It was the best of times, it was the worst of times

Rufus Bird considers whether the market is up or down

Looking back at the past few months, an antique nest of drawers made to house artists’ pigments and a group exhibition of drawings spanning 500 years stand out as some of the most intriguing offerings of the summer

A cut-crystal bed, with associated mirrors and throne, sparkled at auction earlier this month, but no glamour could beat the prize that was the Union Flag flown by HMS Spartiate at the Battle of Trafalgar

The Yellow Boy by Joshua Reynolds saw multiple peregrinations, passing even through (Romanian) royal hands for a time, before returning to London in 1981. It now headlines a selling exhibition of magnificent 18th to 20th-century works

Estimate £15,000-£20,000 Sold £32,000+BP An evocative, delicate watercolour, The North Wind, came from the brush of free spirit Emily Brontë, author of Wuthering Heights and one-third of the world-fam

Edvard Munch is surely Norway’s most celebrated artist, best known for his famous painting, The Scream, on display at the National Museum in Oslo. This spring, the National Portrait Gallery in London