Paris-based Sotheby’s auction house raised a total of €18.6 million ($21.5 million) from the collection of late real estate tycoon Manny Davidson in two live auctions this week. The results from Wednesday’s evening sale and Thursday’s day sale mark the highest total for a single-owner auction in France this year, and the figure will almost certainly climb even higher as the third online auction in the series concludes on Friday.
Titled “The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Mercy,” the three sales include nearly 500 lots, including rediscovered Old Master works, 19th-century British paintings, 18th-century gold enamels, and an automatic clock designed by famed inventor James Cox. (Davidson died last year at age 93.)
Chloe Stead, Sotheby’s global head of private sales, said in a preview before the sale that she had high hopes for several lots. These include Michael Swewts’ A young man in a turban holds an upward-facing Romer: a nail test (1648–52). It sold on Wednesday for €1.6 million ($1.8 million) against an estimate of €800,000 to €1,200,000 ($925,000 to $1.3 million). That’s a nice result, but it’s worth noting that in 2023, a rediscovered Sweerts sold at Christie’s for more than $16 million.
Wednesday’s auction totaled €13.8 million ($15.9 million), with Old Master paintings sold for a total of €7.3 million ($8.4 million); the works had a combined estimate of €6.6 million ($7.6 million). Among them Thomas de Keyser Portrait of a silversmith, possibly Christian Van Vianin (1600–67), sold for €698,500 ($808,000) against a high estimate of €600,000 ($690,000), as well as the rediscovered A study of a boy’s head (1614) by Peter Paul Rubens, originally hung as part of a large study in the Louvre. It sold for €635,000 ($734,000), just below its high estimate of €700,000 ($809,000).
Louis-Xavier Joseph, head of Sotheby’s furniture department in Paris, said: “The depth and quality of the Manny Davidson collection are truly remarkable, with each piece telling a story of passion, sophistication and curiosity.” art news After it goes on sale Wednesday. “From Old Master paintings to rare examples of decorative arts, sculptures and clocks, each item bears the mark of the collector’s extraordinary eye. The enthusiasm of the bidders from around the world and the outstanding results we witnessed tonight in so many categories speak to his innate instinct for quality and beauty in all its forms.”
British antiques dealer Francis Norton wrote in the auction catalogue: “I met Manny very late in his collecting career and I realized immediately that he was a very special man with an excellent eye for quality. He had an extraordinary gift, which cannot be learned, of being able to go into a shop, fair or auction and select the best items. Although he was often very nervous about prices, he always knew when he had to pay for something special, and this sale reflects that.”
In the evening sale, 83% of the 84 items were sold by lot, with the majority of buyers coming from Europe and a third from the United States. Sotheby’s said the auction room was full and said bidding was “intense.”
Joshua Reynolds’ amazing performance Self-portrait in doctor’s robe (circa 1770) was sought after by five bidders, with the final price reaching €838,200 ($970,000) against an estimate of €500,000 ($578,000). This painting is a preparatory study for the more famous Reynolds Self-Portrait exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1780. During a walkthrough last month, Julian Gascoigne, Sotheby’s senior specialist in British paintings, told us art news “There are few self-portraits as good as this one in Reynolds’s private collection, and what’s interesting about this picture is that it was a complete discovery in the 1990s when it appeared at the Phillips Gallery.”
Cox’s aforementioned George III silver-gilt automatic clock, made around 1780, sparked a bidding war between five people and eventually soared to a high estimate of €150,000 ($173,000) to reach €571,500 ($661,000). It was a great night for timing. The collection of timepieces grossed €1.3 million ($1.5 million), against a high estimate of €960,000 ($1.1 million).
Highlights from Thursday’s auction, which brought in a total of €4.8 million ($5.5 million), included a late 16th-century Venetian latticinio glass standing bowl, which sold for 12 times its high estimate of €25,000 ($29,000) for €304,800 ($352,000) after two determined bidders.
Abraham Blommaert Vieil homme enbuste portant un manteau brun et un chapeau; Vieille femme enbuste portant un manteau brun et coiffée d’un folard (1634) more than doubled the high estimate, reaching €104,140 ($120,000), while A George III harpsichord built in 1760 by Jacob Kickman exceeded its high estimate of €50,000 ($58,000) to achieve €82,550 ($95,000). Of Thursday’s 218 lots, 82% have been sold by lot.
“Manny Davidson was a true connoisseur, a man of curiosity, culture and generosity whose collection reflected his lifelong commitment to beauty in all its forms,” said Mario Tavella, chairman of Sotheby’s France and president of Sotheby’s Europe. art news After sale. “His eye was both keen and playful, and he constantly sought out works of extraordinary quality and character. The auction series presented by Sotheby’s Paris is not only a testament to his vision and connoisseurship, but also to the deep emotional connections that his treasures continue to inspire among collectors around the world.”
