Early sales at TEFAF Maastricht as US buyers make their presence felt

With 270 dealers from 22 countries, offering 7000 years’ worth of art and artefacts, many exhibitors welcomed the appearance of significant US institutions ready to buy in the early hours of TEFAF Maastricht.

Stuart Lochhead Sculpture made two significant sales to US museums on the opening day.

A lifetime cast of Striding Mars by Florentine sculptor Giambologna (1529-1608), with an asking price of $4m, sold to a major US museum while the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts purchased Joseph Chinard’s Portrait of Alexis Guiffrey which sold in the region of $90,000.

Giambologna was the leading court sculptor of the Medici in Florence and this sculpture representing the God of War is an idealised depiction of his naked body.

Believed to have been cast by Fra Domenico Portigiani (c.1536-1602) it was conceived around 1565-70 and this cast has been dated to c.1580. The sculpture had previously been with a private collection in the US and was part of Lochhead's London Art Week exhibition in summer 2023, titled The Alchemist’s Laboratory: Giambologna’s Forge in Florence.

Chinard’s artwork depicts Guiffrey, the son of the Lyonnais couple François Guiffrey and Victoire Aimée Caminet, who died aged just three.

Met presence

A significant number of US institutions were in attendance at the event, which runs until March 14, including a large group across the departments of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. According to dealers institutions are often accompanied by their financial donors with "cheque books ready".

Rare maps and books dealer Daniel Crouch said he was aware of a significant number of US buyers at the fair.

Having secured a huge four-volume edition of John James Audubon’s celebrated Birds of America (1827-38) just 14 days before the fair he completely redesigned and rebuilt his stand to accommodate the giant books, perfect for the US market.

He said: “We put all our plans in the bin. If you are doing it, do it properly.”

Crouch notes US buyers have been leading the field for a while. He says: “The US economy is very strong compared with Europe and for us institutional, rather than private buying, from the US has been significant.

“It is a very transatlantic fair for us”.

The four-volume group was shipped from California and has an asking price of $12.5m.

Robert Bowman of Bowman Sculpture, who has two stands at the fair (one in the Focus section dedicated to Rodin’s Gates of Hell), said: “TEFAF is still the key fair to attract international museum curators.”

Madrid gallery Caylus also sold to US institutions including The Virgin Guadalupe by Luis de Texeda (active c.1640-82) to Detroit Institute of Arts which had an asking price of €180,000 and Christ in the Cross by Francesco Buoneri (known as Cecco del Caravaggio) (c.1588-1620) sold to a US institution and had an asking price of €280,000.

Caylus director Jose Antonio de Urbina, said: “Alongside the US institutions we have also seen an increase in private European collectors coming here but actually less US private buyers this time.”

Catching the best

Will Korner, head of fairs at TEFAF said: “Many people call it the museum fair. We have all these wonderful people in the vetting committee, then the museum curators come and then the patrons. But it is also really important to remember the importance of private collectors too.  It’s wonderful to see all of them coming back.”

Massimiliano Caretto (who runs Caretto Occhinegro with Francesco Occhinegro), said: “At TEFAF we are still able to find passionate collectors who want to immediately catch the best piece for their collection. 

“In general people are afraid to buy in many cases but here at TEFAF it is a safe bubble for the dealers, art historians and collectors. The synthesis of the best dealers and the best curators.”

Beheading of the baptist, a c.1520 oil on panel by an artist active in 16th century Antwerp known as The Pseudo-Bles sold to a Dutch private collector for in the region of €100,000-200,000 at Caretto Occhinegro in the first 30 minutes of the fair opening. 

Dutch dealer Salomon Lilian sold a Still life with a lute, globe, sash, sword and a portrait print of Ingo Jones, an Anglo Dutch school oil on canvas c.1665 to a private collector which had a asking price of around €250,000.

New York dealer David Tunick shows at both TEFAF Maastricht and TEFAF New York and believes in the "magic" of TEFAF even if some buyers hail from his homeland.

He said: “Colleagues and I often say it can only happen at TEFAF. It is the place where someone comes onto your stand who you have never seen before and quickly buys a picture for $1m. That is the magic of TEFAF.

“There is no fair as sumptuous and exciting with active buying from tourists and curators from important museums.”

Among his early sales was an etching by Jean Morin (1600-50), after Philippe de Champaigne (1602-74), Still life with a pocket watch, skull and vase of roses. It sold to a dealer for his own collection for a five-figure sum within the opening hour of the event.

Tunick also sold an Edvard Munch Madonna lithograph (which he displayed with the original handpainted version). It sold to a Scandinavian buyer who had already been discussing it prior to the fair. Once Tunick displayed it on his stand at TEFAF, the buyer became concerned it would sell to someone else so called up and bought it on the phone for a high six-figure sum.

A number of other UK dealers reported sales to US buyers. Asian arms and armour dealer Runjeet Singh said it has been his best TEFAF fair so far and sold a number of important objects in the opening hours of the first day. 

Among his early sales was a 17th century rapier from South India for £18,000 to a US buyer. 

Jonathan Coulbourn of Thomas Coulbourn & Son also noted the interest of US buyers. His sales so far included two side chairs along with an armchair which are among the earliest examples of Chinese export furniture to follow a known English style. The c.1735-40 chairs closely follow an English model by Giles Grendey with Chinese additions and made in the highly prized huanghuali wood. Other examples of the same model are in the Lady Lever Art Gallery.  

Priced at a six-figure sum they sold to a private collector who was a new client of the firm. 

Coulbourn also sold a pair of c.1800 French Neo-Egyptian bronze and ormolu candlesticks, attributed to the workshop of Henri Auguste (1759-1816), after an original design by Jean-Guillaume Moitte (1746-1810) as well as an 18th century cut vellum portrait of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, dated 1705.

Colnaghi Elliott Master Drawings made a number of sales to European buyers on the first day including Visage, 8 June 1990 by Leonor Fini (1908-96) to a Greek buyer base in the UK for €12,000. 

Robert Aronson of Aronson Antiquairs from Amsterdam had a strong start to the fair. He said: "In the first few hours I have sold to US and Hong Kong buyers as well as regionally here. Sales are very strong and I am selling all my highlights. I hope it continues." 

Among Aronson's sales was a c.1770 group of four polychrome figures of musicians and a c.1765 pair of Delft polychrome prancing and Flehming horses, both groups priced in the six-figure sum range.