Sotheby's 20th Century Design Sale Brings Record Online at $4 Million

  • April 05, 2020 16:09

  • Email
L: HARRY BERTOIA, UNTITLED (Sonambient) (c. 1970). R: TIFFANY STUDIOS, “Moorish” Twisted Wire Chandelier (c. 1895).
SOTHEBY'S
TIFFANY STUDIOS, "PEONY BORDER" FLOOR LAMP, CIRCA 1910. SOLD FOR $137,000.
SOTHEBY'S
JEAN PROUVÉ, PAIR OF "DIRECTION" ARMCHAIRS, MODEL NO. 352, CIRCA 1951. SOLD FOR $175,000.
SOTHEBY'S

A Sotheby’s auction last week brought a total of $4 million, the highest-ever result for an online sale of 20th century design. The sale, which was moved from live to online, pushed past its high estimate by more than 25 percent.

Highlights included a “Moorish” Twisted Wire Chandelier created by Tiffany Studios around 1895, catapulting over its high estimate 20 times to sell for $300,000. 

Harry Bertoia's Untitled (Sonambient) sculpture fetched $300,000, six times over its high estimate. Across several lots, a series of windows designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, brought in $487,500 total.

Some 10 bidders competed for a Pair of "Direction" Armchairs, Model No. 352 by Jean Prouvé, driving it to sell for $175,000 – multiples of the $30,000 high estimate.

Nearly half of all lots offered sold for prices above their high estimates and six works sold for more than $100,000.

"The remarkable success of our mid-season design auction demonstrates the strong demand we continue to see from collectors worldwide for works across the full spectrum of the design markets," says Jodi Pollack, co-worldwide head of Sotheby’s 20th century design department. "Our record total also reinforces the confidence and shift we are seeing towards bidding and buying online."

The bidders were from 31 countries, with the highest competition from the United States, United Kingdom, France and Hong Kong, with one-third of the bids coming from mobile devices.

Pollack noted, "This result is an important indicator of the design market’s momentum and growth at a much-needed time."


  • Email

More News Feed Headlines

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) Sunset, 1830-5.

After 13 Years, ARTFIXdaily to Cease Daily News Service

  • ArtfixDaily / August 15th, 2022

ARTFIXdaily will end weekday e-newsletter service after 13 years of publishing art world press releases, events and ...

Read More...
Einar and Jamex de la Torre, Critical Mass, 2002 (Courtesy of the Cheech Marin Collection and Riverside Art Museum).

Inaugural Exhibition at The Cheech Highlights Groundbreaking Chicano Artists

  • ArtfixDaily / July 7th, 2022

One of the nation’s first permanent spaces dedicated to showcasing Chicano art and culture opened on June ...

Read More...
Jacob Lawrence,.  .  .  is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery?—Patrick Henry,1775 , Panel 1, 1955, from Struggle: From the History of the American People, 1954–56, egg tempera on hardboard.  Collection of Harvey and Harvey-Ann Ross.  © 2022 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Crystal Bridges Explores the U.S. Constitution Through Art in New Exhibition 'We the People: The Radical Notion of Democracy'

  • ArtfixDaily / July 7th, 2022

Original print of the U.S. Constitution headlines exhibition sponsored by Ken Griffin (who purchased it for $43.2 ...

Read More...
Salvador Dalí (1904–1989), Christ of St John of the Cross, 1951, oil on canvas © CSG CIC Glasgow Museums Collection

Dalí / El Greco Side-by-Side Exhibit Prompts: 'Are They Really Paintings of the Same Thing?'

  • ArtfixDaily / July 6th, 2022

From July 9 to December 4, 2022, The Auckland Project in the U.K. will unite two Spanish masterpieces from British ...

Read More...