France

One of the highest prices of 2019 achieved by French auction house Beaussant Lefèvre (27% buyer’s premium inc VAT) was the €310,000 (£262,710) paid for this impressively tall 4ft 1in (1.25m) high pair of gilt bronze mounted, footed and covered vases.

A newly discovered painting by Giuseppe de Ribeira (1591-1652) has been uncovered in a private home by the Paris auction firm Daguerre.

March is when Paris turns its attention to the world of drawings and works on paper.

Dedicated collections boost Sotheby’s as it tops list of French auction turnover figures.

This opal, diamond, enamel and 18ct yellow gold choker, c.1898, is textbook René Lalique (1860-1945).

Artcurial holds a sale of Old Master and 19th century paintings in Paris on February 4. The opening 200 lots of this auction is given over to antique picture frames and two unusual entries are made from 18th century French faience rather than wood.

BiblioMania has been running for six years in Paris and this biannual 80-exhibitor fair is a magnet for book and ephemera lovers, principally for the sheer variety of the stock on offer.

Only recently has the name Marguerite Gérard (1761-1837) re-emerged from the long shadow cast by her brother-in-law and tutor, Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806).

Palace uses power of pre-emption to buy cast of Giambologna’s seminal sculpture at auction.

This rediscovered drawing of the future George IV (1762-1830) is believed to have been owned by his true love Maria Fitzherbert (1756-1837).

A Yongzheng (1723-35) mark and period falangcai enamel bowl sold for €3.25m (£2.8m) to lead the recent round of Asian art sales in Paris.

Every year Paris plays host to a December Asian art auction series with a raft of sales at the Drouot auction centre and at the independent rooms across the French capital.

This Neoclassical drawing by the Swedish sculptor Johann Tobias Sergel (1740-1814) proved very popular in the opening Old Master works on paper section of the mixed-discipline traditional sale held by the Hôtel des Ventes de Monte-Carlo 25% buyer’s premium) on November 27 in Monaco.

Depiction of Emperor Shah Jahan is thought to have been prepared for his official chronicle.

The 11 pieces of early-18th century Régence silver gilt from a dressing service pictured below were billed by Christie’s as “the last remnants of France’s most glorified stylistic and historically important period”.