Russian Art Auction in London Has Record Sales
This past week marked the beginning of a number of auctions in London featuring imperial and avant-garde art from Russia. Sotheby’s held the biggest Russian sale of art they have ever had while Christie’s set a new price record for an individual lot.
Christie’s sale had 237 Russian lots up for grabs last Wednesday and the Konstantin Somov painting from 1927 titled ‘The Rainbow’ went for 3.3 million pounds, well over its 600,000 pound estimate. Before that the highest price a Russian painting had gone for was the “Pastorale Russe’ from 1922, also by Somov at 2.7 million pounds at a Christie’s auction in November of 2006.
On Tuesday, there were 550 pieces up for sale at Sotheby’s. The highest lot was the ‘Still Life with Jug and Icon’ by Mikhail Larionov from the early 20th century which was purchased for 2.26 million pounds - twice it’s 1 million pound estimate. The Boris Kustodiev’s work entitled ‘Picnic’ from 1920 went to a Russian collector for 1.25 million pounds after being estimated at 600,000 to 800,000 pounds
Other items up for grabs included a gold and enamel Faberge cigarette case, a bust of Catherine the Great in marble and a Leon Bakst original costume design worn by Natalia Trouhanova.
