This brief table of sales from Georgina Adam’s Financial Times column doesn’t really tell the true story of what’s happening in France. With auction houses finally able to conduct private treaty sales, Christie’s France was able to be the top single auction house even though it’s auction sales declined slightly. Drouot, which acts as sale rooms for a number of smaller firms, saw double digit declines in auction sales. Sotheby’s too had a slight fall off. But Artcurial was the big gainer on the back of strong sales of Asian Art.

Drouot €430m

Christie’s  France €231.4m

Sotheby’s France €182m

Artcurial €144.3m