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Posts Tagged ‘Christie’s’

UNDISCOVERED RARITIES IN COLLECTION OF BRIAN SEWELL

Sunday, September 4th, 2016

Undiscovered rarities have been found in the collection of Brian Sewell which comes up at Christie’s in London on September 27. One of Britain’s best loved art critics he had a flair for spotting quality, even where the identify of the artist had been long lost. A number of new attributions have been made since the catalogue to the auction Brian Sewell: Critic and Collector was published.

An oil on paper study on blue paper of a soldier carrying a ladder towards a besieged town, thought to have been by a follower of Michelangelo, was spotted by a museum curator in the US as by the Florentine artist Agostino Ciampelli (1565-1630). The technique with black chalk heightened by white on blue paper is characteristic of Ciampelli. The drawing, made in connection with a Medici marriage in 1589, was acquired by Brian Sewell in the early 1960’s. It is now estimated at £20,000-30,000.

A profile study has been found to be typical of the technique of Jusepe de Ribera (1591-1652) when using red chalk (£6,000-8,000). A two-sided study in oil on paper by Domenico Tintoretto (1560-1635) has just been associated with a series of pictures in the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice. A meticulously drawn view from 1794 was identified as the Schmadribach Waterfall near Lauterbrunnen, a favourite subject of German Romantic Joseph Anton Koch (1768-1839) (£20,000-30,000).

Dido Reclining, Asleep by Daniele da Volterra (1509-66) was identified through extensive research at Christie’s and is estimated at £100,000-150,000. Estimates in the auction range from £600 to £600,000. UPDATE: The auction achieved £3,741,313

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for June 3, 2016)

This drawing of a soldier carrying a ladder turns out to be a work by Agostine Ciampelli (1565-1630). It is estimated at £20,000-30,000. © Christie’s Images Limited 2016 UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £95,000

A Man’s head in Profile has been attributed to Jusepe de Ribera, lo Spagnoletto (1591-1652) UPDATE: THIS MADE £22,000 AT HAMMER

Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566) Dido reclining, asleep (£50,000-80,000) © Christie’s Images Limited 2016

Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566) Dido reclining, asleep © Christie’s Images Limited 2016 UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £660,000

Tags: Agostino Ciampelli, Brian Sewell, Christie's, Jusepe de Ribera
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THE LEICA FAMILY TREE OF CAMERAS AT CHRISTIE’S

Monday, August 22nd, 2016

The Leica family tree. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2016. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £362,500

THE Leica Camera Family Tree comes up at Christie’s Out of the Ordinary sale in London on September 14. This is a history of the Leica camera comprising 107 of the principal models.

These show the evolution of the marque from pre-production models, the screw-fit Leica series, M-series, R-series, to digital models, from c1923 to 2006. The display, formerly part of the Leica Sölms factory museum, is mounted as a family tree by model and date of production.

The introduction of the Leica heralded a new type of photographer: the photojournalist, who made use of the camera’s small size and ability to work unobtrusively in low-light or fast-moving conditions with previously difficult subjects.

Users like Robert Capa, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Leni Riefenstahl, Robert Doisneau and Henri Cartier-Bresson created some of the world’s best known images using a Leica.

Tags: Christie's, Leica
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JACK DEMPSEY’S TITLE BELT AT CHRISTIE’S

Friday, August 12th, 2016

Jack Dempsey’s title belt and a set of keys from the Titanic are among the collectibles on offer at Christie’s Out of the Ordinary sale in South Kensington, London on September 14. The 250th anniversary edition of this celebration of the unusual and unique comprises over 90 lots. All are now on view at a five week summer exhibition at Christie’s in the weeks leading up to the sale. Jersey based collector David Gainsborough Roberts has spent the last 40 years amassing an extraordinary selection of memorabilia from the worlds of film and entertainment, royalty and politics, sport, and travel and exploration. His collection includes personal possessions of an array of celebrities as diverse as Queen Victoria, Sir Winston Churchill, Lawrence of Arabia, the Duchess of Windsor, William Harrison “Jack” Dempsey and Captain Robert Falcon Scot. Highlights include the Titanic keys(£7,000-10,000); a pair of ear clips owned and worn by the Duchess of Windsor (£8,000-12,000); a silk head scarf and agal owned by Lawrence of Arabia (£3,000-5,000 and £10,000-15,000); and a Stetson presented to Sir Winston Churchill by the City of Calgary (£4,000-6,000).

A further highlight is the Leica Camera Family Tree, an artwork displaying 107 Leica cameras that chart the history of the camera maker from c1923 to 2006 (£350,000-450,000). Here is a small selection:

WILLIAM HARRISON “JACK” DEMPSEY (1895-1983)
A 14K GOLD, DIAMOND AND ENAMEL WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE BELT 1919 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2016 UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £25,000

RMS Titanic – set of four keys on brass fob c1912 (£7,000-10,000) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2016 UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR £20,000

Tags: Christie's, Jack Dempsey, Leica, Queen Victoria, Titanic
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LESLIE WADDINGTON’S COLLECTION AT CHRISTIE’S

Tuesday, July 19th, 2016

Leslie Waddington

The Collection of Leslie Waddington will be offered for sale as a single-owner auction at Christie’s in London during Frieze week next October. The sale will feature works from his personal collection including Josef Albers, Alexander Calder, Milton Avery, Agnes Martin, Francis Picabia, and Jean Dubuffet, as well as works by many of the contemporary artists he represented. Assembled over several decades, Waddington’s personal collection is testament to his pioneering spirit as an art dealer who presented a groundbreaking exhibition programme and fostered creative relationships with artists: he brought a range of Modern, Post-War, and Contemporary names to the attention of international audiences and defined the London art landscape long before the rise in popularity of the contemporary art world today.

Born in Dublin Leslie Waddington, who died last year aged 81, was son the art dealer Victor Waddington and his wife Zelda (nee Levine). In 1927 Victor had founded a pioneering gallery in Dublin that represented contemporary Irish artists including Jack Yeats. Leslie Waddington received a classical education at Portora Royal School, Enniskillen, whose old boys included Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett. He revered the Irish literary tradition and later on, in Paris, befriended Beckett, with whom he played chess. In 1958 he joined his father’s new gallery at Cork St. in London and in 1966 set up on his own. He was to become a leading British art dealer. In 2003 he was one of the first dealers to participate in Frieze. A Part II day auction will be held in November to coincide with Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art auctions.

Tags: Christie's, Leslie Waddington
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CLASSIC WEEK AT CHRISTIE’S SCORES HIGHLY

Friday, July 15th, 2016

christies There were over 19,000 visitors to the various displays and auctions spanning Decorative Arts, Antiquities, Old Master & British Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Books and Manuscripts and the Exceptional sale at Classic Week at Christie’s. The week achieved a total of £109,038,888. There was a strong average sell-through rate of 87% by value across the 14 sales, with over 1,000 registered bidders from 50 countries, 695 registered online bidders and substantial cross-category buying. The auctions were highlighted by Rubens’s masterpiece Lot and his Daughters, which at £44.8 million achieved the highest price for a work of art at auction this year.

Tags: Christie's, Classic Week, Rubens
Posted in ART, COLLECTIBLES, FURNITURE | No Comments »

A BACH MANUSCRIPT AND EINSTEIN’S LEATHER JACKET

Wednesday, July 13th, 2016

A Bach manuscript sold for £2.518 million at Christie’s in London today. Dating from the mid to late 1730’s it is one of only three complete autograph manuscripts to have come to market in the last 30 years. No more than ten of Bach’s complete autograph manuscripts are thought to survive in private hands.

At the same sale a leather Cossack jacket by Levi Strauss once owned by Albert Einstein made £110,500. Einstein wore the jacket all the time. It was acquired by Levi Strauss and Company for their archives. Both objects came up as part of an auction of Valuable Books and Manuscripts.

The Bach autograph music manuscript.

Einstein’s jacket.

Tags: Albert Einstein, Christie's, JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH
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WEDGWOOD VASE MAKES A WORLD RECORD PRICE AT CHRISTIE’S

Friday, July 8th, 2016

A WEDGWOOD BLACK BASALTES ENCAUSTIC DECORATED FIRST DAY VASE. COURTESY CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LT.D, 2016

A Wedgwood vase made a world record price of £482,500 at Christie’s in London yesterday. The Wedgwood black First Day vase more than doubled its high estimate to make a world record for a piece of English pottery. It was part of Christie’s Exceptional sale which made £5,681,250 and achieved a sell through rate of 89% by value and 80% by lot. A Meissen white model of a great Bustard, attributed to Johann Goetlieb Kirchner, 1732 made £842, 500, a pair of Sevres bleu celeste ice pails, covers and liners made £842,500 and a pair of Japanese inlaid iron vases and covers from the Komai Workshop, Kyoto made £302,500, a world record for the studio.

Robert Copley, Deputy Chairman of Group, International Head of Furniture, Deputy Chairman, Christie’s UK said: “The Exceptional Sale saw international participation from registered bidders in 15 countries across 3 continents. The highlight of the sale was a Wedgwood black ‘First Day’s Vase’, one of only four day vases to have been thrown by Wedgwood himself, and one which has passed through generations of the Wedgwood family before being auctioned at Christie’s”.

Tags: Christie's, Meissen, Wedgwood
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THE HIGHEST PRICE EVER ACHIEVED BY AN OLD MASTER AT CHRISTIE’S

Thursday, July 7th, 2016

SIR PETER PAUL RUBENS (Seigen 1577-1640 Antwerp), Lot and his Daughters, circa 1613-1614. Courtesy CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2016

Peter Paul Rubens’s Lot and his Daughters) achieved £44,882,500, the highest price ever achieved for an Old Master painting at Christie’s in London this evening. Painted c1613-14 it was sold to a collector on the phone in Christie’s Old Master and British Paintings Evening Sale, part of Classic Week in London. The hammer came down after a bidding battle lasting fourteen minutes. There were four bidders involved. One of the most important paintings by the artist to have remained in private hands, it is an outstanding example of Rubens’s early maturity.

“The sale of this significant painting demonstrates that Christie’s continues to lead the masterpiece market at auction and in this field. A stunning work of psychological complexity, Lot and his Daughters was created at a time when Rubens’s reputation as the most renowned artists in Antwerp had already placed him firmly at the centre of the European artistic stage.” said Paul Raison, Deputy Chairman, Old Master Pictures. Lot and his Daughters boasts a distinguished provenance, once forming part of the collections of wealthy Antwerp merchants; a Governor-General of the Spanish Netherlands; Joseph I Holy Roman Emperor; and the Dukes of Marlborough where it hung in Blenheim Palace and was sold in its original Blenheim frame. This biblical canvas illustrates the events after Lot and his family have fled the immoral city of Sodom having escaped to the desolate mountain town of Zoar.

It was the second highest price ever paid for an Old Master painting at auction. The record is also held by Rubens whose The Massacre of the Innocents sold for £49,506,648 at auction in 2002. The Old Master and British Evening Sale totalled £65,390,100 achieving sell through rates of 93% by value and 77% by lot. UPDATE: This turned out to be the highest price paid for a painting at auction in Europe in 2016.

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 11, 2016)

Tags: Christie's, Lot and his Daughters, Rubens
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RECORDS TUMBLE AT CHRISTIE’S DEFINING BRITISH ART 250TH ANNIVERSARY SALE

Thursday, June 30th, 2016

Henry Moore – Festival. The 1951 work was commissioned for the Festival of Britain.

Christie’s Defining British Art: Evening Sale, curated as part of the celebrations of the 250^th anniversary of the company, was led by an iconic sculpture by Henry Moore in London tonight. His Reclining Figure, Festival sold for a record £24.7 million in a sale that brought in £99,479,500. There were records for Frank Auerbach, Lynn Chadwick, Frederick Lord Leighton, Henry Moore, Samuel John Peploe, Bridget Riley, David Roberts and Thomas Daneill. Registered bidders from 32 countries from across four continents demonstrated continuing global demand. The sale was 87% sold by lot and 83% sold by value. The diverse works of art represented provided a journey through British art over four centuries. Version No. 2 of Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe by Francis Bacon made £20.2 million.

Ever since James Christie first opened his doors in 1766 the company has championed art and artists and artists like Reynolds and Gainsborough were regular visitors to the rooms in early years.

“We saw global participation tonight with strong bidding from the Americas and are very pleased with establishing so many artist world records in this sale that celebrated British art and our long relationship with artists and collectors,” said Jussi Pylkkänen, Global President and lead auctioneer. “We thank all our clients, vendors and buyers, past, present or future, for entrusting us now and over the centuries with the safe passage of precious and historic objects – from one country to another, and from one generation to its successor.”

(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for June 2 and June 9, 2016)

Tags: Christie's, Henry Moore
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BASQUIAT FROM DEPP’S COLLECTION TOP LOT AT CHRISTIE’S

Thursday, June 30th, 2016

The salesroom shot taken last night.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Pork (1981) was the top lot at Christie’s post war and contemporary sale in London last night. From the collection of the actor Johnny Depp it made £5,122,500. Basquiat’s Self Portrait (1981) also from the Depp collection made £3,554,500. Christie’s said that Depp’s focused collecting eye met with keen approval in the sale room.

Sean Scully’s Eve (1992) achieved a record £902,500 and Manolo Millares’ Untitled (Composition) Painting no. 4 made £842,500. A total of 10 works sold for over £1 million, with 16 for over $1,000,000 and 17 for over €1,000,000. Registered bidders from 39 countries across four continents demonstrated the continued demand in the global contemporary market, as well as a proven strength of the domestic market with 10 lots selling to UK-based collectors.

Edmond Francey, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, London: “Tonight’s results offer real assurance and continued strength to the globalised art market, with a particularly energetic response to Adrian Ghenie, Andy Warhol, Nicolas de Staël, Georg Baselitz and Manolo Millares. The response to Johnny Depp’s Basquiats electrified the sale room and we continue to see that for the top works collectors will stretch themselves to the highest levels. Christie’s has been able to read the market and offer our consignors and buyers the quality that can continue to attract top collectors to the market. This evening’s total contributes to Christie’s successful 250^th anniversary with a Bacon, two Freuds, two Rileys and two Auerbachs to come tomorrow as part of a stellar cast of artists, which we estimate will contribute a further £40-60 million to Post-War and Contemporary Art totals this week as part of the Defining British Art Evening Sale.”

Tags: BASQUIAT, Christie's, Johnny Depp
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Posts Tagged ‘Christie’s’

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