Dorotheum has unveiled an Enigma encryption device produced in 1944, used in World War II by the German military, to be sold at the Vienna-based auction house on June 4 with an estimate of €30,000–€40,000.

Invented by German engineer Arthur Scherbius around 1918, Enigma was first introduced to German military use in 1926. Believed to be indecipherable by enemies, the machine became a crucial tool for the army in the later 1920s to 1930s. It was placed under restricted production for military and state use before the start of the war.

During WWII, at London’s Bletchley Park, a team of army cryptographers under the direction of famed British mathematician Allan Turing deciphered Nazi Enigma radio messages. The codebreaking team’s interception was crucial to Allied success and played a central role in the “Ultra” mission used to trace German submarines. The Enigma encryption interception did not come to public light until decades after the war, in the 1970s.

The storied wartime device is a rarity in the secondary market, with an estimated 20,000 editions made in the pre- and inter-war period. About 50 remain in private and institutional collections. The highest price paid for an original Enigma model includes one sold at Christie’s in June 2017 for $547,500.

Christie’s announced it will auction modern Chinese-French painter Sanyu’s White Chrysanthemum in a Blue and White Jardinière, completed between the 1940s and 1950s, in its Hong Kong contemporary evening sale on July 10. Painted in an unusual color scheme (there are only four known like it), the work carries an estimate of $7.8 million–$10 million.

Two of the other red-ground, white floral still life works by Sanyu are in the permanent collection of the National Museum of History in Taipei. Sanyu’s market has seen recent moves higher. In November 2019, Christie’s sold the painter’s Five Nudes for $38.8 million in a Hong Kong contemporary evening sale, establishing a new record.

“White Chrysanthemum in a Blue and White Jardinière is one of the finest examples of Sanyu’s floral creations, exemplifying his innate ability to blend Chinese artistic traditions with Western modern aesthetics to create an ingenious work of art,” says Evelyn Lin, Deputy Chairman, International Director and Head of Department, Modern and Contemporary Art, Asia Pacific.Continue Reading

In a live-streamed press conference this morning, Sotheby’s executives announced key changes to its upcoming auctions in New York and London. The house confirmed plans to offer a selection of high-value works from across the Old Masters, Impressionist and modern, and modern British and contemporary art categories, to be auctioned together in a live evening sale on July 28. The move marks another adjustment to the traditional formatting of the major sales.

The novel cross-categorical London initiative follows recent news of a major classical African art sculpture from the collection of Bernice and Sidney Clyman to highlight the New York contemporary evening sale. And a robust selection of 35 Latin American masterpieces, including works by Wifredo Lam, Fernando Botero, and Frida Kahlo valued at $22 million will be auctioned across its 20th-century evening and day sales the week of June 29. As the art market continues to adapt to the changing landscape of collecting through virtual means, Sotheby’s, along with its auction house competitors, has embraced the blurring of lines between fine art categories.

In the teleconference by Sotheby’s executives—which included elusive owner Patrick Drahi, whose address in the press conference was his first in five years—Helena Newman, chairman of Sotheby’s Europe and head of Impressionist and modern art in London, noted that the evening sale merger addresses new client needs. “This is something I think will really resonate with today’s global collectors, who do not see things in typical traditional art market categories,” said Newman. “We anticipate that it will speak to the rapidly accelerating number of people transacting with Sotheby’s who actually come with no preconceptions about the sale formats.”

Along with the news of the reformatted London evening sale offering works spanning several centuries, Sotheby’s announced plans to stage a completely remote setup for its marquee modern and contemporary day and evening sales in New York. With restrictions in New York regarding coronavirus still in place, no clients will be present in the room. Instead, head auctioneer Oliver Barker will lead the June 29 auctions remotely from the London salesroom, along with a live stream of his global colleagues as they telephone bid with collectors. In Asia, where the majority of local restrictions have been lifted, Sotheby’s Hong Kong sale will take place as a live event. Patti Wong, chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, said the regional office was not concerned about the potential impact of the rising political unrest amid Hong Kong’s protest movement on collecting behavior.

As the art market continues to adapt through virtual channels, Sotheby’s has expanded its foray into reformatting the auction sale to meet new client needs during the coronavirus pandemic. In the first edition of its kind, under the direction of Sotheby’s Asia Chairman, Nicholas Chow, the house unveiled a new silent auction series, a hybrid format between a private sale and live auction, which took place over the course of two days from its Hong Kong headquarters.

Echoing Sotheby’s Hong Kong Head of Contemporary art Yuki Terase’s curation of a series of several “pop-up” style auctions featuring only a handful of works, In Confidence brought 13 lots to bidders featuring masterpiece level works by 20th century foremost names in the Hong Kong market alongside high-value luxury and antique items. Exhibited online in a private viewing room digital format, the offerings were tagged with a presale value of over HK$350 million ($45,144,890 USD) with works ranging in price from HK$5 million to 70 million ($644,927–$9.1 million).

ArtBnk, a New Hampshire–based software company founded in 2017 that uses artificial intelligence to provide art valuations, estimated the cross-category Hong Kong presale estimate of the four leadings lots at more than $11 million. With works by Chinese masters alongside jadeite jewels, auction house executives are now meeting collecting demand through narrowed selections of cross-categorical lots that appeal to the luxury experience buyers want.

The first of this sale three stars was Chinese painter Zhang Xiaogang’s Bloodline – Big Family: Family No. 2, created in 1993, the second in the artist’s pivotal series Bloodline – Big Family series. A masterpiece level work, the first edition from the series is in the permanent collection of Japan’s Tokushima Art Museum. ArtBnK has valued the piece at $3.86 million in accordance with its previous sale history—the painting realized $6.72 million in a 2012 public sale at Sotheby’s.

Other leading lots include Ice Candy Lollipop from 1998 by Yoshitomo Nara, featuring the artist’s signature expressive child against a neutral ground. Nara’s market has been on the rise following a new auction record of $25 million set last year at Sotheby’s and preceding the artist’s pending traveling retrospective at LACMA. ArtBnK estimated the Nara painting, which has never before come to auction, with a value of $4.96 million. Another untitled classic dot painting by Yayoi Kusama from the artist’s early era in New York made in 1960 is estimated at $3.44 million, and Zao Wou-Ki’s 1980 triptych 16.01.1980 is slated with a value of $1.94 million. It was last sold at Christie’s in 2017 for $810,428.

With estimates available only upon request, Sotheby’s has found a new format that provides buyers anonymity and eases the concerns of consignors reticent to sell in a public auction in the current uncertain market. The sale strategy also tends to a rising momentum in the market leading up to the marquee 20th Century July auctions. The limited sale offerings allows for the house to meet a still-active demand without disrupting the market’s anticipated live sale reboot, bringing highly recognizable works with historical strength to the region’s client base. 

Sotheby’s has secured a major collection of Latin American art works that will hit the auction block during the week of June 29 in New York. “The Vanguard Spirit: Modern and Surrealist Masterworks from an Important Estate” comprises 35 lots to be offered across Sotheby’s contemporary and impressionist sales. In total, these works are estimated to bring in more than $22 million. Another selection of 200 works from the private estate will be auctioned across various collecting categories this fall.

Leading the Latin American works headed to sale is Wifredo Lam’s 1943 canvas Omi Obini, which is expected to reach between $8 million–$12 million in the impressionist and modern evening sale. The work is tagged with the highest auction presale estimate ever attached to the artist’s work. If sold, the work will break Lam’s standing record of $5.2 million set during a sale at Sotheby’s Paris in December 2017.

Other works include Rufino Tamayo’s Madre Feliz (1949), valued with a presale estimate of $1.2 million–$1.8 million, and Fernando Botero’s 1971 portrait The President, featuring the artist’s signature political critique, which carries an estimate of $800,000–$1.2 million and will be offered in the contemporary art day sale.

Female Surrealists account for some of the works that are expected to be most closely watched. Among the works by those artists set to be sold are painter Remedios Varo’s Harmony (1956), valued at $2 million–$3 million; Leonora Carrington’s Tuesday (1946), with an estimate of $700,000–$900,000; and Leonor Fini’s Women on the Terrace (1938), which is slated to make $400,000–$600,000.

“Spanning over 40 years of enlightened acquisitions, this collection reveals the prescience of a gifted and inquisitive eye—one capable of discerning museum quality artworks before they were coveted by the collecting world at large,” Anna Di Stasi, Sotheby’s director of Latin American art, said in a statement.

The sale marks a rising demand for modern and contemporary Latin American artists as well as works by female modernists and Surrealists who were not part of the European vanguard that has long dominated the 20th-century art auctions. Sotheby’s first introduced works by preeminent Latin American artists to its modern and contemporary sales in 2017. As collectors seek works by important modern figures from the margins, Latin American Surrealists and female modernists are seeing belated attention; Fini, Carrington, and Varo are making their debut next month in Sotheby’s New York Impressionist and Modern evening sales.

New York has not lifted its lockdown yet, but Sotheby’s said in its release that the sale dates for the marquee auctions remain set. Pending local restrictions, works will be viewable to collectors via appointment.