Auction record prices for works by Sanyu and Yoshitomo Nara highlighted our autumn sale series in Hong Kong, which totaled HK$3.35 billion / US$426 million – our 6th-consecutive Hong Kong series to exceed $400 million. Four bidders competed for Nu, Chinese émigré artist Sanyu’s final masterpiece and one of his largest nude paintings, driving it to a then-record-shattering price of HK$198 million / US$25.2 million. The next night, bidders competed for 10 minutes for Nara’s Knife Behind Back, driving the final price to HK$196 million / US$24.9 million – nearly five times the artist’s previous auction record, set earlier that same day. In addition, top prices for Chinese Works of Art were highlighted by A Highly Important Beijing-Enamelled Pouch-Shaped Glass Vase, Blue Enamel Mark and Period of Qianlong that achieved HK$207.1 million / US$26.4 million, making it the highest-value lot of the year at Sotheby’s Asia.

A dedicated evening sale of luminous canvases from the renowned Najd Collection in London saw 36 Orientalist paintings sold for £33.5 million / $43.3 million – a record for an auction in the category. The sale was led by ‘Renaissance man’ Osman Hamdi Bey – the first Turkish artist to embrace fully the European academic style of painting – whose Koranic Instruction, fetched £4.6 million / $6 million.

Sotheby’s sale of Modern and Contemporary African Art totaled £4 million / $5.1 million in London, the highest ever total achieved for a sale in the category. The auction was led by a rediscovered early portrait by Nigerian master Ben Enwonwu which soared to £1.1 million / $1.4 million after a 13-minute bidding battle – seven times the pre-sale estimate. Titled Christine, the supremely important work was rediscovered after a chance googling of the artist led the owner to Sotheby’s online estimate platform.

NOVEMBER
Asian private collectors acquired top works by American titans of Abstract Expressionism in our Contemporary Art Evening Auction in New York, including paintings by Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko and Clyfford Still. Executed at a critical moment in the artist’s career, de Kooning’s large-scale Untitled XXII achieved $30.1 million. The work represents the apex of the artist’s mature output.

Sotheby’s announced the winners of the third-annual Sotheby’s Prize, which celebrates curatorial excellence and champions the work of innovative institutions who strive to break new ground by exploring overlooked or under-represented areas of art history. The jury decided that the $250,000 award should be shared between two innovative exhibition projects in Brazil: The ground-breaking project entitled OPY sees three different institutions, PINACOTECA, CASA DO POVO AND KALIPETY, a state museum, a cultural centre and a house of prayer, join forces to explore the place of the indigenous in Brazilian culture (July 2020); and an exhibition at MASP - MUSEU DE ARTE DE SÃO PAULO will present the art and visual culture of different indigenous histories from across the world, bringing together works of different mediums, origins and periods, from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century (October 2021).

DECEMBER
Our Design Week auctions in New York totalled a record $32.3 million, highlighted by a dedicated auction of European design from the collection of celebrated fashion designer Marc Jacobs. The sale was led by an outstanding ensemble of works by François-Xavier Lalanne, including a pair of patinated bronze monkeys, Singe I and Singe II from 1999, which sold for $860,000 and $920,000, respectively.

The two-day sale of works from the collection of the Comte and Comtesse de Ribes totalled €22.8 million / $25.3 million at Sotheby’s Paris. The first part, dedicated to the “treasures” of the collection, was 100% sold, set five world records, and saw three pre-emptions by the Musées de France. A second part dedicated to books and manuscripts collected by the Counts de Ribes achieved €4.4 million / $4.9 million and included two additional pre-emptions.

Sotheby’s inaugural auction dedicated to Aboriginal art in New York achieved $2.8 million; the sale surpassed its high estimate with 88% of all lots sold and established eight new world auction records. The first Aboriginal Art auction to be held outside of Australia or Europe by an international auction house, the sale featured modern and contemporary indigenous Australian art dating from the 1950s until the present created by artists from the world’s oldest continuous culture.

A new world auction record for any sports memorabilia and a new world auction record for any post-Renaissance manuscript was set at Sotheby’s New York when The Original Olympic Games Manifesto sold for $8.8 million, nearly nine times the manuscript’s high estimate of $1 million. Written in 1892 by French aristocrat, educator and athletics advocate Pierre de Coubertin, the manifesto outlines his vision for reviving the ancient Olympic Games as a modern, international athletic competition.