On March 26 and 27, Hermitage Fine Art held its first 2022 sales in the rooms of the Hotel Meridien in Monaco, presenting lots in the categories of Fine Art and Objects of Vertu, East European art, Jewellery and Manuscripts.

The stars of the Fine Art section on Saturday were two Foujita’s drawings sold for 5,720€ and 6,500€ (lots 717 and 718 respectively); a high-scale painting by Terry Rodgers sold for 35,100€ (lot 785); a drawing by the famous Iranian modern artist Jazeh Tabatabai that fetched 4,320€; two paintings by the contemporary artist Martin Lindenau, depicting a stunning view of Monte-Carlo (lot 703, sold for 2,600€) and of Cannes (lot 723, sold for 2,570€).

The jewellery section on the same day saw a few bidding fights, especially for lot 859, an elegant necklace by Bulgari that fetched 28,337€, six times its estimate, and two fine gold snuff boxes (lot 831 and 832) sold for 8,100€ and 18,200€, tripling and quadrupling the initial estimate.

Art Nouveau objects were also appreciated, with a Daum Freres lamp sold for 1,028€ (lot 807), one by Emile Gallé sold for 1,596€ or an acid-etched fleurs de tabac vase sold for 1,950€, also by Daum Freres (lot 789).

On Sunday, the auction started with the Alexander and Nikolai Benois watercolour collection, of which most lots were sold. Worth mentioning are lot 1, Easter Morning (3,625€), lot 3 Park in Varese (2,340€), lot 12 Lake Maggiore (3,380€) or lot 20 Verona, Piazza delle Erbe (2,470€).

Among paintings, some that caught bidders’ attention were Vladimir Makovsky’s Peasant girls that fetched 81,675€ (lot 54) as well as the peaceful Forest landscape attributed to Levitan (lot 31 sold for 23,400€) and Bogdanov-Belsky’s Reading girls, sold for 33,800€ (lot 65).

In the object section, two samovars attracted several bidders, reaching a selling price of 8,171€ for lot 221, a vase-shaped camping samovar by master Konstantin Yakovlevich Pets, supplier to the Imperial Court, 1820-1860, and of 6,721€ for lot 222, a silver-plated samovar of the Dubinin Factory, 1840-60, St Petersburg.