A stellar cast of Post-war artists headlines this evening sale in Paris which includes works by Jean Dubuffet, Antonio Saura and Vieira da Silva. Having smashed the record for a Soulages painting in May 2011, the sale will offer three strong artworks of different periods, from the historic 1950s to the Outrenoir series. In addition, Sotheby’s Paris is honored to present three works coming from the Art Institute of Chicago: a rare Atlan painting, the iconic Ogre by Germaine Richier and an Hourloupe Mask by Jean Dubuffet.

Beside a group of beautiful works by Chu The Chun and a Zao Wou Ki painting, Walking Up Language by Huang Young Ping will bring a sculpture of the artist for the first time at auction in France.  Having broken the record in France for a work by Martial Raysse last May, the sale will also features L’Astronaute, 1963 which shows the artist’s passion for Modernity and new technologies transferred into new techniques of creation.  Paris is also the place for international artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose MP large painting can be seen as a self-portrait.

This panoramic journey through the Postwar and Contemporary schools is followed by a day sale, containing significant artworks by Nicolas de Staël, Geer Van Velde, Hartung, Arman, César, but also Mitchell, Murakami, Valdes, Yan Pei Ming and Barcelo.

The sale of Impressionist and Modern Art in Paris on December 8th will present a host of exceptional Surrealist works, beginning with three major paintings by Max Ernst (in particular La Carmagnole painted circa 1927), a masterpiece by Roberto Matta from 1942 (Le Pendu) and a remarkable composition by Wifredo Lam (L’arbre aux miroirs, 1945) as well as impressive works by André Masson, Victor Brauner and Salvador Dalí. Other highlights include important works of modern art by artists such as Picasso, Metzinger, Picabia and Miró, who is represented by a rare sculpture from the 1960s.

This December’s Evening Sale of Old Master and British Paintings is led by a pair of landmark Portraits by the artist Johann Zoffany. Painted in 1762, soon after the artist’s arrival in England, they depict the célèbre du jour David Garrick, the highly revered actor and theatre manager, in a rare moment of repose in the grounds of his Hampton Villa. They represent Zoffany’s first essay into the genre of the Conversation piece and have been part of the same distinguished collection since they were acquired in 1823 from the sale of the estate of Garrick’s widow.

A masterpiece of seventeenth century genre painting, by Jan Steen, leads the Dutch paintings category. It is a beautifully preserved and typically humorous Steen and, with it, one of the most technically dazzling examples of his art. Alongside it is one of the most important works by Jacob van Ruisdael to come to the market in recent years. It is unusually large and depicts the dunes before Haarlem, as evening approaches and the rains just passed, evocative of both Ruisdael’s fascination with nature as well as his mastery with the brush. A copper by David Teniers from 1647, when he was at the very height of his powers an artist,  depicts tric-trac players in a guardroom interior and completes the triumvirate of Dutch and Flemish masterworks.

Bernardo Daddi’s jewel-like Madonna and child enthroned, exquisite in its detailing, leads the Italian field and is supported by two other small devotional panels from early 14th century Florence, another Daddi and a portable triptych by Jacopo del Casentino. Complimenting these, from the 18th century, is a set of seven views of the island and harbours of Malta by Alberto Pullicino, the largest and most complete set to have survived from the eighteenth century and the only such set to have remained together since its acquisition or commission.

The sale of Western manuscripts and miniatures on 6 December 2011 includes a number of remarkable items, including a lost miniature from a lavishly illuminated Book of Hours by the Master of Claude de France, produced in Tours in the early sixteenth-century.

It also features a monumental twelfth-century English copy of Isidore of Seville’s Etymologies; and a previously unrecorded English devotional compendium in Latin and Middle English from the mid-fifteenth century, with a large illustration of a soul being plucked from its body by two hairy devils.

To the best of our knowledge, these three items have never been offered in public auction before, and the latter two have almost certainly passed by descent since the Reformation.