A drawing of a bear’s head by Leonardo da Vinci is seen fetching up to $16.7 million, potentially setting a record, when it heads to auction in July, Christie’s said on Saturday.
Measuring 7 cm (just under 3 inches) squared, ‘Head of Bear’ is a silverpoint drawing on a pink – beige paper. The auction house says it is ‘one of less than eight surviving drawing by Leonardo still is private hands outside of the British Royal Collection and the Devonshire Collections at Chatsworth‘.
It will lead Christie’s ‘Exceptional Sale‘ on July 8 in London with a price estimate of 8 million to 12 million pounds ($11.14 million – $16.71 million).
That could beat the 2001 sale for Da Vinci’s ‘Horse and Rider’ for more than 8 million pounds, a record for a drawing by the Italian Renaissance master, according to Christie’s.
‘I have every reason to believe we will achieve a new record in July for ‘Head of a Bear’, one of the last drawings by Leonardo that can be expected to come onto the market’, Stijin Alsteens, International Head of Department, Old Masters Group, Christie’s Paris, said in a statement.
Its current owner has had it since 2008, it said.
‘Head of a Bear’ will go on a display at Christie’s in New York on Saturday, then in Honk Kong later in the month going on show in London in June.
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