Sale:
Monday 6 May at 7pm: lots 1-189
Tuesday 7 May at 2pm: lots 200-376
Results here
(lot 11, Pieter Lisaert, res.: € 16000)
Below you can find a chronological overview of the prices and lots sold during the auctions of the 6th and 7th of May (commission not included).
‘The wedding procession’ (lot 12), always having been part of the same family collection, went up to an impressive price of € 40 000. Ever since 1937, the work has been held for safekeeping at the castle of den Wal in Kapellen near Antwerp. Once attributed to Pieter Breughel the younger, the tableau has recently been ascribed to Marten van Cleve by Klaus Ertz.One of two surprises took place at the very beginning of the evening sale. Lot 7, ‘Allegory of earthly vain and heavenly salvation’, a sixteenth century painting, was sold for €34 000, or rather six times its original estimated price of € 6/8000. Other biblical works such as ‘Christ blessing the children’ by Adam van Noort (lot 10) and ‘Parable of the five wise men and the five foolish virgins’ by Peter Lisaert (lot 11), went up to prices of € 30 000 and € 16 000, respectively. On top, a triptych related to the circle of Pieter Coecke Van Aelst (lot 2) made it to a bid of € 17 000.
(lot 10, Adam Van Noort (1562-1641), res.: € 30000)
Not just paintings sold quickly and smoothly, antiquities and object from the fifteenth to the seventeenth century proved popular among bidders as well. A collection of mortars, albast and religious sculpture made in Brabant and the Southern part of the Netherlands, originating from a private collection in Ghent, were almost all sold without issue.
A mid-fifteenth century albast produced in Nottingham depicting the burial of Christ, estimated at € 6/8000, doubled its price and was sold for a strong € 14 000.
Among the albast, ‘Jonathan and the Whale’ was regrettably not sold, while ‘the adoration of the shepherds’ proved to be the most popular, going up to a price of € 2800. Finally, a mortar by Anthony Wilkes (1598-1663) produced in 1661 was sold for € 7100.
Another wonderful surprise was a sixteenth century ivory piece with a depiction of Jesse’s tree. The Indo-Portuguese work from Sri Lanka (lot 62) rose at a speeding rate from € 1200 to € 8000.
Additional noteworthy results: a sitting church father (Southern Netherlands, early XVI, lot 77, est.: € 1000/1250, res.: € 9000), a tapestry from Brussels (lot 97, res.: € 8000), a walnut medaillon by J.C. De Cock (lot 94, res.: € 3000), a seventeenth century study sheet by an unknown artist with goat and two horns (lot 164, res.: € 12 000), a fourteenth century French writing table made of oak tree (lot 51, res.: € 3000) and a ‘Pompa Introitus’-book of Caspar Govaerts containing pictures made by Rubens (lot 143, res.: € 3400).
To continue, an Italian reliquary (lot 50), an altarpiece depicting the burial of Christ (lot 70) and a Holy Catherine produced in Southern Germany, ca 1500 (lot 72), all made € 6000.
Moving on, old masters had to move aside for romanticism. Of special interest in this regard was a awe-inspiring interior by Evert-Jan Boks (82 x 116). The piece, titled ‘When the cat is away, the mice will play,’ was dated 1887 and was estimated at € 40/50 000. Nevertheless its impressive outlook, the piece regrettably did not find a buyer.
A portrait of a woman in sixteenth century clothing by Eugène Verboeckhoven (lot 255) did however spark a great amount of interest, and so doubled its estimated price of € 6/8000 to a hammer price of € 13 000. A typical Jos Schippers, ‘Commères’ left the room at € 6200, while a relief by Jef Lambeaux generated a bid of € 7000 (lot 271).
To end this summary in climax, two nineteenth century chinese vases are in need of mentioning. Estimated at € 3/4000, they went on to book a smashing hammer price of € 40 000 and so proved to be the ultimate surprise of the two-day auction.