Europe

A number of strong results for works by modern Vietnamese painters have been achieved in recent weeks in salerooms across France.

Two Old Master oil on panel paintings by 17th century Dutch artists featuring very different subjects were best-sellers in large mixed-discipline sales held in Paris and Monaco.

This Orientalist painting, 'Ecole coranique' by Etienne Dinet (1861-1929), will be offered by Jack-Philippe Ruellan in a sale in Vannes on November 7.

Our regular listing of British and Irish book auctions.

Pre-emption, the right of a French museum or institution to step in at the fall of the gavel to claim a lot at auctions staged in France for purchase at the hammer price, is a common occurence in such sales.

At Ivoire Nantes’ (24% buyer’s premium inc VAT) auction in the French city on September 29, this 2ft 1in x 3ft (64 x 91cm) signed pastel by Louise Abbemé (1858-1927), showing the actress Sarah Bernhardt seated, sold for €8200 (£7455).

This 21½in (55cm) high Qianlong famille rose vase and stand sold for €3.7m (£3.3m) at the Drouot in Paris last month.

A bowler hat that once belonged to Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria will go under the hammer at Dorotheum on October 19 in the sale of imperial court memorabilia and historical objects in Vienna.

An October 27-30 sale of more than 2800 lots at Reiss & Sohn of Königstein-im-Taunus includes a 1583 first of Georg Bartisch’s Opthalmodouleia…, a famous work on eye surgery that is also the first extensively illustrated account of any surgical speciality.

Furniture ensemble sold in French auction had been in the same family since being produced

A collection of bicycles spanning a century from 1892-1982, Tour de France jerseys and other sporting memorabilia will be offered for sale by Ivoire Chartres in the French city on October 17.

The Munich auction house Hermann Historica (25% buyer’s premium) is renowned for its huge multi-catalogue sales series, but on September 25 it mounted a special, selected sale of works of art held at Schloss Greding, south of Nuremburg.

Cologne auction house Lempertz has been trading for 175 years and on November 13 has a special celebratory treat in store for connoisseurs of 18th century furniture.

Firearms curiosa have long been a fascinating avenue for the collector to explore and this intriguing combined flintlock and lamp of c.1800 made €8500 (£7800) at Czerny (20% buyer’s premium) on September 19.

Armour made a strong showing at the sale held in Sarzana by Italian arms specialist Czerny (20% buyer’s premium) on September 19.

This portrait of doctor Heinrich Wolff, the stadtphysikus (city physician) in 16th century Nuremberg, is one of the highlights in the sale at Wendl in Rudolstadt on October 22-24.

Over the years, Wolf Horst Röhl, who died in 2005, amassed an impressive collection of 17th and 18th century Dutch and German cut glass.

On October 31, Quentin in Berlin is holding its 40th auction. One of the most unusual pieces is this 8in (22cm) high satirical porcelain figure, titled Schmeichelei (Flattery). It was modelled in 1909 by the Slovakian artist Eduard Klabena for KPM in Berlin.