On the second day of TEFAF 2015, dealers at the Maastricht convention center were reporting lively first-day sales.

The top-flight European Fine Art Fair features 275 exhibitors from 20 countries and showcases a broad range of fine and decorative art ranging from medieval works to Chinese antiquities, Old Masters, Impressionist and modern and contemporary art. In operation since 1988, the fair also offers jewelry, ceramics, design and other extraordinary objets d’art. (See: Tefaf 2015 Lures Collectors With The Bright Lights of Contemporary Art In a Sydney Picasso-Curated Show, Night Fishing and World Art Market Passes €51 Billion Says 2015 TEFAF Art Market Report.)

The booth of Belgian dealer Axel Vervoordt, with its mix of design and fine art, is always a huge draw. Among several important sales on the first day, gallery director Philip Feyfer noted the sale of Gutai founder Jiro Yoshihara‘s brilliant red untitled painting from 1968, in which the artist tried to perfect a circle with a single stroke. The asking price was €550,000, or $581,000. (See: What Are The Top Booths at TEFAF 2015.)

Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac (Paris and Salzburg) is participating in the new “Night Fishing” section, a large booth where numerous exhibitors each showcase one artist who has never previously been shown at TEFAF and that is generating considerable buzz. Ropac is showing two large, arresting works by Georg Baselitz. By the second day, Rosa Torsa (1993) had found a buyer on an asking price of  €1.4 million ($1.48 million), according to director Xenia Geroulanos.

Sculpture by Georg Baselitz at Thaddaeus Ropac in the “Night Fishing” contemporary art section of TEFAF.
Rosa Torsa, 1993 (front), was sold on an asking price of €1.4 million.
Photo: Coline Milliard.

Marlborough Contemporary (London) sold a new work by sought-after artist Jason Brooks. Hound Lemon (2015), which had an asking price of £60,000 ($63,000),went to a private Belgian collection, according to director Andrew Renton. Remarking how slowly and methodically Brooks works, Renton said, “You know you’re going to sell it. But you want it to go to the right home.”

Marlborough Gallery sold Hound Lemon (2015) by Jason Brooks, to a private Belgian collection. <br>Photo: Courtesy Marlborough Contemporary, London.

Fabio Rossi, of London’s Rossi & Rossi gallery,  said he sold several works including a Seated Buddha (early 18th century), with gilt bronze and traces of paint, for $350,000 to an existing Asian client. The gallery also sold Torso of a Jina (11th-12th century), from the northern region of India, for $300,000 to a new client from the UK, and Tara (Pala Period, 11th century), a black stone sculpture from northeastern India, for $85,000, to a new client from the US.

The booth of  Rossi & Rossi (London and Hong Kong) at TEFAF.
Photo: Coline Milliard.

Alessandra di Castro Antichità (Rome) sold numerous pieces, including the elaborately carved Laocoonte, a 17th-century sculpture by Italian artist Domenico Piggiani. (The gallery declined to specify prices.)

Domenico Piggiani (or Pigiani), Laocoonte, 17th century.
Photo: Courtesy Alessandro di Castro Antichità, Rome.

Niyoko Ikuta, Ku-69 (Free Essence-69), 2015, laminated, cut sheet glass.
Photo courtesy Yufuku, Tokyo.

This is the third time at TEFAF for Tokyo’s Yufuku Gallery, which specializes in unusually executed (and dazzling) objects including ceramics, metal, glass, and lacquer. In terms of sales, “It was the best preview yet,” director Wahei Aoyama told artnet News, noting that the gallery had sold about 25 objects at prices ranging from €20-80,000.

Among other sales that were reported in the initial days of the fair, Paris gallery Applicat-Prazan sold an oil painting by Nicolas de Staël, titled Agrigente (1954), London’s Mayor Gallery sold Quattro ovali in giallo by Turi Simeti, and Amsterdam’s Gallery Delaive sold Yves Klein‘s Eponge Bleue (1961).

In the works on paper section, Francesca Antonacci/Damiano Lapiccirealla Fine Art sold The Conquest of Tyro by Giovanni Antonio Guardi reportedly within minutes of the opening on Thursday March 12.

The European Fine Art Fair runs through March 22.

Additonal reporting for this story was conducted by Coline Milliard.