This Week’s Top Lots: October 17 – 23

Editorial Staff Art

* Christie’s London/October 17, Post-war and Contemporary Art Day Sale
The sale total was £3.5 million. The top lot was Anselm Kiefer’s Baum mit Panzer that sold for £169,250 (estimate £70,000-90,000). Other top lots were Martin Kippenberger’s Self-Portrait that sold for £139,250 (estimate £18,000-22,000), and Wim Delvoye’s Last Port that sold for £109,250 (estimate £50,000-70,000).

* Skinner Boston/October 17, Asian Art
The top lot was an 18th-century imperial jade bowl that sold for $303,000 (estimate $400,000-600,000). Other top lots were carved rhinoceros horn cup that sold for $270,000 (estimate $10,000-15,000), and a Ch’ien Lung bamboo root carving that sold for $154,050 (estimate $3,000-5,000).

* Sotheby’s New York/October 19, Jewels
The sale total was $13.8 million, with 264 of 316 lots sold. The top lot was a 29.53 pear-shaped diamond ring that sold for just under $3.5 million (estimate $1.8-2.2 million). Other top lots were a Tiffany & Co. emerald-cut yellow diamond ring that sold for $446,500 (estimate $250,000-350,000), and a Van Cleef & Arpels diamond and amethyst Botticelli necklace that sold for $194,500 (estimate $50,000-75,000).

* Bonhams New York, Los Angeles & San Francisco/October 20, Jewelry
The top lot was a 5.07 carat diamond solitaire ring that sold for $91,500 (estimate $40,000-60,000. Other top lots were a an old-mine cut 7.87 carat diamond ring that sold for $42,700 (estimate $30,000-50,000), and a diamond, emerald, and ruby beetle brooch that sold for $25,620 (estimate $4,000-6,000).

* Christie’s New York/October 20, 19th Century Decorative Art, Sculpture, and Works of Art
The sale total was $2.1 million, with 169 of 268 lots sold. The top lot was an ormolu-mounted and marquetry grand piano by Steinway & Sons that sold for $122,500 (estimate $60,000-80,000). Other top lots were a German ormolu- and Meissen porcelain-mounted cabinet that sold for $122,500 (estimate $100,000-200,000), and majolica stork-form fountain basin by Minton that sold for $76,900 (estimate $7,000-9,000).

* Sotheby’s New York/October 20, Watches, Clocks, and Automata
The sale total was $3.1 million, with 145 of 161 lots sold. The top lot was a late 18th-century Chinese market musical automaton clock that sold for $278,500 (estimate $70,000-90,000). Other top lots were an ormolu and mahogany orrery clock by Zacharie Raingo that sold for $266,500 (estimate $80,000-120,000), and a Cartier rock crystal, gold and enamel diamond-set strut timepiece that sold for $83,500 (estimate $40,000-50,000).

* Sotheby’s New York/October 20, English & Continental Silver
The sale total was $3 million. The top lot was an 1805 pair of four-light candelabra by Digby Scott and Benjamin Smith for Rundell, Bridge & Rundell that sold for $458,500 (estimate $400,000-600,000). Other top lots were a set of twelve Earl of Warrington dinner plates dated 1728 that sold for $290,500 (estimate $200,000-300,000), and a three-piece coffee set and tray by Dagobert Peche for the Wiener Werkstätte that sold for $80,500 (estimate $30,000-50,000).

* Christie’s New York/October 21, Jewels & the Annenberg Diamond

The sale total was $27.8 million. The top lot was, of course, Lee Annenberg’s 32.01 carat diamond ring by David Webb that sold for just under $7.7 million (estimate $3-5 million). Other top lots were an emerald and diamond necklace by Harry Winston that sold for $950,500 (estimate $500,000-700,000), and a pair of colored diamond earrings that sold for $818,500 ($300,000-500,000).

* Christie’s New York/October 21, A Collection of Jewels & Objets d’Art
The sale total was $18.7 million. The top lot was a belle époque diamond and rock crystal brooch by Cartier that sold for just under $1.1 million (estimate $200,000-300,000 Other top lots were an antique sapphire, spinel and diamond “Blue Venus” sculpture that sold for $554,500 ($300,000-500,000), an enamel and diamond dog collar by Lalique that sold for $446,500 (estimate $150,000-250,000), and a diamond, ruby and emerald ballerina brooch by Van Cleef & Arpels that sold for $422,500 (estimate $80,000-120,000).

* Bonhams New York & San Francisco/October 21, European Painting
The top lot was Giuseppe de Nittis’s A ride along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées that sold for $1.3 million (estimate $200,000-300,000). Other top lots were Eugen von Blaas’s The love letter that sold for $242,000 (estimate $200,000-300,000), and von Blaas’s Lovelorn that sold for $176,000 ($150,000-200,000).

* Sotheby’s New York/October 21, 19th Century Decorative Art, Sculpture, and Works of Art
The sale total was $4.2 million. The top lot was a circa 1900 French carved walnut cabinet that sold for $98,500 (estimate $80,000-120,000). Other top lots were a gilt-bronze and Chinese coromandel lacquer mounted kingwood commode by François Linke (estimate $60,000-80,000), and a gilt-bronze mounted circular marquetry guéridon by Linke (estimate $40,000-60,000) that each sold for $92,500.

* Christie’s New York/October 22, Silver
The sale total was $2.8 million, with 157 of 174 lots sold. The top lot was a silver-gilt candelabrum by Paul Storr that sold $518,500 (estimate $400,000-600,000 Other top lots were a mirror plateau by Phillip Rundell that sold for $158,500 ($60,000-90,000), and a silver and mabe pearl vase by Gianmaria Buccellati that sold for $74,500 (estimate $30,000-50,000).

* Sotheby’s New York/October 22, 19th Century European Art
The sale total was $9.9 million, with 74 of 138 lots sold. The top lot was Frederick Lord Leighton’s Venus Disrobing for the Bath that sold for $1.8 million (estimate $1.2-1.5 million)—an auction record for the artist. Other top lots were Edward Robert Hughes’s Dream Idyll (A Valkyrie) (estimate $100,000-150,000), and Leopold Carl Muller’s Street Scene Cairo (estimate $40,000-60,000) that each sold for $866,500.

* Bonhams New York /October 22, Samurai Arms & Armor
The top lot was a 19th-century O-Yoroi armor that sold for $51,850 (estimate $45,000-55,000. Other top lots were an 18th-century iron helmet that sold for $51,240 (estimate $45,000-55,000), and a suit of armor and helmet from the collection of  Kato Yasumune that sold for $48,800 (estimate $45,000-55,000).

* Christie’s New York/October 23, Arts of the Samurai
The sale total was $2.7 million. The top lot was a 17th-century Honkozane Nimai Do Gusoku armor that sold $602,500 (estimate $250,000-300,000 Other top lots were a pair of six-panel screens depicting the first man across the Uji River from Tale of the Heike that sold for $266,500 ($120,000-180,000), and a 17th-century Gomai-Do Yukinoshita armor that sold for $112,900 (estimate $80,000-100,000).

Images from above: Cup, China, 17th/18th century. Courtesy of Skinner, Inc.; Fountain basin by Minton, 1862. Courtesy of Christie’s; Coffee set and tray designed by Dagobert Peche, made by the  Wiener Werkstätte, 1923. Courtesy of Sotheby’s; Brooch by Cartier, c.1910. Courtesy of Christie’s; A ride along the Avenue des Champs-Elysées by Giuseppe de Nittis, 1875. Courtesy of Bonhams; Venus Disrobing for the Bath by Frederick Lord Leighton, c.1867. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

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