Germany

Germany’s most expensive painting sold at auction, an unusual early firearm and a fin de siècle snake charmer are among the highlights featured here from recent auctions in Munich, Berlin and Cologne.

It took less than five minutes for a work by Max Beckmann (1884-1950) to become the most expensive painting ever sold at a German auction.

Bound together, first editions of both parts of the 1679-83 edition of Maria Sybilla Merian’s study of caterpillars and their transformation into butterflies, Der Raupen…, sold to a Danish bidder for €42,000 (£32,060) in a sale held by Ketterer Kunst (23% buyer’s premium) of Hamburg.

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*.

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'.

Bid to €60,000 (£53,100) in a March 16 sale held by Venator & Hanstein (23% buyer’s premium) was a group of letters sent by Charles Darwin in the 1860s and ‘70s to a German botanist, Friedrich Hildebrand.

Old Masters and post-Impressionist paintings, vintage luggage and the almost inevitable Asian artefacts all appeared among the best-sellers in the recent round of auctions held across Germany and Switzerland.

A late 19th century Art Nouveau centrepiece is one of the highlights at Quittenbaum’s Munich sale on May 15.

Pride comes before a fall and in the case of Napoleon, Smolensk came before Moscow. On May 18 Ketterer Kunst is selling a 2ft x 2ft 7in (60 x 79cm) scene of Napoleon observing the burning city of Smolensk.

Numerous works of art in the spring sales at Van Ham in Cologne come from the extensive legacy of Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt (1925-2017), founder of one of Europe’s leading electronics retailers.

A private museum in south-west Germany has bought a portrait by Swiss artist Jean- Etienne Liotard (1702-89) from London Old Master dealer Derek Johns.

Pictured and discussed here is a selection of interesting and unusual lots from sales in February and early March, ranging from a Russian enamel jug in Saarbruecken and an aristocratic de Lászlo portrait in Heidelberg to an early Grand Tour souvenir in cork in Cologne.

Three German auction houses tell how they aim to strike the right balance between bricks and mortar sales and enhancing the online experience. Paul Wheatley reports...

The essential guide to the German auction world - 10 things to know

An investigation in Germany into an Israeli art dealer, charged with being the ringleader of an international fraud ring, has concluded after the two central allegations against him were dropped.

Auction Technology Group's chief sets out how online consolidation, such as the company's purchase in March of e-commerce portal lot-tissimo, will bring benefits to both buyers and auctioneers...

An auction house in a small Bavarian town sold a Dutch Golden Age painting for more than 50 times its estimate back in November 2017 – setting a record for an artwork auctioned online in Germany.

Auction Technology Group (ATG) – owner of Antiques Trade Gazette and thesaleroom. com – has merged with German art and antiques portal Lot-tissimo.com.