1) Sold for 914 times top estimate: £5m ‘Botticelli’ stuns saleroom
Spectators at an auction in Zürich were left flabbergasted when a Quattrocento panel painting with a SFr5000-7000 estimate catalogued as ‘in the style of Sandro Botticelli (c.1445-1510)’ was knocked down at SFr6.4m (£5.16m) after an intense 10-minute bidding battle.
A detail of ‘Portrait of a young man’, a work catalogued as ‘in the style of Sandro Botticelli’ that sold for SFr6.4m (£5.16m) at Schuler of Zürich.
2) Fictional antiques dealer Lovejoy to return to screens in new TV adaptation
TV show Lovejoy has been acquired for adaptation three decades after it was first broadcast.
The cover of Jonathan Gash's Lovejoy novel 'The Judas Pair'. Image credit: Jonathan Gash and CMM Literary Agency.
3) Collection of Wedgwood Fairyland lustre and rare cricket memorabilia – five auction highlights that caught bidders’ eyes in the last week
ATG’s selection of hammer highlights over the past week includes a surprise result for art pottery in Macclesfield and a discovery of Wedgwood Fairyland lustre in Nottingham.
This Wedgwood Fairyland lustre malfrey pot and cover sold at £15,000 at Mellors & Kirk on June 26.
4) Christie’s counters Egypt’s threat to sue over £4m sale of Tutankhamun head
Christie’s has reiterated that it “carried out extensive due diligence” into a head of Tutankhamun after the Egyptian National Committee for Antiquities Repatriation (NCAR) said that it will instruct a UK law firm to file a lawsuit over its £4m sale.
The c.1333-1323BC brown quartzite bust of Tutankhamun, carved with the face of the god Amun, that sold for £4m at Christie’s.
5) Five lots to watch at auction this week including a portrait miniature collection
With estimates from £100-70,000, here are five previews from upcoming sales this week.
A collection of portrait miniatures from the estate of Mary, Countess of Gainsborough, will be included with other art and antiques from her estate in the auction at Tennants on July 13.
This list is based on unique users for individual news stories over the period July 4-10, 2019.
