International (print edition)

Old Masters are much to the fore in the calendar across Europe at this time in the auction season.

The Bordoni and the Luini were not the only strong results achieved in the Drouot auction centre in the November sales.

The Château de Pontchartrain and the Phélypeaux family who lived there for almost two centuries was much in evidence as a provenance in the recent sales in Paris.

A more recent purchase for the Starrs was this late-18th century, 10¼in (26cm) high, black basalt two handled amphora, from the section of encaustic-decorated wares that were inspired by classical attic vases.

The most expensive piece in Sotheby’s Arnhold sale was a lot that made a dramatic increase on its $4000-6000 estimate. This 7½in (19.5cm) diameter blue and white saucer dish (below) was an early example of blue and white Meissen from c.1721-22 that had Japanese Palace inventory marks.

High selling rates at two American salerooms show how the market can absorb traditional ceramics in volume when estimates are realistic

Another of the highest prices in the Stair Galleries’ sale of a New York ceramics collection came for this Staffordshire rarity.

Early-18th century porcelain scent bottles from Chelsea and the St James’s factory have been the object of increasing interest and value in recent years. Some high-flying examples emerged in the sales in New York.

Plenty of affordable Wedgwood from all eras was available in the Stair sale.

After their intitial interest in Wedgwood, the Starrs went on to collect other examples of early English porcelain, some of which was keenly pursued in Sotheby’s sale.

The Starrs collection at Sotheby’s featured 25 reticulated vases or decorative objects produced by George Owen for Royal Worcester, most them purchased at auction in the early 1980s.

The large collection of predominantly English ceramics offered by Stair Galleries from a New York collector included examples of 18th century porcelain from many of the major English factories.

After training in Düsseldorf and Paris, where he had met Rodin and Maillol, both of whom had a major influence on his work, the German sculptor, painter and architect Bernhard Hoetger (1874-1949) joined the artists’ colony in Darmstadt in 1911.

In the first decades of the 19th century, watchmakers in many parts of Europe made a living by producing highly ornate watches and gold boxes, many of them for Chinese buyers.

During the late 18th century, schools of netsuke carving were established throughout Japan.

It is no coincidence that a glass bowl designed by Carl Witzmann (1883-1952), which was sold at Dr Fischer (28% buyer’s premium) in Heilbronn on October 19, reminded bidders of works by the great Austrian designer Josef Hoffmann. Witzmann was, after all, one of his pupils.

The first incarnation of the porcelain factory in Höchst near Frankfurt existed for exactly half a century. It was founded in 1746, making it the second-oldest producer of porcelain in Germany after Meissen.

In recent years, Geble (22.61% buyer’s premium) in Radolfzell has sold several paintings by the Singaporean artist Cheong Soo Pieng (1917-83) from a German collection.

Dorotheum (28/25/22/18% buyer’s premium) in Vienna could boast two seven-figure prices in as many days, including the highest Austrian auction price of this year so far.

Although her career as a photographer lasted only some 16 years, Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-79) is acknowledged as a pioneer of the medium, creating a remarkable oeuvre of portraits and other photographic compositions.