Press release -
The Largest Russian Art Auction Ever Seen in Scandinavia
It is with great pleasure that Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers presents the largest Russian Art Auction ever seen in Scandinavia, including The Commercial Attaché Richard Zeiner-Henriksen Russian Collection and other private Russian collections, some of which have Royal provenances.
“During the 1800s, a large number of Scandinavians journeyed East to seek their fortune in Russia’s expanding business life and industry. Among the many travellers, a strong fascination with the country’s culture arose that resulted in the creation of Russian art collections of a high quality. This is the reason why so many Russian antiques are located in Scandinavia today, where several have found their way to our upcoming Russian Art Auction. The most spectacular of them will prior to the auction be exhibited in London at the Danish Embassy during ”The Russian Art Week” fair (1-2 June 2017). The auction is conducted in Copenhagen on Friday, 9 June”, says Martin Hans Borg, specialist on Russian Art at Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers.
Zeiner-Henriksen’s Collection
The highlight of the auction will no doubt be the Norwegian commercial attaché Richad Zeiner-Henriksen’s Russian collection. It was created by the Norwegian couple, Richard and Erica Zeiner-Henriksen. They lived in Saint Petersburg during the first half of the 1900s and in 1922 they moved into an apartment in the Saltykov Palace, which at the end of the 1700s had been owned by Tsaritsa Catherine II the Great and was later used by the Saltykov noble family. It was in these stately surroundings that the couple began collecting art and antiques. Their collection covers a large part of Russian history – from Ivan IV the Terrible in the 1500s over Tsaritsa Catherine II the Great in the 1700s to the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, in the early 1900s. The collection consists of 81 auction lots. Among the highlights are seven early church icons, two of which depict the Archangel Saint Mikhail and Christ’s descent from the cross respectively.
Russian Collections with Royal Provenances
The auction also includes items from other private Russian collections, some of which have Royal provenances. This includes four shirt buttons made by the jeweller Friedrich Koechli, which the Tsaritsa Maria Feodorovna of Russia gave to her nephew Prince Harald of Denmark. The Tsaritsa was the daughter of the Danish royal couple Christian IX and Queen Louise. The Tsaritsa herself was married to Tsar Alexander III of Russia. She came to play a very important part in the Danish-Russian connections, for instance through her support of Danish businesses.
Russian Cultural Heritage
When speaking of the essence of the Russian cultural inheritance one of the auction’s kovshi clearly deserves to be highlighted. It was produced in partly gilded silver in Moscow in the late 1600s and was given as a gift from Peter I the Great and Ivan V to the customs officer Grigory Shtchepetov. The auction also includes an Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, which was awarded to the Russian general Konstantin Klavdievich Maximovich in 1913, as well as a depiction of nomads from 1852 by the artist Alexei Kondratevich Savrasov. Last but not least we auction off two impressive Russian Louis XVI chandeliers from the late 18th century consigned by Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. from New York, former ambassador to Denmark 1981-83.
Auction in Copenhagen
All the offered items from the Russian auction, including Zeiner-Henriksen's collection will be exhibited at Bruun Rasmussen’s preview in Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen from 24-29 May. The Russian art auction will be held on 9 June at 2 pm.
Exhibition in London
Selected highlights from the Russian art auction will be exhibited at the Danish Embassy, 55 Sloane St, Knightsbridge, London SW1X 9SR, on 1-2 June during "Russian Art Week" just before the auction in Copenhagen.
Prieview in Copenhagen: 24-29 May
Exhibition in London: 1-2 June
Russian Art Auction: 9 June at 2 pm
Topics
Bruun Rasmussen Auctioneers is one of Scandinavia’s leading international auction houses, and one of Denmark’s oldest. It all started on 6 October 1948, when Arne Bruun Rasmussen conducted the first traditional auction in the saleroom at Bredgade 33 in Copenhagen. Today, Jesper Bruun Rasmussen stands at the helm of the family-run business together with the third generation of the family, his son Frederik and daughter Alexa, and the company’s CEO Jakob Dupont.
In 2004, the first online auction was launched, and today the auction house has expanded to include departments in Copenhagen and Aarhus and representations in Sweden, Germany, France, Belgium, Luxemburg, Spain, Italy, Thailand and the US. About 100,000 lots are put up for auction each year at the traditional auctions and daily online auctions. Here you can bid on everything from art, antiques, modern design and jewellery to books, coins, stamps, wine and weaponry.
