Dr Jörn Günther Rare Books sold the 1493 Sforza Wedding Hours, priced around €3m, to a private collector during the VIP preview. The manuscript, lavishly illuminated with Renaissance motifs, was created as a wedding gift for Bianca Maria Sforza on her marriage to the Holy Roman Emperor elect, Maximilian I of Austria-Habsburg.
The dealership was one of 130 exhibitors standing at the annual fair in London’s Regent’s Park on October 3-7.
More outstanding Renaissance pieces were exhibited at the stand of Kunstkammer George Laue, which came to the fair with a trio of 16th century caskets from Nuremburg, one of which sold early on for more than £100,000.
Attributed to a craftsman known as The Master of Perspective, the c.1560-70 piece was made of various woods, mother-of-pearl, bone and ivory.
Canova bust
Other early sales included a plaster bust by Antonio Canova (1757-1822) of Caroline Murat, one of his early patrons, which was offered on the stand of Robilant + Voena for a price in the region of $1m.
The dealership also sold a portrait by Tiepolo, one of a group of fantasy portraits showing young women dressed in exotic costumes, which was offered for around €600,000.
Ivory Christ
Colnaghi sold a 14 x 5 x 5in (35 x 13 x 12cm) late 17th century south German school ivory of Christ at the column to a private buyer for €65,000.
Other early sales included Barbara Hepworth’s River Form, a highlight of Dickinson’s stand and, at Stair Sainty, a study for Franz von Stuck’s Luzifer (1890), the finished version of which is held in a Bulgarian museum.
Meanwhile, New York gallery Van de Weghe sold an $8m Franz Kline.
