Hammer Prices and Museum Purchases

This year's final auction in Bredgade can readily be described as the auction of millions and museums! In total, there were 12 hammer prices in the millions and 13 museum purchases.

C. W. Eckersberg: "View Through a Door to Running Figures", 1845. Oil on canvas. 31 x 27 cm. Acquired by the National Gallery of Denmark for a hammer price of DKK 2.1 million.

Le Corbusier: "Pentecôte", 1959. Enamel on metal. 55 x 65 cm. Sold for DKK 2.05 million.

Two Chinese seals in soapstone and Tianhuang style. Carved with landscape, lotus leaves, a frog and insects. Sold for DKK 1.1 million.

Rolex: A gentleman's wristwatch of 18k gold, ref. 6062 "Stelline". Automatic movement with triple calendar and moon phase. Circa 1953. Sold for DKK 1,175,000 million.

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We have just completed the auction year in Bredgade, Copenhagen, with more than 1,400 lots of art, design, antiques, jewellery and wristwatches. The auction lasted two weeks and resulted in a very fine overall sale.

C. W. Eckersberg's Copenhagen Genre Scenes

As usual, the auction began with fine art. The excitement was tangible in the saleroom, as two works by the father of Danish painting, C. W. Eckersberg, came under the hammer. With a price of DKK 2.1 million, the painting "View Through a Door to Running Figures" from 1845 achieved the auction's highest hammer price, while Eckersberg’s second work "A Storm" from the same year went for DKK 1.6 million.

Leading Artists of Modernism

Among the more modern artwork, we achieved several records. Two enamel paintings by Le Corbusier from the Danish architect Jørn Utzon's private collection were sold for DKK 2.05 million and DKK 1.9 million respectively. The Danish modernists also had the wind at their backs throughout the auction, and Edvard Weie's "Nereids and Tritons" achieved a great hammer price of DKK 1.3 million.

Art from Asia and Russia

Things also quickly became busy, when we opened the doors for the special auction days focusing on art and antiques from the Far East and Tsarist Russia. Here, a Buddha figure on his lotus throne from the Kangxi dynasty went all the way to a hammer price of DKK 1.8 million. Right on its heels was Nicolai Ivanovich Liberich's gilded bronze sculpture with a hammer price of DKK 1.12 million, while a Russian icon from the 1600s went for DKK 1.35 million and two small Chinese seals of soapstone were sold for DKK 1.1 million.

Denmark's Most Expensive Wristwatch

One of the perhaps most notable million-kroner sales of the auction was Rolex's most rare wristwatch, the star-studded "Stelline" from 1953, which, with a price of DKK 1,175,000, became the most expensive wristwatch ever sold in Denmark.

The Museums Also Acquired New Works for Their Collections

The Danish museums truly came out in force for this auction. In total, 13 museum purchases were made at the auction. The National Gallery of Denmark purchased both C. W. Eckersberg's painting "View Through a Door to Running Figures" and Edvard Weie’s "Nereids and Tritons". The Museum of National History at Frederiksborg Castle took home four works – three portraits and H. A. Brendekilde’s depiction of the artist colleague and friend L. A. Ring next to the painter’s fallen easel.

For Ordrupgaard Museum, the focus was on L. A. Ring's work "The Old Chestnut Tree at the Gate" from 1929, and at the Randers Museum of Art visitors can now experience a beautiful motif by L. A. Ring of a rye field from 1887. The Amager Museum bought Julius Exner's funny depiction of "The Suitor’s Visit" from 1877. In the modern section, Øregaard Museum won the bidding war for Jais Nielsen's "Boy with Goldfish" from 1915, while Gunnar Aagaard Andersen's folding-painting from 1976 has found a new home at Sorø Art Museum.

View our list of museum purchases here

The year has ended in style here at Bruun Rasmussen, and we congratulate all those who acquired art, antiques and design at the auction. We look forward to welcoming you in our saleroom once more in February!