Displaying items by tag: Bonhams

The renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York purchased a collection of 4,000-year-old Egyptian artifacts found a century ago by a British explorer, averting a plan to auction the antiquities that had drawn criticism from historians.

The Treasure of Harageh collection consists of 37 items such as flasks, vases and jewelry inlaid with lapis lazuli, a rare mineral. Discovered by famed British archaeologist Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie, the relics date to roughly 1900 B.C., excavated from a tomb near the city of Fayum. Portions of the excavated antiquities were given in 1914 to donors in St. Louis who helped underwrite the dig.

A pair of Chinese porcelain vases fetched $1.2 million; a 7-inch-tall celadon vase sold for $2.3 million and a bronze Buddha statue went for $485,000 -- all blowing past their presale estimates many times over.

So went the buying spree during Asia Week in New York this week as Chinese dealers and collectors packed the salesrooms and snapped up pieces of their cultural heritage. Auctions at Sotheby’s, Christie’s, Bonhams and Doyle New York are expected to tally $95 million.

Marking the end of an era at the powerhouse art-fair organization Art Basel, Annette Schönholzer steps down this month to pursue other projects. As show manager of the first, now legendary, Art Basel Miami Beach in 2002, and later co-director with Marc Spiegler of all three Art Basel fairs worldwide, she oversaw the tremendous growth of the art-fair phenomenon and a far-reaching shake-up of power in the art world.

Her departure follows the surprising move in July by a key official of Art Basel, Magnus Renfrew, who served as director of its Hong Kong fair, to Bonhams auction house.  As Schönholzer had also been involved some months back in the establishment of Art Basel’s presence in China, the dual departures are seen complicating that newly minted expansion.

Bonhams auction house could be sold to China’s Poly Culture, which has emerged as one of the frontrunners bidding for the company.

City sources said several heavyweight private equity firms – including Bridgepoint and CVC Capital Partners, one of the biggest shareholders in Formula 1 – have dropped out of the sale process, leaving the China-based firm in pole position.

Poly Culture is China’s largest auction house. It was formerly a subsidiary of the Poly Group, which is controlled by the Chinese government and has business interests ranging from property to arms exports.

Art Basel Asia Director Magnus Renfrew will join Bonhams as deputy chairman Asia and director of Fine Arts in September, he said by telephone today.

“This is a very exciting time to be involved in the Asian art market and building up an Asian collector base,” said Renfrew, 38, who will be responsible for boosting Bonhams’ classical, modern and contemporary Asian art offerings.

Renfrew oversaw Art Basel’s Hong Kong fairs in 2013 and 2014. The company, which runs international art fairs in Basel, Miami and Hong Kong, said it has not appointed his successor in an e-mail response.

An oil painting of Brighton by noted artist John Constable has failed to sell at an auction.

A Sea Beach – Brighton, had been expected to fetch between £400,000 and £600,000 at a Bonhams Old Master Paintings sale in London yesterday(Wed).

However it did not meet its reserve price.

A Bonhams spokesman said the painting's owner, a private collector, would now have to decide whether to take it back or try again at a future sale.

Constable and his family were frequent visitors to Brighton for the sake of his wife, Maria's, health.

A rare 16th-17th century blue-and-white Chinese porcelain “dragon box” and cover has sold for more than 140 times its AU$1000-$2000 presale estimate during the Bonhams Australia June 22 Asian Art sale in Sydney.

The final price of $146,400 (IBP) is an Australian auction record for the category. It could also be a world record, however the high volume of blue-and-white Chinese porcelain sold at auction internationally makes verifying this almost impossible.      

According to Bonhams, the bidding contest came down to two Asian collectors, one in the room and another online. The winning bid was placed by the collector in the room.

Banksy paintings on canvas bought during his 2013 'residency' in New York are to go under the hammer at Bonhams London. Purchased for just $60 apiece they will feature in their next sale of Contemporary Art on July 2nd for a price which reflects their true value.

Estimated at £50,000 – 70,000 and £30,000 - 50,000 Kids on Guns and Winnie the Pooh were both acquired from Banksy's Central Park stall where an unassuming trader sold his paintings to passing tourists.

Film footage shows Banksy's immediately recognizable black and white stenciled canvases stacked on a trestle table or suspended on the stall's makeshift metal framework. One canvas was stenciled with a discount store label announcing the price of each work as $60. The following day the event was documented on the artist's website: "Yesterday I set up a stall in the park selling 100% authentic original signed Banksy canvases. For $60 each."

As summer arrives in London, yellow roses blossom at Bonhams. Bouquet de roses by Paul Gauguin (French, 1848-1903) is the highlight of the Impressionist and Modern Art sale on 23rd June at Bonhams New Bond Street. Previously unknown even to Gauguin scholars, Bouquet de roses is an important, and delightful, discovery that will be offered for sale with estimates of £800,000-£1,200,000.

Paul Gauguin was a post-impressionist artist whose work influenced art giants Picasso and Matisse and is among the most celebrated of the modern masters.

However, Gauguin only began his career as an artist after numerous other professions, including the French Navy, stock broking and tarpaulin sales. Gauguin's artwork only truly gained popularity and renown after his death, and he died in relative anonymity and of modest wealth.

A John Constable oil painting of Brighton which was the subject of a BBC programme will be sold for around half a million pounds by an international art dealer.

A Sea Beach – Brighton, will be sold at Bonhams Old Master Paintings Sale in New Bond Street, London.

A BBC television programme about the painting was shown, which established its authenticity as a Constable painting.