Press release -
A Meal Worth 4.8 Million Danish Kroner
At Tuesday evening's international auction of fine art at Bruun Rasmussen, a breakfast piece by Dutch artist Pieter Claesz was sold for DKK 4.8 million (€ 840,000 including buyer’s premium).The sale of the painting is a bit of a sensation since Claesz' early works from the 1620s are very rare on the auction market. At the same time, the work is incredibly well-preserved and has a solid provenance. It has been in the ownership of the same Danish family for a long time and originally comes from the descendants of Count Adam Gottlob Moltke (1710-1792).
"The sale was awaited with excitement since there were several masterpieces up for auction. The sale resulted in four impressive million kroner hammer prices with paintings by Pieter Claesz, C.W. Eckersberg, Martinus Rørbye and Camille Pissarro. The highest hammer price was achieved by the beautiful breakfast piece by Claesz, who painted it in 1625 during the Dutch Golden Age," says Julie Arendse Voss, Head of the Department of Fine Art at Bruun Rasmussen.
The painting is typical of Claesz' early compositions from the mid-1620s, where strong contrasts between the white tablecloth and the pitch-black background are inter-cut with a pink ham. With the crossed straws and herring Claesz creates depth and compositional balance. Claesz explores the shape, colour and texture of different elements in the painting, and one can clearly sense the difference between the fat ham, the shiny herring, the hot pieces of coal and the matte pewter.
As was customary at the time, the painting is equipped with symbols relating to the transience of life, the so-called vanitas symbols. This was a tradition that arose among the Dutch painters during the period. The random placement of the items in the painting suggests that someone has just left the table. At the same time, the smoke from the coal, which is slowly burning down, is a subtle symbol of life’s evanescent quality. Both elements emphasize the passage of time that was so important for the period’s still life painters to portray.
The Auction's Million Kroner Hammer Prices
1) Pieter Claesz: Breakfast piece. Sign. monogram Ao 1625. Oil on wood. 43.5 x 62.5 cm. Sold for DKK 4.8 million (€ 840,000 including buyer’s premium). The painting was acquired by the Nivaagaard Collection.
2) C.W. Eckersberg: "Prospekt af Mars Vainqueur, d.v.s Nervas Forum i Rom". Forum of Nerva, Rome. 1814. Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 43 x 33.5 cm. Sold for DKK 1.5 million (€ 262,000 including buyer’s premium).
3) Martinus Rørbye: "En Torvedag i Wiborg" (A Market Day in Viborg) Signed with monogram and dated 1831. Oil on canvas laid on canvas. 41 x 28 cm. Sold for DKK 1.325 million (€ 232,000 including buyer’s premium).
4) Camille Pissarro: Portrait of a Boy (1852-1855). Unsigned. Oil on canvas. 37 x 30 cm. Sold for DKK 1 million (€ 175,000 including buyer’s premium).
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Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is one of Scandinavia’s leading international auction houses, and one of Denmark’s oldest. It all started on 6 October 1948, when Arne Bruun Rasmussen conducted the first traditional auction in the saleroom at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. Today, Jesper Bruun Rasmussen stands at the helm of the family-run business together with the third generation of the family, his son Frederik and daughter Alexa, and the company’s CEO Jakob Dupont.
In 2004, the first online auction was launched, and today the auction house has expanded to include departments in Copenhagen and Aarhus and representations in Sweden, Germany, England, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Thailand and the US. About 100,000 lots are put up for auction each year at the traditional auctions and daily online auctions. Here you can bid on everything from art, antiques, modern design and jewellery to books, coins, stamps, wine and weaponry.
