AMSTERDAM.- pAn Amsterdam, Netherlands’ national art and antiques fair, will take place 19 - 26 November 2006. For the first time pAn is showing contemporary Chinese expressive art. Since the first Chinese artists burst onto the Western scene some fifteen years ago, it is impossible to imagine the international art world without China. At the last Art Basel many pieces were sold during the preview. Willem Kerseboom (Amsterdam) is bringing work by renowned painters like Feng Zhengjie (1968) and Feng Zhengquan (1976); the one shown here is ‘China 2005 no. 68’.

Two objects have a British royal provenance: they belonged to H.R.H. Princess Margaret and are marked with her crowned monogram. Art dealer Inez Stodel (Amsterdam) has a Victorian scent bottle with a silver mount set with a paste cabochon turquoise from Birmingham, 1898. John Endlich (Haarlem) is offering a 1759 silver tobacco box by the Amsterdam master Leendert Beekhuyzen, price € 24,000. The box has an engraved lid showing ships on the IJ with a view of the city of Amsterdam and a view of the port of Rotterdam on the underside.

Art dealer Kunsthandel Rueb (Amsterdam) is showing La toilette, a gouache dated 1930 by Joep Nicolas, asking price € 19,500. He portrayed the artist Gisèle van Waterschoot van der Gracht, still a familiar figure in the Amsterdam art world, at her dressing table. In 1951 she became the mistress of A.J. d’Ailly, who had been mayor of Amsterdam since 1946. D’Ailly, well-liked by the people of Amsterdam, chose love rather than his position and in 1956 he gave up his job in order to be able to marry Gisèle.

Antique dealer and jeweller Marjan Sterk (Amsterdam) has an asymmetric Art Deco platinum ring, set with many diamonds in various cuts, including a polished baguette arrow and a triangle cut. The ring was made around 1935, probably in France.

Clock specialist Van Dreven Antiquair (Amsterdam) is bringing a 48 cm long clock in the shape of a warship. This remarkable object was made in France in 1880. The funnel serves as a thermometer, and a clock and a barometer are built into the two gun turrets. Price: around € 38,000.

Peter Pappot (Amsterdam) is offering a painting by Jan Sluijters (1881-1957) for € 195,000. ‘Recumbent nude on the sofa’ has been in the private collection of artist Corneille since 1970.

Gebr. Douwes Fine Art (Amsterdam) has on offer ‘An elegant company in an interior’ of around 1624 by Dirck Hals (1591-1656). Like his older brother Frans he worked in Haarlem. He mainly painted merry companies in the open air or indoors. Some of the poses and faces of the people portrayed here recur in his other interiors. Price: € 60,000 to € 70,000.

The oval box of 1731 brought by Bruil & Brandsma Antiquairs (Amsterdam) is an unusual object. It is inlaid with coloured straw, known as marqueterie de paille. It was made by the Leiden family Hering whose work can be found in German and English museums. This little box shows a scene with merchants and a ship off the Cape of Good Hope.

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) was not only a painter of colourful landscapes; from 1911 to 1928 he also made designs for silk fabrics for the French couturier Paul Poiret and others. Lara Wijsmuller Fine Art (Amsterdam) has fourteen of these bright designs in the swift brushstrokes which are typical of Dufy. The prices range from € 2,000 to € 10,000.

Kunstzalen A. Vecht is showing two mythological terracotta figures by the Flemish sculptor Louis Royer (1793-1868), asking price € 8,000 and € 10,000. From 1828 Royer lived in the Netherlands where he later made many portraits of well-known historical Dutch figures such as Rembrandt, William of Orange and Vondel.

Salomon Stodel (Amsterdam) is offering a Dutch bow-fronted commode of 1725-1740 in oak, inlaid with walnut and burr walnut. The top is richly decorated with parquetry of shell motifs and edging work. The brass drawer handles and lock plates were made in England for the Dutch market. In Menkemaborg Museum in Uithuizen there is a similar example, but lacking the decoration on the top.

Art dealer Frans Jacobs (Amsterdam) is bringing a signed gouache on paper in ink and watercolour by Kees van Dongen (1877-1968). ‘Femme aux yeux bleus’ was made around 1925 and costs € 225,000.

At the beginning of the 19th century in Berlin there was hardly any precious metal because of the war. Out of necessity jewellery was made from cast iron, known as Fer-de-Berlin. Simons Juweliers (The Hague) is offering a pair of eardrops in this material, unique because the fragility of Fer-de-Berlin has meant that very little of this kind of jewellery has survived. Price: € 6,950.