Auctions

The market for Lucie Rie ceramics continues to thrive. A new auction high for the doyenne of the British studio pottery movement was posted by Phillips in New York this month– the fourth occasion a record has been set in just two years.

The Advertising Standards Authority has unveiled new guidance for auctioneers following an investigation into the way auction houses display their commission rates.

A rediscovered chalk portrait by Andrea d’Angiolo, called Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530), has set an record for any Old Master drawing sold at auction in France.

Julian Dawson is retiring from Gorringe's and held his last auction yesterday at the Lewes auction firm.

A group of three Doccia porcelain dishes from c.1740-45 sold for £70,000 at a stellar sale at Cheffins in Cambridge.

A small Castilian mediaeval alabaster statue of Saint Cecilia playing a portable organ led a strong selection of traditional art and antiques in the Paris pre-Christmas auctions at Hotel Drouot.

A temporary export bar has been placed on a rare Wedgwood vase in the hope £482,500 can be raised to keep it in the UK.

A remarkable drawing by German artist Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld (1794-1872) that was recently restituted to the family of a Holocaust victim has sold for €1.7m (£1.44m) at an auction in Berlin.

An Enigma cipher machine made a world-record price last week when it was hammered down for $380,000 (£301,379).

This Rembrandt Bugatti bronze of ‘The Giant Anteater’ (Le Grand Fourmilier) more than lived up to its status as the potential star at a recent auction in Paris.

A newly-discovered drawing that has been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci will be offered by Paris auctioneers Tajan next year, estimated at €15m (£9.62m).

Medals specialist David Erskine-Hill has left Dix Noonan Webb to rejoin former employer Spink.

The withdrawal of two key works dented the overall total at Christie’s evening sale of Old Masters last night. However, some spirited bidding did emerge on a number of lots which helped lift proceedings.

A preparatory sketch by John Constable was knocked down for £720,000 at Bonhams earlier today.

This stoneware vase designed by Henry Van De Velde for Reinhold Hanke was sold at Mallams in Oxford earlier today for £17,000.

Sotheby’s Old Master evening sale in London last night was somewhat short of stellar works but the auction registered a decent performance for the material on offer.

Christie’s contemporary art chief Brett Gorvy is leaving the firm to become an art advisor.

An imposing brass alloy figure of Canda Vajrapani set an auction record for a Tibetan sculpture when it was knocked down at HK$42.5m (£4.34m) at Bonhams Hong Kong.

Christie’s is officially turning 250 years old today.