The Francken had been bought by Van Haeften for a record 7 million euros at an auction in Vienna in April last year. "Maastricht is much slower than other fairs," said the London-based exhibitor, Ben Brown, who is offering the 1958 Picasso painting, "Minotaur," for $5 million. "The type of person who comes here tends to be European and a bit older. They have a look, go home and do their research."
A Chinese late Qianlong-dynasty rock-crystal sculpture of a "Qilin" mythical beast was among the few confirmed early sales to Asian visitors. Priced at $65,000, it was bought by a Hong Kong collector on the booth of London- and New York-based dealers Littleton & Hennessy.
(Scott Reyburn writes about the art market for Muse, the arts and culture section of Bloomberg News. Opinions expressed are his own.)