{"id":2014490,"date":"2026-06-26T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2014490"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T11:00:00","slug":"a-mystery-seller-will-offer-60-m-in-art-and-design-at-sothebys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2014490","title":{"rendered":"A Mystery Seller Will Offer $60 M. in Art and Design at Sotheby\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\tSotheby\u2019s will stage a series of sales, starting in October, of over 900 works spanning antiquity to 20th century and including fine art and design, from an unnamed collector, with the total estimated at more than $60 million. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe collection, which Sotheby\u2019s is calling \u201cMagnum Opus,\u201d includes artworks by masters like Canaletto, Edgar Degas, Max Ernst, Francesco Guardi, Jean-Honor\u00e9 Fragonard, Luis Mel\u00e9ndez, Pablo Picasso, and Jacob van Ruisdael.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tFour New York sales, between October 21 and October 23, will bring some 600 works from the haul to auction. The rest will appear at various sales at Sotheby\u2019s New York and Paris, spanning some 25 of the house\u2019s categories, from contemporary art to books and manuscripts, from jewelry and prints and photographs to design, stretching into 2027.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cEvery work, in every category, bears the mark of a collector who approached each acquisition with the same exacting standards and the same fundamental belief that objects of quality speak across time,\u201d said Sotheby\u2019s global head of major collections Catherine Foster Ellison in press materials.<\/p>\n

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A Mughal Pietra Dura inlaid marble footrest, ca. 1700, along with a selection of gold boxes, on a Russian Neoclassical ormolu Gu\u00e9ridon, late 18th\u00a0century, pictured in situ.<\/span>Sotheby’s.<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tLeading the sale is a treasure of ancient art, a marble torso of a Roman emperor from the Julio-Claudian period (first half of the 1st century CE), estimated at $8 million\u2013$12 million. Also on offer is an Augustan marble portrait head of a girl (27 BCE\u201314 CE) for $2.5 million\u2013$2.5 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tOther leading artwork selections are a Canaletto for $6 million\u2013$8 million, a Degas pastel for $5 million\u2013$7 million, a Luis Mel\u00e9ndez for $4 million\u2013$6 million, a Ruisdael for $2.5 million\u2013$3.5 million, a Picasso for $1 million\u2013$2 million, a Guardi for $1 million\u2013$1.5 million, and an Ernst at the same price.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFrom Degas\u2019 extraordinary command of color and form to Picasso\u2019s mastery of sculptural medium and narrative\u2014from early in a career that was never less than singular\u2014each work finds an artist at a moment of genuine consequence,\u201d Scott Niichel, the house\u2019s vice chairman for Impressionist and modern art, said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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A Louis XV ormolu-mounted blue and gilt vernis Martin bureau en pente in front of a rare pair of Brussels Chinoiserie tapestries, pictured in situ.\u00a0<\/span>Sotheby’s.<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tDesign objects include the Bernheimer Safavid \u201cVase\u201d carpet fragment from southeast Persia (early 17th century), estimated at $350,000\u2013$500,000; an Isfahan carpet from Central Persia (mid-17th century) for $400,000\u2013$600,000; the von Hirsch garden carpet from northwest Persia (17th century), estimated at $200,000\u2013$300,000; and an Iznik cintamani pottery tile from Ottoman Turkey (ca. 1580) for $120,000\u2013$180,000.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cRugs and carpets are key components of the finest private and institutional collections of Islamic art,\u201d said Benedict Carter, senior director and head of the Islamic and Indian art department, calling the Bernheimer and Von Hirsch fragments \u201ctwo of the great world carpets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIf you\u2019ve got a hankering for furniture, the house also has you covered, with, for example, a pair of Louis XVI giltwood Marquieses attributed to Georges Jacob (ca. 1785), priced at $200,000\u2013$300,000. Like tapestries? Note the rare pair of Brussels Chinoiserie examples, estimated at $500,000\u2013$700,000. Into ceramics? Note the S\u00e8vres wine bottle coolers made for Marie-Antoinette in 1784 and estimated at $30,000\u2013$40,000.<\/p>\n

\n\tA preview exhibition goes on view at Sotheby\u2019s London from June 27\u2013July 1, while the Julio-Claudian emperor\u2019s torso is in the spotlight at Sotheby\u2019s New York from June 27\u2013July 6.<\/p>\n

\n\tFour of the five floors of the auctioneer\u2019s Madison Avenue headquarters will be devoted to an exhibition of the collection from October 17\u201322.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tHere are some highlights from the sales.<\/p>\n