Not unlike our prestigious real estate network, our brand’s founder, the esteemed Sotheby’s auction house, has recently had a considerable global impact.
On June 3, Sotheby’s held an auction in New York on Egyptian, Classical and Western Asiatic Antiquities. Highlights of the auction included a Middle Kingdom anhydrite kohl vessel, a majestic Ptolemaic basalt falcon figure and a long-lost monumental Roman marble bust of Zeus. An exceptional sale total of $6.4 million nearly doubled the pre-sale high estimate. Click here to see the full results of the auction.
On June 4 in New York, Sotheby’s hosted a sale of Master Paintings from Old Master Paintings Worldwide. Also on sale were paintings from the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College and the Art Gallery of Ontario. A sale total of approximately $4.4 million, buoyed by a $670,000 sale of Antonio Joli’s Rome, rendered the auction a great success. Click here to see the results.
On June 11, Sotheby’s held a trio of significant auctions. The first sale, the London Fine Jewels Auction, offered a wide variety of jewels from the 17th century to the present day. A 1930s bracelet attributed to Ernst Paltscho, a yellow diamond brooch and pair of earrings from Vacheron Constantin, and a natural pearl and diamond pendant from Boucheron complemented other jewelry flush with popular floral motifs. Hosted at the Sketch Café in London, the sale garnered a total of 4,868,938 GBP, or approximately $7.6 million.
That same day, Sotheby’s hosted an auction in Hong Kong with items ranging from Eastern and Western contemporary works to iconic design furniture of the 20th century. The offerings of Boundless: Contemporary Art included works by Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Bernard Buffet and Zhan Wang. The sale yielded a notable total of 41,499,375 HKD, approximately $5.36 million. Keith Haring’s Untitled was the top lot of the auction at 4.16 million HKD, fetching four times its pre-sale estimate.
Lastly, an auction with timepieces ranging from 1760 to 2015 brought Sotheby’s its highest-ever total for a ‘various-owner’ sale of Important Watches in New York. With an impressive 88.8% of lots sold, the sale achieved an extraordinary total of $12.5 million. The highlight of the auction was a magnificent private collection of 22 Swiss enameled automata, called the Swiss Mechanical Marvels, which together brought $6.1 million. Click here to see the full results of the auction.
There are also several noteworthy upcoming Sotheby’s auctions. On June 24, the brand will host an auction in Paris on “Arts d’Afrique et d’Océanie,” or African and Oceanic Art. With works from Liliane and Michel Durand-Dessert, Daniel and Karmen Kline, and ceramist Magdalene Odundo, the event will include as its featured piece the Masque-double, Baulé, Côte d’Ivoire, valued from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000. Click here to see the piece.
That same day, Sotheby’s will hold The Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale in London. The sale presents an outstanding selection of the finest and rarest works of art by artists such as Kazimir Malevich, Edouard Manet, Picasso, André Derain, Fernand Léger and Joan Miró. Admission to the sale is by ticket only. To reserve tickets, please call Lucy Economakis on +44 (0)20 7293 5177 or email IMPRESSIONISTTICKETS@SOTHEBYS.COM.
On June 25th, Sotheby’s will hold The Impressionist & Modern Art Day Sale. The highlight of this event will be the important group of 126 unique Picasso ceramics, coming directly from the collection of Marina Picasso, which have never before left the artist’s family.
Be it in real estate or artwork, the Sotheby’s brand is continuing to further its substantial international influence.
