Phillips to Offer Rare Modigliani Sculpture

Phillips will offer Amedeo Modigliani’s limestone Tête at its Modern & Contemporary Art Evening Sale in New York this November, with an estimate of $28,000,000^[1] to $35,000,000^[1]. The sculpture, carved between 1911^[1] and 1912^[1], has remained in one private collection for more than half a century, according to Phillips. The auction house says this will be the work’s first auction. The Met’s record for its own limestone Woman’s Head notes that the abstracted, elongated heads echo in Modigliani’s later figure and portrait paintings. ARTnews also reported the consignment.

November’s offering is scheduled as this object’s first public auction test. Phillips’ New York conditions describe estimates as the auction house’s view of what a lot may sell for, not a guaranteed value or a prediction of its realized price. For advisers, the range is a pre-sale guide to the house’s expectations, not a market result. Phillips lists public viewing in New York before the sale and advises bidders to inspect lots and request condition reports before bidding.

A different sculpture with the same title sold in Paris in 2010^[2]. Christie’s reported that the Gaston Lévy collection Tête realized €43,185,000^[2] inclusive of premium. That is a historical result for another work, in euros—not a like-for-like valuation or a forecast for Phillips’ offering.