Michelangelo's Drawing Leads Christie's $30.5m Old Master Auction in New York

A work by Michelangelo was the headline sale at Christie's 'Old Master and British Drawings' auction on February 5 in New York.

• The sale totaled $30.51m, exceeding the pre-sale high estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 109 works sold totaling $30.51m.
• Estimates totaled: $3.85m (low) and $5.47m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 83% of the original 131 lots announced.

The star lot was: Michelangelo's, Study for a foot of the Libyan Sibyl (recto); Study of a leg with knee bent (verso) (Undated), which sold for $27.2m, 1,713% above its $1.5m low estimate, setting a new auction record for the artist. It has been traded 7 times in the past.

The outperformer sold for 2757% above its low estimate. Attributed To Anthonie Crussens, View of Tervuren Castle from the north, with soldiers in the foreground (Undated), sold for $57,100 ($2,000 low estimate). It has been traded twice in the past.

• 55 works, or 50%, sold above their high estimate.
• 39 works, or 36%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 15 works, or 14%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

22 works were bought-in, including: Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Portrait of Marie Marcotte; and Portrait of her husband Alexandre Legentil (1846), estimated at $200,000 (low) to $300,000 (high). It has been traded twice in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

0 works were withdrawn

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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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