Previously exhibited in New York in February and in Tel Aviv in March, this copy has been called the “Sassoon Manuscript” after its most famous owner, David Solomon Sassoon.
Today, Thursday, the usual spring art auction season begins in New York, and the two largest houses in this field in the world, “Sotheby’s” and “Christie’s”, are holding auctions that are expected to reach tens of millions of dollars, one of which is on a copy of the Jewish Bible dating back a thousand years, the second on exceptional paintings by Klimt and Le Daunier-Rousseau.
Among the most prominent auctions that will be held from May 11 to May 19 in the city, which is considered one of the most important in the world in the field of art, is that organized by “Sotheby’s” on the oldest almost complete manuscript of the Jewish Bible known so far, dating back to the tenth century, and it is expected that Sold on May 17 for a high price of between $30 and $50 million.
Previously exhibited in New York in February and in Tel Aviv in March, this copy, called the “Sassoon Manuscript” after its most famous owner, David Solomon Sassoon (died 1942), is one of the most expensive manuscripts on the book market. archaeological.
The manuscript, which was well preserved, contains the twenty-four books that make up the Jewish Bible (Tanakh), namely the Torah (or the first five books of Moses of the Bible), the section of the prophets “Neviim”, and the section of other writings “Ketuvim”. This manuscript is 12 leaves.
Sotheby’s will also display on May 16 a painting entitled Insel am Attersee by Austrian painter Gustav Klimt dating back to 1901 or 1902.
Christie’s, owned by French billionaire Francois Pinault’s Artemis holding company, will begin auctions on May 11 with an expected record price for the painting “Flamingos” (1910) by French post-impressionist Henri (Dounier) Rousseau.
The price of the painting on Thursday may reach 30 million dollars, while the record 30 years ago for the same painter was 4.4 million dollars.
Sotheby’s is also offering for sale the painting “Now’s the Time” by the American painter Jean-Michel Basquia, who died in 1988 at the age of 27, and its price could exceed $30 million.
The “Spider” sculpture by French sculptor and artist Louise Bourgeois (1911-2010) is also being sold. The length of the sculpture is three meters and is likely to be sold for 30 to 40 million dollars, which is a record.
