Auctioneers

Judging by the overall totals, the latest Modern and Contemporary art auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips in New York were something of a bump back to reality after the last two sales series posted the highest grossing totals on record.

The Oak Interior sale at Bishop & Miller in Stowmarket on June 1-2 includes this ‘important and exceptional’ Edward IV bronze measure.

It is traditional in Russia for important, respected or admired guests to be greeted with an offering of bread and salt.

A group of 25 works by Egyptian artists drew notable interest at the inaugural sale of Modern & Contemporary African and Middle Eastern art at Olympia Auctions.

This late untitled drawing by Arshile Gorky (1904-48) in pencil and crayon on paper was the highlight of a sale of Modern and Contemporary paintings held by Digard (25/20/14% buyer’s premium) on March 28 at Drouot in Paris.

Salisbury auction house Woolley & Wallis is holding a Martin Brothers anniversary exhibition from June 13-22.

In a style admired in the gardens at Versailles and at a House & Garden sale in Abingdon, a pair of urns after those created for Louis XIV’s great project led the field at Mallams (25% buyer’s premium).

Popular since they were first bought by Grand Tourists visiting Italy, this early 19th century micromosaic panel was a particularly fine example.

Two of Jane Austen’s works, both from the same Wyoming collector’s estate, were stand-out lots in a May 11 sale held in Chicago.

The 33 pieces of ‘Mouseman’ furniture on offer at Carlisle auction house Thomson Roddick (20% buyer’s premium) all came from a Cumbrian Georgian country house where they had been since at least before 1950.

The composition and use of colour make 'Monica nude with Lichtenstein', which is being sold by Ketterer Kunst in Munich on June 9, instantly recognisable as a work by American pop-artist Tom Wesselmann (1931-2004).

This Normandy beach scene by Kees Van Dongen (1877-1968) from c.1948-49 will be offered for sale by Gros & Delettrez at Drouot in Paris on June 20.

High-value Post-war and Contemporary art is increasingly on offer beyond Mayfair and the centre of the capital

French artist Nancy Delouis (b.1941) was born into an artistic family.

Painted just after the Second World War, this Surrealist landscape by John Tunnard (1900-71) depicts a series of futuristic antennae, ancient megaliths and henges – plus the ‘dry tree’ motif the artist used as a symbol of destruction and death.

While some of the gloss has been taken off the market, the best pre-revolutionary Russian craftsmanship remains attractive to international collectors.

The standout signature to an autograph album compiled by a boy scout in 1919 was that of Lawrence of Arabia.

Art from the collection of Christine Poirot-Delpech was the object of a sell-out single-owner sale at Art Valorem (28.8% buyer’s premium inc tax) at Drouot on April 6.

One of the more remarkable results of recent weeks came in a May 3 sale at Freeman’s (26/21/15% buyer’s premium) of Philadelphia.

Works by the three sisters including copies published under pseudonyms come to a Cambridge auction