For the sake of a few lines in the provenance of works sometimes spent years of research, but the effort is worth it

Bloomberg reporter on the eve Russian auction Sotheby's talked with an expert Svetlana Honest. Researcher from St. Petersburg restores history of existence auction lots. The result was an article about how much it costs a good provenance.

Among recent achievements, Svetlana honest - provenance bovenitom inlaid handle umbrella firm of Carl Faberge. She managed to find a bill showing the purchase of this umbrella in 1897 for 185 rubles Nicholas II and Alexandra. Due to the imperial provenance of the umbrella stick went under the hammer for 80.5 thousand dollars (Sotheby's, November 2010). "Without a lot of these owners are unlikely to have exceeded its estimate of 15-20 thousand dollars", - believes the vice president of Sotheby's Russian art Karen Kettering (Karen Kettering).

mosaic table. 1830-1833 Master Gioacchino Barberi (Italy). 84 x 104 Sotheby's. 04/12/2011. Lot № 254 Estimate: 400-600 thousand dollars Source: sothebys.com

One of the top lots of today's evening auction at Sotheby's in New York - a mosaic table, made in the 1830-1833 Italian workshop Barberie for the Russian imperial court. Provenance of the ornamental work, for which the plan to bail out the 400-600 thousand dollars, also merit Svetlana Honest. More than a year has gone in search of materials on the table, the expert affectionately calls him "my baby". As sources say, mosaic table ordered the company Barberi Prince Anatolii Demidov - representative of the dynasty of industrialists Demidovs, almost all his life has lived in Italy. It is known that the relationship of Nicholas I and Prince Demidov were strained, so it is very likely that the table was commissioned as a gift to appease the emperor. Nicholas I was the chief patron of the shop Gioacchino Barberi.

sothebys.com

Most studies take years, but sometimes it 's lucky. For example, only two months left on it to find documents about the two pairs of skis and leather boots early twentieth century. These skis in 1910, were donated to the little Tsarevich Alexei Moskovsky ski club. Six years were asked to become the official heir to the patron of the club. Svetlana Honest was the first who in the past 50 years, picked up these archival documents. Skiing Tsarevich appear at today's auction at Sotheby's estimate: 60-80 thousand dollars.

So why now the imperial provenance? Director of the Department of Russian Art Christie's Mark Merka (Mark Moehrke) believes that depending on the subject is the origin can easily double or triple the price.

last November at Christie's, Faberge brooch with a flower lily of the valley was sold for 32,450 pounds (53,000 dollars) Estimé 10-15 thousand pounds. Presumably, the new owner happy that once this ornament Empress Alexandra Feodorovna gave Baroness Ungern-Sternberg.

«beautiful works of art is good in itself, but only the story gives him wings" - says Svetlana Honest.

material was prepared by Maria Onuchina, AI

Source: bloomberg.com , artinvestment.ru