The decline of the Russian economy has led Sotheby’s to drastically reduce their Fall sales of Russian art and works of art. They even tucked them quietly into the slot right before the marquee sales of Impressionist and Modern art. But the Russian market has some surprises left. Yesterday, the sale that was estimated between $6 and $9 million wound up taking in $13.8m. That’s a strong showing. Here’s RIA Novosti with the noteworthy lots:

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• The auction’s top lot was Mother and Child by Russian modernist painter Boris Grigoryev (1886-1939), which went for about $1.37 million, more than twice its pre-sale estimate

• Peter the Great: a rare Russian Award Portrait Miniature with Diamonds, which fetched over $1.3 million with an estimate of only $80,000-120,000.

• A painting by another famous Russian modernist, Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939), was sold for a surprising $1.178 million with an estimate of only $600,000-800,000. The artist painted the portrait of his wife and son in 1918, and it was part of a private collection in Germany.

• Among the other Grigoryev’s paintings that doubled the estimates were Faces of Russia, sold for $986,500, and Pont-Aven, Evening, which fetched $890,500.

Russian Art Fetches Surprising $13.8mln at Sotheby’s (RIANovosti)