Sotheby's Old Master evening on New Bond Street made £14.5 million from 31 lots, led by Lorenzo di Credi's Saint Quirinus of Neuss at £2.7 million.
A Byzantine icon from around 1300 opened Sotheby’s Old Master evening on New Bond Street on Wednesday 2 July 2025, and the 31-lot sale made £14.5 million.
The Hodegetria Mother of God, a rediscovered panel of the early 14th century, sold to a telephone bidder for £825,500 against an estimate of £160,000 to £200,000. Icons are handled and carried, so few survive with their detail intact, and six bidders competed for this one.
Samuel Baker sold his first lot in London in 1744, and the house that grew from that sale has traded from 34–35 New Bond Street since 1917. Its July total of £14.5 million was up from £12.4 million in 2024. Harry Dalmeny took the rostrum, and three new artist records fell on the night. Three lots carried third-party guarantees and two were withdrawn.
Lorenzo di Credi’s full-length Saint Quirinus of Neuss led at £2.7 million, a record for the Florentine pupil of Verrocchio. A Turner bought the year before for £500 sold for almost £2 million, and Corneille de Lyon’s Portrait of a Merchant made £863,600 against an estimate of £300,000 to £400,000. Eighty-one per cent of the lots found buyers. Diana de Rosa’s Salome made £317,500 against an estimate of £60,000 to £80,000, and Ivan Aivazovsky’s Ship at Anchor made £1.06 million. The sale followed Christie’s Canaletto night by a day.