A 1595 work without an estimate or reserve price

Metz Auktionen, which isn't from Metz but from Heidelberg, Germany, sells on 13 October 2018 in an unlimited auction (i.e. without estimates or reserve prices) a "16th century monogrammist B, dated 1595" Entombment of Christ, an oil on panel.

A 1595 painting without a limit is interesting in any case, and this one doesn't look half bad either, although somehow it looks more like a well-preserved tapestry than like a painting, probably caused by the absence of dark shadows and contours in the figures.

The work is not an original invention though, but a copy after an engraving. It's made by Raphael Sadeler, ca. 1593, after a painting by Hans von Aachen (I've not found this painting though). The above copy comes from the Rijksmuseum.The date of 1593 is extremely close to the 1595 date of the painting.

The RKD lists another copy after the engraving, which was sold at Sotheby's in 2007. It's nice to see how the need to add colours and in general turning an engraving back into a painting can lead to quite different results.

And while researching all this, I find out that the work for sale had been offered at Nagel (Germany) in 2015 already, and then with the right attribution of "After Hans von Aachen". No idea what happened between then and now...

What's it worth? A few hundred Euro, perhaps a bit more if you believe the 1595 date (which may well be correct, but is of course hardly proof of the age of the work).

"Unknown engraver" is an (unknown) Sadeler engraving after Hans von Aachen

Babuino, from Italy, sells on 4 February an "Unknown engraver, 17th century" engraving of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, estimated at 80 to 120 Euro.

It looks to be an engraving by Jan Sadeler (One or Two?). The bottom right has the inscription Jns. Sad. excud. I can't find another example of this engraving, which is unusual (though engravings are not that easy to look for).

Strange enough, I can find at least three copies of another engraving (in reverse) of the same painting. The original is by Hans von Aachen, and the engravings by Jansz. Muller from ca. 1600 can be found in the Met, in the Bijlokemuseum in Ghent, and in the Rijksmuseum (Rijksmuseum example pictured). This version and the one for sale have the same text at the bottom, even though the images are reversed. No idea if the painting also bears that text, not on the versions I could find. Even more bizarre, there are versions of the painting oriented both sides as well!

There are some other engravings of the martyrdom of Sebastian by members of the Sadeler family, but this image is not among the one I could find online. The RKD doesn't list it either.

So it seems to be a rare engraving, by one of the best and most well-known engravers or his period. Should be worth more than the estimate, in that case!