Russian Art

The Sale of Russian Art realised £5,275,600 / $8,066,392 / €7,348,911.

Alexis de Tiesenhausen, International Head of Russian Department commented: Christie’s is delighted that Niko Pirosmani’s masterpiece, Arsenal Hill at night, which holds the auction record for the Georgian artist, was bought by Bidzina Ivanishvili. To the best of our knowledge, this painting will return to its home country of Georgia. Strong results were achieved for artists as varied as Zommer, Bogomazov, Maliavin and Shishkin with the painting section overall showing a 16% increase on November 2014’s sold rate by lot.

Following on from our highly successful New York sale two weeks ago, Russian Works of Art performed consistently with strong participation from trade and private clients alike. Part IV of the Important Private European porcelain collection was enthusiastically received, achieving £545,800 against its pre-sale low estimate of £344,600. The top lot of Session II was a Fabergé clock, which spurred competitive bidding, eventually selling for £194,500 (estimate £80,000-120,000).

Today’s sale welcomed bidders from over twenty countries indicating the category’s diverse appeal; we look forward to our 30 November sale of Important Russian Art.