Marc Chagall "Songe de Lamon et de Dryas" sold for $22,500 at Christie's July 21, 2010 Prints and Multiples sale. Image: Courtesy Christie's

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views Contributor

A circa 1654 Rembrandt print fetched $40,000 at Christie’s in New York yesterday, surpassing the $8,000-$12,000 presale estimate. The work was the sale’s top lot.

The Entombment depicts the darkly lit cavernous interior of a tomb in one of the last episodes from the artist’s series on the life of Christ. This particular print, a lifetime impression, is from a series of four. For each print, Rembrandt inked and wiped the plate differently. The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns the second state in the series.

The print was among 370 lots offered for sale totaling $1 million., more than double the  projected $400,000 high estimate. Fifty-nine lots failed to sell. “These mid-season auctions have been doing very well,” said Emmanuel Benador of Jan Krugier Gallery. “The print market is strong.” Fifty percent of the top ten lots were purchased by trade.

Also striking: online bidding accounted for 45.66% of lots which were either sold, to or directly underbid by a Christie’s Live client, according to Christie’s.

Americans dominated the day. Nearly three-quarters of buyers were from the United States, while 22% were European, and 5% were from Asia.

Picasso’s 1965 linocut, Le Peintre et son Modèle, sold for $16,250, more than double the $7,000 low estimate. A group of his lithographs is currently on display at the Met’s Picasso retrospective.

Another Rembrandt print, Abraham entertaining the Angels (circa 1656), sold for $20,000, exceeding the presale estimate of $10,000-$15000.

Top Ten Priciest Lots  (prices include buyer’s premium):

1. Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn, The Entombment, circa 1654 (est. $8,000-$12,000)

Sold for $40,000 to US Trade
2. Marc Chagall, Songe de Lamon et de Dryas, from Daphnis et Chloé, 1961 (est. $12,000-$18,000)

Sold for $22,500 to US Trade

3. Rembrandt Harmensz Van Rijn, Abraham entertaining the Angels, 1656 (est. $10,000-$15,000)

Sold for $20,000 to US Private

4. Pablo Picasso, Le Peintre et son Modèle, 1965(est. $7,000-$10,000)

Sold for $16,250 to US Trade

5. Roy Lichtenstein, Still Life, from The Geldzabler Portfolio, 1997 ($10,000-$15,000)

Sold for $11,250 to US Private

6. Alex Katz, Brisk Day I; II; and III, 1990 ($8,000-$12,000)

Sold for $10,625 to US Private

7. Sol Lewitt, Lines in Color on Color to Specific Points on a Grid (Set of 7), 1978  (est. $3,000-$5,000)

Sold for $10,000 to US Trade

8. Andy Warhol, Flowers, 1964 (est. $5,000-$7,000)

Sold for $9,375 to US Trade

9. Pablo Picasso, Homme Rebranesque à la Pipe et Courtisane, from La Sèrie 347, 1968 (est. $4,000-$6,000)

Sold for $8,750 to Anonymous

10. Andy Warhol, Chicken N’ Dumplings, from Campbell’s Soup II, 1969 (est. $5,000-$7,000)

Sold for $8,750 to US Private