Across two evening sales on Monday, November 18, Sotheby’s sold 49 lots for a total of $268.6 million ($309 million with fees). Highlights from the night include a $65 million Monet, a new auction record for Tiffany Studios stained glass, and a bidding war over a rare example of Leonora Carrington’s Surrealist sculpture.
Sotheby’s Double-Header Autumn Evening Auctions
On Monday, November 18, Sotheby’s inaugurated the autumn marquee auction season with two back-to-back sales. The New York auction house began the evening with A Legacy of Beauty: The Collection of Sydell Miller Evening Auction, which was immediately followed by a Modern Evening Auction. Featuring the likes of Picasso, Kandinsky, and Degas, the Sydell Miller sale “presents an ode to timeless beauty” and “embodies Miller’s unerring eye and keen aestheticism,” according to Sotheby’s. Miller, who died earlier this year at age 86, was a beauty industry mogul, philanthropist, and discerning art collector. Leading up to Monday’s sale, Sotheby’s toured the collection around the world. The auction house was packed with bidders, and by the end of the night, the Sydell Miller collection sale had brought in $215.6 million from 25 lots, with fees.
The $65.5 Million Highlight: Monet’s Water Lilies
A 17-minute bidding war between three would-be collectors ensued when the Monet water lilies painting hit the block during the Sydell Miller collection sale. The winning bidder was an unnamed buyer represented by Jen Hua, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia. The unpublished pre-sale estimate for the Monet water lilies was approximately $60 million, and the work had a house guarantee and irrevocable bids. It fetched $65.5 million, including fees. The iconic French Impressionist Claude Monet painted this version of Nymphéas at Giverny between 1914 and 1917. Monet’s signature was stamped on the five-foot-tall canvas, indicating it never left his studio during his lifetime. From the late 1890s until his death in 1926, Monet produced some 250 oil paintings of water lilies at his home in Giverny, France.
Another Bidding War and a New Auction Record
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Next up at Sotehby’s was the Modern Evening Auction, which was less successful overall but still saw some notable moments. Two lots were withdrawn before the auction began, and seven went unsold. The 31 remaining lots brought in $93.1 million with fees. The stunning 16-foot-tall Danner Memorial Window, designed by Tiffany Studios in 1913, fetched $12.5 million with fees against an estimate of $5 million to $7 million. The sale set a new auction record for Tiffany Studios, significantly surpassing the previous record of $3.4 million, set in 2018 at Christie’s.
Additionally, after a five-minute bidding war, a rare Leonora Carrington sculpture, La Grande Dame (The Cat Woman), sold for $11.4 million against a presale estimate of $5 million to $7 million. The winning bidder, Eduardo Costantini, is a leading collector of Latin American Art. Earlier this year, Costantini purchased Les Distractions de Dagobert, Carrington’s record-shattering Surrealist painting, for $28.5 million at Sotheby’s.
