancient Egyptian bronze of the deity Osiris at Kunst & Kuriosa (21% buyer’s premium) in Heidelberg.

When it was introduced to the public in 1956 by the electronics company Braun, the compact stereo system Phonosuper was a spectacular design innovation.

The artist Renée Sintenis (1888-1965) had a very varied career.

The sculptor Wilhelm Lehmbruck (1881-1919) is primarily known for creating figures which embody pain and suffering.

One of the highlights at the sale held by Henry’s (25% buyer’s premium) on May 30 in Mutterstadt was a large, electroplated cast of a sculpture created by Heinrich Waderé for an art show in the Glaspalast in Munich.

Proud penguins and contemplative cows were popular subjects for two German animaliers

For almost half a century, a portrait of a young nobleman by the Flemish artist Bernard van Orley had been hidden.

An unattributed French 18th century pen and ink drawing was highly sought after at the auction held by Bassenge (25% buyer’s premium) in Berlin.

After almost a century since it was last shown in public, a painting by Wassily Kandinsky, Villa Seeburg am Staffelsee from 1911 topped the evening sale at Ketterer (29/23/15% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

The one-time director of the State Museum of Baden in south-west Germany, Rudolf Schnellbach, was obviously an astute buyer of art.

Several bidders set their sights on a late 18th century flintlock hunting rifle which was offered by Dawo (25.95% buyer’s premium) in Saarbrücken.

A group of four original lithograph posters advertising exhibitions of the Viennese Secession was well received at Karl & Faber (27% buyer’s premium) in Munich.

Even though, as a rule, big-name wristwatches still attract the highest prices, recent sales show a resilient market for pocket watches.