Day One Of Sotheby's Ongoing Masters Week Sales Totals $67.8 Million

NEW WORLD AUCTION RECORD FOR ANY FEMALE ARTIST OF THE PRE-MODERN ERA: Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun's Portrait of Muhammad Dervish Khan from 1788 Sells for $7.2 Million, Leading Sotheby's Master Paintings Evening Sale

Auction of Old Master Drawings Achieves $15.1 Million - Highest Total for Any Old Master Drawings Sale at Sotheby's

Led by Sir Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens's Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms, Sold for $8.2 Million - New World Auction Record for Any Drawing by the Iconic Artist

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Sotheby's

Jan 31, 2019, 10:18 ET

NEW YORK, Jan. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Sotheby's (NYSE:BID) annual Masters Week sales series kicked off yesterday in New York, with 170 paintings and drawings sold across two auctions for an overall total of $67.8 million.

The day began with Sir Peter Paul Rubens's drawing of a Nude Study of Young Man with Raised Arms selling for $8.2 million – a new world auction record for any drawing by the iconic artist. That result helped propel the Old Master Drawings sale to a $15.1 million total, which itself marks the highest total for this category in Sotheby's history.

The first day of Sotheby’s 2019 Masters Week sales in New York totaled $67.8 million and was led by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun’s striking ‘Portrait of Muhammad Dervish Khan’, which achieved $7.2 million, a new world auction record for any female artist of the pre-modern era.

Last night's Master Paintings Evening Sale celebrated the work of groundbreaking female artists of the 16^th – 19^th centuries and established multiple auction records, most notably for Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, whose Portrait of Muhammad Dervish Khan achieved an incredible $7.2 million – a new world auction record for any female artist of the pre-modern era.

Sotheby's Masters Week series continues through Saturday, with online sales of Old Masters and 19th Century European Art open for bidding through 6 February.

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