Horta, from Belgium, sells on 12 November 2018 a "Flemish School, 17th century" Trial of the animals, estimated at 5,000 to 7,000 Euro.
The work has an old attribution to (Jan) Van Kessel and (Roelant) Savery.
In general, paintings from medieval, non-religious stories are rare. Normally one gets either Biblical or mythological stories, or more general allegories not related to early "novels" (if one may call them that).
Sotheby's sold in 2010 2 works by Jan Brueghel II with scenes from the same story, and with very similar dimensions. Together they fetched £91,000.
But nearly the same composition has been sold as the work of "Circle of Frederik Bouttats" at Christie's Amsterdam in 2011, for 10,625 Euro. Some animals have been added or removed, and I'm not certain that the works are by the same hand, even though they clearly come from the same workshop.
The way small things like eyes or fur are treated is not identical, but which one is better is a matter of taste more than real difference in quality. The version for sale was by a Francophone artist and/or intended for a Francophone audience, as the book in the hands of Reynard reads "Pauvre", French for "poor". The text in the other version is different, but I can't decipher it.
I like the one for sale better than the Christie's one though, so in my view the estimate is clearly too low, and this should fetch 12,000 to 15,000 Euro.
UPDATE: sold for 60,000 Euro!
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