International Collectors Vie For Masterworks From The Past At Sotheby's London This Week

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December Auctions of Old Master Paintings, Sculpture, Works of Art, Furniture, and Medieval and Renaissance Books Total $44.8 million

LONDON, Dec. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- This week, the enduring appeal of masterworks from the past was once again reaffirmed, with Sotheby's  BID  London auctions of Old Master Paintings, sculpture, works of art, furniture, and medieval and Renaissance books bringing a combined total of $44.8 million  (£33.3 million), well within pre-sale expectations.  

Harry Dalmeny, Sotheby's Chairman for the United Kingdom & Ireland, fields bids during the Company's recent auction of Old Master Paintings in London that totaled $37.8 million.

Over the course of five days (1-6 December), 6,700 people visited Sotheby's London exhibition and participants in the sales spanned four continents, with Asian, Russian and Latin American bidding, and an increase in Middle Eastern participation.

Old Masters
The two-day sale of Old Masters sales totaled $37,831,567 (£28,229,575) (estimate. £22.4-32.5 million), bringing Sotheby's 2017 London total in this category to £94,397,851 ($123,255,630), a significant increase on last year's figures.

The Old Master Evening Sale totaled $33,578,117 (£25,048,950) (estimate. £18.5-26.9 million).

82% of lots sold

Half of the lots sold above the high estimates

6 auction records established (with four artists new to auction)

Over half of the lots offered had not appeared on the market for over 40 years:
10% had been in the same collection for over 150 years

Top lot: Joseph Wright of Derby's An Academy by Lamplight from 1769 sold for $9,736,990 (£7,263,700) (estimate. £2.5-3.5 million) – an auction record for the artist

A detailed post-sale release is available here.

Other Highlights from the Week:

A Venetian Legacy – An Italian Private Collection
Passionately assembled by a discreet private collector, this collection of fine Italian furniture, Old Master paintings and sculpture realised £2,517,162 ($3,379,038), above the high estimate (est. £1.5 – 2.3 million), with 92% of the lots sold. Assembled as a personal homage to Venice, the collection was led by a beautiful 16th-century Florentine terracotta relief by Benedetto and Santi Buglioni, depicting the Adoration of the Christ Child, which soared to £218,750 ($293,650), five times the pre-sale estimate (est. £40,000-60,000).

Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts and Continental and Russian Books
The sale also surpassed the pre-sale expectations and totalled £1,325,942 ($1,779,945) (est. £1.1 – 1.5 million). The top lot was a magnificent Book of Hours of the Russian Princess Isabel Gagarine, in Latin and French [France (Paris), c.1440-50] which fetched £225,000 ($302,040), well above the estimate of £60,000-80,000. 

Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art
Comprising a diverse selection of Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical works, Sotheby's sale of Old Master Sculpture & Works of Art on 5 December brought a total of £1,369,663 ($1,838,636). The auction was led by a magnificent 16th-century Nautilus, a rare survival of Netherlandish shell work carved and engraved by the most prominent master of this craft, Cornelis Bellekin, which sold for £175,000 ($234,920).

Sotheby's next exhibitions and auctions of Old Master Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture will take place in New York from January 26 through February 2, 2018.

About Sotheby's
Sotheby's has been uniting collectors with world-class works of art since 1744. Sotheby's became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973), India (1992) and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby's presents auctions in 10 different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong and Paris, and Sotheby's BidNow program allows visitors to view all auctions live online and place bids from anywhere in the world. Sotheby's offers collectors the resources of Sotheby's Financial Services, the world's only full-service art financing company, as well as the collection advisory services of its subsidiary, Art Agency, Partners.  Sotheby's presents private sale opportunities in more than 70 categories, including S|2, the gallery arm of Sotheby's Global Fine Art Division, and two retail businesses, Sotheby's Diamonds and Sotheby's Wine. Sotheby's has a global network of 80 offices in 40 countries and is the oldest company listed on the New York Stock Exchange (BID).

Browse sale catalogues, view original content, stream live auctions and more at www.sothebys.com, and through Sotheby's apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, Apple TV and Amazon Fire

New York | +1 212 606 7176 | Lauren Gioia | Lauren.Gioia@Sothebys.com |

London | +44 207 293 6000 | Mitzi Mina | Mitzi.Mina@Sothebys.com

 

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SOURCE Sotheby's

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