Highest Total in History Achieved by Sotheby’s in France This Season

Sotheby’s Contemporary Art sale achieved €45,5M in Paris, up 43% on the same series in June 2017. This is the highest total for a contemporary art sale in France. The sale was led by Kazuo Shiraga’s monumental work Takao, sold for €8,7M, five times its estimate, achieving a world auction record for the artist.

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Sotheby’s Asian Art sale in Paris achieved nearly €30M, triple June 2017’s result: the highest total ever for an Asian art sale in France. The sale got off to an explosive start with the auction record achieved in France by the extraordinary recently-discovered treasure of Imperial China sold for €16,2M: a unique 18^th century “Yangcai” Famille-Rose porcelain vase from the Qianlong period . This is an auction record for a Chinese porcelain in France and the highest price in the history of Sotheby’s France.

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The second session of our Asian Art sale was a collection of 28 Chinese paintings, calligraphies and rubbings. Originally part of a large and important collection of Chinese art that was formed in China in the early decades of the 20th century, these works were only recently rediscovered. With 100 % of lots sold, the collection totalled €10.6 million – an auction record for a collection of Chinese paintings in Europe. The most sought-after consisted of "regulated" poems by Empress Yang, assembled by Qian Fu, with 34 collectors' stamps. Estimated at between €10,000 and €15,000, they inspired a battle all the way up to €2,465,450.

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Totalling €11,6M, Sotheby’s Paris achieved the highest-ever total in Europe for a various owner Design sale . This was also a record for a sale in this category for Sotheby’s France. Works from the Art Deco period were highly popular with a great price for a screen by Jean Dunan, as well as designers from the 1950s such as Charlotte Perriand, Serge Mouille and Jean Prouvé. The results for pieces by Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne were evidence of buyers’ unfailing interest in these artists. The unique drawing table that Karl Lagerfeld commissioned François-Xavier Lalanne to make in 1964 fetched the highest price in the sale: €753,000.

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Sotheby’s Modern Art and Works on Paper week in Paris totalled €18.3M, representing a 75% increase over our same sales in March 2017.
The collection of Isabelle and Christian Adrien which brought together the great drawing masters from the 15th to 18th centuries was a great success with 11 new world auction records for an artist and for a drawing by an artist. The international market again demonstrated its incredible interest in works by Marc Chagall and the results paid tribute to the great names of 20^th century art such as Fernand Léger’s brilliant 1930 composition La Carte postale sold for €1,749,000 and Kees Van Dongen’s Les Amies sold for €1,449,000.

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With a total of nearly €6 million, the African and Oceanic Art sale achieved several world auction records and some strong prices for major works. With €2.6 million, the Fang reliquary head, from the former Paul Guillaume collection, joined the top three highest prices ever fetched for Fang heads, all sold recently at Sotheby’s.

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The sale of Old Master and 19th Century Paintings, Sculptures and Drawings at Sotheby’s in Paris achieved a total of €5.6 million, with strong prices for high quality works in excellent condition from prestigious private collections. The high points of the day were a world auction record for Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, which sold for €657,000; the success obtained by the Jean-Louis Burtin collection of 19th century Lorraine masters which tripled its high estimate with a total of €1.3M; and some strong prices for Renaissance bronzes.

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This eclectic sale brought together works from very different fields. Buyers were responsive to this original selection, as witnessed by the high proportion of lots sold: 80%, a record rate for the second time running in France's book market. With a total of €1.9 million, this sale of books and manuscripts was a resounding success, rewarding a bold approach by Sotheby’s France. Sotheby’s was delighted to sell books and manuscripts from Marcel Proust's library, subsequently enlarged by his niece Suzy Mante-Proust. The highest price went to one of the most important lots in the sale: a very early draft of one of the finest passages from Côté de chez Swann , describing the hero's walk along the Vivonne, sold for €132,500.

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We thank you all for your support and look forward to see you next season with new extraordinary collections to come. In what is set to be one of the most hotly-anticipated highlights of the 2018 auction calendar, Sotheby’s and Pierre Bergé & Associés will later this year offer for sale the extraordinary contents of the various homes of one of the most successful and cultured businessmen and aesthetes of our times.

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We are now working on our upcoming sales and are accepting consignments for all of them.

Feel free to contact us for a complimentary and confidential valuation or to arrange a meeting:

African & Oceanic Art : Alexis.Maggiar@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5267
Asian Art : Caroline.Schulten@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5242
Books & Manuscripts : Anne.Heilbronn@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5318
Contemporary Art : Guillaume.Mallecot@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5271
Continental Furniture : Brice.Foisil@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5301
Design : Florent.Jeanniard@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5269
Impressionist & Modern Art : Aurelie.Vandovvorde@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5356
Jewels and Watches : Caroline.LeLoarer@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5231
Old Master Paintings and Drawings : Baukje.Coenen@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5326
19^th Century Paintings and Drawings : Pascale.Pavageau@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5310
Photographs : Jonas.Tebib@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5226
Sculptures & Works of Art : Ulrike.Goetz@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5364
Silver : Thierry.de.Lachaise@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5320
Any other objects: Caroline.Bessiere@sothebys.com +33 1 5305 5284

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