US

Naturalist produced a fish-focused work featuring nearly 3000 original watercolours across 50 copies

Collector never seemed to give up in a battle to win more magnificent ukiyo-e works

The original artwork for 'Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone' sold at Sotheby’s for $1.6m (£1.3m) plus 20% buyer’s premium in New York on June 26.

Concept Art Gallery (22% buyer’s premium) in Pittsburgh enjoyed a sensational result on June 8.

Although the designer and silversmith are unknown, this silver snake jug forms part of the group of trompe l’oeil objects produced during the 1870s-80s by the Gorham factory in Providence, Rhode Island.

Three Royal Worcester vases on offer were all painted by the versatile decorator

A wheellock sporting arm from the renowned Cabinet d’Armes of King Louis XIII (1601-43) is for sale at Rock Island Auction Company (RIAC) from August 23-25.

Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was one of 20th century USA’s most prominent architects, inventors and designers.

With very few exceptions, the French artist Victor Philippe Lemoine-Benoit (active 1831-50) devoted almost all of his painting career to one subject: hot-air balloons of the type made famous by the Montgolfier brothers in the late 18th century.

Estimated at $15,000-20,000 but hammering for $135,000 (£107,000), the highlight of the Asian works of art sale at Tenmoku (28/25/20% buyer’s premium) was a Chinese white-glazed incised dragon vase.

Concept Art Gallery (22% buyer’s premium) in Pittsburgh enjoyed a sensational result at a recent sale.

The Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa (1906-78) designed for Venini from 1932-47, creating around 30 different ranges.

Over 100 patents for mechanical apple parers were granted in the US between 1850-90.

On the market for the first time in over half a century, a Roman marble copy of the Crouching Venus hammered at $130,000 (£103,000) in the Freeman’s Hindman (27/21/15% buyer’s premium) auction on May 23.

Near-complete version of a work on a grandiose scale that caused its author’s ruin comes to Chicago saleroom

A set of 10 plates from a well-documented Sèvres service from the July Monarchy period emerged for sale at Tremont Auctions (27% buyer’s premium) in Sudbury, Massachusetts, on June 2.

Exhibition showcases work of Neapolitan Baroque artist who was famed for the speed of his production