London – Christie’s Classic Week Evening sales – The Exceptional Sale, Old Masters Part I Sale and Remastered: Old Masters from the Collection of J.E. Safra – realised a combined total of £68,156,850 / $86,559,200 / €79,607,201, achieving sell-through rates of 80% by lot and 92% by value. The top lots of the evening were Michael Sweerts’ completely unpublished and unknown canvas on the theme of the artist’s studio which fetched £12,615,000 / $16,021,050 / €14,734,320, setting a new auction record for the artist (estimate: £2,000,000-3,000,000) and the landmark rediscovered Rembrandt’s Portrait of Jan Willemsz. van der Pluym and Jaapgen Carels which are the last known pair of portraits by the artist to remain in private hands, sold for £11,235,000 / $14,268,450 / €13,122,480 (estimate: £5,000,000-8,000,000). 36% of new registrants to these sales were millennials; the breakdown of buyers by region was: 43% EMEA / 35% APAC / 22% Americas.

These sales bring the running total, to date, for Classic Week London to: £73,322,102 / $93,113,904 €85,614,679. This follows the strong start to the series which saw J.M.W. Turner’s Sunrise over the Sea inspiring cross category bidding and resulting in it exceeding the pre-sale estimate, selling for £1,032,200 (estimate: £600,000-800,000), in the Old Master and British Drawings and Watercolours sale on 4 July.

THE EXCEPTIONAL SALE IN SUMMARY:

Christie’s Exceptional Sale realised a total of £11,214,300 / $14,242,161/ €13,098,302. Among the top lots of the sale were:

• A re-discovery: The majestic Studio of Hyacinthe Rigaud Portrait of Louis XIV in Coronation Robes sold for £1,915,500 / $2,432,685 / €2,237,304 (estimate: £200,000-300,000). The is an outstanding example of its type, its history is intertwined with that of the ducs de Noailles, a family tied by friendship and marriage to that of the King himself.
• A Royal late Louis VX Ormolu-mounted bois satine commode ‘A la Grecque’, attributed to Simon Oeben, circa 1760-65 sold for £655,200 / $832,104 / €765,274 (estimate : £150,000-250,000). A superb example of 18^th century modernity, the distinctive 'commode à la grecque' is part of a corpus by les frères Oeben supplied almost exclusively to the 18^th century’s most celebrated and discerning patroness Madame de Pompadour (1721-1764) and her fiercest political ally the duc de Choiseul (1719-1785).
• A pair of Louis XVI ormolu-mounted green granite vases, attributed to Jean-Baptiste Feuillet, circa 1780 sold for £642,600 / $816,102 / €750,557 (estimate: £250,000-400,000). Carved circa 1780, from a green flecked ‘granite de Vosges’ and mounted with striking lion-mask handles, these elegant vases attributed to Jean Baptiste Feuillet (d. 1806) are a superb example of the fashion for vases montés which reached its zenith in the mid-1780s.

Amjad Rauf, International Head of Masterpiece and Private Sales: “This London Exceptional Sale was led by a re-discovery, the monumental Portrait of Louis XIV in Coronation Robes. Among the other captivating works offered, further highlights included two Italian Grand Tour and ancient Roman marble and alabaster tables from the famous Hope collection and a mid-eighteenth century French Royal bois satine commode from the Château de Fontainebleau. This highlights that our clients are very interested in the histories and stories of the works on offer, as well as their rarity and exquisite craftsmanship.”

For the full results of The Exceptional Sale please click here.

OLD MASTERS PART I SALE IN SUMMARY:

The Old Masters Part I Sale realised £53,940,600 / $68,504,562 / €63,002,621. 3 artists records were set for Sweerts, Fra Angelico and Bartholomeus Van Der Helst. Among the top lots of the sale were:

• A completely unpublished and unknown canvas by Michael Sweerts, perhaps his greatest picture on the theme of the artist’s studio realised £12,615,000 / $16,021,050 / €14,734,320 (estimate: £2,000,000-3,000,000), setting a new auction record for the artist.
• The landmark re-discovery of the last known pair of portraits by Rembrandt in private hands, Portrait of Jan Willemsz. van der Pluym and Jaapgen Carels, sold for £11,235,000 / $14,268,450 / €13,122,480 (estimate: £5,000,000-8,000,000). They are rare and intimate portrayals of relatives of the artist, at auction 200 years after they were last seen at Christie’s.
• A discovery and new auction record: The Crucifixion with the Virgin, Saint John the Baptist and the Magdalen at the Foot of the Cross, a pioneering early work by Fra Angelico – one of the greatest and most influential masters of the early Florentine Renaissance – realised £5,001,000 / $6,351,270 / €5,841,168 (estimate: £4,000,000-6,000,000).

Clementine Sinclair, Head of Old Masters, London: “This sale, which included three major re-discoveries, was hugely anticipated and achieved the highest sale total for an Old Masters Part I sale at Christie’s London since 2016. The works in the sale garnered much excitement in the Old Masters market, and in the build up to the sale drew record numbers of visitors to the view in London and preview tours in New York, Hong Kong, Amsterdam and Paris. The sensational, completely unpublished and unknown work by Sweerts achieved the top price in the sale and set a new world record for the artist at auction. The rarity of the last known pendant portraits by Rembrandt in private hands, also recently re-discovered, generated international bidding far beyond the high estimate. The beautifully preserved Fra Angelico Crucifixion, a discovery by my colleague Francis Russell, set a new record price for the artist, proving the demand for pictures of this high calibre which so rarely come onto the market. The bust of Helen by Canova, a personal gift from the artist to Viscount Castlereagh with unbroken provenance, was keenly sought after by multiple bidders, achieving a price close to the world record. All of this underlines the demand for works that are fresh to the market, with interesting provenance and in exceptional original condition.”

For the full results of the Old Masters Evening Sale please click here.

REMASTERED: OLD MASTERS FROM THE COLLECTION OF J.E. SAFRA IN SUMMARY:

The Remastered: Old Masters from the Collection of J.E. Safra realised £3,001,950/ $3,812,477/ €3,506,278. Two records for the medium were set, for works by George Chinnery and Matthias Withoos. Among the top lots of the sale were:

• M.W. Turner’s Rocks at Colgong (Kahalgaon) on the Ganges, Bihar, India realised £327,600 (estimate: £50,000-80,000).
• M.W. Turner’s Cassiobury, Hertfordshire, seen from the North-West sold for £302,400 (estimate: £120,000-180,000).
• Jan Van Goyen’s River landscape with fishermen realised £289,800 (estimate: £180,000-250,000). Painted in 1632, the year in which Van Goyen moved from Leiden to the capital The Hague, this is one of the artist's largest pictures and a veritable statement of his ambition as a landscape painter in the early 1630’s.

For further commentary on the sales from Amjad Rauf and Clementine Sinclair, please watch the post-sales press conference here.

For the full results of Remastered: Old Masters from The Collection of J.E. Safra please click here.