Sotheby’s had a good Old Master sale in London last night:

Tonight Sotheby’s London Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale realised a total of £20,074,500/ $31,364,399/ €23,437,051, comfortably within the pre-sale estimate of £17.6–24.2 million. The sale was 68.4% sold by lot and 89.5% by value, with four works selling for more than £1 million, and set two new artist records for Jan Havicksz Steen and Cornelius Engebrechtsz.

–         The top lot of the sale was a pair of paintings by Johann Zoffany – the most important works by the artist to appear on the market in recent years – The Garden at Hampton House, with Mr and Mrs David Garrick taking tea and The Shakespeare Temple at Hampton House, which brought £6,761,250 /$10,563,777/ €7,893,784 (pre-sale est. £6-8 million).

–         A further sale highlight was Jan Havicksz Steen’s masterpiece An elegant company in an interior with figures playing cards at a table, which sold for £4,875,250 /$7,588,967/ €5,670,857 (est. £4.5-6 million), establishing a new record for the artist at auction.