Picasso fetches $14.6m at Christie's
May 10, 2009
By Lindsay Pollock and Philip Boroff New York
Christie's International sold a nearly 1.5m tall Picasso painting of a pipe-smoking musketeer for $14.6 million, in its smallest New York sale of Impressionist and modern art since May 2004.
Mousquetaire a la pipe was the top lot in a generally upbeat evening that totaled $102.8m. Of the 48 works offered, 79 percent sold.
The auction bested the previous night's results at its uptown rival, Sotheby's, which failed to find buyers for its top two lots, by Picasso and Alberto Giacometti. That auction made $61.4m.
The buyer of the Picasso was Guillaume Vedovi, a Belgian dealer, on behalf of a client he declined to name.
The auction houses face another test next week when they sell contemporary and postwar art, a category that's been more faddish and volatile.
Christie's is privately held, Sotheby's is publicly traded, and is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings tomorrow.
At its May 2004 evening Impressionist sale, Christie's raised $56.6m. - Bloomberg
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