Dorotheum

A painting from the workshop of Peter Paul Rubens making its second appearance at Dorotheum (28/25/22/18% buyer’s premium) in the space of a decade was the best-seller in the November 10 Old Masters auction in Vienna.

Throughout his long career, Giorgio de Chirico often returned to the subject ‘Piazza d’Italia’, one of the most familiar images among his metaphysical paintings.

Dorotheum’s auction of wrist and pocket watches in Vienna on November 27 includes this Rolex Dato Compax ref 4768.

A bowler hat that once belonged to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria will go under the hammer at Dorotheum on October 19 in the sale of imperial court memorabilia and historical objects in Vienna.

Always likely to produce one of the sale’s best results, a 1798 first of Thomas Malthus’ 'Essay on the Principle of Population' duly led the bidding in a recent German sale.

Vienna saleroom Dorotheum (28/25/22/18% buyer’s premium) was hoping to send a positive signal for the art market from its latest Old Master sale.

A recent sale at Dorotheum (28/25/22% buyer’s premium) in Vienna was topped by this spectacular diamond and aquamarine tiara-necklace by Cartier London.

Dual time zones watches first came into fashion in France, where they were used to show both ‘time’ in the traditional manner and also Revolutionary time, a short-lived idea based on the decimal system.

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.

“There is no such thing as modern art, there is only art and it is perpetual.” The author of these lines was, perhaps surprisingly, the highly modern Austrian painter Egon Schiele and are part of an artistic manifesto written on July 17, 1911.

Jewellery owned by Marie Valerie Hapsburg, the favourite daughter of Empress Elisabeth of Austria, will be auctioned by Dorotheum in Vienna on November 27.

Since 1984, only about 20 paintings by the Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey (1842-1910) have come on the auction market and many of his best-known works are in international museums.

In the 1980s, the 3ft 7in x 2ft 9in (1.1m x 85cm) canvas of Saint Bartholomew being offered by Dorotheum in Vienna on April 30 was tentatively ascribed to Caravaggio. The treatment of light and shadow and the extreme naturalism in the portrayal certainly indicate a proximity to the revolutionary artist.

A number of works designed by some of the biggest names in the Wiener Werkstatte association are to be offered in the Jugendstil auction at Dorotheum on December 12. Among them are two brooches designed by Josef Hoffmann.

Winter is putting in an early appearance at Dorotheum in Vienna in the sale of Old Master paintings on October 23 in the shape of a 20in x 2ft 2in (52 x 66cm) oak panel Allegory of Winter, painted by Flemish artist Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647).

Imperial souvenirs, Expressionist portraits and metalware from Augsburg and Iran were among the recent highlights at sales in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

One of Dorotheum’s specialities is its staging of sales devoted to imperial court memorabilia and historical objects, which are notable for featuring souvenirs and personal memorabilia from the House of Hapsburg.