Austria

Chinese bidders were the driving force at this autumn’s German and Austrian auctions of Asian art.

The London watchmaker John Ilbery, active from 1780-1839, is credited with the invention of the ‘montre chinoise’, highly ornate goldenamel watches made for the Chinese market.

A number of works designed by some of the biggest names in the Wiener Werkstatte association are to be offered in the Jugendstil auction at Dorotheum on December 12. Among them are two brooches designed by Josef Hoffmann.

Take nine five-clawed dragons, add 19 bats and place them among swirling clouds and breaking waves and you have the décor of a very rare 18th century iron-red and underglaze blue moon flask that is one of the star lots at Nagel in the sale in Salzburg on December 6-7.

The Viennese auction house Im Kinsky has acquired a broad selection of works of art for its sale of October 23-24. The oldest objects are three Apulian terracotta ewers (oinochoe) from around 315-310BC.

ATG’s calendar of auctions taking place in Austria, Germany and Switzerland in autumn 2018.

Winter is putting in an early appearance at Dorotheum in Vienna in the sale of Old Master paintings on October 23 in the shape of a 20in x 2ft 2in (52 x 66cm) oak panel Allegory of Winter, painted by Flemish artist Sebastiaen Vrancx (1573-1647).

Imperial souvenirs, Expressionist portraits and metalware from Augsburg and Iran were among the recent highlights at sales in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.

Stuttgart auction house Nagel (33% buyer’s premium) held its summer sale of Asian art in Salzburg having acquired an impressive array of quality pieces from European and other collections.

One of Dorotheum’s specialities is its staging of sales devoted to imperial court memorabilia and historical objects, which are notable for featuring souvenirs and personal memorabilia from the House of Hapsburg.

Main stage at the design auction at Dorotheum in Vienna on May 30 is taken by jewellery designed by Josef Hoffmann, one of the leading lights of the Wiener Werkstätte.

A panel front from a cassone will feature in the April 24 sale of Old Master paintings to be held by Dorotheum in Vienna.

A new record for a camera sold at auction was set by WestLicht in Vienna when one of only a handful of surviving Leica 0-series cameras – this one carrying the serial number 122 – sold at €2m (£1.76m) plus 20% buyer’s premium, to a private buyer from Asia.

Gerald Weinpolter is based in Vienna and specialises in Austrian painting.

Paintings by major exponents of Expressionism almost invariably occupy many of the top slots in the modern and contemporary art sales staged in late autumn across Germany and Austria.

The potential star of the show at the sale of Selected Works held by Grisebach (25% buyer’s premium) in Berlin on November 30 lived up to its expectations.

A philosopher of mathematics, the human consciousness and language, Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) was described by his teacher Bertrand Russell as “the most perfect example I have ever known of genius as traditionally conceived”.