A snow-covered village – Issak Levitan 1888

On October 12 and 13 in New York Christie’s International auctioned $31 million worth of 18th and 19th century Russian paintings, porcelain, textiles, silver and gold. The 550 lots came from “Galerie Popoff,” a well-known Russian art gallery in Paris. The gallery was founded by Aleksandr Popoff, who according to an article by the Russian Times, “started his collection in Paris in the 1920s, buying porcelain and watercolors from Russian émigrés who went through hard times.” Sales totaled about $9 million. Typically, Christie’s holds all of its Fall auctions at once, near the end of November. The uniqueness of the Popoff collection, however, prompted them to auction it separately. Christie’s next sales of Russian art will be held in early December, in London.