Christie's

The 52-lot auction of furniture, paintings and works of art collected by members of the Rothschild family was among the most animated during a packed week of London showpiece sales.

In what could well be a first, all 10 of Christie’s top evening sale lots on June 17 were sculptures. The group comprised the works of four blue-chip sculptors – Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Elisabeth Frink and Barry Flanagan – and contributed much of the overall total at £11.3m.

After a bullish 2018 for the major Modern British art sales in London – during which Christie’s posted its strongest evening sale to date – results from the first ‘Mod Brit’ series of 2019 looked a little flat by comparison.

A complete set of the Metellus 'Speculum orbis terrae' publications that featured in ATG No 2399 was not the only lot to record a six-figure result in the June 5, King Street sale of the Mopelia collection of atlases and travel books.

Christie’s marathon 12-hour auction of Indian jewellery and works of art from the Al Thani family held in New York included the finest collection of courtly weapons to come to auction in well over a generation.

Published in Venice in November 1494, a copy of Luca Pacioli’s 'Summa de arithmetica, geometria, proporzioni et proporzionalità…' offered in a recent US sale was granted the rare privilege in the book auction world of having a catalogue all of its own.

Beyond the Horizon was the title given to the remarkable Mopelia collection of atlases and travel books offered in a June 5 sale in London.

The latest sales of Impressionist & Modern art in London put in a mixed performance.

Asian auction series now take place around the world throughout the year in the major centres of the art market. Paris held its latest staging this month at the beginning of the French capital’s Temps Fort or high season.

The success of timed online auctions for London’s big auction houses is putting the format on the map for other salerooms too.

The latest week of Russian art auctions in London generated £35.8m including premium, the highest total for a June series in this category since 2014.

A book billed as the work that marked the birth of modern business will be the subject of a single-lot auction at Christie’s New York on June 12.

Spring is a traditional point in the saleroom calendar for New York to mount its tribal art auctions.

A Qianlong (1736-95) three-colour lacquer throne provided the London series of Asian art sales with its headline moment.