Auctions

Tiny portrait thought to show a Spanish noblewoman was bought at a local school in the 1970s

Malagan figures played an integral and complex role in the rituals of the tribes of New Ireland, the north-eastern province of Papua New Guinea.

Our regular listing of UK and Irish book auctions

Only a few months after several ornamental pieces of silver by the Viennese designer Dagobert Peche, one of the leading lights of the Wiener Werkstätte, caused a sensation in Düsseldorf (ATG No 2613, the auction house Kinsky (28% buyer’s premium) achieved an impressive result for a work by him.

The decision by Cologne auction house Lempertz (26% buyer’s premium) to postpone the sale of Max Pechstein’s 1909 Expressionist work Selbstbildnis, liegend (Self Portrait, lying down) from June to December 1 proved to be a wise one.

In the early years of the HN collection in the 1920s several companies commissioned Doulton figures to advertise their products.

A German collector consigned 28 carpets for the November 25 sale at Rippon Boswell (25% buyer’s premium) in Wiesbaden.

Our selection of lots coming up in six auctions

While auction prices for works of art from Japan can scarcely compete with those achieved for pieces from China, the sale at Hargesheimer (28% buyer’s premium) in Düsseldorf on November 30 showed that there is still a healthy market for netsuke.

Sending the old year out with a bang, a George III brass mortar by Jan Verbruggen took £49,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Sworders.

Among the star attractions at the 60-lot evening sale of works from the collection of Hubert Guerrand-Hermès (1940-2016) at Sotheby’s Paris was a carved and regilded Louis XVI chair.

A white marble sculpture of a young man holding what appears to be a cricket ball flew away from its estimate to bring $30,000 (£23,700) at Andrew Jones (25% buyer’s premium).

A still-life by Sir William Nicholson (1872-1949) that appeared in the final sale of the year at Olympia Auctions (25% buyer’s premium) “generated ripples of excitement among private collectors and the trade alike” according to the West London saleroom.

The Christmas Gifts sale at TW Gaze in Diss included a rare example of 18th century Catholic colonial jewellery: a Mexican 'escudo de monja' or nun’s badge.

ATG’s pick of auction lots bought by internet bidders on thesaleroom.com, featuring both the highest prices over-estimate and the top prices paid online.

Bonhams’ (28/27% buyer’s premium) latest Old Master sale at its New Bond Street rooms was hard going, with almost half the lots unsold and two-thirds of those that did get away either going on or below their low estimate.

One of the Old Masters attracting significant interest at Lyon & Turnbull’s (25/20% buyer’s premium) latest Five Centuries sale in Edinburgh was a small still-life that drew strong competition against a £5000-8000 estimate.

Our selection of lots from nine upcoming auctions.

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