Auctions

A selection of eight upcoming lots from auctions taking place around the UK.

One of four works as commission for the Polish king is the star lot of an Austrian collection

A round-up of art and antiques news from the previous seven days, including an 18th century Kyoto carving setting an auction record at Bonhams for any netsuke.

The Rokujuyoshu Meisho Zue (Famous Views of the Sixty-odd Provinces) series was the last great landscape work created by Japanese ukiyo-e artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858).

Antiques dealer and taxidermy specialist Emma Hawkins is selling a collection from her townhouses in Edinburgh and London at Sotheby’s this month.

The Komai family of sword makers and armourers were among the many Japanese metalworkers courting a new clientele during the Meiji period (1868-1912).

Although Dutchmen John and David Elers came to London sometime in the 1680s as silversmiths, the brothers are remembered today as the potters who brought fine unglazed stonewares to Staffordshire.

The sale at Kinghams (23% buyer’s premium) in Moreton-in-Marsh included a 12in (30cm) carved cinnabar lacquer dish dating from the late Yuan or early Ming period – c.1350-1400.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions.

A large reticulated ‘dragon and phoenix’ censer came for sale at Mallams’ (25% buyer’s premium) in Cheltenham from a Herefordshire vendor whose family had lived in Shanghai in the 1930s.

Neolithic jade congs – the inspiration for many pieces of Qing and later porcelain – are probably some of the most intriguing objects from ancient Chinese culture.

Running to over 150pp in all, an archive of 42 love letters sent by Bob Dylan to a high school sweetheart, Barbara Ann Hewitt, featured in a November 17 Marvels of Modern Music sale held by RR Auctions of Amherst, New Hampshire.

A chance find proved to be very fortuitous for one of the consignors of the auction held by Schreiber (22% buyer’s premium) on November 5.

Vietnamese buyers have sent the best works of art from the Le (1428-1789) and Nguyen (1802-1945) dynasties to unchartered territory in recent years.

“We have been to the Pole and we shall die like gentlemen.”

Long before the auction in Krefeld began, it was clear that the price for a vase by Hans Coper would be way higher than the estimate of €8000.

Creative examples featured in recent UK auctions show the influence of religion and culture on the Manchu rulers of the Qing