Prague, March 26 (CTK) – A unique baroque astronomical playing clock from the era of French King Louis XV, which was offered for 55.2 million crowns, the highest starting price in the Czech antique market, was not sold at an auction in Prague yesterday.
So far antique items have been auctioned off for millions of crowns a piece maximally in the Czech Republic.
Pavel Urban, from the auction organiser Starozitnosti-Galerie USTAR, has told CTK that the firm is negotiating about a direct sale of the clock to one of the bidders.
As far as plastic art is concerned, a record high sum at a Czech auction, 62 million crowns including surcharge, was paid for the painting Series CI by Czech-born abstract artist Frantisek Kupka last year.
The rare clock, from a collection of the late Prince Frantisek Oldrich Kinsky (1936-2009), is from around 1740. It was part of the furnishing of the Kinsky family palace in Vienna.
Antiquary Pavel Urban says it was made in the clockmaker’s shop of Julien and Pierre Le Roy in Paris. This is a top quality piece of their art, foreign experts say.
Julien Le Roy (1686-1759) created three astronomical clocks until 1739, according to the catalogue from the Le Roy clockmakers’ exhibition held 30 years ago. The clock offered in Prague might be one of them.
No clock made by Julien Le Roy has appeared in the market in the past years. However, the most expensive clocks are sold for hundreds of millions of crowns at foreign auctions.
One of the most valuable clocks at Czech auctions was a late Renaissance one that was sold for 992,000 crowns, including surcharge, six years ago.
More antique pieces are sold in shops than at auctions in the Czech Republic, but the highest sums are paid for them at auctions.
The annual turnover of the antique market in the country is estimated at 300 million crowns.
The plastic art market is bigger. Last year, collectors spent record 1.26 billion crowns at Czech art auctions.
($1=25.008 crowns)
