October 2009, Sale of a castle and modernism

 

The walls were abundantly covered by the collection of romantic paintings from the collection of dealer Chris Van de Ven. Although the larger part of this collection left the block unsold, some paintings still made strong prices: H. Schaefels (lot 42), left for 20000 euros. The same price was fetched for a gilted bronze mantel piece. 18000 euros were needed to lay hands on a breathtaking painting by Ch. Van der Eycken (lot 356).

‘The Glassblower’, one of the rarest bronze sculptures by C. Meunier, was bought by a private collector in the room after a fierce battle against several telephone lines.

 

The second day was ‘modern time’. The first to head for the headlights was Albert Anker (lot 448) with his intimistic portrait of a young girl getting a private collector to cough up 19000 euros (without costs). Eugeen Van Mieghem still moves people in an expensive way, ranging this time from 15000 euros for lots 658/ 659 and 20000 euros for lot 660.

The highest bid of the October sale was for the fabulous compostion, lot 696, by Pierre-Louis Flouquet, climbing up till 58000 euros for a private collector on the phone. A geometrical painting, from the circle of Victor Servranckx (lot 653), finally took a well earned 14500 euros. Two large canvases by A. Mortier (lots 721 and 722) resp. Fetched 18000 and 12000 euros.

Another Antwerp stronghold, Sam Dillemans, raised many happy-to-buy hands: a small female portrait got to 7000 euros; but it was the majestic ‘Lizzy’ (lot 822) that wrapped things up in sheer beauty with her 17000 euros.

On the side of the old books the highest bid, 9000 euros, when to lot 1335, the famous architect book by Serlio, with colouring of a slighter later date.

But the highlight of the sale came at the very end of a long day, when a small but highly exquisite avant-garde collection was offered for sale.

Rare collections of lino cuts by Belgian artists such as Jozef Peeters (lot 1822, 8600 euros), Karel Maes (lot 1824, coll. of 6 postcards, 2800 euros), Pierre-Louis Flouquet , Jos Leonard (lot 1825, coll. of 6 postcards, 2800 euros) sold high above their estimations. The same goes for the collection of avant-garde magazines such as ‘Het Overzicht’, ‘De Driehoek’ and ‘Der Sturm’: harsh competition between private collectors on the phone and in the room took the prices sky high: ‘Der Sturm’, lot 1807, went for 5400 euros, whereas the other two highlights sold resp. for 13000 and 5200 euros.

A most remarkable sale.