Antiques Trade Gazette
3 news
Russian art takes positive Steppes
■ London sales see some return to form in volatile niche sector
by Alex Capon
THE latest Russian art sales series in the capital saw the continuing recovery of an important sector for London’s auctioneers. The market lacks the free spending seen before the downturn in October 2008 but the June sales were significantly up on the equivalent series last year.
The overall hammer total for the auctions last week, conducted by four firms, was close to £36m, a marked improvement on the £25m seen in 2009 but still down on the 2008 figure which was in excess of £46m.
While bidding battles emerged on prized works of art by Fabergé (see caption story right), Russian pictures also posted solid performances with one or
Precious metals
On Friday, June 11, Michael Bloomstein of Brighton were paying the following for bulk scrap against a gold fix of $1220.50 (€1007.18, £832.31): GOLD 22 carat – £714.16 per oz (£22.96 per gram) 18 carat – £584.31 (£18.79) 15 carat – £486.93 (£15.66) 14 carat – £454.47 (£14.61) 9 carat – £292.16 (£9.39) HALLMARK PLATINUM £27.55 per gram SILVER
£10.12 per oz for 925 standard hallmarked.
two standout prices. As is often the case in these sales, these reflect the fierce competitions when private buyers are prepared to delve deep into deep pockets to get what they want. Sotheby’s held their Russian evening sale on June 7 – a select offering of 26 paintings which raised a hammer total £8.9m against a presale estimate of £7.7m-11.3m. In all, 17 works sold. The top lot was Alexander Evgenievich
Yakovlev’s (1887-1938) Titi and Naranghe, Daughters of Chief Eki Bondo which was knocked down at £2.2m to a Russian private buyer and made the highest price of the series.
One of the most famous images from the artists’ African expeditions, it was consigned from a private French source having originally been owned by Georges Marie Haardt, director general of the car manufacturer Citroën. It was estimated at £700,000-900,000.
Another Russian private buyer bid £1.55m for a 1919 portrait of the editor and publisher Zinovii Grzhebin by Yuri Pavlovich Annenkov (1889-1974). Estimated at £800,000-1.2m, it had remained in the family of the sitter after it was painted.
The work was typical of the artist and stage designer’s distinctive style but it represented a rare opportunity to purchase a portrait of an eminent intellectual figure by a leading artist at the centre of the country’s avant-garde. Crucially, it was painted before both men went into exile in Paris in the early 1920s. The price was the second highest seen at auction for the artist. Sotheby’s day sale of Russian paintings
(£5.3m) and a separately catalogued works of art sale (£4.4m), both offered on June 9, raised a further £9.7m to the bottom line. A pair of 1841 campana form vases painted with Dutch Old Master scenes by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory were the top-selling lot. Entered by a descendent of King William II of Württemburg (1848-1921), they sold
Right: the portrait of the influential editor and publisher Zinovii Grzhebin by Yuri
Pavlovich Annenkov that made £1.55m at
Sotheby’s Russian art sale on June 8.
on their low estimate of £800,000. Christie’s main Russian sale on June 8 took £9.9m against a presale estimate of £7.2m-10.4m with 207 of the 273 lots finding buyers. This sale included a 221-lot works of art section (see caption right). Here, works by three artists were taken to auction records including the top lot – Vasya by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878- 1939) which sold for £1.6m against a pre- sale estimate of £250,000-350,000. Having not been seen in public since 1932, it sold to an anonymous telephone bidder. Also generating a heated bidding contest was the still life Roses and Apples by Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939) that was knocked down at £800,000 against an estimate of £100,000-150,000. In this case, it made the third highest price seen for the artist at auction. MacDougall’s Russian Classic and Contemporary Art sale on June 10 generated a hammer total of £5.95m and was the most lucrative of their three sales of the week. The top lot was Arsenal Hill at Night by Niko Pirosmani (1863-1918) which was knocked down at a low estimate £900,000.
The Russian art specialists also staged a £710,100 icons sale on June 7 and a works on paper sale on June 10 which was still underway as ATG went to press. Meanwhile, Bonhams held their Russian sale on June 7. It made a hammer total of £1.57m with 126 of the 258 lots sold.
Above: this 2in (5cm) high jewelled and gold mounted hardstone model of a turkey by Fabergé was among the highlights of Christie’s sale on June 8. A much-exhibited model bearing the workmaster’s mark of Henrik Wigström, and purchased by the vendor in Stockholm in the 1960s, it doubled its top estimate selling at £160,000. This price, the highest among the works of art at King Street, was shared by a Japoniste silver and bowenite dragon table lamp by Julius Rappoport. Sotheby’s stand-alone catalogue of works of art included one of Fabergé’s celebrated gold, enamel and hardstone illusional flower studies. Formed as a single stem of wild pansy in a rock crystal vase, it was sold in its original case with a note reading: Present from Queen Alexandra to 1st Lady Iveagh. It doubled its low estimate at £400,000.
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