Rockefeller treasures break record for single-owner auction
Peggy and David Rockefeller’s lavish artworks and other treasures set a new world record this week at Christie’s, topping $800 million as the priciest ever single-owner collection.
That’s about twice the previous record of $484 million from a 2009 Paris sale of designer Yves Saint Laurent’s estate.
The three-day sale of the late couple’s belongings ended Thursday with a $115 million star lot — a Picasso painting of a naked girl holding a basket of flowers that once belonged to the writer Gertrude Stein, estimated to be worth $100 million. The runner-up, at $84 million, was a Monet canvas depicting his famed water lilies that surpassed its $50 million estimate.
In what one art publication dubbed “Rockefeller Mania,” Christie’s said 100 percent of the 893 Rockefeller lots offered live sold, for a total of $828 million.
The sale also set records for seven individual artists, including Monet and Matisse. Diego Rivera’s 1931 “The Rivals” sold for the highest price ever paid for a Latin American artwork on the block — $9.8 million against a pre-auction estimate of $5 million to $7 million.
On Friday, the sale wasn’t quite over. Until 6:30 p.m., anyone with a few hundred dollars could go for a piece of the opulence that surrounded the late Rockefeller couple — by bidding on, say, cufflinks, jewelry and money clips once filled with cash from their fortune.
The 1,564 lots on the block reflected the Rockefellers’ eclectic tastes in everything from fine furniture, porcelain and ceramics to duck decoys and blue-chip art that graced their various homes and David’s bank office. Art filled the walls of their Maine home, their Manhattan townhouse and a country mansion in the Pocantino Hills north of the city, complete with horses and cows.
For a whiff of that life, buyers were willing to pay prices way above the preauction estimates.
A rare blue and white “Dragon” bowl, valued at up to $150,000, went for $2.7 million. A bronze figure of the Buddhist deity Amitayus realized $2.5 million, against a $600,000 high estimate.
A 256-piece Sevres dessert service commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte sold for $1.8 million — more than six times its high estimate.
Six George III “Gothick” Windsor Armchairs sold for $336,500 against a top estimate of $80,000, and an English wicker picnic hamper soared to $212,500, against a high estimate of $10,000.
Matisse’s “Odalisque Couchee aux Magnolias” sold for $80.8 million, topping the $70 million estimate and setting a new record for a Matisse, whose highest price at auction had been $48.8 million.
All prices include buyers’ premiums. Christie’s guaranteed the whole Rockefeller collection, not disclosing the minimum price at which a work would have to sell or buyers’ names. Many came from abroad, drawn to the New York power name that dominated the city’s privileged, philanthropic society for a century.
Peggy died in 1996, and David in 2017, as the last surviving grandson of the oil baron John D. Rockefeller. The couple’s son, David Rockefeller Jr., said auction proceeds would go to charity.
The collection ended up, appropriately, in Rockefeller Plaza off Fifth Avenue where Christie’s is located. The Rockefellers had d bankrolled the grand plaza in the 1930s. Peggy and David Rockefeller’s lavish artworks and other treasures set a new world record this week at Christie’s, topping $800 million as the priciest ever single-owner collection.
That’s about twice the previous record of $484 million from a 2009 Paris sale of designer Yves Saint Laurent’s estate.
The three-day sale of the late couple’s belongings ended Thursday with a $115 million star lot — a Picasso painting of a naked girl holding a basket of flowers that once belonged to the writer Gertrude Stein, estimated to be worth $100 million. The runner-up, at $84 million, was a Monet canvas depicting his famed water lilies that surpassed its $50 million estimate. $81.4
In what one art publication dubbed “Rockefeller Mania,” Christie’s said 100 percent of the 893 Rockefeller lots offered live sold, for a total of $828 million.
The sale also set records for seven individual artists, including Monet and Matisse. Diego Rivera’s 1931 “The Rivals” sold for the highest price ever paid for a Latin American artwork on the block — $9.8 million against a pre-auction estimate of $5 million to $7 million.
On Friday, the sale wasn’t quite over. Till 6:30 p.m., anyone with a few hundred dollars could go for a piece of the opulence that surrounded the late Rockefeller couple — by bidding on, say, cufflinks, jewelry and money clips once filled with cash from their fortune.
The 1,564 lots on the block reflected the Rockefellers’ eclectic tastes in everything from fine furniture, porcelain and ceramics to duck decoys and blue-chip art that graced their various homes and David’s bank office. Art filled walls of their Maine home, their luxurious Manhattan townhouse and a country mansion in the Pocatino Hills, complete with horses and cows.
For a whiff of that life, buyers were willing to pay prices way above the preauction estimates.
A rare blue and white “Dragon” bowl, valued at up to $150,000, went for $2,772,500. A bronze figure of Amitayus realized $2,532,500, against a $600,000 high estimate.
A 256-piece Sevres dessert service commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte went for $1.8 million — more than six times its high estimate.
Six George III ‘Gothick’ Windsor Armchairs sold for $336,500 against a top estimate of $80,000, and an English wicker picnic hamper soared to $212,500, against a high estimate of $10,000.
Henri Matisse’s “Odalisque Couchee aux Magnolias” sold for $80.8 million, topping the $70 million estimate and setting a new record for a Matisse, whose highest price had been $48.8 million.
All prices include buyers’ premiums. Christie’s had guaranteed the whole Rockefeller collection, not disclosing the minimum price at which a work must sell or buyers’ names. Many came from abroad, drawn to the New York power name that dominated the city’s privileged, philanthropic society for a century.
Peggy died in 1996, and David in 2017, as the last surviving grandson of the oil baron John D. Rockefeller. Peggy and David’s son, David Rockefeller Jr., said auction proceeds would go to charity.
The collection ended up, appropriately, in Rockefeller Plaza off Fifth Avenue where Christie’s is located. The Rockefellers bankrolled the grand plaza in the 1930s. 79 Hurley Ave. Kingston, NY 12401 dailyfreeman.com Phone: 845-331-5000 Newsroom Fax: 845-331-3557 General Fax: 845-338-0672 CONTACT US Publisher: Kevin Corrado, kcorrado@ digitalfirstmedia.com Managing editor: Tony Adamis, tadamis@freemanonline.com City editor: Jeremy Schiffres, jschiffres@freemanonline.com News tips: news@freemanonline.com Sports results: sports@freemanonline.com Life: life@freemanonline.com Photo submission: news@freemanonline.com Regional Circulation Director: Michael Sheehan, msheehan@lowellsun.com ADVERTISING Classified: 845-338-0606 classified@freemanonline.com Display: 845-331-5000 ads@freemanonline.com Online: 845-338-0606 ads@freemanonline.com Advertising director: Tim Tergeoglou, ttergeoglou@adtaxi.com Online sales manager: Barbara Norton, bnorton@adtaxi.com Circulation Customer Service: 1-888-699-7699 The Daily Freeman (ISSN 074-64932) is published Monday through Saturday. The Sunday Freeman (ISSN 076-8164) is published Sunday. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Daily Freeman, 79 Hurley Ave., Kingston, NY 12401. Copyright 2017. No reproduction or reuse of material without express written consent. To request permission to reprint material, contact the editor. This newspaper is protected under the Federal Copyright Act. Member, Alliance for Audit Media