European Sculpture & Works of Art

Sotheby’s is the leading auction house for European Sculpture and Works of Art, with annual, dedicated sales in New York, Paris and London. Our international team of specialists is the largest and most experienced in the business, with over 100 years of combined tenure in the field. Our specialized prestige sales showcase Master Sculpture ranging from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, in a variety of materials including bronze, marble, terracotta and wood sculpture as well as works of art such as enamels, amber and hardstone carvings, precious metalwork, and early jewels.

Sotheby’s New York holds our flagship auction of Master Sculpture & Works of Art in late January/early February during MastersWeek. The New York Department has consistently broken records for sculpture, including masterpieces by artists such as Donatello, Tetrode, Riemenschneider and Bernini. Willem van Tetrode’s bronze group of Samson Slaying the Philistine sold for $3,301,000 in 2014 and the marble figure of Autumn by Pietro Bernini and Gian Lorenzo Bernini was sold in January 2021 for $8,800,000.

Sotheby’s Paris holds our annual auctions of Master Sculpture in November and has been involved in some of the most prestigious sales of European Sculpture & Works of Art in recent market history, including the 2019 the collection of the Comtesse de Ribes in which record prices were achieved for two important Florentine, late16^th century bronzes including The Rape of a Sabine by Antonio Susini selling for €4,493,200 to the Château de Versailles.
The same year, we sold An important pair of Stone Putti, made in Augsburg in 1525-1530 by the South German Renaissance sculptor Hans Daucher for €2,352,500. 
In 2021, we achieved € 1,525,000 for a French baroque bronze figure of Neptune, circa 1652 by Michel Anguier.

Sotheby’s London has offered dedicated sales in this field consistently for longer than any other auction house. Our lead auction of Master Sculpture & Works of Art is held annually in July and our major 19th and 20^th century Sculpture sale is held in December. Masterpieces with noble provenances are offered in all of the auctions, including an important rediscovered Bust of Peace, one of Antonio Canova’s Ideal Heads, that sold for £5,303,500 and a fruitwood group of Adam and Eve by the South German 17^th century sculptor Leonard Kern which fetched £918,300, both of which established records for the artists at auction.  The London Sculpture department has further been involved in several important sales of private collections and themed sales, including the 2017 Erotic Sale where the record was obtained for a 19th-century marble at auction – Jacques Loysel’s La Grande Névrose sold for £1,867,750.

Sotheby’s Milan offers single-owner auctions, including European sculpture. Our most recent offering, the sale of the collection of Giovanni Pratesi: The Florentine Eye in 2023, nearly doubled its presale low estimate.

Alongside auctions, we also conduct Private Sales of the best examples of European Sculpture and works of art, offering our clients confidential transactions guaranteeing privacy and exclusivity against the backdrop of Sotheby’s matchless expertise.
Within the last years, our Sculpture team has found a new home for an important portrait bust of Pope Paul V by Gianlorenzo Bernini in the Getty Museum and has sold an important bronze relief of Pierino da Vinci to the Princely collections of Liechtenstein.Furthermore, in 2022, a beautiful 16^th century hardstone cup by the Miseroni workshop from the French Royal collections, as well as an important medieval champlevé enamel of St Peter, circa 1230, from the Limoges Grandmont abbey in 2023, were successfully negotiated with the Musée du Louvre.

Our forthcoming sales will take place in:

• Paris on November 22, 2024 (Master Sculpture)
• New York in early February, 2025 (Master Sculpture)
• London in December (19^th and 20^th century Sculpture) and in July 2025 (Master Sculpture from Four Millennia).

We are now accepting consignments for these auction and remain at your disposal for a confidential valuation.