UK

This painting of a flower market in Paris (below) by the Australian artist Ethel Carrick-Fox (1872-1952) took top honours at The Cotswold Auction Company (20% buyer’s premium) in Cheltenham on November 14.

A December 7 sale of European ceramics at Bonhams will incorporate 130 pieces of Neapolitan porcelain from a single private source.

A recent silver sale at Woolley & Wallis in Salisbury included a cache of early spoons from the collection of David Constable. Each had been illustrated and discussed in his magnum opus, 'Silver Spoons of Britain', published in 2016.

It was in poor condition and lacked the backstrip, but a copy of The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-winkle offered in the book section of a Greenslade Taylor Hunt (19.5% buyer’s premium) sale of November 2 was redeemed by the presence of a presentation inscription.

For its annual winter show, 'In Situ', The Millinery Works gallery in Islington shows off the diversity of its offerings while celebrating the Arts & Crafts furniture in which it has long specialised.

Though probably better known for his bronze and chryselphantine Art Deco figures, Austrian sculptor Josef Lorenzl also worked for Viennese ceramics factories and, in particular, Goldscheider, for whom he designed the extremely popular Butterfly Girl.

The Albemarle Street gallery Connaught Brown rounds out the year with an annual winter exhibition.

Mark Twain said that his Conklin Crescent Filler fountain pen “was a profanity saver as it cannot roll off the desk”.

This lady’s expression says she might be trying to add some gravitas to her Christmas outfit, but it is difficult when decked out with bits of fir tree, assorted crackers, baubles and tassles plus a mini-tree on her head.