Last week Sotheby's and Christie's completed a round of Old Master sales, and the results were fair, with some strong action at the top and some softness below. The main sale totaled $58.23 million including buyers premiums and offered 404 lots.
Of the 404 lots offered, only 236 sold and 168 failed to sell for a 58.4% ratio. Not terrible for the Old Master sector, but not very positive either. The sale sold only 60.7% by value, and that will happen when so many lots remain unsold. The auction had pre-sale low estimates of $73.02 million and a high estimate of $107.45 million.
The top selling lot was a Pompeo Batoni, Susanna and the Elders selling for $11.39 million including buyers premiums, an auction record for the artist. The pre sale estimate was $6/$9 million. Of the top ten 6 beat the pre sale high estimates and 4 came within the estimates.
It will be interesting to see the analysis from groups like Mei Moses on the sales, as the top end looks decent but the rest of the sale appears to be rather marginal in results.
Sotheby's reported the following on the sales
Source: Sotheby'sSotheby’s annual Old Masters Week auctions in New York brought a total of $80,083,199* as of 1 February 2013. Thursday and Friday’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings & Sculpture sale totaled $58,230,315, highlighted by an exceptional work by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni from 1751, Susanna and the Elders, which exceeded the pre-sale estimate of $6/9 million. Five bidders battled for this major work and two determined phone bidders drove the final price to $11,394,500, a record for the artist at auction (left). Ten bidders fought for an unrecorded, recentlydiscovered Hans Memling devotional panel, Christ Blessing, which realized $4,114,500, also a record for the artist at auction (est. $1/1.5 million). The panel, which has been in the same New England collection for over 150 years, was completely unknown to scholars and collectors alike before it was discovered earlier this year.
George Wachter, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Worldwide, and Christopher Apostle, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings department in New York, commented: “We were delighted to see that works by major hands like Batoni, Fragonard and Memling sold incredibly well, and collectors understand that these rare works do not come to the market often. There was tremendous international bidding throughout the week, particularly from Russian collectors, who are extremely interested in French and Italian 18th century work. There was international underbidding for French Rococo master Fragonard’s The goddess Aurora triumphing over Night; however, we’re pleased to announce that the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, was the eventual winner of this wonderful work.”
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