Last weeks Old Master sales in London were strong for the category with numerous records being set, and an all time high for the series of sales at nearly $215 million.
I have two reports, one from the Telegraph and the other from the Antiques Trade Gazette. As the Telegraph reports, it appears that so long as the art is at the proper quality level, collector interest, and the willingness to spend remains high, regardless if the art is Modern, Impressionist or by the old masters. I had previously reported the results of the Christie's sale which totaled $133 million (click HERE to read the AW post on the sale), while the Sotheby's evening sale had fewer strong lots and totaled of $43.5 million including buyers premiums which was within the pre sale estimate of $41.4 million and $62.6 million. Overall, 29 of 43 lots sold for a buy through rate of 67.4%.
The Telegraph reports
Source: TelegraphAsian interest in Dutch Old Masters is something fairly new, and was evident in the sale of still-life paintings from the Dreesman, collection including a small panel by Balthasar van der Ast, which sold for a record £2.6 million. However, the best Dutch still life of the week – a floral masterpiece by Jan Davidsz de Heem, which had been somewhat underestimated at £1.2 million – was bagged by London dealer Richard Green for £3 million.
Another seller was German pharmaceuticals magnate Diethelm Doll, who was parting with several works at the sale. A rare painting by the German Renaissance artist Hans Baldung, Virgin as Queen of Heaven, had been bought for £249,000 in 1978, when Old Masters were still more costly than Impressionist paintings and Damien Hirst was barely out of short trousers. It sold for £2.1 million.
A sterner bidding war broke out over his Willem van de Velde painting, The Surrender of the Royal Prince, a depiction of the surrender of the British flagship during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1666, for which a private Dutch collector paid a double estimate £5.3 million to take home.
As ever, the sales were full of discoveries and re-attributions. A small painting on copper of Mars and Venus caught in the act by Vulcan, c 1610, by the Dutch mannerist Joachim Wtewael, had been untraced since 1836, until discovered hidden in a cabinet in a grand European house. It sold for a record £4.6 million. Overall, the Dutch schools dominated. No fewer than seven paintings by Pieter Breugel the Younger, drawn on to the market by the high prices paid recently for his work, sold for some £13 million.
The Antiques Trade Gazette reports on the sales
Source: Antique Trade GazetteA string of record prices at the latest Old Master sales in London helped the sector to its highest total ever for an auction series.
The sales at Sotheby's and Christie's last week made a combined £120.6m, making it the most lucrative week seen so far in this category, beating the £80.1m in July 2002.
However, back then the sales did not include British pictures, which were a major factor here.
Christie's evening sale on July 3 saw 54 of the 64 lots (84%) get away for a £74.5m hammer total - a figure that was the highest for an Old Master and British picture sale and towards the top end of the £61.8m-88.3m estimate.
On the night, demand from dealers and established collectors met with some greater interest from outside the traditional bidding contingent, but it was the supply of a greater number of rarely-seen works that really made the difference here.
This time round, it was a British painting that made the top price of the series by some distance - John Constable's The Lock, which took £20m at Christie's. Setting a record for the artist and making one of the highest prices ever seen for a British picture, it sold to a single bidder on the telephone after no other interest emerged on the night.
The anonymous buyer was also the third-party guarantor of the picture - meaning they had agreed to bid to a minimum level, presumably £20m, in return for a financial return if they ended up being outbid.
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