13 New Art Auction Records Established

The final lot has closed on Christie’s summer edit of Classic Week in London, bringing the combined total for the series of ten live and online art auction sales to $82,299,019. with highlights including:

• Lucas Cranach the Elder’s The Nymph of the Spring
• The one-of-one ‘Ionic Original’ disc of Bob Dylan’s first new studio recording of “Blowin’ In The Wind” since 1962
• An Egyptian limestone group statue for Mehernefer and his son

More from Christie’s:

This marquee sale series attracted bidders from 49 countries, with 67% of all buyers coming from EMEA; 24% of all new registrants were millennials. 13 new auction records were established (9 for the artist; 4 for the medium).

The top lots of the London sales series were Lucas Cranach the Elder’s The Nymph of the Spring, from the collection of Cecil & Hilda Lewis, which achieved a new record for the artist, selling for £9,449,500 / $11,282,703 / €11,055,915 in the Old Masters Evening Sale (estimate: £6,000,000-8,000,000) and an Egyptian Limestone Group Statue for Mehernefer and his Son, dated to the Old Kingdom, mid-late 5th Dynasty, circa 2400-2300 B.C which achieved £6,014,500 / $7,181,313 / €7,036,965 in The Exceptional Sale (estimate on request).

Further highlights included Bob Dylan’s first new studio recording of “Blowin’ in the Wind” since 1962, from a special session with multi-Grammy winning producer T Bone Burnett, on the recently announced groundbreaking ‘Ionic Original’ disc which sold for £1,482,000 / $1,769,508 / €1,733,940, resetting the value of music (estimate: £600,000-1,000,000).

These results build on the exceptional prices already achieved at Christie’s throughout 2022 to date across the equivalent sale categories, highlighted by the record price for the Michelangelo drawing in Paris, the Collection of Hubert de Givenchy, Le Grand Style: An apartment on the Quai d’Orsay designed by Alberto Pinto, among many others.

Art Auction Results – Records Set Include:

World Auction Record for the Artist, Old Masters Evening Sale, July 7

LUCAS CRANACH THE ELDER (KRONACH 1472-1553 WEIMAR)
The Nymph of the Spring
oil on panel
32 1⁄4 x 47 3⁄8 in. (82.1 x 120.5 cm.)
inscribed ‘FONTIS NYMPHA SACRI SOMNVM NE / RVMPE QVIESCO’ (upper left)
Estimate: £6,000,000 – 8,000,000
Sold for: £9,449,500

JACOB VAN RUISDAEL (HAARLEM 1628⁄1629-1682 AMSTERDAM)
A wooded landscape with a man and two dogs on a path, a cottage beyond
oil on panel
20 1⁄2 x 26 3⁄4 in. (52 x 67.8 cm.)
Estimate: £1,000,000 – 1,500,000
Price realised: £3,402,000

JAN JANSZ. DEN UYL I (KAMPEN 1595-1639 AMSTERDAM)
Pewter jug and silver tazza on a table
signed with the artist’s owl device (lower centre, on the table cloth) and dated ‘1633’ (centre left, on the jug)
oil on panel
35 5⁄8 × 28 1⁄4 in. (90.4 x 71.7 cm.)
Estimate: £2,500,000 – 3,500,000
Price realised: £3,162,000

PIETRO BELLOTTI (VENICE 1725-1804/1805 TOULOUSE?)
Venice with the Punta della Dogana, looking East towards the Doge’s Palace; and Venice with the Grand Canal, S. Geremia and the entrance to the Cannaregio
oil on canvas
27 1⁄2 x 35 1⁄4 in. (69.8 x 89.5 cm.)
(2)a pair
Estimate: £150,000 – 250,000
Price realised: £428,400

ANTON RAPHAEL MENGS (AUSSIG 1728-1779 ROME)
Portrait of Friedrich Christian, Prince of Saxony (1722-1763), three-quarter-length, in armour, with an ermine lined mantle and the sash and star of the Order of the White Eagle
oil on canvas, unlined
61 1⁄4 x 43 1⁄4 in. (155.7 x 110.8 cm.)
Estimate: £100,000 – 150,000
Price Realised: £478,800

The Isabel Goldsmith Collection: Selected Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist Art, June 30 – July 14:

HENRY RYLAND (1856-1924)
The guarded flame
signed ‘H.RYLAND’ (lower right)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gum arabic on paper laid on panel 20 1⁄8 x 11 7⁄8 in. (51 x 30.2 cm.)
in a tabernacle frame
Estimate £20,000 – 30,000
Price Realised £63,000

MARTHA DARLEY MUTRIE (1824-1885)
Wild flowers at the corner of a cornfield
signed with initials ‘MDM’ (lower right)
oil on canvas
32 x 25 1⁄4 in. (81.5 x 64.1 cm.)
Estimate £30,000 – 50,000
Price Realised £50,400

British and European Art, June 30 – July 15:

ALBERT THOMAS JARVIS GILBERT (BRITISH, 1876-1927)
Reading in the Shade
signed ‘GILBERT’ (lower right)
oil on canvas
16 1⁄8 x 20 1⁄8 in. (41 x 51 cm.)
Estimate £5,000 – 8,000
Price Realised £18,900

GEORGE R. CHAPMAN (BRITISH, fl. 1863-1874)
The Golden Witch
signed with monogram and dated ‘1867’ (lower right), and further signed and inscribed ‘No. 2 “The Golden Witch”/for 88/ By Geo:R Chapman 50 Green Street/ Grosvenor Square. W.’ (on an artist’s label attached to the reverse)
oil on canvas
28 1⁄8 x 21 1⁄8 in. (72.4 x 53.7 cm.)
Estimate £15,000 – 25,000
Price Realised £30,240

World Auction Record for the Medium by the Artist:

Old Masters Evening Sale, July 7:

REMBRANDT HARMENSZ. VAN RIJN (LEIDEN 1606-1669 AMSTERDAM)
Christ crucified between two Thieves: ‘The Three Crosses’
drypoint, 1653, on laid paper, watermark Strasbourg Bend (Hinterding D.a.b.), a very fine impression of this highly important subject, the very rare third state (of five), printing with rich burr and a warm, selectively wiped plate-tone, with thread margins on all sides
Plate 386 x 450 mm.
Sheet 388 x 453 mm.
Estimate £800,000 – 1,200,000
Price Realized £1,482,000
Second-highest Price at Auction for a Print by the Artist
Second-highest Price for any Old Master Print Sold at Auction

The Isabel Goldsmith Collection: Selected Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolist Art, June 30 – July 14

JOHN BANTING (1902-1972)
Figure with Heart
signed with initials and dated ‘JB/1930’ (lower left)
oil on canvas
17 x 21 in. (43.2 x 53.3 cm.)
Painted in 1930
Estimate £8,000 – 12,000
Price Realised £27,720
World Auction Record for a Painting by the Artist

FERNAND KHNOPFF (BELGIAN, 1858-1921)
La Médusa endormie
Estimate £200,000 – 300,000
Price Realised £352,800
World Auction Record for a Work on Paper by the Artist
Valuable Books and Manuscripts, 13 July

CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN (1809-1882) AND ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE (1823-1913)
‘On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties.’ In: Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Vol. III, No. 9. London: 1858.
Estimate: £15,000 – 20,000
Price realised: £315,000
A World Auction Record for Darwin and Wallace’s ‘On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties’

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