Europe

Most high-flying ‘design’ is made in multiples. These can be limited editions in short runs but, as some of the most iconic pieces have been produced in their millions, their commercial value is typically vested in early examples or prototypes.

Glass bricks are a common sight in 21st century building construction, but back in the late 19th century they were cutting-edge industrial technology. They were employed by avant-garde architects such as Art Nouveau specialist Hector Guimard and the modernist Le Corbusier.

After a continuous 30-year period of trading, and a stockbook tally of around 10,000 pieces, Paris dealer in European ceramics Christophe Perlès has decided to take a break for a couple of years.

This ivory-inlaid fall-fronted cabinet is one of the highlights in a sale of Islamic and Indian art at Drouot by Ader on June 29.

It is relatively rare to find items of 16th century costume on the market, especially pieces in good condition. It is therefore perhaps not surprising that this gentleman’s doublet from c.1580-1600 should end up going to a major museum when it went under the hammer in a Paris auction this month.

In Paris later this month? As well as marvelling at the beauties of the vast and ornate 18th century Église St Sulpice in Paris’ 6th arrondissement, pictured below, with its chapel murals by Delacroix, you can peruse antiques delights on offer at the Place St Sulpice Antiquités Brocante.

The Hôtel Drouot in Paris is to host a street art fair this autumn.

John Magnier, the Irish horse breeder and art collector, reportedly made a five-fold return on his Amadeo Modigliani reclining nude when it sold at Sotheby’s New York last month for $139m (£102.2m).

Shown below is one of 20 hand-coloured plates from 'Masken des Römischen Carnevals'. This was a rare and separate 1790 Weimar issue of the plates that illustrated a work by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe on Roman carnivals published the previous year – an item that is itself a great rarity*.

Though their output was dwarfed by their male counterparts, talented 20th century Irish female artists pack a punch in the saleroom when their art does appear at auction.

Bid to a record €18,000 (£15,660) in a May 15-17 series of sales held by Reiss & Sohn (18% buyer’s pemium) of Königstein, near Frankfurt, was a first edition of Immanuel Kant’s 'Critik der reinen Vernunft'.

A rare late 16th century astronomical horizontal dial, dated MDXCI (1591) and engraved with the arms and name of Pope Clement VIII, is one of the highlights of the sale series to be held by Uppsala AuktionsKammare from June 13-15.

This canvas of the martyrdom of St Sebastian by the Italian Baroque artist Mattia Preti (1613-99) is closely related to one of his most famous works of the same subject, in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples.