In Brief: Christie’s
Published: October 1, 2009
 
Courtesy Christie's
An Anglo-Flemish portrait from the 1620s that may depict Nicholas Lanier
Courtesy Christie's
Marcel Duchamp, "Rotoreliefs (Optical Discs)" (1935)
July 8: Old Masters and 19th-Century Art 782 lots sold for £3,579,025 ($5,765,809) New York July 22: Prints and Multiples 302 lots sold for $1,159,312 LONDON—Top lot: An early- to mid-1620s Anglo-Flemish school portrait of a gentleman — probably Nicholas Lanier, the English composer and court lutenist to Charles I — ignited fierce competition among three bidders, who drove the price to £445,250 ($717,298), nearly 10 times the high estimate of £50,000 ($75,000). The catalogue notes the sitter’s physical similarities to Lanier — gray-blue eyes, auburn hair, the shape of his beard and his distinctive nose. The ring on his pinky finger also appears in another portrait of the musician, by Van Dyck. NEW YORK—Top lot: The complete set of 12 Rotoreliefs (Optical Discs), 1935, by Marcel Duchamp sold for $20,000, four times the high estimate. The Dada master made multiple editions of Rotoreliefs until the mid-1960s, but this particular group was part of the original unnumbered edition of 500. "In Brief: Christie's" originally appeared in the October 2009 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's October 2009 Table of Contents.
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