Showing a bearded figure standing in sunlit snow, it had been valued at 1.5 million pounds to 2 million pounds.
Christie’s, Sotheby’s and MacDougall’s attempted to lure London’s growing population of wealthy residents from Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
At the height of the previous art-market boom in 2007, auctions in this collecting area raised almost 100 million pounds. Some Russian buyers, concerned about high prices and the authenticity of certain works, subsequently shifted into Impressionist and contemporary art.
Record Price
Boosted by the record price for the Kustodiev, Christie’s raised 15.1 million pounds with fees from its auction, just below the upper estimate of 16.3 million pounds. The company found buyers for 65 percent of its 391 lots.
That evening and the following day, Sotheby’s raised a further 20.6 million pounds from 517 lots of Russian paintings and works of art.
A top price of 1.2 million pounds -- more than twice the upper estimate -- was paid for Valentin Alexandrovich Serov’s painting “Portrait of Praskovia Anatolievna Mamontova” at the company’s Nov. 26 auction of Russian art, where all 10 of the most expensive works were bought by “Private CIS” bidders, according to the New York-based auction house.
Russian specialists MacDougall’s raised 7 million pounds with fees from more than 560 lots at auctions on Nov. 25 and Nov. 28. An 1851 painting of lovers in a gondola, “View of Venice, San Giorgio Maggiore,” by the ever-popular Ivan Aivazofsky, sold for 1 million pounds.