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Brexit, tax, business rates, employment rights and ivory top the list of issues for the art and antiques sector, readers have told Antiques Trade Gazette, as the general election looms this week.

A painting by equine artist Lucy Kemp-Welch (1869-1958) sold for four times its top guide at Bellmans (20% buyer’s premium).

“It was one of those eureka moments,” said Rosemary Scott, Chinese ceramics specialist at Christie’s. “My colleague Jeremy Morgan was on a perfectly normal valuation visit when he walked into the drawing room and there, on the mantelpiece, he saw these vases. He couldn’t believe his eyes.”

In recent times a few examples of the 1947, Dutch text, first printing of Anne Frank’s famous diary (part of a print run of just 1500 copies) have come to auction.

Andrew Singleton’s first of two annual exhibitions this year opens on June 10, and he is prepared for a rush of interest in early furniture.

On the centenary of Auguste Rodin’s (1840-1917) death the French sculptor is still much in evidence.

A ‘gambling’ sale held on May 5-6 by Potter & Potter (20% buyer’s premium) produced what may be a record bid of $8500 (£6590) on a 1902 first of SW Erdnase’s The Expert at the Card Table.

Earlier this year Woolley & Wallis decorative arts specialist Michael Jeffery received a call out of the blue from the family of a recently deceased collector in the south of England.

A selection of stand-out results from auctions around the UK.

“Artworks from Underground Comix – especially from masters such as Robert Crumb – are becoming recognised in the fine art world as cultural cornerstones.”

White walls, harsh lighting, edgy urban location: this is the usual checklist for global contemporary art galleries, writes Laura Chesters.

A selection of vibrant prints, artist’s proofs and portrait studies by the 20th century artist Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) is up for sale in County Durham.

Regarded by many as Gustav Mahler’s greatest song for voice and orchestra, ‘Ich bin der Weit abhanden gekommen’ was just one of many first-class performances featured in a 53-lot music sale conducted by Sotheby’s (25/20/12.5% buyer’s premium) on May 23.

Christie’s UK chairman says the closure of Christie’s South Kensington, the largest upheaval in the firm’s recent history, “has been a very painful decision for all but for the long-term health of the business it is right”.

For the most important ceremonies and rituals, high-ranking Chinese officials along with the royal family would don the chao fu or full court dress. At the Qing court a whole range of garments and paraphernalia were associated with the chao fu – a hat, collar, necklace, girdle and boots – but the most important were the chao pao and jifu, the court robes. Their use was restricted to high-ranking officials and persons.

“In the 19th century, before football came along, it was all about field sports,” says Iain Byatt-Smith of Bonhams’ (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) Scottish picture department.

A Charles-Francois Daubigny (1817-78) painting that had been in the same private collection since 1963 topped Nesbits’ (19% buyer’s premium) sale in Portsmouth on May 17.

A view of Ludlow Castle is one of the works included in Miles Wynn Cato’s ongoing exhibition.

Yves Montand (1921-91) and Simone Signoret (1921-85) were famous French husband-and-wife actors with starring roles in many French films.

This depiction of a 16th century bullfight in Siena’s Piazza del Campo starred in Christie’s (25/20/12% buyer’s premium) sale of the collection of the late Lord Weidenfeld.