Europe

ATG speaks to Astrid-Christina Schierz, specialist in Master Drawings, Prints before 1900, Watercolours, Miniatures at Austrian auction house Dorotheum.

ATG takes a look at some stand-out lots sold recently at an auction in Berlin

Painting of a cabinet includes letter fixed to the door with possible mention of Grand Duke Cosimo III

The evolution of Berlin porcelain – produced by Royal Porcelain Factory founded in 1763 by King Frederick II of Prussia – was well illustrated by two vases which both went way over the estimates in recent sales.

A floral still-life by Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, discovered only recently in a European private collection, was one of the stars at a recent sale at Koller (25/22% buyer’s premium) in Zurich.

Two enticingly estimated, early glasses from a west German private collection were fiercely contested in the online sale held by Wendl (21% buyer’s premium) in Rudolstadt.

Best known for his fairly routine genre portraits of German peasants and ordinary folk, Thomas Baumgartner (1892-1962) also produced an intriguing series of paintings depicting soldiers from the First World War.

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’.

In typical fashion, a landscape by Irish art market heavyweight Paul Henry (1877-1958) took top honours at the latest round of auctions in Dublin – though its sale to an online bidder was an unexpected twist.

An impressive 19th century longcase regulator attracted several bidders at a sale held by Metz (28/25% buyer’s premium) in Heidelberg.

An unmistakable piece of modern furniture is the highlight of the sale on May 16 at Lempertz in Cologne.

Estimated at €1000, this 19th century Irish mahogany bureau with a link to Sir Winston Churchill sold for €9500 (£8000) at Fonsie Mealy (25% buyer’s premium) in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny.

Nineteenth century French creation features Fall of Phaeton Greek myth

Star lot of a section of a recent Neumeister’s (30/27/25% buyer’s premium) auction in Munich devoted to the legacy of Alexander Eugen, Duke of Württemberg, who died last year at the age of 91, was literally one of the eyecatchers.