#sothebys

#sothebys

A Rembrandt drawing of a young lion has become artist's most valuable work on paper to sell at auction after it realized a breathtaking $18 million at Sotheby's New York on February 4. The work, Young Lion Resting (ca. 1638-43), which carried a $15 million to $20 million estimate, smashed Rembrandt's $3.7 million auction record for a drawing. Ahead of the sale, it went on view Paris, London, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong, and Diriyah, as Sotheby's deepens its presence in Saudi Arabia after staging its first-ever auction in the country last year.

This weekend at Sotheby's New York, a bottle of Old Rip Van Winkle 20-Year-Old Single Barrel "Sam's" (1982) sold for $162,500, setting a new record for the most valuable bottle of American whiskey ever sold at auction. Only 60 hand-numbered bottles of the legendary "Sam's" release were ever produced, bottled at a staggering 133.4 proof, the highest proof Van Winkle expression ever released. The bottle hadn't appeared at auction in more than a decade.

A late Picasso painting on cardboard, Paysage (1965), carries an estimate of $2m to $3m. The work depicts the French Riviera landscape around the village of Mougins where the artist spent his later years with his last wife Jacqueline Roque. Anish Kapoor's concave mirror sculpture, Untitled (2005), also goes under the hammer (est. $600,000-$800,000) along with Andy Warhol's Disquieting Muses (After de Chirico), 1982 (est. $800,000-$1.2m) and his complete set of four screenprints of Muhammad Ali he made in 1978 (est. $300,000-$500,000).

It was a white-glove Christmas auction of singer and actor Bing Crosby's personal collection, which made a 100% sell-through rate and $6.7m at Sotheby's in New York last night against an estimate of $3.9m to $6.3m (totals include buyer's premium; estimates do not). Among the most festive lots were the musical arrangements for Crosby's 1954 hit musical film, White Christmas, which flew six times over the low estimate to fetch $19,050.

In many instances the importance of these paintings has only recently been recognised, thanks to the enormous amount of research my colleagues have done, working-in some instances for months, even years-with outside scholars to shed new light on their authorship and history. The galleries look stunning, filled with an array of beautiful paintings, each with a fascinating story to tell. They are already working their magic on art lovers from across the globe, and we hope everyone c

In just over an hour and half, Sotheby's auctioneer Oliver Barker, sheathed in a tuxedo and black bowtie to celebrate the house's inaugural sale at the Breuer building, coaxed in $527.5 million in sales, breezily surpassing the pre-sale low estimate of $379 million. That included the season's most talked about piece of treasure, Gustav Klimt's portrait of Elisabeth Lederer for which sold for $236.4 million, earning Klimt an auction record and the portrait the distinction of being the second most expensive work at auction.

The night started with a sale of 13 lots from the estate of the late Chicagoan collectors Cindy and Jay Pritzker that surpassed Sotheby's high estimate of $88.5.m to bring in $91.7m ($109.5m with fees). A stellar group of 24 works by Surrealist heavy-hitters from an unnamed collection (marketed as "Exquisite Corpus") followed, generating $81.9m ($98m with fees), squarely within the group's estimate range ($66.7m-$98.9m).

The $690 million that Christie's took on Monday night during its 20th/21st century sale in New York was a staggering figure, but it still came up short of the $731.5 million pre-sale high estimate. That may have curbed any high-fives and backslapping meant to salute an art-market resurgence after two rickety years, but Sotheby's double-header on Tuesday evening gave people reason to believe that the top end is truly on the up.

The renowned auction house Sotheby's is preparing to hold one of its most anticipated annual events, the Royal & Noble Jewels auction, on November 12 at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Geneva. The collection contains extraordinary pieces that after years in private hands or royal collections are now seeking new owners. Although the online bidding has been active since the end of October, the auction will officially begin Wednesday.

New York City's cultural institutions have been amping up dining by partnering with known chefs and restaurants to attract New Yorkers, particularly those with deep pockets. Just this month, cult-favorite film production company A24 (behind Oscar-winning picture Everything Everywhere All At Once) reopened West Village neighborhood theater Cherry Lane with Wild Cherry, a new French restaurant run by chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr, the duo behind Frenchette and Le Veau d'Or.

Douglas Elliman is facing significant challenges, including stock decline and lawsuits, leading to a merger proposal from Anywhere Real Estate, valuing it above $4 per share.