Auction Results

$1 Billion of Art and Objects Changed Hands in a Thrilling Week of Sales that Included the Personal Jewels of Marie Antoinette

By Sotheby's

I n a week that saw tremendous interest in Marie Antoinette’s jewels and the collections of Nelson Rockefeller and David Teiger, as well as marquee auctions of Impressionist & Modern Art, Contemporary Art and Magnificent and Noble Jewels, $1 billion of art and objects sold at Sotheby’s. Records fell in New York for artists including René Magritte, Jacob Lawrence, Oskar Kokoschka and Ludwig Meidner, while in Geneva, jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family were 100% sold, led by a natural pearl and diamond pendant from the personal collection of Queen Marie Antoinette which sold for a record $36.2 million. Below relive some of the week’s most thrilling moments.
 

Royal Jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family Total $53.1 Million

Jewelry and watch auctions in Geneva achieved their highest ever overall total for an auction series realizing $125.1 million on the strength of a historic sale of royal jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family. All 100 lots offered found buyers including Queen Marie Antoinette’s pearl and diamond pendant which soared past its presale estimate, tripling the previous auction record for a natural pearl and achieving a remarkable $36.2 million. The sale series also saw the most valuable wristwatch to ever sell at Sotheby’s, Patek Philippe's “The Asprey,” which realized $3.9 million.

Watch the Bidding battle for Marie Antoinette's pearl and diamond pendant

Top 10 Lots from Royal Jewels from the Bourbon Parma Family

Contemporary Art Including the Collection of David Teiger Totals $462.4 Million

Enthusiasm for great private collections continued to drive fantastic results as the entire eleven-lot Collection of David Teiger that opened the Contemporary Art Evening auction sold, contributing $48.5 million to the night’s total of $362 million. Gerhard Richter’s monumental Abstraktes Bild fetched $33.6 million and new artist records were achieved for Jacob Lawrence, Jack Whitten and Henry Taylor.

Witness a collaborative painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol go under the hammer

Top 10 Lots from the Collection of David Teiger and Contemporary Art

Impressionist & Modern Art Sales Total $365.4 Million

René Magritte’s Le Principe du Plaisir achieved a new record for the Belgian surrealist, realizing $26.8 million of the evening’s $315.5 million total. Two remarkable restitution stories highlighted the evening with masterworks by Egon Schiele, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Oskar Kokoschka all bringing strong prices. Ludwig Meidner’s Apokalyptische Landschaft (Apocalyptic Landscape), one of the cornerstones of a group of works titledThe Beautiful and Damned: Radical Art of the Great War, shattered the artist’s previous auction record, selling for $14.1 million.

Watch below to see the bidding battle for Magritte's Le Principe du plaisir

Top 10 Lots from Impressionist & Modern Art

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