NEW YORK — A record was set for a Matisse at auction Thursday when "La Robe Persane" sold for more than $17,055,750 at an Impressionist and modern art sale at Sotheby's.
The colorful work, which depicts a woman seated at a table laden with fruit and a vase with flowers, eclipsed the old record for a Matisse of $14,852,500, set in 1995 by "La Pose Hindou" at Sotheby's.
While records also fell for Aristide Maillol and Berthe Morisot, a host of featured works by artists including Degas, Van Gogh, Renoir and Cezanne failed to find buyers.
Sotheby's thus joined rival Christie's and No. 3 auction house Phillips in sales this week in which several works by major Impressionists went unsold. Only 60 percent of the lots found buyers on Thursday.
Sotheby's and Christie's have been toiling under the cloud of a price-fixing scandal, although most aspects of the criminal side have been settled.
The expected highlight of the Sotheby's sale, Manet's "Jeune fille dans un jardin" which the auction house had estimated could set a record at $20 million to $30 million, just managed it low estimate, going to an anonymous telephone bidder for $20,905,750 including commission.
The painting of a young woman in a garden who is wearing a bright blue coat and matching hat, which is among the artist's better known works, was the evening's top lot.
Other highlights included Modigliani's "Fillette assise en robe," which far exceeded its presale estimate of $8 million to $12 million, fetching $15,625,750 after a protracted bidding war between two clients.
Picasso's "Le Repos," which at $3 million to $4 million had not been expected to be among the top works, soared to $7,925,750, making it the sale's fourth-highest priced lot.
Sotheby's officials agreed quality ruled at the sale, which took in just over $123 million and indeed most all its very top lots sold. The unsold works fell mostly in the $4 million to $8 million range.
"It was a very interesting sale," said Charles Moffett, Sotheby's co-chairman of Impressionist and modern art worldwide. "No one hesitated at all" in bidding for the top lots.
"The lesson we're going to take here is to continue to be aggressive and go after the best quality work ... We may just be moving into a new phase of the market, and it's a well-informed market," Moffett said.
Sotheby's officials admitted there was "some weakness in the Impressionist area" and "a little bit of nervousness in the room," but pointed out that it had made 72 percent of its $150 million to $200 million pre-sale estimate for the night.
Maillol's "L'air," a sculpture of a reclining woman, sold for $3,085,750, far surpassing the artist's previous mark of $2.2 million, while Morisot's "Cache-cache" fetched $4,405,750, beating the old record of $3,852,500.
Monet's "Matinee sur la Seine" sold for $5,725,750 and was the sale's No. 5 lot, but was a relative bargain having been estimated at $7 million to $9 million. Another Monet, "Antibes vue de la Salis," went for $5,065,750 after a pre-sale estimate of $5 million to $7 million.
On Wednesday a record was set for a Picasso at auction when his "Femme aux bras croises" sold for $55 million at Christie's in an otherwise flat sale that saw nearly half its major works go unsold.
The portrait of a woman with her arms folded from Picasso's blue period sold for twice its pre-sale estimate of $25 million to $30 million. The price became the fifth highest ever paid for any work of art at auction. The previous record for a Picasso was $51,671,920 for "Les noces des Pierrette," set in Paris in November, 1989.
Monday's Impressionist sale at Phillips, the No. 3 auction house which has been making a bid to compete with the two grandes dames of the auction world, also yielded disappointing results.