Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
22 STYLE | report<br />
A MAGIC CARPET RIDE<br />
In 2013, an antique Persian rug from the William Andrews Clark estate<br />
sold for the astounding sum of $36 million.<br />
Auction house Sotheby’s set a seemingly modest pre-auction<br />
estimate of between $5 and $7 million. When the final hammer<br />
dropped, this handwoven rarity easily exceeded all sale expectations<br />
– especially those of its seller, Corcoran Gallery of Art in<br />
Washington. Paying it forward, the money raised from the sale<br />
went towards further artistic investments by the art museum (since<br />
closed).<br />
While its origins remain carpeted in mystery, it is generally agreed<br />
the rug is well over 360 years old, and now, it’s officially the most<br />
expensive rug ever sold. We’re sure the proud new owner won’t<br />
tolerate muddy shoes.<br />
WALK THIS WAY<br />
Alberto Giacometti’s L’Homme au doigt sold for a blistering<br />
$194 million in 2015.<br />
Giacometti initiated his portfolio of easily recognisable,<br />
elongated figures with L’Homme au doigt in 1947. Later in<br />
2015, the surrealist bronze sculpture fetched the highest<br />
price in history, when it was successfully auctioned at<br />
Christie’s New York for $194 million.<br />
A hedge-fund billionaire from New York became the<br />
lucky owner of the sculpture, of which only six were ever<br />
cast. The seasoned bidder boasts an incredibly impressive<br />
art collection that already included Giacometti’s The<br />
Chariot and Damien Hirst’s iconic shark in formaldehyde<br />
work, The physical impossibility of death in the mind of<br />
someone living.<br />
AN IMPERIAL SEAL OF APPROVAL<br />
An 18th century Chinese vase found in a dusty suburban attic<br />
smashed all records at auction.<br />
In 2010, a brother and sister from the outskirts of London found<br />
the incredible antique upon clearing out the attic of their parents’<br />
modest home. When taken to auction in Britain, it took 30<br />
minutes of ferocious bidding until the gavel fell at an unbelievable<br />
$102 million, well beyond the predicted selling price of a<br />
comparatively mere $1.9 million.<br />
The Qianlong porcelain vase bore an imperial seal, coaxing<br />
experts to believe the relic was originally intended for one of the<br />
imperial palaces.
Change language