Andy Warhol Leads Phillips $17.28m '20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale' in London

A work by Andy Warhol was the headline sale at Phillips '20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale' on March 7 in London.

• The sale totaled $17.28m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 22 works sold totaling $17.28m.
• Estimates totaled: $17.25m (low) and $23.96m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 76% of the original 29 lots announced.

The star lot was: Andy Warhol, Portrait of Princess Diana (1982), which sold for $3.07m, 100% above its $1.52m low estimate. It has been traded 3 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 400% above its low estimate. Alia Ahmad, Malga - The Place In Which We Gather (2022), sold for $129,400 ($25,300 low estimate). It has been traded twice in the past.

• 8 works, or 36%, sold above their high estimate.
• 13 works, or 59%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 1 works, or 5%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

6 works were backed by guarantees, including: Sigmar Polke, Silberner Zwilling (1975). It sold for $970,500, 4% below its $1.01m low estimate.. It has been traded twice in the past.

Works that did not sell

4 works were bought-in, including: Adrian Ghenie, Self-Portrait as a Monkey (2010), estimated at $759,500 (low) to $1.01m (high). It has been traded twice in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

3 works were withdrawn before the sale, including: Pierre-Auguste Renoir, La petite pêcheuse (1879) estimated at $1.14m (low) to $1.52m (high).

Terms and definitions

All results include the fees and premiums added to the price of a work of art when the auctioneer's hammer falls. Sale prices are compared to the auction house’s low estimate, which do not include premiums.

Guarantees: Sometimes an auction house guarantees to pay a seller for a work, regardless of whether the bidding reaches the reserve price, a figure that is typically confidential.

Bought-in: If there are no bids for a work, or if bidding falls short of the reserve price, the lot is unsold or “bought-in”.

Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.

Premiums: Typically a sliding-scale of charges paid in addition to the hammer price by the buyer, plus any other fees.