Of the 93 lots on offer, just 14 (15 per cent) were left unsold. According to expert-in-charge Simon Shaw, a judicious lowering of reserves just before the sale attracted an unexpected volume of bidders. “We had to be responsive to the market and there were plenty of people who chose to bid for bargains.”
As so often happens when expectations are lowered, prices rose and for all Sotheby’s pre-sale nerves the final total of £2.1m was just £200,000 shy of the pre-sale upper estimate. Top performer on the day was this much-admired symbolist oil, right, by Constantinos Parthénis (1878-1967), Mythology & Religion, which found a private Greek buyer at a £130,000 against an estimate of £70,000-90,000 - a record for the artist artist.
Lower estimates bring higher bids and a Parthénis record
Just like the following week’s 20th Century Italian sales, Sotheby’s (20/15/10% buyer’s premium) October 18 inaugural theme sale exclusively devoted to Greek art notched up selling rates that belied the pessimism prevailing in so many other sectors of the market.
