Christie's

After a difficult period because of the pandemic, the latest round of Old Master sales in London returned to some kind of normality.

Separated for over a century, a trio of small panels by Sir Edward John Poynter (1836-1919) have been reunited thanks to a dealer, an auction and two Australian Victorian art collectors.

Sales figures or 'bilan' for the first half of this year have been released by some auction firms in France.

Asian buyers have become the dominant force at the top end of the auction market, according to Christie’s.

Cheffins (24.5% buyer’s premium) in Cambridge has enjoyed some fine referrals from Christie’s in recent times.

A quintessential example of avant-garde Art Deco jewellery by a French designer who was renowned for such modernist pieces was the toast of Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) online Jewellery sale in Paris which closed on July 7.

The sale of Michel Périnet’s collection of tribal art at Christie’s in Paris on June 23 real ised a remarkable €66m/£57m (including buyer’s premium) and every one of the 61 lots were sold.

Two Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) drawings created national news last week as Christie’s posted a record for a sketch by the great master in London while a court in Paris is to determine whether another can be legally exported from France.

The overall performance of the latest London sales of Old Master pictures and ‘important’ works of art was fairly mixed but the auction houses did at least welcome the return of some big-ticket items.

This splendid Leeds pearlware horse, c.1810, was one of two offered at Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) on June 8 as part of a sale that combined property from seven titled vendors.

The latest round of Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s represented the highest overall total for a ‘London’ auction series since before the coronavirus pandemic.

Old Master paintings come up for sale throughout the year in France but the summer season traditionally mounts a number of dedicated auctions in the field.

Some of the world’s most famous Old Master paintings have been highly regarded for many centuries, carrying a reputation that has led to them being replicated and copied by other artists – sometimes soon after their creation.

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