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A Chinese blue and white vase achieved a hammer price of over £3m at an online auction that closed in Singapore last week.

The art and antiques sector could benefit from a boost by the UK government after the coronavirus pandemic when the focus shifts to growing international trade.

More previously unrecorded porcelain attributed to the John Bartlam factory of Cain Hoy, South Carolina, has emerged for sale in the UK.

International exports are predicted to return to growth following the easing of the lockdown in the UK. However, current art and antiques exports have slowed to a trickle.

A group of smuggled Mesopotamian ‘antiquities’ destined for collectors in the UK was discovered to be fake and seized by Border Force.

Our selection of 20 objects to view and buy from dealers online.

For centuries, China was a rewarding market for European clock and watchmakers who created extravagant timepieces for their Oriental clientele.

Blackbrook Gallery, a specialist in 19th century naïve animal painting, offers Cheviot Ram at the first Virtual Petworth Park Antiques & Fine Art Fair opening this week.

Among the interesting lots sold at Scheublein (26% buyer’s premium), in Munich on April 24 (a sale originally scheduled for March 20), was a 'Still Life with Basket of Fruit and Flowers'.

A selection of stand-out lots coming up at auction

The auction calendar has been much changed by Covid 19 restrictions. However, as indicated by these lots offered for sale in May, some UK auctioneers continue to transact behind closed doors holding ‘live online’ sales with bids taken via bidding platforms such as thesaleroom.com or over the phone. Typically purchases can either be collected safely and couriered, or stored by the auctioneers until the current government guidance is lifted.

Dealers might not be on the frontline of the coronavirus crisis but many are trying to do their bit through charity sales. Here is a quick look at some of the businesses pledging proceeds to good causes.

Two consignments of works directly from artists' estates added a distinctive flavour to Chiswick Auctions’ (25% buyer’s premium) latest Modern & Post-War British Art sale.

Despite their apparent fragility, early English drinking glasses have survived in relatively large numbers. They have a long collecting pedigree – the idea of collecting them as objects of interest goes back at least to the 19th century.

A selection of four 18th century drinking glasses appearing at auctions in May 2020.

A 1902 calendar from Hasegawa, Tokyo, filled with colourful illustrations and verse was among the sales at the Provincial Booksellers Fairs Association’s (PBFA) first virtual fair.

Over nearly four decades, a collector in Copenhagen acquired works of art to furnish and decorate a patrician residence in the Danish capital. Part of his eclectic collection is on sale at Lempertz in Cologne on May 29-30.

A long time ago, a poster costing $1.75 launched a series of films set in a galaxy far, far away. Forty-four years later, that series has become the phenomenally successful Star Wars blockbuster and a rare example of that same design sold at auction for £4000.

Among the major changes to Sworders’ auction calendar because of the coronavirus lockdown is the addition of a monthly sale of jewellery, watches and objects of vertu.

Work thought to be by studio assistant is regarded as accessible alternative to famous master