Results: Sotheby's Old Master Week in NY

I would think many at Sotheby's are smiling after last weeks Old Master sale in New York City.  The complete old master sales totaled $74.2 million including buyers premium. This was near the top end of the pre sale estimates of  $52.5 to $75.5 million.

The main Important Old Master Paintings and Sculpture sale brought $61.6 million, which was at the top end of the sales estimate of $63 million.  According to Sotheby's the sale saw a dozen lots sell for over $1 million and 60% of the lots sold topped the pre sale high estimate. The sale offered 200 lots with 147 selling and 53 being bought in for a respectable 73.5% sell through rate. The average sold lot price was $419,000.00. The top selling lot was a Sir Anthony van Dyck, Two Studies of a Bearded Man, estimated at $5/$7 million and selling for $7.25 million (see image). The buyer of the van Dyck was anonymous. Five of the top ten lots sold to European private collectors, two went to private American collectors, one to the trade and two were anonymous buyers.

Sotheby's reports

George Wachter, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department Worldwide said, “Immediately following our sale last January, I knew that our approach to putting together future auctions was going to have to change to fit the environment in which we were living. We were incredibly stringent as we collected property for both our June 2009 sale and the current sale. Not only did we focus on presenting the best quality, but we worked with consignors to help them understand that attractive estimates are what this market desires. The results of this week’s sales prove that thesis and we are thrilled with the results.”

The morning session began with energy as the first lot of the sale, Borghese di Piero’s The Visitation jumped to $170,500 against an estimate of $40/60,000. Francesco di Vannuccio’s The Madonna and Child Reliquary followed shortly thereafter, with as many as four clients bidding and driving the price to $1,022,500 (est. $300/500,000).

The sale’s top price of $7,250,500 was garnered by Sir Anthony Van Dyck’s Two Studies of a Bearded Man (est. $5/7 million). The picture was painted by the young Sir Anthony Van Dyck when he was still in Rubens’s studio and shows how fully the artist absorbed the lessons of his master, as well as how soon he had begun to assert his own style.

Two artist records were set during Thursday’s sale. An artist record** was set for the monumental masterpiece Jupiter and Antiope by the great 17th century Dutch artist Hendrick Goltzius when it sold to a European Private Collector for
$6,802,500.