Sotheby’s reaches $5.2 Billion. Fastest Growing Art Auctioneer in 2013
Sotheby’s record growth, record results. Sotheby’s reaches $5.2 Billion. Fastest Growing Art Auctioneer in 2013. Auction Sales Grow 19% to Reach $5.2 Billion.
Sotheby’s catalogue on the table. Photo attribution Tyom
“2013 has been a remarkable year for the auction market and for Sotheby’s,” commented Bill Ruprecht, Sotheby’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “With auction sales that grew 19%, our performance over the past year has reinforced Sotheby’s leadership position in key areas of the market, with sales of Asian Art, Jewelry and Impressionist & Modern Art, among others, outpacing the market by significant margins. We set new benchmarks in every conceivable category: the highest price ever achieved for a diamond or jewel, for a carpet and an Islamic work of art, for a printed book, for Chinese sculpture, for the work of a living Chinese artist, and for myriad individual artists including Andy Warhol, Norman Rockwell, Zao Wou-ki, El Greco and Georges Braque, to name a few.”
Mr. Ruprecht continued: “These results illustrate the expertise of Sotheby’s – we source the world’s greatest treasures, price them well, and understand the marketplace, delivering the greatest value to our clients. That is how we define success.”
2013 HIGH POINTS:
Sotheby’s Sales of Asian Art Grew 50%. Celebrating 40 Years in Asia.
Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID) five-day autumn sale series in Hong Kong realized HK$4.196 billion / US$538 million, marking the highest-ever total for a sale series by a global arts business in Asia.
· Sotheby’s held its second auction in Beijing on 1 December, which included an auction record price of RMB89,680,000 / US$14,718,771 for Chinese modern master Zao Wou-Ki’s Abstraction from 1958. The sale brought RMB227,133,480 / US$37,278,386, the highest total ever achieved by a global arts business in Mainland China.
Sotheby’s Asia Week sales in New York this September totaled $74,077,814, led by an auction of Fine Classical Chinese Paintings & Calligraphy that achieved $31,319,375.
Sotheby’s Sales of Impressionist & Modern Art Grew 21%.
The November auctions in New York concluded with an outstanding total of $347,686,875, the second-highest series total in this category in the Company’s history.
Alberto Giacometti’s Grande tête mince (Grande tête de Diego) achieved $50,005,000, making it the top selling work in this category achieved anywhere in 2013.
The November Evening Sale’s sell-through rate of 81.2% by lot marked the 4th consecutive Evening Sale of Impressionist & Modern Art at Sotheby’s worldwide with a sell-through rate over 80%.
Pablo Picasso’s Femme Assise pres d’une Fenetre became the highest price for any work of art sold at auction in Europe this year when it achieved £28,601,250 / $45,001,207 in London in February.
Amedeo Modigliani’s Portrait de Roger Dutilleul became the top selling painting sold in France this year when it achieved €6,481,500 / $8,814,127 earlier this month.
Sotheby’s Sales of Jewelry Grew by 32%.
Sotheby’s Geneva auction of Magnificent Jewels brought the highest-ever total for any jewelry sale in auction history, with CHF183,054,500 / US$199,512,930.
Led by the Pink Star – renamed The Pink Dream after the sale by its buyer – which set a new world auction record for any diamond or any jewel at a remarkable CHF76,325,000 / US$83,187,381.
In the Hong Kong auction of Magnificent Jewels this October, Sotheby’s set a new auction record for any white diamond with a 118.28 Carat Oval D-colour Flawless Diamond – the largest perfect white diamond ever auctioned – that achieved HK$238,680,000 / US$30,782,560.
Sotheby’s Sales of Contemporary Art Included:
The Largest Single Auction in Company History.
In November, Sotheby’s Evening Auction of Contemporary Art brought $380,642,000, the highest total of any sale in the Company’s history.
Led by Andy Warhol’s Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster), which achieved $105,445,000 – a new world auction record for Warhol, and the 2nd highest price ever paid at auction for a work of Contemporary art.
Sotheby’s sales of Contemporary Art grew 6% in 2013.
NOTABLE RECORDS & SALES:
Sotheby’s spring sale in Doha achieved $15,199,750, establishing the highest total for an auction of Contemporary Art in the Middle East region, and setting a new record for a living Arab artist.
In June, Sotheby’s held a ‘white glove’ auction – 100% sold – of Important Carpets from the William A. Clark Collection Sold by the Corcoran Gallery of Art to Benefit Future Acquisitions, featuring the 17th century Clark Sickle-Leaf Carpet that sold for $33,765,000 and set a new auction record for any carpet and any Islamic work of art.
In London this July, Sotheby’s achieved the highest price for any Old Master painting sold at auction this year: £9,154,500 / $13,876,391 for El Greco’s Saint Dominic in Prayer.
In November, Sotheby’s and RM Auctions held an incredible exhibition and sale of The Art of the Automobile that totaled $62,797,500, led by a 1964 Ferrari 250 LM – a historic and original example of this very rare sports racing Ferrari – that brought $14,300,000, a new auction record for the model.
A selection of seven paintings by Norman Rockwell from the family of Kenneth J. Stuart, Sr. – the artist’s longtime friend and art editor at The Saturday Evening Post – included his masterpiece Saying Grace, which set a new record for any work sold in an American Art auction and nearly tripled the previous auction record for the artist when it sold for $46,085,000 in December.
One of 11 surviving copies of the Bay Psalm Book – the first book ever printed in what is now the United States of America – achieved a new auction record for any printed book when it sold for $14,165,000 at Sotheby’s New York in November.
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