Museum-Quality Roentgen Furniture and Legendary Tapestries Create a Six-Figure Result for the Lempertz Decorative Arts Auction

With a convertible table by David Roentgen, the decorative arts auction offered international bidders the chance to acquire a museum-quality piece of such exceptional quality that it is now almost impossible to find on the market. At the auction held on 20th May at Lempertz in Cologne, this outstanding item achieved a price of €165,000 and became the top lot of the auction “Silver · Decorative Arts · Important Mortars from the Jena Collection”. A highly significant architect’s table by David’s father, Abraham Roentgen, confirmed the high regard in which top-quality furniture is held at Lempertz. 

Just how sought-after historical pieces of the finest craftsmanship are on the art market was further demonstrated by a large-scale tapestry featuring floral motifs and small birds. The tapestry was produced in the 16th century in the Southern Netherlands. A bidder from another European country secured the lot for €124,000, thereby outbidding all other interested parties. The tapestry thus became the highest-valued item in the auction, ahead of a depiction of two satyrs on the hunt, which fetched €38,000, and a tapestry featuring the motif ‘A Ruler Dining at an Encampment’, probably produced in Tournai around 1500, which sold for €34,000.

A collection of sculptures from a private collection in the Rhineland also attracted considerable interest. The Museum Schnütgen in Cologne secured a 14th-century reliquary head of Saint Paul at auction for €66,000. A bust reliquary of a holy queen, dating from around 1500, was sold to a private collector for €23,000.

The silver section featured a notable rosewater bowl made for the Counts of Preysing, which sold for around €70,000. In the modern silver section, a charger plate by Henry van de Velde fetched €22,000. Pieces from the Seawolf Collection were also particularly popular. Here, for example, the Arts & Crafts vase ‘Cyrus’ by Archibald Knox fetched a good €3,000, doubling its estimate. 

Modernist works were also in high demand in the field of porcelain and ceramic art. A vase by Dame Lucie Rie fetched €10,000, whilst a sgraffito bowl by the same artist sold for €29,000. 

Jan Bykowski
Press and PR
bykowski@lempertz.com
Tel. 0049 (0)221 925729 -57