Pieter Brueghel the Younger Leads Sotheby's $4.97m 'Master Paintings' Auction in New York

A work by Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the headline sale at Sotheby's 'Master Paintings' auction on May 22 in New York.

• The sale totaled $4.97m, meeting the pre-sale estimate.

Snapshot of the sale

• 97 works sold totaling $4.97m.
• Estimates totaled: $4.51m (low) and $6.64m (high), excluding premiums.
• The sell-through rate was 84% of the original 115 lots announced.

The star lot was: Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Wedding Dance (Undated), which sold for $960,000, 19% above its $800,000 low estimate. It has been traded twice in the past.

The outperformer sold for 400% above its low estimate. Henri Pierre Danloux, Portrait of Etiennette Rousseé (Undated), sold for $50,400 ($10,000 low estimate). It has been traded 12 times in the past.

• 27 works, or 28%, sold above their high estimate.
• 27 works, or 28%, sold within their low and high estimate.
• 41 works, or 42%, sold below their low estimate.
• 0 sold with undisclosed estimates.

Guaranteed sales

No sales had a guarantee.

Works that did not sell

17 works were bought-in, including: Rudolf Wiegmann, Rome, A View of the Tiber River with Castel Sant'Angelo and Saint Peter's Basilica Beyond (1834), estimated at $80,000 (low) to $120,000 (high). It has been traded twice in the past.

Withdrawn before the sale

1 work was withdrawn before the sale: Follower of Sir Anthony van Dyck, Saint Francis of Assisi in Prayer (Undated) estimated at $10,000 (low) to $15,000 (high).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. 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Withdrawn: This happens when a seller decides, for whatever reason, to withdraw a work before the bidding begins.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.