The Old Masters auction at Christie’s London on Tuesday ended favourably, as it fetched $51.4 million in sales.
The Old Masters Evening Sale offered 40 lots for sale. With a 90 percent sell-through rate, the auction managed to sell most of what went on the auction block. The auction, which fetched £38.9 million ($51.4 million), sat comfortably within its presale estimate of £25 million to £37.5 million.
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The biggest lot of the night was a portrait of Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, by Sir Thomas Lawrence. Commissioned in 1820, the portrait went on the auction block with an estimate between £8 million and £12 million, and fetched a comfortable £9.67 million – accounting for a quarter of the evening’s reveunes alone.
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But the biggest winner of the evening was undoubtedly Jan Van Huysum. The Dutch artist had two 17th-century realistic paintings in the lot. The one of a fruit arrangement fetched £6.5 million (against a high estimate of £4 million), while the one of a flower arrangement was sold for £5.5 million (against a high estimate of £3.5 million). The success of the night was another strong signal that interest in Old Masters remain high and buyers was willling to pay top dollars for the right works.
