Success for a Guitar by Jacques-Philippe Michelot

In the end, the tapestry of Maximilian I's Imperial Hunt and Hawking in the Forest of Soignes did not appear in the afternoon's opening sale, due to the agreement that had been reached in the morning before the sale for a price above the high estimate of €1,200,000. While the bass viol attributed to Gasparo Duiffopruggar found no buyers, a Portuguese Indies contador cabinet, which was expected to fetch no more than €8,000, fetched €32,500. Probably dating to the 18th century, made of exotic wood inlaid with ebony and bone, with six brass-handled drawers in the upper section and three in the lower, it rests on mermaids in espagnolette mounted on chimeras

At 4 pm, the sale dedicated to classical art revealed interest in the guitar pictured here, which went for €78,000, in line with its estimate. It was made by Jacques-Philippe Michelot, inventor of the "boat-shaped” guitar, and is said to have been given to the Marquise de La Rochelambert-Thévalles by the French Queen Marie-Antoinette.

Two lots expected to fetch no more than €2,000 were keenly fought over. €27,300 went to an oval porcelain tray attributed to the Royal Manufacture of Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. Made in c. 1805, this features a painted view of the Bay of Naples after an engraving by Antonio Cardon, framed in gold with a frieze of foliage, waves and palmettes (25.2 x 32.9 cm/9.9 x 13 in). Meanwhile, €24,700 went to Eugénie O'Kin’s Draped Woman with Lotus, carved in ivory and highlighted with small golden studs, dating from the first half of the 20th century (h. 18 cm/7 in).