This Week’s Top Lots: October 26 – 30

Editorial Staff Furniture & Decorative Arts

* Christie’s London/October 27, 20th Century Decorative Art & Design
The sale total was £778,625. The top lot was a set of six art nouveau chairs by Emile Gallé that sold for £79,250 (estimate £30,000-50,000). Other top lots were a vitrine by Koloman Moser for J & J Kohn that sold for £51,650 (estimate £15,000-20,000), and a prototype Odalisque bench by Allen Jones that sold for £27,500 (estimate £8,000-12,000).

* Sotheby’s London/October 27, 20th Century Design
The sale total was just under £1.5 million. The top lot was an art nouveau lily-pad table by Louis Majorelle that sold for £229,250 (estimate £45,000-55,000). Other top lots were a “Two Cicadas” vase by Lalique that sold for £187,250 (estimate £100,000-150,000), and a “Wrinkly Fish” chair by Ron Arad that sold for £97,250 (estimate £35,000-45,000).

* Christie’s Dubai/October 27, International Modern & Contemporary Art
The sale total was $6.7 million, with 117 of 163 lots sold. The top lot was Ahmed Moustafa’s Remembrance and Gratitude that sold for $662,500 (estimate $600,000-800,000)—a record-setting price for a modern work of art by an Arab artist. Other top lots were a Burhan Dogancay’s Rift (from the Ribbons series) that sold for $242,500 (estimate $200,000-250,000), and Nja Mahdaoui’s Triptych 3 that sold for $140,500 (estimate $50,000-70,000)-both record prices for the artists.

* Sotheby’s London/October 28, M & N Uzal collection
The sale total was £2.1 million. The top lot was a pair of gilt-bronze and marble monumental French tazze that sold for £121,250 (estimate £100,000-150,000). Other top lots were a French marble and gilt-bronze candelabrum that sold for £109,250 (estimate £90,000-120,000), and a gilt bronze and amethyst plaque possibly by Lucien-François Feuchère that sold for £97,250 (estimate £80,000-120,000).

* Christie’s New York/October 28, Prints and Multiples
The sale total was $7.6 million, with 373 of 440 lots sold. The top lot was a complete set of ten Flowers color screenprints by Andy Warhol that sold for $386,500 (estimate $250,000-350,000). Other top lots were Chagall’s Cirque that sold for $218,500 (estimate $160,000-180,000), and Warhol’s Reigning Queens (Royal Edition) set of four screenprints of Queen Elizabeth II that sold for $170,500 (estimate $70,000-90,000).

* Bonhams London/October 28, Antiquities
The top lot was a circa bright blue royal shabti that sold for £204,000 (estimate £4,000-6,000). Other top lots were a large Roman onyx cameo of the Empress Livia that sold for £96,000 (estimate £60,000-80,000), and a Roman marble bust of a child that sold for £52,800 (estimate £6,000-8,000).

* Christie’s Dubai/October 28, Jewels & Watches
The sale total was just under $4 million, with 99 of 131 lots sold. The top lot was a pair of Asscher-cut diamond ear pendants (each over 15 carats) that sold for $518,500 (estimate $400,000-600,000). Other top lots were a 25.35 single-stone yellow diamond ring that sold for $446,500 (estimate $300,000-400,000), and a suite of diamond and cultured pearl jewelry by Jahan that sold for $134,500 (estimate $60,000-80,000).

* Bonhams London/October 30, 19th Century Paintings
The top lot was Franz Richard Unterberger’s Santa Barbara, Venice that sold for £98,400 (estimate £80,000-120,000). Other top lots were Federico del Campo’s Canale san Giuseppe, Venice that sold for £90,000 (estimate £80,000-120,000), and John Atkinson Grimshaw’s Figure on a moonlit lane, St. John’s Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight that sold for £87,600 (estimate £50,000-70,000).

* Christie’s London/October 28 & 29, Manolo March Collection
The sale total was £5.3 million. The top lot was Joaquin Mir i Trinxet’s Tarragona, Spain that sold for £301,250 (estimate £150,000-250,000). Other top lots were a pair of circa 1700 German parcel-gilt and japanned mother-of-pearl inlaid mirrors that sold for £289,250 (estimate £200,000-400,000), a pair of 18th-century Italian marble groups of a lion attacking a bull and a horse that sold for £217,250 (estimate £70,000-100,000), and a 17th-century Italian armillary sphere that sold for £187,250 (estimate £30,000-50,000).

* Sotheby’s New York/October 29, Prints
The sale total was $8.4 million. The top lot was Picasso’s La Femme Au Tambourin that sold for $554,500 (estimate $500,000-600,000). Other top lots were Louise Bourgeois’s He Disappeared into Complete Silence (Wye 29-38) that sold for $230,500 (estimate $120,000-180,000), Cy Twombly’s Roman Notes that sold for $194,500 (estimate $140,000-180,000), and Andy Warhol’s Electric Chairs (F. & S. II.74-83) that sold for $134,500 (estimate $40,000-60,000).

* Sotheby’s London/October 29, Old Master and Early British Paintings
The sale total was £1.2 million. The top lot was a pair of paintings by Niccolò Codazzi that sold for £58,850 (estimate £15,000-20,000). Other top lots were Orpheus Charming the Animals by Sinibaldo Scorza (estimate £10,000-15,000), and a pair of panel paintings depicting Saint Stephen and Saint Lawrence from the workshop Andrea Di Bartolo (estimate £10,000-15,000) that each sold for £42,050.

* Sotheby’s London/October 29, Library of the Earl of Rosebery
The sale total was £1.5 million, with 125 of 132 lots sold. The top lot was a series of letters from Lord Byron to Francis Hodgson that sold for £277,250 (estimate £150,000-180,000). Other top lots were a first edition folio of Sir Willaim Hamilton’s Camphi Phlegraei that sold for £94,500 (estimate £35,000-50,000), and Christopher Saxton’s Atlas of England and Wales from 1579 that each sold for £73,250 (estimate £40,000-60,000).

* Bonhams London/October 30, Veteran Motor Cars
The top lot was 1902 Panhard-Levassor Type A 7hp Rear Entrance Tonneau Chassis no. 5718 Engine no. 5718 that sold for £216,000 (estimate £120,000-150,000). Other top lots were a 1901 Argyll 5hp Spindle Seat Rear Entrance Tonneau Chassis no. 106 Engine no. 1334 that sold for £136,800 (estimate £90,000-110,000), and a 1904 De Dion Bouton 6hp Two-seater Engine no. 16419 that sold for £69,700 (estimate £60,000-70,000).

Images from above: Odalisque bench, Allen Jones, 1999. Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd., 2009; Table, Louis Majorelle, c. 1902. Courtesy of Sotheby’s; Royal shabti, Egyptian, c. 950 BC. Courtesy of Bonhams; Ear pendants. Courtesy of Christie’s Images Ltd., 2009; He Disappeared into Complete Silence (Wye 29-38) by Louise Bourgeois. Courtesy of Sotheby’s.

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