Christie’s auction of Ann and Gordon Getty’s private collection fetched over A$230 million | Source: Christie’s
More than 1,500 pieces of fine and decorative art objects, jewellery and textiles from the Ann and Gordon Getty collection went under the hammer at Christie’s realising over A$230 million.
Running from October 10-25, everything from the couple’s private collection was 100 per cent sold across 10 auctions, six online and four live in New York.
The landmark sale enters the top three collections of both decorative and fine arts ever sold at the British auction house.
Inside the Getty’s Mansion | Source: Christie’s & Architectural Digest
The hugely successful auction was an incredible display of talent with drawings and paintings by Canaletto, Blanche, Monet, Cassatt, Manet, and Matisse alongside masterpieces of English and European furniture by Vile, Chippendale and Grendey.
Led by Volume 1: Important Pictures and Decorative Arts, the first evening sale achieved A$122,394,922 and drew almost two million online viewers and broke four records.
Among the highlights was Mary Cassatt’s Young Lady in a Loge Gazing to Right acquired by the Pola Museum of Art for a record-breaking A$11,542,982.
Claude Monet’s Bateaux dans le port de Honfleur also reached A$5,086,372 and Henri Matisse’s Bouquet, vase chinois realised A$7,860,757.
Volume 2: Old Master, 19th and 20th Century Paintings followed with a total of A$52,206,573 in sales with Volume 3: English and European Furniture, Porcelain and Silver reaching A$20,666,578.
The live sales finished with Volume 4: Chinese Works of Art, English and European Furniture and Decorative Arts totalling A$19,777,258 with the online auctions fetching a further A$15 million plus.
Amongst volume two, Henri Matisse’s Paysage avec cyprès et oliviers aux environs de Nice fetched A$3,421,741 on a low estimate of A$231,198.
Decorative art pieces and furniture also yielded high results. A pair of Chinese cloisonné and champlevé enamel crane-form centres attracted a six-minute bidding frenzy eventually reaching A$2,501,928, more than 20 times the low estimate of A$123,552.
The most expensive piece of furniture sold across the series was a royal early George II mahogany china cabinet earning A$4,169,880. Created by William Vile circa 1761, it’s one of the few works of English royal furniture still in private hands.
Another royal highlight included a pair of George II white-painted and parcel-gilt armchairs designed by John Vardy in the mid-18th century which sold for A$1,595,674.
All of the proceeds from the Christie’s auction will go towards benefitting the couple’s charity, The Ann & Gordon Getty Foundation for the Arts.
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