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Chinese wallpapers in today's interiors
Interior Design / April 1st, 2010
An attractive backdrop for early American antiques, 18th-and-early-19th century Chinese wallpaper has been used in 20th-21st century interiors at historic hotels and in grand spaces such as Winterthur's Chinese Parlor. Contrary to today's usage, Chinese wallpapers were an expensive luxury item ...
Koch amasses confidential witnesses for latest lawsuit
Courthouse News / April 1st, 2010
The federal complaint filed this week by billionaire collector William Koch is centered on his winning bid of $311,800 spent on four bottles of wine that Christie's authenticated as having been owned by Thomas Jefferson. The wine's source, Hardy Rodenstock, against whom Koch has a separate ...
Auction houses jockey for position in Asia
Straits Times / April 1st, 2010
The battle in Asia among the auction giants is not as much for buyers as it is for the limited supply of quality goods, including classical Chinese art, wine, jewelry, watches, and post-war Western paintings, for which an insatiable demand has arisen in mainland China. In a bold recognition of ...
Thomas Jefferson-signed first census up for auction
Huffington Post / March 31st, 2010
A first edition of the first U.S. census signed by Thomas Jefferson in 1791 will be offered at Sotheby's in New York City on April 14. The 56-page document lists the population for the nation's 13 states and Southwest Territory. It's expected to fetch $50,000 to $70,000. Only two other 1791 ...
Weighty provenance, wealthy buyers drive strong Asian art sales
Economist / March 31st, 2010
Chinese jades, imperial porcelain, cloisonné, scholars’ items and furniture were among the most sought-after items at New York's Asian Art Week of events, which ended March 26. Newly affluent mainland Chinese buyers were out in force. In the Chinese works of art category, Christie's had its ...
Collectible fun: A Post-War Steiff rabbit
WorthPoint / March 29th, 2010
For adorning Easter dinner tables, an 18-centimeter maize mohair hare, only produced in 1949 and one of the very first Steiff items produced after the Giengen factory reopened after the Second World War, is an affordable, but rare-to-market decorative piece. Steiff rabbits in very good to ...
Trial continues over da Vinci extortion charges
BBC / March 31st, 2010
On trial in Edinburgh, four soliciters deny conspiring to extort £4.25m for the return of Leonardo da Vinci's Madonna of the Yarnwinder painting. The artwork was stolen from the Duke of Buccleuch's Drumlanrig Castle in 2003. Marshall Ronald, 53, one of the soliciters, says the police were ...
A paradise of garden pictures at Cheekwood
The Tennessean / March 30th, 2010
"The American Impressionists in the Garden," now at Tennessee's lush garden museum Cheekwood, showcases about 40 top-notch garden paintings by such artists as Mary Fairchild MacMonnies, Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent, and Carl Frederick Frieseke. Among the few American interlopers on ...
Collector Bill Koch sues Christie's
Forbes / March 30th, 2010
Billionaire art and wine collector William Koch filed a complaint against Christie's International in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday. Koch, who primarily resides in Palm Beach, alleges the auction house engaged in racketeering and is "among the leaders of counterfeit wine sales." Koch's ...
Superman commands $1.5 million at auction
BBC / March 30th, 2010
Just weeks after a Batman comic bopped down a record comic price of $1.075 million, a copy of Superman's Action Comics No 1 from June 1938, which originally sold for 10 cents, reached $1.5 million at U.S. auction house Comic Connect. About 100 copies of this first edition are said to still be ...
Church considers $2 million offer for Tiffany windows
Luxist / March 30th, 2010
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Paterson, New Jersey, is voting today on whether to sell 12 Louis Comfort Tiffany-designed windows, plus one by John La Farge. A private collector approached the church with an unsolicited $2 million offer for the stained glass beauties. The would-be buyer wants to ...
Jade Buddha, classical painting boost $60 million sale week at Christie's
Paul Fraser Collectibles / March 29th, 2010
A spectacular week of Asian art sales at Christie's in New York, which tallied $60 million, with 1,000 lots offered from March 23 to 26, ended last Friday with the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale. The top lot was a rare large white Jade figure of Buddha, dating from the 18th-19th ...
Shepard Fairey looking to paint a mural-worthy wall
Mediabistro blog / March 29th, 2010
Before Jeffrey Deitch officially takes over as director of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art in June, his New York gallery Deitch Projects will exhibit "May Day" with new works by Shepard Fairey. Expect "images supporting free speech and bemoaning the U.S. two-party political system, ...
Japanese firm wins prestigious Priztker prize
Curbed / March 29th, 2010
The Japanese duo Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, partners in SANAA, were honored Sunday with architecture's highest award. Their much-talked-about New Museum on the Bowery in New York is one recent, notable project. LA Times critic Christopher Hawthorne described their best buildings as ...
Princess Diana family to offer Rubens masterpiece
Reuters / March 29th, 2010
Earl Spencer, Diana's brother, is planning to sell works from the family's collection of paintings, furniture, porcelain and horse-drawn carriages at Christie's in London on July 6. The auction may raise about $30 million. Highlights in the sale include Peter Paul Rubens's "A Commander being ...
Tulipmania revived in Amsterdam
New york Times / March 28th, 2010
Tulips were once a hot commodity, an integral part of the Dutch Golden Age, and a perenially popular subject for Dutch artists of the 17th and 18th centuries. Fortunes tumbled when, in 1637, the “tulip bubble” burst, leaving speculators with hands full of worthless bulbs. Opening June 1 at the ...
Turner's 'Modern Rome' masterpiece poised to be record-breaker
Times Online / March 28th, 2010
Sotheby's is touting Modern Rome — Campo Vaccino as "arguably the finest" J.M.W. Turner painting left in private hands. With rarity, condition, and provenance adding to its allure as a work of art, this painting, by one of Britain's most beloved artists, may easily exceed the estimate of £12 ...
Washington portrait fetches over $1 million
WGRZ / March 28th, 2010
Cottone Auctions in Geneseo, New York, sold a George Washington painting by famous presidential portraitist Gilbert Stuart for $1.06 million (including 15% buyer's premium) on Saturday. Provenance was part of the appeal to buyers. The consignor, who descended from John Jacob Astor, traced the ...
Artists' estates complicate collecting their work
Financial Times / March 27th, 2010
Georgiana Adams writes about the bitter battle over the Victor Vasarely (1906–1997) estate. Prices for his pioneering op-art compositions are re-heating as is the complex story about ownership issues. Also, Adams notes that German auctioneer Robert Ketterer is trying to raise money for a ...
Major collection of Maxfield Parrish works at Christie's
Artdaily / March 25th, 2010
A collection of 12 paintings and illustrations by beloved American artist Maxfield Parrish, including his celebrated 'Daybreak' (estimate: $4-7 million), will be offered by Christie's in New York on May 20. The collection, representing every period of his career, is estimated to exceed $15 ...