NEW YORK.- Christie’s announced the appointment of Benjamin Hall as Senior Vice President in the Christie’s New York Old Master Paintings Department, effective early 2007. He will join Anthony Crichton-Stuart as a new Co-Head of Department. Further strengthening Christie’s International Old Masters Department that leads the global market in both pictures and drawings categories, Benjamin Hall brings particular expertise in Dutch and Flemish painting. He will serve in both a managerial and senior-level business-getting role, and joins a New York department whose April 2006 sale totaled $74,523,360 -- a record for any sale of Old Master Paintings ever held in the United States.

Mr. Hall joins Christie’s from his most recent post as Senior Vice President in the Old Master Paintings department at Sotheby’s in New York. Previously he worked at Christie’s London for 11 years in the Old Masters Department, where he started his career.

Nicholas Hall, International Director, Old Master Paintings Department, and Anthony Crichton-Stuart, Head of the New York Department, say: “With the addition of a specialist as talented and experienced as Ben Hall, we continue to consolidate our position as market leader in this field. Our collegial team can only be enhanced, with Ben bringing further weight and depth to a department that works seamlessly to produce world-class results.”