It’s been many years since London’s June sales were considered a high point of the auction calendar. But this week, Sotheby’s was able to pull out all of the stops—accounting for 92 percent of the city’s total auction revenue, thanks in part to the strength of its $412 million Joe Lewis collection. But even without the Lewis lots, Sotheby’s was able to generate two-thirds of the sales for the week. I’m not sure many in the auction trade saw that coming.

What that means for the future of London’s art-selling seasons remains to be seen. Three sales cycles still seems like more than the market wants, especially with the October sales now split between London and Paris, but which season will drop out?

While we ponder that question, let’s look at the results from last week’s auctions, where some $615 million was spent. The overall hammer ratio for the sales—as a reminder, that’s the aggregate hammer price divided by the aggregate auction estimate—was a strong 1.21, but that comes with the caveat that the Lewis collection was intentionally estimated below market expectations. Still, one cannot argue with the numbers. Lower estimates produce stronger results. And as I have said more times than I care to admit, the overall estimate level has come down significantly in the past three years, helping to revive market momentum.

It’s not a surprise that the top 10 lots by price are almost entirely from the Lewis collection. The exception was Anne Bass’s Nymphéas Monet, which was being resold after a short holding period. The seller was able to get most of their money out of the work, but took a haircut in fees. Lucian Freud’s large portrait of Sue Tilley failed to go beyond the attractive estimate, but that was the only work that seemed to leave bidders cold. As has been noted by many, a small Magritte gouache was bid to a new record price more than four times the estimate. And a Gustave Caillebotte portrait that had been featured prominently in a large show of the artist’s work sold for almost two and a half times the estimate.

Overall, the top 10 accounted for 59 percent of the sales total, a high figure and the sign of a top-heavy market. But of course, this isn’t reflective of a normal auction season where sellers have only a specific window to sell their wares; this particular auction season was created for the Lewis collection. So I’m not sure we want to draw a conclusion from these top-heavy numbers. And yet, strong performance at the top of the market is often what leads the auction market forward.

The list of works with the highest hammer ratio is a fascinating mix of young artists, selections from a charity fundraiser, and isolated works that provoked strong interest from bidders across categories. Jethro Buck and Megan Rooney both donated work to raise money for Kettle’s Yard, a gallery and exhibition space in Cambridge created from the home of collector Jim Ede.

Yu Nishimura’s work has been attracting bidders for some time since the artist joined David Zwirner gallery. His Man in a Forest, from 2018, sold for a price six and a half times its estimate. A portrait of the 72-year-old Francis Bacon by Michael Clark, from the Lewis collection, attracted the punters. It was one of the few five-figure works on this list, which is noteworthy. Previous lists have focused on lower-value works, but the art market’s recovery can be seen in the higher six-figure lots and one seven-figure lot on this list.

A Henri Matisse selfie drawing far outran the estimates. Leon Kossoff’s small but heavily impastoed work from the Lewis collection also attracted strong bids. A Gilbert & George paneled work drew a surprisingly strong level of bidding, as did Fernand Léger’s watercolor. A small work that Monet made when he was 24 years old was the only lot on the list to crack $1 million. The nearly $690,000 paid for a 1966 work by Hsiao Chin follows another strong sale for the artist in Hong Kong, of $600,000 at the end of May for a 1965 work.

Please don’t be disheartened by the fact that the list of the top 12 artists by market share does not contain a single woman. The Lewis collection’s focus on modern artists doesn’t explain the absence of women, either. It’s a choice that reflects the interests of the collector himself.

Amedeo Modigliani accounted for more than 15 percent of the total sale. Pablo Picasso followed with more than 10 percent. Both artists commonly appear at the top of these market-share charts based on a handful of sales considering the concentration of value in their works. Monet is third in these rankings, at just above 9 percent. Klimt follows with just under 8 percent of the total sale.

Despite limited interest from bidders, Freud came in at just over 7.5 percent. Edgar Degas and Egon Schiele both notched in the 5 percent range. Magritte came in at 3.5 percent, with Bacon, Max Beckmann, and Caillebotte accounting for somewhere in the 2 percent range each. A single yellow Mark Rothko painting on paper mounted on linen that sold for a robust $12 million put the artist in the final spot on the list, with just under 2 percent of the total sale.

That’s it for the London data. We’re off this Friday and Sunday for the holiday. But I will be back in your inbox on July 7 as we start looking toward the second half of the year. Until then, enjoy the long weekend.

M