France

Two lost folios from the 'Yongle Dadian', the Ming dynasty encyclopaedia that has assumed national treasure status in China, surfaced for sale in Paris last week.

The Rijksmuseum was in action at the Drouot to carry off a 9½in (24cm) wide porcelain punchbowl from the Ansbach factory.

Paris Enchères Collin du Bocage will be holding a single-lot sale on July 22 in Paris of a painting by Nicolas de Staël (1914-55).

Paris Millon will offer this painting of a Tunisian street scene by Alexandre Roubtzoff (1884-1949) at its Antiquities and Orientalist sale on July 21.

This pastel by the Barbizon school artist Jean-François Millet (1814-75) is one of the highlights in the Esprit du XIXème Siècle auction at Osenat in Fontainebleau on July 19.

Christie’s claimed a new record for Vietnamese ceramics when a large 15th century blue and white storage jar sold for a surprise €380,000 (£339,300) as part of the Art d'Asie sale in Paris.

The Paris auction centre Drouot opened its doors again last month in France following the lockdown.

Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) recent sale in Paris of books and manuscripts was led at €125,000 (£113,635) by a Nobel Prize for Literature medal awarded in 1947, just four years before his death, to the essayist, critic, novelist and dramatist André Gide.

Friedrich Goldscheider (1845-97) is famous for founding the Goldscheider ceramics factory which was set up in Vienna in 1885.

Sotheby’s Paris (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) reported a cumulative total of €5.4m for the five online sales it held over two weeks in mid May through to early June. The initiative attracted new buyers, said the auction house, with 35% in the jewellery sale and 27% in the Contemporary art auction.

Outside Paris auctions have also started up as lockdown eases.

Around 20 years ago the owner of a mediaeval manor house in northern Europe made an exciting discovery when clearing out the moats of the fortified house.

A newly discovered bronze by a French Renaissance sculptor was acquired by the Louvre museum for €1.15m (£1.05m) at an auction in Paris on June 9.

This 1890s Japoniste-style photograph frame in brown patinated bronze applied with gilt branches of stylised myosotis is by the Paris firm of Maison Millet.

This painting of Madame de Saint-Maurice is one of five works by Edouard Vuillard spanning the years 1900-18 from the Georges and Jacqueline Herbin collection on offer at Artcurial in Paris.

Auction rooms in France are gradually opening up again, albeit within the limitations of the new health and safety regulations set as a result of the coronavirus and aided by the extra input from absentee bidding on phones and online.

Christie’s (25/20/13.5% buyer’s premium) has held its first live sales in Paris since lockdown.