This past Saturday, Cologne-based auction house Lempertz auctioned off 342 lots in Berlin, including paintings, silver and cast iron artworks, as well as pieces from Royal Porcelain Factor (KPM) Berlin.
One of the auction's top lots was the painting Allegory of the Sense of Hearing by Barbara Rosina Lisiewska-de Gasc. Barbara and her sister Anna Dorothea Therbusch, were leading figures in the burgeoning Berlin art scene of the 18th century. The model for this painting may have been Barbara 'Barbarina' Campanini, a dancer at the Berlin Royal Court Opera.
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The painting was last auctioned in 2013 at Sotheby’s for £64,900. This time, it fetched €126,000 (approximately £107,000, including buyer's premium), against an estimated price range of €80,000 to €100,000 (approximately £68,000 to £85,000).
The standout among the cast iron items was the Warwick Vase, one of only three known examples. Modelled on a marble vase from Emperor Hadrian's Villa in Tivoli — a popular subject for 19th-century replicas — this particular piece was likely cast around 1840 at the Royal Iron Foundry in Berlin. It achieved a sale price of €12,600 (about £10,700, including buyer's premium), perfectly meeting its estimated range of €10,000 to €15,000 (about £8,500 to £12,800).
Among the coveted treasures from the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin, a rare trio of Urbino vases circa 1870 sold for €15,120 (about £12,900 including buyer's premium; estimated at about £10,200-£13,600).
A krater vase adorned with rose garlands, crafted after a design by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, sold for €25,200 (about £21,400, including buyer's premium; estimated at €10,000-€15,000 or approximately £8,500-£12,800). Another highlight was a porcelain casket and two decorative wall elements created in the 1880s at KPM and adorned with soft-paint decoration.
See also: KPM Berlin: The Royal Porcelain Pioneer
A tête-à-tête set made in 1794 at the Imperial Porcelain Factory in St. Petersburg, supposedly a gift from Russian Empress Catherine II to celebrate the birth of Princess Ida of Saxe-Meiningen fetched €25,200 (about £21,400, including buyer's premium; estimated at approximately £6,800-£8,500).
However, the most significant sale was Adolph von Menzel's 1878 Portrait Study of a Moroccan. Its captivating backstory contributed to the sensational outcome. Von Menzel had the chance to sketch men from the first Moroccan embassy in Berlin on 2 June 1878, in his studio. During the session, news arrived of an assassination attempt on Emperor Wilhelm I nearby. Von Menzel noted this on the sheet and quickly sketched the emperor's face. The previously unknown drawing, estimated at €6,000-€8,000 (about £5,100-£6,800), eventually sold for €201,600 (about £171,500).
