France

A 1957 Ferrari 355 S Scaglietti sold at the Artcurial Motorcars auction for €32.1m (£24.7m) with premium to an international collector after “a tense, 11-minute bidding battle”.

This 11 x 7in (29 x 20cm) Tête de Femme by Alexej Von Jawlensky is one of over 170 works by a roster of some of the biggest names in modern and contemporary art that will feature in a two-part single-owner sale to be held by Tajan in Paris next week.

Paris Tableau, the specialist Old Masters fair, announced midway through its run this month that from next year it would become part of the new annual Biennale des Antiquaires.

The ‘Parcours des Mondes’, Paris’ annual tribal art trail, began last week in the Saint Germain quarter of the city.

A group of 32 ancient gold ornaments have been returned to China following claims they had been illegally removed.

Paris auction house Artcurial have formed a new subsidiary to conduct regular sales in Monaco.

The Hôtel Drouot, the communal saleroom facility used by most Paris auctioneers, has welcomed the news that swathes of former staff members are to face charges relating to stolen property.

Reaction to the news that the Paris ‘Biennale’ will become an annual event has been largely positive.

Members of French dealers’ association the Syndicat National des Antiquaires have voted to make the Biennale des Antiquaires in Paris an annual event.

Asian Art has blossomed in Paris this month. Items that combined quality, rarity and provenance generated fierce bidding at sales at Drouot and the various salerooms around the French capital.

The tribal art dealer Anthony JP Meyer, who specialises in Oceanic art, has a gallery on the rue des Beaux Arts in the heart of Paris’ Left Bank dealer district. He is a regular at ‘TEFAF Maastricht’ and at the Paris tribal trail known as the ‘Parcours des Mondes’, which takes place in September. Here he discusses with Anne Crane of Antiques Trade Gazette how his interest in the field started, his views on collecting and the tribal market.

Any drawings enthusiast visiting Paris last week would have been spoilt for choice.

Look back through the provenance of any major Impressionist work and the chances are it will have passed through the hands of Paul Durand-Ruel.

Strong sales of Modern and Contemporary art plus the Félix Marcilhac decorative arts collection helped propel Sotheby’s to the highest auction total in France in 2014, with sales figures of €213m.

What has been billed as the most significant sale of French 17th and 18th century paintings for 20 years was announced earlier this month.

One of the greatest ‘barn finds’ ever has uncovered 60 classic cars – just one of which is a rare Ferraris valued at several million pounds – in outbuildings in the west of France.

The French National Antique Dealers’ Association (Syndicat National des Antiquaires), organisers of the long-running Paris ‘Biennale des Antiquaires’, have decided to mount an additional new annual fair for the French capital – the first to be held next spring.

Arguably the most famous historic figure in French history and a princely provenance proved an irresistible combination earlier this month in France when a collection of Napoleonic memorabilia formed by the Grimaldi dynasty of Monaco went under the hammer.

Piasa are not the only Paris étude to have moved to new premises this autumn. Cornette de Saint Cyr have now opened their new saleroom in a 19th century hôtel particulier on the avenue Hoche near the Parc Monceau.

Christie’s have reorganised the sale schedule for their future auctions of Chinese works of Art in Europe making some significant changes.