Major institutional sales, seven figures sales and a growth in international private collectors were notched up in Maastricht this month. Over eight days nearly 50,000 visitors flocked to The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) to see 7000 years of art history displayed by 270 exhibitors from 22 countries across ancient art, antique furniture, paintings, modern and contemporary art and design and works on paper. With 300 museum directors and 650 curators attending the emerging trends noted were juxtaposing the old and the new and huge interest in female artists, cultural heritage and preservation. Displays of ancient art on contemporary furniture and delicate porcelain contemporary flowers on 17th century Delftware fragments sold to private collectors for six figure sums. The Rijksmuseum acquired the only signed painting by Gesina ter Borch (1631-1690).
The asking price was €4.5 million for Van Gogh’s Head of an old peasant woman with a White Cap at New Orlean’s based gallery M S Rau, sold for an undisclosed sum. Koopman, which sold the personal seal of Lord Nelson to a private collector, reported that clients were aggressively chasing the top objects. The Aga Khan Foundation in Toronto acquired a 17th century Safavid mirror for €200,000. Against a background of multiple seven figure sales an insiders collecting guide drew specific attention to objects priced at under €20,000. This is just a flavour from a fair which showed the international market to be in a state of rude good health.
