First day of Sotheby's Russian sales fetches $12.5 mln

The first day of Sotheby's annual Russian art sales fetched 7.9 million pounds ($12.5 mln) with a painting by Boris Kustodiev selling for over twice its pre-sale estimate

LONDON, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - The first day of Sotheby's annual Russian art sales fetched 7.9 million pounds ($12.5 mln) with a painting by Boris Kustodiev selling for over twice its pre-sale estimate, a RIA Novosti correspondent said on Tuesday.

Although the auction house described the sales as "solid" only 17 of the 27 art works were sold and it failed to reach the maximum estimate of 9.9 million pounds ($16 million).

A new record was set for a Kustodiev painting with The Village Fair, from a private French collection, fetching over 2.8 million pounds ($4.6 mln) including buyer's premium, twice above its pre-sale estimate of 1-1.5 million pounds ($1.6 - $2.4 mln).

The second highest price achieved during bidding was for Nanny with Children by Isaak Brodsky, presumed lost for more than a century. It was sold to an anonymous phone bidder for 937,000 pounds ($1.5 million), an auction record for Brodsky.

"The prices realized for the rediscovered painting by Brodsky and the work by Kustodiev, both of which set new auction records, demonstrate that the buyers and bidders in this adjusted market are prepared to compete hard for high-quality works that are fresh to the market and rare," said Jo Vickery, the head of Sotheby's Russian Art Department.

Other highlights of the sales included The Treasure by Nikolai Roerich ($1.1 million), Alexander Yakovlev's Footbridge At Fort Archambault ($873,000) and Konstantin Korovin's Boulevard De Sebastopol ($776,200).

Auction records were also established for Russian artists Konstantin Kryzhitsky and Vladimir Lebedev, whose works, Landscape and Still Life of Flowers fetched $466,000 and $186,000, respectively.

The auction house expects total sales from Russian Week to be about $24-35 million. A similar event last year fetched $64 million.

The sales will continue with a sale of Russian contemporary art on Tuesday. On Wednesday the auction house will hold three sales: Russian Paintings Day Sale; Continental, Russian Books and Manuscripts, Russian Works of Art, Faberge and Icons Day Sale.