Europe

A newly-discovered work by François Desportes (1661- 1743) sold for a sensational €1.65m (£1.5m) at auction in Bordeaux.

Joseph Fröhlich (1694-1757) was a well-known figure at the Saxon court from the late 1720s onwards. He was appointed court jester to Augustus the Strong in 1727 and held the position for three decades – perfect for a man whose family name translates as ‘happy’.

Fair organisers are not to be envied at the moment. Only at the beginning of September were the managers of the 'Highlights Fair' in Munich given the go-ahead for this year’s event (the 11th edition) which is opening its doors to the general public from October 22-25.

Mehlis (23% buyer’s premium) in Plauen held its first sale of the new season on August 28-29. There was lively bidding, with a high proportion of the bidders joining in by phone.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 29-October 10, 2020.

In 1902, American inventor Frederic Eugene Ives applied for a patent for his Parallax Stereogram.

Among the million-plus visitors to the notorious 'Die Ausstellung Entartete Kunst' organised by the Nazis in 1937 was the painter Karl Kunz (1905-71). He was not there to be disgusted by the excesses of the “modern degenerates”, as was the official intention, but rather to be inspired by the work of his fellow painters.

A celebrated Una and the Lion proof set minted in the first year of Queen Victoria’s reign returns to auction next month.

Christo (1935-2020) is famous for the series of monumental projects to wrap landmarks around the world undertaken with his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude (1935-2008).

The highlight of an Asian art auction held at Drouot by Auction Art on September 25 is this 21½in (55cm) high Qianlong lantern-shaped vase famille rose vase and stand.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 22-October 9, 2020.

This 4in (10cm) silver snuff box offered for sale at Veilinghuis de Jager in Goes, Zeeland was the subject of a learned article in the January-February Ghendtsche Tydingen, the magazine of the Ghent history society.

In 1916 around 500 copies of the historic ‘Proclamation of the Irish Republic’ were printed, of which today just 30 or so survivors are recorded.

Before leaving as a missionary to China, the Flemish missionary Mon Van Genechten (1903-74) was a student of Dirk Baksteen, Sir Frank Brangwyn and Maurice Denis.

ATG’s calendar of book auctions taking place in the UK and Ireland from September 15-26, 2020.

Aguttes stages a sale of paintings, works of art and furniture titled Passion Patrimoine taking place at Neuilly-sur-Seine on the outskirts of Paris on September 22.

This elegant pair of finely worked early Hellenistic gold bracelets featuring a rather sympathetic and graceful rendering of the snake-haired gorgon Medusa are believed to have been made by a courtly goldsmith workshop during the 4th-3rd century BC.

On September 30 Veritas in Lisbon is selling Asian works of art from a single-owner private Portuguese collection formed over the past 35 years in an auction titled An Erudite Collection: objects and works of art from Shang to Qing Dynasty.