After Christie's opened its London Classic Week on December 2 with the auction of Fabergé's Winter Egg, the following day’s sale, The Sam Josefowitz Collection: Graphic Masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn, Part III, also produced highly impressive results. The standout lot was the drypoint engraving Arnout Tholinx, Inspector, created around 1656, which sold for £3.1 million (approximately $4 million), well above its estimated price of £1–2.5 million.
See also: Fabergé Winter Egg Sets New Record at Christie's
The sale not only represented a significant portion of the total auction proceeds (£8,621,579), with 99% of lots sold, but also set a new world auction record for Rembrandt prints and for Old Master prints in general.
This was not the first time Arnout Tholinx, Inspector had appeared at Christie's. Almost exactly 101 years earlier, on December 16–17, 1924, the extremely rare print had been offered for sale in London. At that time, the 200 x 150 mm sheet sold for £3,760, which set a record not only for an Old Master print but for any print at auction.
See also: The Power of Prints: Discover Rembrandt's Etchings
The portrait depicts Arnout Tholinx, inspector of the Medical School in Amsterdam, and was created during a period when Rembrandt faced financial difficulties. He received support through commissions from friends and acquaintances, including Tholinx, who was married to the daughter of the surgeon Nicolaes Tulp. Tulp had been immortalized by Rembrandt in his famous 1632 painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.
Alongside the record-breaking result for Arnout Tholinx, Inspector, several other works achieved notable results. Christ Healing the Sick (The Hundred Guilder Print) sold for £698,500, while Scholar in His Study (“Faust”) and Flight into Egypt: A Night Piece fetched £361,950 and £355,600 respectively. Although it did not set a record, Christ Presented to the People (“Ecce Homo”) brought in £952,500, the second-highest price of the auction.
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Tim Schmelcher, International Specialist, Prints and Multiples, Christie's London, said: “We are thrilled with the exceptional results achieved tonight and across all three dedicated sales of Graphic Masterpieces by Rembrandt van Rijn from The Sam Josefowitz Collection. The new world auction record achieved by Arnout Tholinx, Inspector – the highest price realised by an Old Master print at auction and a new world auction record for a Rembrandt print - is a landmark achievement for Christie's. These results are a powerful affirmation of the extraordinary strength of the prints market, highlighting both the enduring appeal of Rembrandt's genius in printmaking and a testament to the late Sam Josefowitz's unparalleled connoisseurship.”
