The Master, Judd Tully, spotted the bids and the price action at Christie’s yesterday:

La Cuirasse d’or, another bare-breasted subject, from circa 1907, fetching £2,897,250 (est. £1.5–2.5 million). The latter last sold at auction at Christie’s New York in 1980 for $315,000.

Impressionist and Post-Impressionist-era pictures sold well but not compared to previous outings. Paul Gauguin’s vivid landscape Les dindons, Pont-Aven, from 1888, made £2,057,250/$2,958,326 (est. £2–3 million), selling over the phone. The work last appeared at Christie’s New York in May 1998, when it sold for $2,862,500, meaning the seller made off with about enough of a profit for a short ride in a London black cab.

Alexej von Jawlensky’s color-charged portrait Mädchen mit roter Schleife (1911) selling for £1,945,250 (est. £1.8–2.5 million). It last sold at Christie’s London a year ago for £2,932,500.

One of the hottest entries, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s double-sided Drei Pferde (recto), Landschaft (verso) from circa 1923 sold for £959,650 (est. £300–500,000).

Christie’s Brings Back Confidence (ArtInfo)