Global – Christie’s is proud to present THE WORLD OF HEIDI HORTEN, the exquisite jewellery collection of the late Mrs. Heidi Horten (1941-2022). With a pre-sale estimate of more than $150 million, this unparalleled private jewellery collection is the largest and most valuable ever to come to auction, poised to join and eclipse the previous record sales at Christie’s for The Elizabeth Taylor Collection (2011) and the Maharajas & Mughal Magnificence auction (2019), which are the only two jewellery collections to date to achieve more than $100 million.

Consigned by the Heidi Horten Estate, and offered this May in Geneva, the Collection will be devoted to philanthropy, per Mrs. Horten’s wishes: all of the Estate’s proceeds will benefit The Heidi Horten Foundation, established in 2020 to support the museum of modern and contemporary art she founded in Vienna, Austria  The Heidi Horten Collection as well as medical research and other philanthropic activities, which has been supported by her for many decades.

The global preview tour will start at Christie’s Hong Kong, where a large selection of Mrs. Heidi Horten’s jewels and jades will be exhibited from the 3rd to 6th of April.

Rahul Kadakia, Christie’s International Head of Jewellery, remarked: “The World of Heidi Horten is the collection of a lifetime. From Bulgari to Van Cleef & Arpels, from a small personal memory piece to the Briolette of India, this is a collector’s dream. Building from extraordinary early pieces she acquired in the 1970’s and 1980’s, Mrs. Horten continued to grow and curate her sophisticated collection, eloquently combining vintage and modern designs from the leading jewellery houses of the world that today represent some of the finest examples ever to come to market.”

Jadeite arrived in China from Burma in 1784. By the beginning of the 19th century it had become widely sought-after, its popularity is perhaps due to the Empress Dowager Cixi, who was a great enthusiast of the stone. Today, due to limited production in Burma and its continued popularity among Chinese buyers, jade is still considered to be one of the ‘top gemstones’ in the Eastern market alongside coloured diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds. Prized by scholars and collectors for centuries, jade symbolised purity, knowledge and righteousness, as well as protection. Many still believe that the stone protects its wearer from harm and promotes wealth.

About Mrs. Heidi Horten (1941-2022) 

Heidi Horten (née Jelinek) was born and raised in Vienna, Austria. She attended the Hospitality Management School of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and went on to work as a secretary in a Viennese law firm. From an early age, Heidi Horten was exposed to objects of great beauty, first through her father, who was an engraver, and later during her first marriage (to Helmut Horten), when she began to refine her eye for jewellery and works of art. After Mr. Horten’s death, Mrs. Horten was passionately involved in areas as diverse as social welfare, sports and medical research, which had been supported by her for decades. As of the 1990s, Mrs. Horten began building her private collection of modern and contemporary art. Her first significant independent art purchases were works by Moise Kiesling and Emmanuel Mané-Katz, acquired at auction in Tel Aviv in 1994. Her collection grew steadily over the following two decades, and, in 2018, was first unveiled to the public when a selection of 175 works was presented at the Leopold Museum under the title WOW!  Moved by the tremendous success of the exhibition, Mrs. Horten began to plan for the future of her artworks, establishing a permanent home for them at The Heidi Horten Collection, modern art museum in Vienna. The grand opening took place on 2 June 2022, which Mrs. Horten proudly attended online, just ten days before she passed away.