Christie's

Archaic Chinese bronzes were the stand out lots in Asian Art Week in New York this month.

In Praise of America was a very mixed sale of furniture, silver, folk art, prints, broadsides and more held in New York.

The work of Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) will feature prominently in the dedicated sale of Old Master and 19th century drawings at Christie’s Paris.

Sir Winston Churchill’s towering presence in the art market was on full display last week as his auction record was broken four-and-a-half times over.

Auction houses are getting back to normal for this latest staging of the New York Asian art spotlight, although new import taxes are having an effect.

MADAM – I am intrigued by the ongoing debate surrounding Christie’s interpretation of the current Covid-19 restrictions in relation to the viewing of auction lots – in particular the Apter- Fredericks sale of January 26 (front page, ATG No 2481).

Christie’s has explained its policy of holding trade-only viewings of its sales, saying they comprise ‘business meetings’ rather than public viewings.

On March 30 Christie’s France is offering a selection of around 70 Modern and Post-war works from an unnamed Parisian collector that have been assembled over four decades.

On March 23 Christie’s France, in association with booksellers Jacques Quentin (Geneva) and Benoît Forgeot (Paris), will offer the first part of the poetic library of Jean Paul Barbier-Mueller.

Sold for €160,000 (£144,145) was a letter sent by Félix Régamy to his brother Frédéric including a drawing of Arthur Rimbaud and Paul Verlaine in England.

During its New York Americana week Christie’s (25/20/14.5% buyer’s premium) held an online-only auction devoted to Chinese export art from January 7-20.

The market for antique furniture received a welcome boost last week with Christie’s sale titled Apter-Fredericks 75 Years of Important English Furniture.

MADAM – I was most dismayed to read that Christie’s is withdrawing the archival service that has been available for so many decades (News Digest, ATG No 2474).