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The Imperial emboridered silk Thangka Yongle presentation mark (1402-1424).

A 15th century Chinese Thangka sold for a world record auction price of US$45 million at Christie’s in Hong Kong. The Imperial embroidered silk made a world record auction price for any Chinese work of art. It was bought by Liu Yiqian for his recently opened long museum in Shanghai after an intense 22 minute bidding battle.  From an American private collection it dates to the period 1402-1424 and is complete with Yongle six character presentation mark of the period.  There were several other bidders on the phone and the packed saleroom several times broke into applause. This is a record for any Chinese works of art sold by an international auction house.

Afterwards Mr. Liu said: “I am proud to bring back to China this significant and historic 15th century Thangka which will be preserved in the Long Museum for years to come”.

Georgia O’Keeffe – Jimson Weed, White Flower No. I, 1932.

There was a new world record price of $44.4 million dollars for a female artist in New York today. Georgia O’Keeffe’s iconic flower painting Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1, 1932, achieved a remarkable $44,405,000, more than three times the previous world auction record for any female artist at Sotheby’s auction of American Art.

Seven bidders took part in a contest that became a prolonged battle between two determined potential buyers.  They drove the work to a record price.  It eventually sold on the phone to Lisa Dennison, Chairman, Sotheby’s North and South America.

Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 is a well-known example of O’Keeffe’s celebrated flower paintings, which in turn stand among the most recognisable images in both art history and popular culture. The painting is one of three works by the artist that are on offer today from the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which are being sold to benefit its Acquisitions Fund.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for September 14, 2014)

AN online sale of work by Sam Francis runs at Christie’s until December 2.  The sale comprises 76 lots by the celebrated abstract painter and printmaker. It represents three decades of the distinctive West Coast abstraction of this Californian born artist, from 1960-90. It includes exceptional prints, rare colour trial proofs and monotypes and a selection of acrylics on paper and canvas. Estimates range from £1,000 to £60,000.

Sam Francis – La Primavera Fredda (Cold Spring) courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014 (£5,000-7,000).

Sam Francis – Untitled 1986 (£45,000-60,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.

Sam Francis – Yunan State IV, 1971 courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014 (£2,000-3,000).

The winter Irish art selling season kicks off  at Whyte’s in Dublin on November 24.  Their  auction of Important Irish Art with 194 lots encompasses a broad cross section of Irish visual creativity.  The venue for the sale is the RDS and the catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

Markey Robinson (1918-1999) – Entering the Old City (5,000-7,000).

Colin Middleton (1910-1983) – The Witch of Mullaghderg (20,000-30,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) – Little Boy playing at God (15,000-20,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 24,000

Letitia Marion Hamilton (1878-1964) – Cottage (2,000-3,000).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 2,600

Aloysius O’Kelly (1853-1936) The Desert Charge ( 6,000-8,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 11,500

A portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck of the musician Hendrick Liberti – in the collection of King Charles I at Whitehall by 1639 – highlights Christie’s Old Master and British paintings sale in London on December 2.  Unseen for almost a century it was lat sold at auction at Christie’s by the 8th Duke of Grafton in 1923.  The estimate is £2.5-3.5 million. The auction of 36 fresh to the market works includes a beautifully preserved and little known masterpiece of Willem van de Velde the Younger’s early maturity, A kaag and other vessels off an inlet on the Dutch coast, 1661 (£1.2-1.8 million); a view of  Palazzo Vendramin-Calergi on the Grand Canal by Giovanni Antonio Canal, il Canaletto (£800,000-1.2 million); two rarely treated subjects by Pieter Brueghel the Younger: A country brawl, 1610 and The Good Shepherd (£700,000-1 million and £800,000-1.2 million respectively); a classic view of The Molo, Venice by Michele Giovanni Marieschi  (£500,000-800,000) and a selection of early Flemish works including a Portrait of a young nobleman by Joos van Cleve (£400,000-600,000) and a Holy Family by Jan Provoost  (£250,000-350,000).

Sir Anthony van Dyck – Portrait of Hendrick Liberti.  UPDATE: THIS SO.D FOR £2,882,500

Pieter Breughel the Younger – The Good Shepherd