THE ‘MARLY ROUGE’ SERVICE: A SEVRES PORCELAIN IRON-RED AND SKY-BLUE GROUND PART DESSERT SERVICE MADE FOR NAPOLEON ICIRCA 1807-09, IRON-RED STENCILED M. IMPLE DE SEVRES MARK, DATE CYPHERS
After a six-month campaign, ten days of online sales and three days of dynamic auctions at Christie’s Rockefeller Center, the total for the 1,500 objects comprising the Collection of Peggy and David Rockefeller reached $832,573,469. Well exceeding initial expectations this established the highest auction total ever for a private collection at auction.
The most significant charitable auction in history, all of the estate proceeds will be directed to philanthropies Peggy and David Rockefeller supported during their lifetimes, for the benefit of continuing scientific research, higher education, support for the arts, sustainable economic development, and land conservation initiatives, among others. Over the course of the sales, numerous world auction records were established across the fine and decorative arts. An additional nineteen lots of jewellery from the collection will come up at the June 12 sale of Magnificent Jewels.
The top lots of the sale included Picasso’s, Fillette à la corbeille fleurie, which realized $115,000,000, the second highest price for the artist, Monet’s Nymphéas en fleur which sold for a record $84,687,500, and Matisse’s Odalisque couchée aux magnolias which sold for $80,750,000, another auction record. Further records include Diego Rivera’s The Rivals that sold for $9,762,500, establishing a world auction record for the artist and for a work of Latin American Art. The Art of the Americas sale set a new record for the category total, and Gilbert Stuart’s George Washington (Vaughan type), set a record for the artist at $11,562,500. Among the decorative arts, a record was set for 19th Century porcelain for the Sèvres ‘Marly Rouge’ service commissioned by Napoleon I, which sold for $1,812,500.