News

The sales conducted by Sotheby's in London during the first week of July 2018 totaled of £77.7 million, with strong results for Old Master and British paintings and drawings, decorative arts, sculptures and antiquities

OLD MASTERS EVENING, 4 July

There were  10 auction records for Paolo Veneziano, Gillis Claeissens, Hans Baldung Grien, a work attributed to Albrecht Dürer, a single portrait by Rubens, an oil on copper by Clara Peeters, Pieter Coecke van Aelst the Elder, Lorenzo di Bicci, Liberale da Verona and Vicente Carducho. 

A rare portrait by Sir Peter Paul Rubens made 5,416,400 GBP, a British record  for a single portrait by the artist (est. 3-4 million). Unseen on the market for 60 years, since it was acquired by the great Dutch collector Hans Wetzlar, this remarkable representation of a Venetian Nobleman was kept by the artist until his death in 1640. Meanwhile, a portrait of his daughter who died young remained unsold.

A  restituted work by Dutch Golden Age master, Jacob Ochtervelt, fetched 1,930,000 GBP (est. 1.5-2.5 million). Looted from a bank vault during World War II, The Oyster Meal was recently returned to the heirs of its rightful wartime owner. 

A still life by Clara Peeters was bought for 634,000 GBP, an auction record for an oil on copper by the artist in GBP, by agent and dealer David Koetser for the National Gallery of Art, Washington while a rare early portrait of a man with a spotted fur collar by Lucas Cranach the Elder, probably painted in 1508, sold for 2,410,000 GBP, above its high estimate.

 A late 15th-century portrait of Mary of Burgundy, Netherlandish or South German School, achieved 2,050,000 GBP (est. 1-1.5 million). A striking portait of a man set against a green background attributed to Albrecht Dürer,, culminated at 1,150,000 GBP, the highest price ever paid at auction for a work attributed to Dürer (est. 300,000-400,000). and a  group of four exceptionally rare panels painted in Northern Europe circa 1418-25 doubled its low estimate to sell for 2,650,000 (est. 1-1.5 million). One of only two oil views of ‘London' by Turner left in private hands, Walton Bridges, sold for 3,370,000 GBP (est. 3-5 million). 

The Old Masters Day Sale held on July 5  realized a total of 4,604,625 GBP with a number of works selling well above their pre-sale estimates. The top lot of the sale was a work by Dutch portrait and genre painter, Caspar Netscher whose oil on canvas, The Fortune Teller, more than tripled its high estimate to fetch 274,000 GBP (est. 60,000-80,000). 

On July 4, a new auction record was established for Antonio Canova, the great Neoclassical sculptor, when his long-lost Bust of Peace executed in 1814 sold for 5,303,500 GBP – breaking the artist's previous auction record of 3.9 million set by ‘Bust of Murat', in November 2017 while a watch used by Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson during his victory at the Battle of Trafalgar which was retrieved from his body after he died  sold for 322,000 GBP(est. 250,000-450,000).

A splendid   Swiss landscape showin g the lake of Lucerne from B runnen  by, J.M.W. Turner executed during the latter part of his career  sold for 2,050,000 GBP (est. 1.2-1.8 million), among the top prices ever achieved for a watercolour by the artist. Discovered recently, a  preparatory study by Pierre Prévost for a lost panorama of London  sold for 250,000 GBP (est. £200,000-300,000),

On July 3, the sale of Royal Orders and medals from the collection of George, Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904), King George III's grandson – in associated with Morton & Eden – totaled 1,559,565 GBP, well above  the pre-sale estimate of .800.000/ with all  but five of the 80 lots sold.

Meanwhile, the Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art sale brought a total of 3,551,813 GBP against a high pre-sale estimate of 3 million. The top lot was a magnificent  carved boxwood Christ which sold for 1,138,000 GBP smashing its pre-sale estimate of 200,000-300,000. This recent addition to the works  of Veit Stoss, an important Late Gothic sculptor dubbed as 'the Master of Crucifixes', is the only known surviving small version of this subject that can be attributed to the master's hand.

An exceptional mid-17th century bronze group of Apollo slaying a Python, a newly discovered cast of a model attributed to Ferdinando Tacca (1619-1686), sculptor to the Medici in Florence, went well beyond  estimate to 466,000 GBP (est. 120,000-180,000). 

Two rare marble additions to the works of Giacomo Serpotta, representing Europe and America (circa 1720-1730), fetched 225,000 (est. 200,000-300,000), while a pair of sculptures attributed to Giovanni Battista Foggini, of Lucretia and Pompeia Paulina (circa 1700), sold for 200,000 (est. 180,000-250,000). 

The same day, the sale of Ancient Sculpture and Works of Art sale went well  above the pre-sale estimate of 3.2-4.7 million to fetch 5,445,000  GBP with 70% of sold which went above the high estimate. An Egyptian  limestone figure of the Scribe Nekht-Ankh dating to circa 1800-1700 B.C which had been ornating  the Main Hall at Palais Stoclet since 1905, amidst frescoes and mosaics of Gustav Klimt, sold for 1.5 million GBP (within its estimate)
A Roman marble funerary altar from the 1st century A.D., first recorded in the garden of Agostino Andrea Chigi's villa, at the same time that Raphael was painting the interior, sold for 187,500 GBP, over three times the high estimate (45,000-60,000). A Roman marble torso of Hermes from the 2nd century A.D. went also three times over the high estimate to bring 218,750  GBP (est. 45,000-65,000) and two ancient Egyptian mummy masks sold respectively for 162,500 GBP (est. 60,000-90,000) and 200,000 (est. 100,000-150,000)  while a pair of Greek gold earrings fetched 40,000 (est. 15,000-25,000) and a Sarmatian gold lion griffin head appliqué sold for 112,500 GBP (est. 3,500-4,500).