Germany

In 1896, Vilmós Zsolnay, director of the eponymous ceramics factory in the south-western Hungarian city of Pécs in Hungary, presented his newly invented Eosin lustre glaze at the National Millenium Exhibition in Budapest.

Galerie Kornfeld in Bern devoted the evening session at its auction on September 11 to a remarkable collection of prints by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. It was rewarded by some equally remarkable prices.

At a time when many of his painter colleagues were drawn to Italy for their artistic inspiration, Johann Moritz Rugendas, who was born in Augsburg in 1802, headed for more distant lands.

Having produced tableware for over 25 years, the Bavarian porcelain manufacturer Rosenthal established an artistic department in 1908.

When Martin Gropius, the founder of the Bauhaus design school, set out the prerequisites for its products, he reduced it to the formulas ‘practical, enduring, affordable, beautiful’, and ‘form follows function’.

An unusual piece of very early Meissen is coming up for sale at Metz in Heidelberg on October 18.

Provenance to a noble family and market freshness generate impressive results for rarities

This unusually large giltwood figure of Guanyin, the Chinese goddess of compassion and mercy, attracted numerous bidders to Nagel’s (24.5% buyer’s premium) sale of Asian art on June 6-7 in Stuttgart.

A classic example of fin-de-siècle eroticism caught the eye of several collectors at Hampel (29.5% buyer’s premium) on June 26 in Munich.

Piece made by St Petersburg factory was produced to mark 1827 allied triumph over Ottoman forces

According to tradition, supported by handwritten documents, this 19th century, gold-mounted micromosaic brooch was given by Prussian King Frederick William III to his second wife Auguste von Harrach, Princess of Liegnitz.

Textiles from the nomadic Tekke tribe of Turkestan were highly sought after at Rippon Boswell’s (25% buyer’s premium) May 31 auction in Wiesbaden.

When the situation demanded it, German consular officials in the tropics were required to wear a ceremonial helmet.

A watercolour portrait of the 19th century Egyptian scholar Mohammed-el-Chabassy was one of the surprising high points at a recent auction of 16th to 19th century drawings, held by Bassenge (25% buyer’s premium) in Berlin.

Descendents of Bauhaus artist finally reach settlement allowing first 22 works to come for sale in Cologne

The auctioneers at Siebers (26.5% buyer’s premium) in Stuttgart were fairly confident that the 'Landscape with Birds' they had been entrusted with for a recent sale was an autograph work by the 16th and 17th century Flemish artist Roelant Savery (1576/1639).

The demand for a well-documented genre painting by the 17th century Flemish artist Jan Steen surprised the auctioneers at Döbritz (26% buyer’s premium) in Frankfurt.

An unusual, possibly unique stereo viewer from the last decade of the 19th century attracted numerous bids at Auction Team Breker (21.8% buyer’s premium) in Cologne.

Numerous bidders at a recent Mehlis (24% buyer’s premium) auction in Plauen were not prepared to let a late 19th century vase by Emile Gallé get away for the estimated €350.

A recently discovered floral still-life by Jan Davidsz de Heem sold for €2.8m.