International

A major name, high quality, freshness to the market and a reasonable estimate are meant to be the all-important keys to success for a picture at auction. At least they used to before the terrorist attacks of September 11.

SALES IN ITALY: The first auctions to take place in Italy this autumn in the midst of these days of gloom have been encouraging. In Rome on October 30, Christie’s (22.5/18.5% buyer’s premium) sold the contents of the residences of a collector, Michele Falzone del Barbarò. All 362 lots sold for around £400,000, far exceeding the auctioneers’ expectations.

EVERY dealer may dream of being in the spotlight but New York antiquities expert Dr. Jerome Eisenberg would have wished things different from the circumstances that put him there.

PACKERS and shippers Air Sea Packing Group have developed a unique facility to help plug the gap for European dealers left without a New York showcase this autumn.

KAARU is a design-led developmental initiative from India which has already achieved much in sustaining the sub-continent’s rich but threatened traditional arts and crafts.

Dublin auctioneer John de Vere White is to sell 25 paintings on behalf of Aer Lingus, the national airline of the Republic of Ireland, on November 20.

To prove the point, Christie’s have held their first ever ‘Transatlantic’ wine auction. Dubbed the International Burgundy Sale, this 973-lot auction of the region’s most prestigious wines was offered in two legs, the first 303 lots in an afternoon session at Zachy’s/Christie’s (10% buyer’s premium) in New York on October 30, the remaining 670 the following evening at Christie’s (10% buyer’s premium) King Street on November 1.

USA: Mixed signals emerged from New York’s crucial November round of Part I Impressionist and Modern sales, the most significant test of the international art market since September 11.

Trade gap in art also mushrooms: Fine art exports from the UK to non-EU countries have increased by 50 per cent in the year ending December 2000. Equivalent imports for the same period also rose by a substantial amount – 26 per cent.

As Sotheby’s ex-boss Alfred Taubman faced a New York jury last week on criminal charges of fixing vendors premiums with Christie’s, there was still no sign of money owed to dealers in the related civil law suit that was settled in April. The reason? Two US appeals.

USA: As expected, US show organiser Sanford Smith has been forced to follow other New York fairs and cancel his two high-profile mid-November shows at the city’s two armory buildings.

Early Qing imperial porcelain has long been the darling of the Hong Kong Chinese auctions so when a Qianlong (1736-95) mark and period dragon vase with a previously unpublished pattern came up at Sotheby’s (20/15/10% buyer’s premium), Hong Kong on October 29, sparks flew and an auction record was set for a piece of Qianlong porcelain.

The German-based Oetke Group are currently in negotiations to sell the Bond Street galleries of Colnaghi, one of the oldest names in the London art trade, to the London and Munich Old Master dealer Konrad Bernheimer.

Christie’s are to make 23 staff redundant in Los Angeles, their second largest saleroom in America. The decision is part of an ongoing, worldwide cost-cutting programme undertaken by the company following the settlement of the $256m lawsuit over commissions and the downturn in the art market this year.

The comprehensive collection of French royal issues formed by Michel Bonhomme was dispersed in Paris at Christian Delorme et Vincent Fraysse (expert: Alain Weil) on October 9-10. The period covered was from Charles V (1364-80) until the fall of the French monarchy in 1792.

The most hotly contested property in Christie’s 335-lot Japanese and Korean sale on October 15 was a selection of Korean art from the Falk collection. Just over half of the reasonably estimated 55 Korean entries hailed from this New York collection, that attracted new American buyers as well as regular European privates and dealers.

FRANCE: There were some prestigious names among the 24 exhibitors at the first Salon International d’Art Asiatique, held at the Hôtel Dassault on the Champs-Elysées from October 5-8.

FRANCE: After a long and frustrating delay, Sotheby’s and Christie’s finally got the official go-ahead late last week to conduct auctions in France. They were among the first four auction houses to receive a licence from the French Conseil des Ventes on October 25 and both houses swiftly announced details of their inaugural sales to be held later this year.

USA: STELLA Management have been forced to cancel New York’s Triple Pier Antiques Show despite moving the venue.

AWAY from New York, the international trade have been preparing to return to serious business in the US at David and Lee Ann Lester’s second annual Texas International Fine Art Fair, running from November 1 to 7.