The Exceptional Sale

Christie’s is pleased to announce that the New York Exceptional Sale realized $40,897,000/£26,174,080/€33,126,570. The Exceptional Sale drew a wide breadth of clients and achieved notably strong results, mirroring its success in the United Kingdom. Robert Copley, International Head of the Exceptional Sale, continued: “We pioneered the concept of the Exceptional Sale, and since 2008 we have developed it into its present form, so I am personally delighted that our inaugural New York sale has been so well received.” Christie’s 2014 Exceptional Sales, one in New York and one in London, achieved a combined total of $93,989,935.

The sale achieved six world auction records, including:

-A Bronze Bacchic Figure Supporting The Globe by Adriaen de Vries, 1626 | $27,885,000 – World Auction Record for the Artist | World Auction Record for Any Early European Sculpture

-An Important And Rare Imperial Double-Dragon Carpet, Wanli Period (1573-1619) | $665,000 – World Auction Record for a Chinese Carpet

-A Marble Group Of Venus And Cupid Kissing by Joseph-Charles Marin (1759-1834), Executed In Rome, Circa 1808-10 | $485,000 – World Auction Record for the Artist

-The Rothschild Torah Ark: A Magnificent German Silver And Silver-Gilt Torah Ark, Johann Christoph Müller, Breslau, 1746-1758  | $1,565,000 – World Auction Record for a Judaic Object

-A Patinated-Bronze Figure Of The Genius Of Liberty By Augustin-Alexandre Dumont, Cast By Soyer Et Ingé, Paris, Dated 1835 | $425,000 – World Auction Record for the Artist

-A Bronze Model Of Juno by Michel Anguier, After A Model Of 1652, Late 17th Century | $221,000 – World Auction Record for the Artist

Becky MacGuire, Senior Decorative Arts Specialist and the co-head of the Exceptional Sale, remarked: Christie's global Clients were captivated by this New York iteration of The Exceptional Sale with its new world mix of period decorative arts and modern cultural icons. We're particularly delighted that the superb furniture from the Met, the crown jewel of American museums, performed so well. 

The Exceptional Sale was led by a Bronze Bacchic Figure Supporting The Globe, by Adriaen de Vries from 1626, which sold to the Rijksmuseum for $27,885,000/£17,846,400/€22,586,850, setting a world auction record for the artist. Please click here for the dedicated media alert.

Donald Johnston, Christie’s Head of European Sculpture, commented: The sale of Adriaen de Vries’s Bacchic Figure Supporting the Globe sets a new world record for any piece of early European Sculpture. This rediscovered bronze caught the imagination of a wide range of scholars, dealers and private collectors around the world, and we could not be more pleased that this masterpiece has ultimately found its way to the Rijksmuseum.  We now look forward to building on the success of the de Vries with our upcoming sale of the Abbott Guggenheim collection of European sculpture and early clocks to be held by Christie’s New York on 27 January, and our stand alone sculpture sale in Paris on 16 June.