ZURICH.- The market for Old Masters and antique decorative arts continues to be robust, as witnessed by Koller's autumn auction series from 30 September to 1 October.

The top lot of the Old Master Paintings auction was an expressive portrait by Govaert Flinck, one of Rembrandt's best pupils, which sold for CHF 833 000 (lot 3025). A remarkable view of Munich by Bernardo Bellotto, recently rediscovered in a private collection (lot 3062), changed hands for CHF 603 000. It was one of only three known versions of this subject by the Italian artist, a nephew of Canaletto. A large-format Venetian capriccio by Francesco Guardi (lot 3067) formerly in a noble Spanish collection sold for CHF 488 000.

The auction featured a series of works from the Brueghel dynasty of painters, which were all in demand. A large-format 'Sermon of Saint John the Baptist' by Pieter Brueghel the Younger (lot 3015) fetched CHF 464 000, and the 'Allegory of Hearing' by Jan Brueghel the Younger (lot 3022) changed hands for CHF 244 000. A landscape by Jan Brueghel the Elder in collaboration with Joos de Momper the Younger (lot 3026) sold for above its high estimate at CHF 146 000. A view of a walled cit by Jan Van Goyen doubled its lower estimate at CHF 128 000 (lot 3024), and a winter scene with skaters by Barent Avercamp nearly quadrupled its estimate, selling at CHF 98 000 (lot 3037).

Among the 19th-century works, two paintings by Biedermeier artist Carl Spitzweg were hotly disputed. 'Military Post in Peacetime', depicting a yawning sentry with his laundry hung out to dry sold for CHF 232 000 (lot 3210), and 'A Country Parson Memorising' sold for more than four times its estimate at CHF 122 000 (lot 3213). A portrait presumed to be of Franz Xaver Winterhalter's fiancée (lot 3220) sold for more than three times its upper estimate, fetching CHF 140 000.

A sleeper in the Furniture, Porcelain & Silver auction was the plaster bust of an African slave by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (lot 1199) which set a new auction record at CHF 252 000. An extremely rare document announcing the Rembrandt van Rijn's art collection in the Books & Autographs auction on 29 September changed hands for CHF 79 000 (lot 216), and a copy of Daphnis & Chloé by Longus with original lithographs by Marc Chagall (lot 162) sold well above its upper estimate at CHF 104 000.