Hammer Prices in the Millions and Museum Purchases

The anniversary auction included 1600 lots with art, design, antiques, jewellery and wristwatches. Jesper Bruun Rasmussen opened the festive preview with a highly-attended talk about the history of the auction house, and throughout the subsequent two auction weeks the old saleroom in the centre of Copenhagen was packed with guests from near and far.

An Auction that Belonged to the Paintings

Six out of the nine million hammer prices were achieved by paintings. Leading the pack was the Danish painter Harald Giersing's beautiful work "Fokin and Fokina" from 1918, which was sold for DKK 3.1 million. The Danish Golden Age master Martinus Rørbye achieved a hammer price of DKK 3 million for a wonderfully detailed depiction of the square in the Italian town of Amalfi from 1835. The later artist Vilhelm Hammershøi was also represented at the auction with a small portrait of his sister Anna, which the buyer paid DKK 1.5 million for. From the artists' colony in Skagen, the most impressive hammer price was DKK 1 million, which was achieved by P.S. Krøyer's portrait of his wife Marie from their honeymoon to Italy in 1890.

If we move further up through art history, the Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning had a drawing on vellum from the early 1970s up for auction that made it to DKK 1.5 million, while the German artist Günther Förg achieved a hammer price of DKK 1.3 million for a colourful painting from 2007.

Buddhism, Royal Stories and PH

We began the anniversary auction with art from China, and here it was a gilt-bronze Buddhist figure of the Avalokitesvara from the Ming Dynasty, which took off and landed on a hammer price of DKK 3.1 million.

The crowded days in the saleroom were also due to the presence of representatives from the Danish and international press who followed the sale of Queen Alexandria's sapphire tiara closely. The Danish Queen had been given the piece of jewellery from Tsar Nikolai II of Russia at her wedding in 1898 to the future King Christian X of Denmark. This attention-grabbing story also had a happy ending at the auction where the tiara was sold for DKK 2 million.

One of the biggest surprises at the auction comes from a completely different setting – one of jazz, functionalism and broad-mindedness. In 1931, Poul Henningsen (PH) designed his version of a “Grand Piano”, and this particular example of the piano had previously been located at the “Belle Terrasse” restaurant in Tivoli, Copenhagen, where several celebrities, including Liberace and Victor Borge, had played on it. This interesting provenance was reflected in the final price of DKK 2.45 million, which is a world record for a piece by PH.

New Works for Museum Collections

The Danish and international museums were also present at the auction, and a total of 11 works were bought by them. The National Gallery of Denmark can now count the above-mentioned painting from Amalfi by Martinus Rørbye among their collection of Danish Golden Age art. The ARKEN Museum of Modern Art purchased a flower painting by the British artist Marc Quinn, and a Greenlandic motif with a grouse hunter by I.E.C. Rasmussen will soon be on display at the Maritime Museum in Marstal, while a small enamel snuff box dating from the 18th century found its way to the Royal Danish Collection at Rosenborg.

Among the international museums, the Musée d'Orsay bought a cupboard in the “Dragon Style” by the Norwegian cabinetmaker Lars Kinsarvik, and a portrait from 1717 by the French painter Francois de Troy is heading north to the National Museum of Stockholm. The rest of the auction's museum purchases cannot be made public at this time.

View the current list of museum purchases

We would like to thank everyone who followed our anniversary auction. We will open the doors for a new Live Auction in February. In the meantime, you can find a wide selection of art, design and antiques at the auctions on our website – both at our Online Auctions and our Direct Auctions.
 

We wish everyone a happy holiday and a great new year!