Old Masters sales holding firm in the downturn

Old Masters provided some solace for the London auction rooms last week, posting the solid totals and some eye-catching prices to suggest this most established of markets will ride the downturn better than its modern counterparts.

It was not plain sailing. Supply was notably patchy and the tighter credit controls at Christie's did little to ease any apprehension. But, in the first major test for Old Masters since the credit crunch took full hold, Sotheby's were able to post a total comfortably within the pre-sale estimate and Christie's an impressive selling rate of 80 per cent.

London dealer Jean-Luc Baroni speculated that the traditional buying base for Old Master pictures - a collector rather than an investmentdriven market - is key. "[We] don't rely on the new economic wealth that has gone into the contemporary market," he told ATG. "Old Masters seem to be safer."

Mr Baroni purchased the most strongly contested lot at Christie's on December 2. This was a rediscovered Giambattista Tiepolo portrait of a lady as the goddess Flora which, having been hidden in an attic of a family château, was in exceptional condition.

Two bidders on the telephone carried it above its £700,000-900,000 estimate, before Mr Baroni and another interested party in the room took it up to a final £2.5m.

Finding buyers for 35 out of 44 lots - including a £3.4m Canaletto of the Grand Canal - Christie's hammer total was £12.6m against a presale estimate of £15.6m-23.8m.

Over at Sotheby's, Alex Bell said he had not felt the need to follow other department heads and ask that vendors lower reserves set back in the summer. Although quality levels was as variable as ever, Sotheby's found buyers for 32 of the 53 lots offered on the evening of December 3, posting a hammer total of £11.4m against a £9.5m-13.5m global estimate.

The most striking price of the auctionseries was at Sotheby's for a Renaissance oil-on-marble portrait of the Florentine banker Bindo Altoviti by Girolamo da Carpi. Despite its fragmentary condition, it sold on the telephone to an American collector, underbid by London dealer Daniel Katz at £2.7m, ten times its pre-sale estimate.

Sotheby's top lot was Frans van Mieris the Elder's panel of a girl feeding a parrot - the prime 1663 version of perhaps the artist's most famous composition. Against an estimate of £500,000-700,000, it sold to London dealer Johnny Van Haeften, bidding on behalf of an American client, at £3.2m.

A full report on these and other Old Master sales will appear in next week's ATG printed newspaper. To subscribe click here.

By Alex Capon

Melplash 大楼拍卖净价超300万英镑
Dorchest的拍卖行Duke's所举办的Melplash 大厅（位于Bridport附近）物品售卖已成为总销售额最高的地方拍卖之一，而这得要归功于中国市场的惊人购买力。
该大型售卖与9月22-24号在当地举行，到第三亦即最后一天过半时，Duke's的总售额已经超过了300万英镑（加上19.5%的佣金）。毋庸置疑，令这一拍卖活动与众不同的就是由加拿大人Timothy Lewis（1937-2004）及其夫人Fran所收藏的大量亚洲艺术品，Lewis夫妇在1984年买下了风景秀丽的Dorset宅邸。
在进行典型乡村住宅动产拍卖的两天之间，9月23日周四，出现了一个标题为"东方回溯"的独立硬皮目录册。这一包含426项拍品的目录囊括了玉石、木雕、陶器和工艺品，反映出了Lewis与远东地区的联系：Tim Lewis为东南亚提供飞机引擎和直升机，并在该地区做过多宗买卖。
果不其然，一大批坚决的中国电话竞标者占了多数，其中一人几乎出价一百万英镑为购买全部拍品预订了一个电话专线，另外还有一打中国代理人正置身房中。
他们缓慢而持续地推动价格高过预期。紧张的拍卖直到晚上7点才结束（94项拍品在前三个小时内被卖出）而收入达到了250万英镑。
封面拍品，一个中国乾隆时期的罗汉坐狮的硬木雕，卖价为32万英镑（估价在5到30万英镑之间），但是对玉雕也有多种估价，其中包括被认为是元朝或明初的一只蹲着的佛狮，以超过估价2000-4000英镑卖到了18万英镑。
这也是Duke's第一次通过www.the-saleroom.com进行实时在线竞价，其主管兼拍卖商Guy Schwinge对这些 "极好"的结果表示满意，其中包括一对雍正或乾隆早期的青花烛台，它以8万6千英镑成交（估价5千到1万英镑）。
周三进行的热身性质的玻璃、陶器、时钟、俄国圣像、银器及其他一般动产售卖达到了35万英镑，而最后一天的现代、映像派与早期大师的绘画作品，和家具及外围物品售卖在ATG（《英国古董报》）付梓时仍在进行中。
Lewis家族获得的一幅由佛兰芒巴洛克派画家Abel Grimmer（c.1570-c.1619）创作的描绘婚礼的板面油画，卖到了7万5千英镑。
虽然区域拍卖商举办的最大售卖记录由Woolley & Wallis牢牢把持（该拍卖商宣称其五月里举行的为期两天的亚洲艺术拍卖销售额略少于740万英镑），Melplash大厅可被证明是现场售卖总价最高的地区拍卖厅。

• estimate [´estimət, ´estimeit] n.估计；评价 vt.估价 (初中英语单词)
• dealer [´di:lə] n.商人 (初中英语单词)
• investment [in´vestmənt] n.投资；(时间等)投入 (初中英语单词)
• driven [´driv(ə)n] drive 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• wealth [welθ] n.财富，财产 (初中英语单词)
• strongly [´strɔŋli] ad.强烈地；强有力地 (初中英语单词)
• goddess [´gɔdis] n.女神 (初中英语单词)
• hidden [´hid(ə)n] hide 的过去分词 (初中英语单词)
• hammer [´hæmə] n.锤子 v.重击 (初中英语单词)
• striking [´straikiŋ] a.显著的，明显的 (初中英语单词)
• series [´siəri:z] n.连续；系列；丛书 (初中英语单词)
• banker [´bæŋkə] n.银行家 (初中英语单词)
• despite [di´spait] prep.尽管 (初中英语单词)
• apprehension [,æpri´henʃən] n.理解；忧虑；逮捕 (高中英语单词)
• comfortably [´kʌmfətəbli] ad.舒适地 (高中英语单词)
• impressive [im´presiv] a.给人深刻印象的 (高中英语单词)
• contemporary [kən´tempərəri] a.&n.同时代的(人) (高中英语单词)
• portrait [´pɔ:trit] n.肖像；相片；雕像 (高中英语单词)
• composition [,kɔmpə´ziʃən] n.写作；作曲；作品 (高中英语单词)
• behalf [bi´hɑ:f] n.利益 (高中英语单词)
• client [´klaiənt] n.委托人；顾客 (高中英语单词)
• auction [´ɔ:kʃən] n.&vt.拍卖 (英语四级单词)
• traditional [trə´diʃənəl] a.传统的，习惯的 (英语四级单词)
• collector [kə´lektə] n.收款(税)员；收藏家 (英语四级单词)
• exceptional [ik´sepʃənəl] a.异常的，特别的 (英语四级单词)
• renaissance [rə´neisəns] n.复兴；复活；新生 (英语四级单词)
• parrot [´pærət] n.鹦鹉；应声虫 (英语四级单词)
• version [´və:ʃən, ´və:rʒən] n.翻译；说明；译本 (英语四级单词)
• subscribe [səb´skraib] vi.捐助；预订；签名 (英语四级单词)
• holding [´həuldiŋ] n.保持，固定，存储 (英语六级单词)
• solace [´sɔləs] n.&vt.安慰(物)；缓和 (英语六级单词)
• notably [´nəutəbli] ad.显著地；著名地 (英语六级单词)
• variable [´veəriəbəl] a.易变的 n.可变量 (英语六级单词)