ZURICH.- The seventy-lot private collection of Italian manuscript illumination from the 13th to the 15th centuries lived up to its reputation as “the finest of its kind in private hands,” exciting interest among museums, professionals and private collectors and selling at a healthy 91% by value. The highlights did particularly well, such as an initial V with the coronation of the Virgin attributed to Bartolomeo Caporali, sold for CHF 43 700 / GBP 29 300 (lot 168), and an initial S from 1331-1340 with the descent of the Holy Spirit by Vanni di Baldolo for CHF 41 300 / GBP 27 680 (lot 115). An initial M with the three Marys at Christ’s tomb by a follower of Meo da Siena more than doubled its estimate to sell for CHF 60 500 / GBP 40 500 (lot 113).

Among the highlights of the Old Master paintings auction was a set of two panels depicting Christ in Limbo and the Ascension of Christ from an altarpiece by the Swabian painter Thomas Schick the Younger, which sold for CHF 384 500 / GBP 257 700 (lot 3004), and a winter village landscape by Abel Grimmer found a new owner for CHF 108 500 / GBP 72 700 (lot 3016).

Nineteenth-century paintings fared particularly well in the auction, for example a battle scene by Albrecht Adam painted for the Mariinsky Palace in St. Petersburg for the Russian imperial family, which rose above its upper estimate to sell for CHF 204 500 / GBP 137 000 (lot 3214). A mountain landscape by Dutch painter Barend Cornelis Koekkoek also sold for above its estimates at CHF 126 500 / GBP 84 800 (lot 3203), and an atmospheric representation of an evening on the Isle of Capri by Ivan Federovich Choultsé realized CHF 336 500 / GBP 225 500 (lot 3209).

Among the decorative arts, a pair of Boulle marquetry pedestals made by Alexander Oppenordt in circa 1690/1700, which were a part of the important Paris exhibition on André-Charles Boulle in 2010, changed hands for CHF 144 500 / GBP 96 850 (lot 1058). Jewelry from the 1960s garnered strong interest, such as a diamond pendant by Gübelin (lot 2243) which sold for CHF 138 500 / GBP 92 800, and a striking and avantgarde black opal and diamond ring for CHF 40 100 / GBP 26 900 (lot 2029). The porcelain auction featured objects from a carefully-curated private collection which enthused bidders. Among the many sold lots was a delicately painted Meissen coffee pot for which bidding began at CHF 600 / GBP 400 and ended at CHF 10 250 / GBP 6 900 (lot 1711). Among the silver offered in this same sale, a service for eighteen by the Parisian makers Christofle & Cie sold for CHF 22 100 / GBP 14 800 (lot 1844).

Old Master drawings and prints, books and photographs rounded off the auction week at Koller, each recording satisfying results. A watercolor view of Fribourg by Ludwig Vogel (lot 3453) set a record at auction for the artist, selling at CHF 11 250 / GBP 7 500. A complete set of seven volumes by David Roberts on the Holy Land sold for CHF 138 500 / GBP 92 800 (lot 500), and an album of fascinating photographic views of late-nineteenth-century Rio de Janeiro by Marc Ferrer realized CHF 9 375 / GBP 6 300 (lot 818).