London

Two sporting ‘firsts’ are being marked by lots coming up in separate auctions this month.

When Domenico Venuti became director of the Naples porcelain factory in 1779, he broke radically with any lingering Rococo sentiments and embraced the new neoclassical style sweeping Europe.

Over 220 items (and counting) are in the forthcoming Catalogue 119 – the latest offering from Covent Garden dealership Grosvenor Prints.

'Frank Auerbach: The Sitters' at Piano Nobile includes over 40 paintings and drawings with around a third of the works for sale.

The British Art Fair is boosting its Contemporary profile for its first outing under Ramsay Fairs next month.

A previously unknown sketchbook of watercolours and drawings relating to the California Gold Rush took £16,000 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Chiswick Auctions.

Traders welcome the return of the organiser’s only London event which was last held in 2020

Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium plus 1% overhead premium) latest Old Master evening sale in London was the smallest in terms of the number of lots that anyone could remember at one of these flagship summer events.

The headline borrows the title given to an online Christie’s (26/20% buyer’s premium) sale – one that presented more than 80 modern first editions.

Inscribed to her husband and fellow poet, Ted Hughes, the dedication copy of the first and only collection of Sylvia Plath’s poems to be published in her lifetime, 'The Colossus and other Poems', sold for a record £75,000 in a Sotheby’s (25/20/13.9% buyer’s premium) sale.

Consignments thin on the ground judging by the latest auctions series in London

Different way of operating involves exhibitions, some non-commercial, in a variety of premises.

Arguably the most eyecatching bidding battle at the latest London Old Master series was for a painting of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Portland Gallery shows works by painter who studied under David Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic

TimeLine Auctions’ Antiquities sale includes a dozen good examples of Roman glass including this 3rd-5th century unguentarium with zigzag trail decoration.

Despite the issues of supply affecting the market, odd pockets of success were evident at the latest Old Master sales in London.

Firsts: London’s Rare Books Fair has added an impressive 49 dealers to the roster for its 65th edition thanks to an influx of international traders.

This glass tumbler, pictured below, engraved with a crowned 'N' over a band of diamond cutting, contained in a tooled leather cylindrical travelling case, is of a type that accompanied Napoleon on campaign.

A composite German full armour, c.1500-10, from a European Collection was one of the highlights of Thomas Del Mar’s (25% buyer’s premium) sale of Fine Antique Arms, Armour & Militaria held at Olympia Auctions on June 29.