Christie’s Modern Medici Totals $9,594,840

Old Masters sales at Christie’s continued its successful run with Modern Medici: Masterpieces from a New York Collection, a 25-lot grouping of pictures, furniture, and sculpture that totalled $9,594,840, which was 98% hammer of the low estimate, and 96% sold by lot.

Christie’s announced that two lots in the sale were acquired by major museums: a Bronze Figure of an Écorché Man, cast from a model by Willem Danielsz van Tetrode, to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, at $1,500,000; a Bronze Group of Apollo Flaying Marsyas, going to the Cleveland Museum of Art, at $882,200. Other highlights of the sale included a Magnificent Italian Ormolu, White Marble And Semi-Precious Hardstone-Inlaid Center Table, which made $1,500,000; The Cesarini Venus, a bronze figure after Giambologna and attributed to Antonio Susini that fetched $1,045,800; and Lucas Cranach’s Portrait of a lady, which brought $945,000.

The excellent result from this sale brings the running total for Old Masters sales this week to more than $70 million. Remastered: Old Masters from the Collection of J.E. Safra showed the power of the no-reserve strategy, totalling $18,525,600, selling 100% by lot, with more than one in five lots sale-wide achieving at least 150% of their low estimates.

Old Masters, brought $44,251,060 in total, including a record-shattering $16,420,000 for Francisco de Goya’s Portrait of Doña María Vicenta Barruso Valdés and Portrait of her mother Doña Leonora Antonia Valdés de Barruso.

Christie’s Head of Early European Sculpture, Will Russell, said, “It’s thrilling to have been entrusted with this extraordinary group of sculptures; we are deeply gratified to see masterpieces going to two of the most important museums in the world, where they can be enjoyed and studied forever.”

Christies

editor

Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had auction sales in the first half of 2019 that totalled £2.2 billion / $2.8 billion. Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and international expertise. Christie’s offers around 350 auctions annually in over 80 categories, including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectables, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over $100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis on Post-War & Contemporary, Impressionist & Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery.