The highest prices of the sale came on day three with the furniture, when a SFr6.45m total for the day – 78% in money terms – provided Koller with its best ever results for a furniture sale.
The Zürich-based auction house claim that their success in this field is largely due to the strength of their relationships with private collectors, and these certainly contributed to the flurry of bidding during the furniture session.
The top price came for the rare red lacquer Louis XV commode, pictured here, signed M CRIAERD, Paris c.1760, which was consigned from a French collection in good condition and, was catalogued as “an outstanding example of the work of master ébeniste Mathieu Criaerd”. It is covered with gilt chinois-eries on a red ground with gilt metal mounts on all sides and sold just below estimate at SFr500,000 (£210,100).
From the same period was another piece of furniture that proved more sought-after: a Venetian baroque writing desk, c.1740/60, which fetched a triple-estimate SFr220,000 (£92,450) from a US collector.
Another, later piece that ended up selling to a US collector was an elegant art deco Ruhlmann Berkowitz dressing table. This had a circular mirror, and shallow central drawer flanked by two side cupboards to the front and an unusual additional three small drawers to the rear right hand side. It was signed and dated J.Ruhlmann 23.6.1931, Paris, and sold within estimate at SFr160,000 (£67,230).
The previous day had also provided an Art Deco highlight in the form of a carpet designed by Da Silva Bruhns, c.1920/30. This sold to a collector in the UK for SFr52,000 (£21,450).
Highlights from other sessions of the sale included a bronze of Mercury, dated to the late 18th, early 19th century, probably Rome, after Giambologna, which went to a German buyer for a quadruple-estimate SFr98,000 (£41,200).
The top prices in the ceramics session on March 19 came for two rare pieces of 18th century German faïence. One of these was a Walzenkrug or tankard from Nuremberg c.1720 with Hausmaler decoration by Matthias Schmid of
a continuous huntingscape
and with a pewter lid; the other was a wrythen moulded Enghalskrug from Augsburg c.1730 with polychrome painted Hausmalerie by Bartholemaus Seuter described as of “museum quality”. Both tripled their estimates at SFr68,000 (£28,570) and SFr70,000 (£29,410) respectively.
While Koller noted that they have had several favourable results over the last two years for paintings by the 19th century Russian marine painter, Ivan Aivasovsky, they still appear to be taken aback by the artist’s popularity, since three Aivasovsky oils, all consigned from private collections and fresh to the market, outreached their estimates on March 22.
Leader of the pack was a marine scape entitled Sunset on Crimea with View of Yalta, 131/4in by 2ft (34 x 61cm), which made SFr310,000 (£130,250) – more than seven times estimate. His Ships on a Rough Sea with a cliff-lined coast, oil on canvas 2ft 23/4in by 2ft 11in (68 x 89cm), made SFr200,000 (£84,030), while a small oil on board, 7 by 9in (18 x 23cm) of a Ship at Sea made a triple-estimate SFr70,000 (£29,410).
Other artists to command strong prices were Carl Spitzweg, whose c.1850 Harvest in the Mountains made SFr235,000 (£98,740) and another German, Ludwig Richter, whose pencil and ink drawing of a peasant Family on a Forest Path 43/4 by 83/4in (12 x 22cm) made SFr55,000 (£23,110). There were good results for some Dutch 17th century artists as well: Still Life with Oysters and Fruit by Osias Beers, oil on panel 201/2in by 2ft 63/4in (52 x 78cm) made SFr200,000 (£84,035); Adriaen Van Stalbemt’s Meal of the Gods, oil on canvas 20in by
2ft 3in (51 x 69cm) made SFr90,000 (£37,815) and Christian Couwenberg’s Young Man Holding a Glass, 2ft 73/4in by 2ft 21/4in (81 x 67cm) sold way above estimate at SFr60,000 (£25,210).
Flurry of furniture bids fostered by good relationships
SWITZERLAND: A mammoth four-day mixed sale of just under 2700 lots was held in Zürich by Galerie Koller (18%/16%/12% buyer’s premium) from March 19–23. This comprised furniture, carpets, decorative arts, jewellery, clocks, fine art and books and the auctioneers felt that the results confirmed the stability of the market for material of the best quality.
