TEFAF makes a Triumphant Return to Maastricht in March

Name: WHITE Digital Agency
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Mar 13, 2023 Maastricht, Netherlands

Maastricht — March 13, 2023: TEFAF upheld its reputation as the world’s leading fair for museum-quality works of art, making a spectacular return to its traditional March dates. Tens of thousands of collectors and art lovers descended on Maastricht from around the world to see and acquire 7,000 years of the very best art history, presented by 270 exhibitors from 20 countries.

Over 250 museums and institutions visited during the Collectors’ and VIP Previews (9 and 10 March) including a strong cohort from the United States and major European institutions. National Gallery of Washington; Art Institute of Chicago; J. Paul Getty Museum; MoMa; Metropolitan Museum of Art; American Friends of the Louvre; American Friends of the Musée d’Orsay; Guggenheim; Uffizi; Teylers Museum; Van Gough Museum; Rijksmuseum; Museum of Fine Art Boston; Louvre; Toledo Museum; Dallas Museum; Kimbell Museum; Museum Voorlinden; Mauritshuis; Cleveland Museum; Frick Collection; Museum Barberini; Kunstpalast Düsseldorf; Minneapolis Institute of Art; National Gallery of London and National Galleries of Scotland.

Visitors to TEFAF’s 36 edition have noted a demonstrable difference in visible security at the fair including the deployment of metal-detecting security gates, commonly used by major museums.

Notable sales have so far included the following:

Modern Art and Design

White Cube (stand 400) sold 10 works on the opening day including pieces by Tracey Emin, Damien Hirst, Park Seo-Bo and Georg Baselitz.

Patrick Heide Contemporary Art (stand 625) sold a selection of abstract drawings by Rebecca Salter, the first female president of the Royal Academy, for an undisclosed sum.

First time exhibitor, the Venetian gallery Caterina Tognon (stand 717) got off to a positive start selling Tulipaniera Antica by Lillia Tabasso for €30,000 and Fiolario by Wendy Wheatley for €20,000.

Tornabuoni (stand 408), a gallery with outposts in Florence, Paris and Milan, reported sales of multiple works by Pier Paolo Calzolari, Lucio Fontana and Emilio Isgrò.

Maggiore G.A.M (stand 460) has seen strong sales to international private collectors including works by Giorgio Morandi, Claudine Drai and Giorgio de Chirico.

Paintings

UK-based Trinity Fine Art (stand 361) sold its major piece, Portrait of a Scholar seated, three quarter length, holding a book by Jacopo Robusti, called Tintoretto. It was sold to a private collector for an undisclosed amount.

The Barcelona gallery, Artur Ramon Art (stand 251) sold its highlight painting by Joaquin Sorolla, Girls on the Beach, which had an asking price of €2,700,000.

Colnaghi (304) sold its Portrait of a young noblewoman wearing fine jewels and a black dress with gold embroidery in the form of wheatsheaves and a high white ruff collar by Alonso Sánchez Coello, and Alonso Berruguete’s The Penitent Saint Jerome to private clients.

London gallery, Charles Beddington (stand 367) reported strong opening sales including a pair of Venetian views from the Circle of Canaletto.

Naples-based Giacometti Old Master Paintings (stand 362) reported three sales including At Sea, in Sights of Stromboli by Raoul du Gardier; Madonna by Massimo Stanzione; and La Nutrice (The Nurturer) by Vincenzo Gemito.

Madrid’s Caylus Gallery (stand 364) reported five sales including Virgin with Child by Luis de Morales, each for mid-six figures sums.

Showcase exhibitor Elliott Fine Art (SC9) sold Lea, a Bride from Bethlehem by Albrecht de Vriendt (1843-1900) to a US museum on opening day for a low six-figure sum.

Dutch Old Masters specialist, Bijl-van Urk (stand 370) made five important sales including Kitchen Scene with a Maid Pumping Water by Cornelis Bisschop, The School Master by Quiringh van Brekelenkam and A Still Life of Fruit on a Stone Ledge by Abraham Mignon, all to private collectors for five to six figure sums.

Antiques

Paris-based Steinitz Gallery (stand 182) sold a magnificent Louis XVI eight-legged desk by Jean-François Leleu from the collection of Ernestine de Castellane, Duchesse d’Otrante and widow of Joseph Fouché, which resided in the Villa du Riond-Bosson, Morges, Switzerland. The piece was acquired by a private collector for over €1,500,000.

Also from Paris, Galerie Kugel (stand 202) reported the sale of an important 17^th century engraved ruby glass shell cup on foot by Johann Kunkel to a major Dutch museum.

Belgian dealer, De Backker Art (stand 192) sold several pieces of medieval artefacts on the first day of the fair to international private collectors.

Showcase exhibitor Zebregs&Röell (SC7) from Amsterdam sold 12 objects in the first two days including a set of tortoiseshell combs made by Paul Bennett for an English lady in Jamaica inscribed and dated Sarah Henly, Jamaica 1670.

Kunsthandlung Julius Böhler (stand 214) sold a Processional Donkey with a Bobbing Head to The Phoebus Foundation. It would have been used during Palm Sunday commemorations in either Southern Italy or Spain.

Elfriede Langeloh (stand 163) sold an Augustus Rex beaker with the famille verte-style "Vogelbaum" motif by Meissen to a German collector for €80,000. King Augustus III commissioned the vases from the manufactory in order to decorate the Tower Room of the Residence Palace in Dresden. The counterpart to this vase is in the V&A Museum, London.

Jewelry

Spanish historic jewelry specialist, Deborah Elvira (stand 232) sold a Medieval ring with sapphire and gilded silver, and an early 17^th century gold and crystal cross.

Works on Paper

Germany’s Nicolaas Teeuwisse OHG (stand 619) enjoyed a strong start to the fair selling multiple works and citing 85% of sales to museums including to the Rijksmuseum, a second Dutch museum and several major US museums.

Brussels-based Agnews Works on Paper (stand 604) sold several works including Nude Self Portrait with Raised Arm by Pablo Picasso which was acquired by a private collector.

London dealer, Stephen Ongpin (stand 607) enjoyed a buoyant start to the fair reporting multiple sales including Study of the Hands of the Virgin in Prayer by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, and Three Figures in a Moonlit Landscape by Giuseppe Bernardino Bison.

London-based gallery, Tafeta (stand 615) reported good sales including two works by the Nigerian artist, Babajide Olatunji, sold to two separate German private collectors, each with an asking price of £24,000.

Tokyo-based gallery, A Lighthouse called Kanata (stand 484) reported selling over half its stand including work by Niyoko Ikuta, Ayane Mikagi, Kosuke Kato, Ken Mihara and Kiyo Hasegawa.

Ancient Art

London’s Charles Ede (stand 501) made 20 sales over the preview days, including an Egyptian steatite shabti for Ity, vizier of Thebes, from the New Kingdom, late 18^th Dynasty with an asking price of €120,000, which was acquired by a new European client, and a Neolithic Anatolian fertility goddess, which was sold to a longstanding client for €90,000.

British antiquities specialist David Aaron (stand 502) sold its highlight piece to a private collector – The “Dattari” Baboon, a representation of the ancient Egyptian god Thoth, the protector of writers, accountants and all things intellectual.

Tribal

Belgian dealers Patrick & Ondine Mestdagh (stand 703) sold multiple pieces including Māori High Priest by Gottfried Lindauer, famed for his portraits of Māori people, acquired by a private collector for approximately €100,000.

Sculpture

London-based gallery, Stuart Lochhead Sculpture (112) sold Lion Devouring a Doe by Barthélemy Prieur (1536-1611) for circa £1,400,000 to a private collector.

TEFAF President, Hidde van Seggelen, says, “We are delighted to bring TEFAF back to Maastricht for its regular March timeslot. Our community has surpassed itself yet again, bringing a diverse range of exceptional works, and presenting them to collectors and art lovers in a spectacular way. The reaction of visitors is gratifying to witness as they engage with museum-quality works that span 7,000 years of art and decoration. Such is the quality and scholarship of the objects on sale. This is why TEFAF consistently attracts the world’s leading collectors and museums.”

TEFAF Maastricht runs until Sunday, March 19 at the MECC, Maastricht. For information, visit www.TEFAF.com.

ABOUT AXA XL

TEFAF and AXA XL, its Lead Partner, share the view that there's more to art than meets the eye. Learn more about AXA XL here.

ABOUT TEFAF

TEFAF is a not-for-profit foundation that champions expertise and diversity in the global art community, evidenced in the exhibitors selected for its two fairs, which take place annually in Maastricht and New York. TEFAF acts as an expert guide for both private and institutional collectors, which inspires lovers and buyers of art everywhere.

ABOUT TEFAF MAASTRICHT

TEFAF Maastricht is widely regarded as the world’s premier fair for fine art, antiques, and design. Featuring over 240 prestigious dealers from some 22 countries, TEFAF Maastricht is a showcase for the finest art works currently on the market. Alongside the traditional areas of Old Master paintings, antiques, and classical antiquities that cover approximately half of the fair, you can also find modern and contemporary art, photography, jewelry, 20th century design, and works on paper.

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