NEW YORK CITY — Doyle Auctions conducted the single-owner sale of The Jane Stanton Hitchcock Collection on January 21, selling 274 lots from the best-selling mystery novelist’s duplex at 10 Gracie Square on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The auction doubled its expectations, as many of the lots, including the leading piece, far exceeded their estimates. Though the top lot, a Nineteenth Century Indian watercolor of a purple-faced langur, was cataloged with an estimate of just $500/700, bidders pushed it well beyond to realize $38,400, including buyer’s premium. The langur is a tree-dwelling primate native to Sri Lanka, and “Company School” works such as this were originally commissioned by the East India Company for British collectors. The market for them has expanded, as evinced by this result, and the monkey attracted international competition. As framed, it measured 25⅝ by 17⅛ inches. Further highlights from the auction will be featured in a future issue.
