sotheby’s « antiquesandartireland.com

Posts Tagged ‘sotheby’s’

TITIAN MASTERWORK AT SOTHEBY’S

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2010

Titian, A Sacra Conversazione to be sold at Sotheby's in New York in January 2011. (click on image to enlarge)

A monumental Titian features at Sotheby’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings in New York on January 27, 2011. A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria is one of only a handful of multi-figured compositions by the Venetian Renaissance master in private hands. Painted circa 1560 this is a mature work from a time when Titian was being courted by monarchs and emperors.

Historically referred to as ‘The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine’, the present canvas’s subject lies within the more traditional representation of a ‘sacra conversazione’, a holy conversation between the Madonna and Child and the saints. There is a remarkable provenance. In nearly 500 years it has only changed hands five times moving from one illustrious private European collection to another and rarely appearing in public at exhibition or at auction. It has not been seen in public since the late 1970’s and Sotheby’s say it is the most important Titian to appear at auction since 1991.

It is estimated to sell for $15/20 million.

UPDATE: IT sold for $16,882,500

Tags: new york, sotheby's, Titian
Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on TITIAN MASTERWORK AT SOTHEBY’S

RARE FIRST EDITION LITERATURE ATTRACTS WORLDWIDE BIDS

Friday, October 29th, 2010

An 1843 edition of A Christmas Carol inscribed by Charles Dickens. (click to enlarge)

Competition for rare first edition works of literature was fierce at Sotheby’s in London on October 28.

Poems inscribed by T.S. Eliot for Virginia Woolf. (click to enlarge)

It was the first of a series of sales from “The Library of an English Bibliophile”. Many of the works on offer were inscribed by the authors to people who played a major part in their lives and their oeuvre. The sale realised £3,160,257, comfortably above the top estimate of £2,185,500-2,943,500.

The top lot was Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol, 1843, inscribed to W.C. Macready. It made £181,250. An 1847 edition of Wuthering Heights made £163,250 and an 1813 edition of Pride and Prejudice sold for £139,250.

A 1922 version of Ulysses inscribed to Raymonde Linoissier made £121,250 and Poems 1920 inscribed by T.S. Eliot to Virginia Woolf made £91,250.

The quality of the works on offer drew bids from around the world. Prices include the buyer’s premium. Sotheby’s buyer’s premium is 25% of the hammer price on the first £25·000, 20% of the hammer price up to and including £500·000, and 12% thereafter on each lot.

Sotheby’s will include two offerings intimately connected with Jane Austen – Britain’s most beloved authoress – in its sale of English Literature, History and Children’s Books & Illustrations in London, on December 16: an extremely rare first edition of Emma – arguably the author’s finest work – given by Austen to her fellow novelist Maria Edgeworth, and the family’s Wedgwood dinner set, which Jane Austen helped to choose and would have used on countless occasions.

Signed by Maria Edgeworth this is the only known copy for Emma given by Jane Austen to a fellow writer. It is estimated at £70,000-£100,000. The dinner service is estimated at 50,000-70,000.

EMMA made a hammer price with buyer’s premium of £79,250. The Wedgwood dinner service failed to find a buyer.

Tags: bidding, first editions, inscribed, jane austen, literature, maria edgeworth, sotheby's
Posted in AUCTIONS, COLLECTIBLES | Comments Off on RARE FIRST EDITION LITERATURE ATTRACTS WORLDWIDE BIDS

DELFT PYRAMID VASES MAKE £132,250 AT ASHDOWN HOUSE

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

This pair of pyramid Dutch Delft vases made £132,250 at Sotheby's sale in Ashdown House. (click to enlarge)

A pair of Deflt pyramid flower vases dating from the late 17th/early 18th century made £132,250 over an estimate of 60,000-80,000 to become the top lot at a stately home contents sale in Berkshire on October 27.

A FARAGHAN CARPET, WEST PERSIA made £97,250 over a top estimate of £18,000 at the Ashdown House sale. (click to enlarge)

Sotheby’s achieved £2.7 million, far above the pre-sale estimate of £1.3-1.9 million, for the contents of Ashdown House, built by William, first Earl of Craven for King Charles I’s sister, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia in the early 1660s. She was born Elizabeth of Scotland, eldest daughter of James I and married Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine in 1612 at the age of 16.

They became King and Queen of Bohemia and she was known as The Winter Queen because Frederick’s reign was so short. They were forced into exile in The Hague by the end of their first winter on the throne. Frederick died in 1632 and Lord Craven acted as her representative at Charles II’s court when she returned to England in 1661.

Samuel Pepys testified that during the final six months of her life she was almost constantly accompanied by her “faithful friend”. All British monarchs from George I are descended from Elizabeth. Lord Craven survived her by 35 years and used Ashdown as a hunting lodge.

Dutch in spirit pyramid flower vases were mostly made for English clients in a brief period of fashionability following Queen Mary’s order to Daniel Marot for a series of imposing designs for large vases to be made in Delft for the Water Gallery at Hampton Court. Vases of this type survive at Chatsworth, Durham, Castle Howard and Hampton Court. Vases made for Bohemian and Moravian families in the late 17th century are now in Prague Museum.

Tags: Ashdown House, Delft, pyramid, sotheby's, vases
Posted in AUCTIONS, COLLECTIBLES | Comments Off on DELFT PYRAMID VASES MAKE £132,250 AT ASHDOWN HOUSE

BOND ASTON MARTIN MAKES £2.912 MILLION

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

The Bond Aston Martin which sold for £2.916 million. (click to enlarge)

THE James Bond silver Aston Martin first driven by Sean Connery in “Goldfinger” was sold by RM Auctions in association with Sotheby’s in London on October 27 for £2.6 million (£2.912 million with fees). It was bought by American businessman Harry Yeaggy. He plans to display it as it is in his private car museum in Ohio.

The 1964 Aston Martin DB5 comes complete with an ejector seat, machine guns, rotating license plates, rear bulletproof shield and other spy essentials such as an ejector button. It was used by Connery in “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball”.

The seller was Philadelphia based broadcaster Jerry Lee. He bought it directly from the Aston Martin Lagonda factory for $12,000 in 1969. Mr. Lee plans to use the proceeds from the sale to further the charitable work of The Jerry Lee Foundation, a multi-national initiative dedicated to solving social problems associated with poverty, with an emphasis on crime prevention.

Tags: Aston Martin, Bond, cars, RM auctions, sotheby's
Posted in AUCTIONS, COLLECTIBLES | Comments Off on BOND ASTON MARTIN MAKES £2.912 MILLION

KILLARNEY’S LAKES, 1796 STYLE, AT SOTHEBY’S

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

This vivid 1796 view of Killarney's lakes is by Jonathan Fisher. It is one of a set of 12 views to be sold at Sotheby's in London on November 4. (click to enlarge) UPDATE: IT MADE £3,500

Some of the earliest acquatint views of Ireland, a set of 12 hand coloured plates of scenic locations amid Killarney’s lakes, will feature at the Sotheby’s auction of Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History in London on November 4.
Lot 39, by Jonathan Fisher, is a description of the Lakes of Killarney illustrated with twelve prints of its most interesting views. It was published in London in June of 1796.
Each of the 12 hand coloured plates in the oblong folio carries the imprint: “London, Published by J. Fisher, June 1796”. The set of 12 views was intended as a supplement (though complete in itself) to Fisher’s Scenery of Ireland, published in 1792-95.
There is a set of these rare views in the collection of the Crawford Gallery in Cork. If anything this should add to the interest of collectors. Sotheby’s estimate the lot at £2,000-£3,000.

UPDATE; THE VIEWS SOLD FOR £3,500 INCLUDING BUYERS PREMIUM.

Tags: Aquatints, Crawford Gallery, Jonathan Fisher, Killarney, Lakes, sotheby's
Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on KILLARNEY’S LAKES, 1796 STYLE, AT SOTHEBY’S

SOTHEBY’S SHOW STRONG CONTEMPORARY RESULTS

Sunday, October 17th, 2010

Andy Warhol’s Dollar Sign. (click to enlarge)

The Sotheby’s October sales series of 20th Century Italian Art and Contemporary Art brought in £40.1 million, far surpassing the total for Sotheby’s equivalent sales series in October 2009 of £20 million. The sale of six paintings from the Jerry Hall Collection of art brought in £2,489,775, and exceeded pre-sale expectations of £1.5 million.

Andy Warhol’s Dollar Sign was gifted by the artist to Jerry Hall in recognition of her help with the production of his television show, Warhol TV. It sold for £217,250, far above its high estimate of £120,000-150,000

Tags: contemporary, Italian 20th century art, results, sotheby's
Posted in ART, AUCTIONS | Comments Off on SOTHEBY’S SHOW STRONG CONTEMPORARY RESULTS

A SALE TO REMEMBER

Tuesday, October 5th, 2010

The Monkey Table, a Japanese lacquered table, was purchased at the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 by the Bachelor Duke of Devonshire. It made £22,500 over an estimate of £3,000-£5,000. (click on image to enlarge)

IT took just four hours today for the three day auction at Chatsworth in Derbyshire to surpass the pre-sale estimate for the entire sale. At barely one sixth of the way through the total realised stood at £3 million against a pre-sale estimate of £2.5 million for the entire auction. (see post for July 14 on antiquesandartireland.com)

The scene in the marquee. (click to enlarge)I

The top lot was a George II carved white marble chimneypiece designed by William Kent c1735 which made £565,250 against a pre-sale estimate of £200,000-300,000. Around 400 people attended at the sale on day one with another 1,000 bidding via telephone, over the internet or through absentee bids. The sale comprises about 20,000 objects in 1,400 lots.

THE first day of the sale brought in £4.4 milion. Among the fittings from Devonshire House in Piccadilly, London were five chimneypieces designed by William Kent, each of which sold well. The highest price of the day went to the chimneypiece from the saloon at Devonshire House, which sold for £565,250. The Kent designed chimneypiece for the ballroom made £457,250, a George II grey veined white marble chimneypiece, made £265,250, a George III Mahogany and crossbanded five pedestal dining table c1790, made £205,250 and a George III gilt bronze mounted library bookcase with a concealed door through which the Prince Regent (later George IV) would pass to visit Mrs Fitzherbert made £145,250. Bidding was from around the world.

The 541 lot second day session realised £1,385,158, bringing the total for the two days to £5,801,583. Highest prices were achieved by a mid 18th century Italian carved giltwood console table, which sold for £109,250, a George IV gilt-bronze free standing nine light candelabrum c1820 which made £67,250 and a Regency State dining table c1815-1820 which made £70,850. The sale continues on Thursday, October 7.

UPDATE: The total for the three day sale reached £6,485,282

Tags: attic sale, Chatsworth, sotheby's
Posted in AUCTIONS | Comments Off on A SALE TO REMEMBER

antiquesandartireland.com