The rumour that Christie’s, the Londonbased auction house with 85 branches in 43 countries, including New York, London, Los Angeles, Paris Geneva and Hong Kong, plans to open an office in Moscow became public in the early 2007, if not before.
It has so far not opened its Moscow office, although it has been cooperating with Russian museums and galleries in order to demonstrate its lots in Russia ahead of sales in Europe and the United States, just like Sotheby’s, the world’s second largest auction house and its main rival.
In November last year, Christie’s presented 20 works of Russian art in the Victoria Art Foundation gallery, owned by Leonid Mikhelson, the billionaire chief executive of Novatek, the country's second-largest natural gas producer.
In March 2007, it presented Vasily Vereshchagin's “Solomon's Wall” (1884- 85), a painting of Jerusalem's Wailing Wall, which had never been on display in Russia. The Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow had not seen so many visitors for a long time, but nobody seemed willing to buy.
This did not discourage Christie’s, and in October it organised a presale exhibition in Moscow’s renovated Pashkov Mansion.
During the presentation, which lasted only two days and was nearly impossible to get to, the auction house announced its intention to open an office in Moscow.
It presented the top lots of four auctions it intended to hold in the remaining two months – Old Master Pictures and Russian Works of Art in London, and Impressionist and Modern Art in New York.
The Russian lot includes works by Russian artists who lived in France after the October 1917 revolution, notably 15 works by Konstantin Somov and Natalia Goncharova’s “Still life with lilacs,” 1905 (estimate: $1.4mn-$1.8mn), an exceptional example of the early oeuvre of the Russian artist that symbolises tender love and the romance of springtime.
A gem of the Russian lot was the so-called Rothschild Egg, made for the Rothschild family in 1902 by Peter Carl Faberge. It contains a diamond-encrusted cockerel, which pops out every hour to flap its wings and nod its head while opening and shutting its beak and crowing (estimate: ₤6-₤9mn).
Highlighting Old Master Pictures at the exhibition were “Saint Praxidis” by Jan Vermeer van Delft (estimate: $12mn), and Peter Paul Rubens’ “Two studies of a young man” (estimate: $8-$12mn).
The panel (46.5 x 65.5 cm.) is a study for Melchior in “The Adoration of the Magi” at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon and shows a Levantine head, pictured en face and en profil respectively.
Impressionist and Modern Art featured “Odalisque. Blue harmony” by Henry Matisse (estimate: $15-$20mn), as well as works by Amedeo Modigliani, Pablo Picasso, Camille Pissarro and Paul Gaugin.
“Liz” by Andy Warhol, which highlighted the selection of Post War and Contemporary Art (estimate: in excess of $25mn), immortalised Elizabeth Taylor at a point in time when a severe illness led many to believe she would not survive.
The reason behind Christie’s intention to open a Moscow office is clear: the number of Russian billionaires has grown from seven in 2002 to 53 in 2007, with a total personal wealth of $282bn. There are more billionaires in Russia than in any other country (with the exception of the United States and Germany), and they have become increasingly active at art auctions.
