A keen public, although absent from the auction room, asserted themselves on the three online sales platforms and by telephone to bid on the 400 lots of the 'Winter Tales part 1' auction, where paintings from the 17th to the 19th century were offered alongside religious sculptures, tapestries, period furniture and Chinese porcelain. A chronological overview of the two-day auction with hammer prices (commission costs 22/ 25/ 28% excluded). 

Although the crown piece of the catalogue, a carnival scene at the Antwerp Kipdorp gate by a follower of Sebastiaan Vrancx, did not find a buyer, there was great interest in a Brussels tapestry depicting Aeneas in Troy (lot 64, est.: € 800/1200, res.: € 13000), an anonymous group portrait of ca. 1560 (lot 114, res.: € 7000) and two small panels by the South Tyrolean Rococo painter Johan Georg Platzer. 

The pair, estimated around € 8/12000, changed owners for € 45000. The international interest in the work of the women's trio Henriëtte Ronner (lot 172, res.: € 24000), Francina Louisa Schot (lot 174, res.: € 5000) and Thérèse Van Duyle Schwartze (lot 152, res.: € 4000) was also striking. No bidders, however, for work by Gerard Portielje, all the more for Jos Schippers and Camille Alfred Pabst. 'Prohibited reading' (lot 171) and '14 juillet' (lot 153) were hammered respectively at € 4500 and € 4700. In the segment of Furniture, an Antwerp cabinet (lot 33) found a buyer at € 8500 while an impressive Italian cabinet (lot 84) left the auction room for the round sum of € 20000.

On December 9th, an international audience of buyers found a small collection of Chinese porcelain entirely to their liking. A 'water dropper' in the shape of a bixie (Chinese mythical animal), estimated at around € 500, easily obtained € 4000 (lot 285), a large bowl (lot 271, diam.: 59 cm) in turn doubled the estimate (res. € 4000), a Chinese export porcelain plate with a David Teniers scene (lot 262) nicely ended up right in the middle of the estimation (res.: € 3500) and about six composed lots of Chinese plates and cups went under the hammer for five to ten times the estimation. 

Also in this session the classical antiques grabbed the interest of the bidders very swiftly. An Empire salon suite comprising ten parts (lot 358) and a mantel clock with representation of Diana (lot 325), both with their provenance in Château La Garenne, obtained bids at € 10000 each, and a table signed 'A Etienne' ca. 1880 (lot 357) turned out four times as expensive as expected, just like the Queen Anne table clock ca. 1770 (lot 323, est.: € 1500/1800, res.: € 6200). A Swiss music box (lot 350) reached €4600 and four bracket clocks (lots 331, 332, 333, and 339), among which with 'Boulle' inlay, clocked off at prices ranging from € 2800 to € 4000. 

In short, a more than decent result for antiques, which makes one look forward to the sequel in February, during our 'Winter Tales II' auction.