Jacopo Ligozzi Leads Artcurial $2.42m Old and 19th Century Drawings Auction

A work by Jacopo Ligozzi was the headline sale at Artcurial 'Old and 19th Century Drawings' auction on March 25 in Paris.

• The sale totaled $2.42m (EUR2.09m), exceeding the pre-sale high estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 96 works sold totaling $2.42m.
• Estimates totaled: $1.52m (low) and $2.17m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 73% of the original 132 lots announced.

The star lot was: Jacopo Ligozzi, Dante and Virgil at the Tribunal of Minos, the second circle of Hell reserved for sins of lust; fifth canto of Dante's Inferno (Undated), which sold for $951,400, 729% above its $114,700 low estimate.

The outperformer sold for 937% above its low estimate. Anne Claude Philippe de Caylus, Tubières de Grimoard de Pestels de Lévis, Count of Caylus, Marquis d’Esternay, Baron de Branzac, known as the Count of Caylus (Paris, 1692–1765) (Undated), sold for $23,800 ($2,294 low estimate).

• 56 works, or 58%, sold above their high estimate.
• 40 works, or 42%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 0 works, or 0%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

34 works were bought-in, including: Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, Two Studies of Draped Figures with Violin Pen and brown ink (Undated), estimated at $68,800 (low) to $91,700 (high).

Withdrawn before the sale

2 works were withdrawn before the sale, including: Eugene Delacroix, Autumn Landscape: Rocky Undergrowth (Undated), estimated at $114,700 (low) to $172,000 (high).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. Estimates, sale prices and totals are converted into US dollars. 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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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.