Hammer Prices and Museum Acquisitions
Per Kirkeby: "Wolf", approximately 1964. Signed. Synthetic paint on masonite. 122 x 124 cm. Hammer price: DKK 880,000.
Helge Vestergaard Jensen: Very rare, sculptural easy chair with teak frame and nylon seat and back. Hammer price: DKK 280,000.
L.A. Ring: Mrs Sigrid Ring standing at a stone balustrade, 1912. Oil on canvas. 32 x 27 cm. Hammer price: DKK 330,000.
Sven Palmqvist: "Rut". Clear glass vase made in the "Ravenna" technique. Made at Orrefors. Bought by Designmuseum Danmark for a hammer price of DKK 9,500.
At Bruun Rasmussen, the autumn was greeted with a traditional auction in Copenhagen, where we presented more than 1,300 lots with art, design, antiques, jewellery and wristwatches. Below, you can find some of the highlights from the auction.
Kirkeby’s Wolf and Trampedach's Sculpture
We honoured the works of painter Per Kirkeby with a selection of both his later and earlier paintings. The auction's highest hammer price was also achieved by one of these early works. The painting is entitled "Wolf" and was created in the 1960s, where the artist, with a nod to American pop art, integrated a cartoonish wool material in the work. The estimated price was more than doubled as the hammer price landed on DKK 880,000. Kurt Trampedach's "Child with Palette" sculpture from the early 1990s surprised as well with a final price of DKK 240,000 against a valuation of DKK 70,000-100,000.
World Record on Rare Design Icon
It was Stockholm versus Tokyo along with the rest of the world when the last day of the auction focused in on Danish design. Here, the ultimate ‘overachiever’ was a very rare easy chair by Helge Vestergaard Jensen that was sold for a world record of DKK 280,000, which was four times the estimated value of DKK 60,000-75,000. One of the evening's other great surprises was a sculptural hanger by Peder Moos, which was estimated at DKK 30,000-40,000 but was sold to an international buyer for a price of DKK 85,000. Many of Finn Juhl's classic designs also achieved great prices, and we are left with a view of a market that is far from saturated when it comes to Danish design.
Ring’s Women and a Diamond Panther
Among the fine art, the works of painter L.A. Ring were among the highlights. The beautiful painting "A Harvest Girl" from 1889 could be described as a companion piece to the National Gallery of Denmark’s "Harvest" painting from 1885 by the same artist. In the offered work, the man and the scythe from “Harvest” have been replaced with an emphasis on women's labour in the field and the hammer price made its way to DKK 400,000. In one of the other works of the auction, Ring has portrayed his wife Sigrid, and the result of this portrayal was DKK 330,000. One of the other major draws during the past two weeks was the jewellery auction, the highlight of which was a rare Cartier panther brooch with onyx, emeralds and numerous brilliant-cut diamonds that went to an international buyer for DKK 400,000.
The Museums Are on the Look-out for New Artwork
The autumn auction also resulted in six acquisitions from Danish museums and collections. Skagens Museum ended up victorious during the bidding round for Anna Ancher's painting "Efter Dagens Møje" (After a Day’s Work) from 1917 and Laurits Tuxen's evening piece from 1911. The Johannes Larsen Museum on Fyn found a new addition to their collection in the shape of Fritz Syberg's portrait from 1909 of Anna's wife together with one of the couple's children in the garden. The Royal Danish Library in Copenhagen acquired a rare first edition of Ludvig Holberg's first book ”Introduction til de fornemste Europæiske Rigers Historier” (Introduction to the History of the Greatest European Kingdoms) from 1711, which has been in the ownership of the psalm writer and bishop H.A. Brorson.
At Designmuseum Danmark in Copenhagen, the sale of Torben Søren’s collection of glass art from Italy, Sweden and Finland was followed closely. Soon the guests of the museum will be able to experience two of the auction's glassworks: "We have been looking for Swedish glass art for our collection for a long time. With the two major new works by the Swedish glass artists Sven Palmqvist and Ingeborg Lundin, we can expand our existing inventory in the best possible way," says museum curator Ulla Houkjær from Designmuseum Danmark.
We update our list of museum acquisitions regularly. View the full list here
With that, we bid you farewell until next time, which will come sooner than you know, as the preparations for the Christmas auction in Copenhagen are already well underway. We hope to see you back once our doors open again.