Queen Mary and King William.
The Gemeentemuseum in The Hague has acquired two Delft blue and white statues of King William and Queen Mary made around 1690 and displayed at The Winter Antiques Show in New York last month.
They were brought to New York by Aronson Antiquaire of Amsterdam, which had re-united the couple last year in a coup described by Robert Aronson as the most exciting event of his 25 years in the antiques business. The queen was found a year ago, the king surfaced last May in an auction house in France. The story of how they were re-united has already been reported on this website.
At the Winter Antiques Show the asking price was $950,000. Benno Temple of the Gemeentemuseum refused to say the amount paid, but added that there had been a museum discount. They will be displayed in a gallery devoted to Delft Wares at the Gemeentemuseum this spring.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 22, 2015)