At first glance, today’s evening sale of Russian paintings at Sotheby’s London appears to have yielded lackluster results as only 16 of the 26 paintings offered found buyers. However, the high buy-in rate was redeemed by the relatively large number of works that sold for hammer prices above their estimates.

Among the sale’s estimate-topping highlights were Sergei Vinogradov’s View of Ai-petri, Crimea, which more than tripled its high estimate, selling for a final price of £623,650 and Alexander Iacovleff’s Titi and Naranghe, which exceeded the house’s expectations by 45%, bringing a final price of £2,505,250. In the end, the sale total fell just above the low end of the house’s pre-sale estimate, grossing £10.5 million

For more analysis of the Russian art market, see the latest edition of The ART Report.

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