5 Fascinating Auction Sales from Around the World
Sonam Gyaltsen, Central Tibetan Gilt Copper-Alloy Figure (circa 1430) Sold at Bonhams New York (March 19) This sculpture of the all-seeing lord with 1,000 hands and 11 faces commanded $1,212,500, reflecting its exquisite gilding, engraving, and turquoise inlays. Because the work is inscribed with an artist’s name, Sonam Gyaltsen, experts may be able to use it to identify several strikingly similar but unattributed works in major museum collections.
Photo: Courtesy of BonhamsMark Bradford, Helter Skelter I (2007) Sold at Phillips London (March 8) Mixing such media as paper salvaged from Los Angeles streets, string, and shellac, this example of Bradford’s layered Abstract Expressionism fetched £8,671,500 ($11,977,943), shattering the record for his work—£3,833,750 ($5,298,243)—set two nights earlier at Christie’s. He represented the U.S. at the 2017 Venice Biennale, and his installation at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C., is on view through November 12.
Photo: Courtesy of PhillipsAlfred Sisley, La Seine à Bougival (1877) Sold at Christie’s Paris (March 23) Fetching €703,500 ($868,049), this oil by the French Impressionist was the most expensive painting in the sale. It was looted by the Nazis from the collection of jeweler Alfred Lindon and among the few works his son managed to reclaim after World War II.
Photo: Courtesy of Christie’s Images LimitedJohn Bartlam Porcelain Teapot (circa 1760s) Sold at Woolley & Wallis, Salisbury, England (February 20) Originally acquired for £15 at a regional auction, this vessel turned out to be one of seven known surviving examples by the first American porcelain manufacturer. Signs of repair and a missing lid did not matter to New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which bought it for £575,000 ($802,470), outbidding a private American collector.
Photo: Courtesy of Woolley & Wallis Salisbury Salerooms Ltd18K-Gold Patek Philippe Wristwatch (1944) Sold at Christie’s Dubai (March 23) One of King Farouk of Egypt’s notorious indulgences—he was prone to European shopping sprees—this chronographic timepiece with moon phases, perpetual calendar, and Arabic and dot numerals went for $912,500 in a lot that included a singular digital drawing of the piece on aluminum. Farouk ruled his country from 1936 until 1952, when Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew him.
Photo: Courtesy of Christie’s Images Limited