Europe

ATG’s calendar of auctions taking place in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in autumn 2018.

From the very beginning of his career as an independent silversmith in the late 18th century, the London craftsman Paul Storr received numerous noble and royal commissions. He was the foremost artisan in his field from the early 1790s until the late 1830s and supplied most of the silverware purchased by the royal household during this period.

Even when the Cold War was at its height there were, admittedly rare, possibilities for commercial cooperation between West Germany and the German Democratic Republic.

Among the more sizeable lots at the auction on October 19-20 at Kaupp in Sulzburg near the Black Forest is an early 20th century stained glass window, measuring 10ft 2in x 5ft 11in (3.09 x 1.8m).

On October 27 Lehr in Berlin is selling this 14 x 14in (36 x 35cm) bronze relief, a self-portrait by Paul Gauguin.

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).

Science fiction is the theme for the 110-dealer BiblioMania in Paris’ 17th arrondissement, held at the Espace Champerret from Wednesday to Sunday, October 17-21.

In the UK Huntley and Palmers and McVitie’s might be the brand names to trip off the tongue at the mention of the word biscuit. In France it is LU that first comes to mind.

The only known item of silverware to have survived from a lavish diplomatic gift presented to Louis XIV by the King of Siam has been acquired by the Palace of Versailles via a private treaty sale through auction firm Beaussant Lefèvre.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from October 2-12, 2018.

Our round-up of British and Irish book sales coming up from September 25-October 6, 2018.

Portraiture was not the preferred genre of the Valencian artist Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida (1863-1923), but early in his career he recognised its value as a reliable source of income and persisted with it throughout his lifetime.

Gracing the catalogue cover of Whyte’s Irish & International Art auction in Dublin on October 1 is this work by Séan Keating (1889-1977).