![David Hockney, 'A Bigger Book', Taschen, Cologne, 2016 with Marc Newson book stand [detail]. Photos: © Eppli](https://images.prismic.io/barnebys/d880dff5-0230-4bad-a8a6-6bd9347a8272_Untitled+design.jpg?auto=format,compress)
On 27 March, the German auction house Eppli will conclude its 'Best Of' auction with a two-session sale of art, antiques and coins. The auction begins with a 356-lot catalogue, which is stocked with paintings, furniture, a wide range of handicrafts, Asian art and jewellery.
The premier lot is formed of three octagonal landscape paintings by the Flemish baroque painter Marten Ryckaert. Two of the rock landscapes are animated with people and animals are date to the year 1624, the other to the year 1626. Ryckaert's authorship is secured by a signature and two monograms.
This essay secretary was created in Austria around 1760-80 in the style of the late baroque. The walnut veneer is mounted on a structure made of softwood, and the panels made of burl wood are adorned with curved ribbon inlays in rococo style.
This pair of candlesticks was also created in Austria, more precisely in Vienna, in the 20th century. While the shafts consist of three-dimensional figures, the candlestick arms are decorated with vine leaves.
Based on a model by Johann Joachim Kaendler from 1740-45, this 'wobbling pagoda', a Chinese polychrome figure sitting cross-legged with a wobbling head and hands, was made in the Meissen manufactory in the 20th century.
This seating group goes back to a more modern design from the 1980s. Eero Saarinen first developed the Tulip series in the 1950s for Knoll International, which also produced the furniture at hand.
In 2016, Taschen published A Bigger Book, dedicated to the work of David Hockney, the title of which refers to Hockney's painting A Bigger Splash from 1967. The matching stand comes from the Australian designer Marc Newson.
In 2018, Swarovski released the figure group The Sensational Six, limited to 250 copies, with the Disney characters Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald and Daisy Duck and Goofy and Pluto. The figures, adorned with over 45,000 Swarovski crystals, are mounted on a black granite base.
On the afternoon of 27 March, the 285 lots of the coin auction will be up for bids. In addition to coins, the auction also includes postage stamps, banknotes, securities and historical items.
Among the historica, this Stuttgart city coin, which was minted around 1700, has to be highlighted. While the front shows a view of Stuttgart under God's protective shield arm, the back shows a mare with her foal. This alludes to the founding of Stuttgart as a stud farm ('Stutengarten') in the 10th century.
The highest estimate lot can be found among the numismatics: a Chinese 1000 yuan coin made of 12 grams of fine gold from 1987, on which a panda bear and its offspring are depicted.
The bundles of the auction are a real treasure trove for numismatists, such as this apparently complete GDR collection with 128 coins.
An outstanding collection of old German coins is housed in a slipcase with 10 tableaus. These almost 900 coins were minted before 1799.
This lot with three historical silver bars ('Sycee') from the Chinese Empire is also very interesting. These were already in use for major transactions in China 2,000 years ago, even when banknotes were introduced in the 9th century, which the population did not have great confidence in. Sycees were poured into different shapes. Eppli has two in a silk shoe and one in a kettledrum shape.
