Dec 12, 2025
The Best of the Best – Highlights from Important Winter Sale
This week, Swedish and international art, furniture, works of arts and jewellery went under the hammer at Bukowskis’ major live auction – Important Winter Sale.
In total, 13 lots exceeding one million were achieved, and the auction demonstrated a continued and exceptionally strong market for works by female artists such as Helene Schjerfbeck, Cecilia Edefalk, Lotte Laserstein and Hilma af Klint, as well as for classical masters including Bruno Liljefors, Anders Zorn and Carl Milles.
One of the sale’s great highlights was the watercolour "The Convalescent" (1945) by the Finnish artist Helene Schjerfbeck, which sold for a final price of 7 million SEK. The sale coincides with a current solo exhibition of Schjerfbeck at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, where her artistry is receiving renewed attention.
The Art Department
The painting "Dad" by the Swedish contemporary artist Cecilia Edefalk exceeded expectations and achieved a final price of nearly 5.5 million SEK, just below her previous auction record at Bukowskis. Hilma af Klint was also represented with the painting Studio Interior, which sold for close to 1.4 million SEK.
Among Swedish classical masters and modernists, high final prices and several lots exceeding million SEK were achieved for works by Bruno Liljefors, Anders Zorn, Carl Milles and Gösta Adrian Nilsson (GAN). GAN’s painting "Gul Figur" fetched a final price of just over 5.2 million SEK, more than double its estimate.
The Department for Furniture and Works of Art
Amidst the ongoing Nobel festivities, attention was drawn to a unique and historically significant object of royal provenance when Queen Dowager Hedvig Eleonora’s writing desk from Tre Kronor Palace came up for sale. The desk, crafted by Hindrich van Hachten, is unique in two respects: it is the oldest Swedish-made piece of furniture that can be definitively attributed to a named cabinetmaker – and one of only two known pieces that stood in Tre Kronor Palace prior to the devastating fire of 1697. This exceptional desk was sold, in this fittingly ceremonial context, for a final price of 575,000 SEK.
Other highlights within furniture and works of art included an Empire chandelier, a Louis XIV-style mirror, a sixteenth-century medallion Ushak carpet, as well as a first-rate silver department, which also featured a magnificent donation to medical research. The sale also presented the legendary antiques dealer Lars Broberg’s collection of high-quality antiques and works of arts.
Asian Sale
On the final day of the auction, the focus shifted to the Asian art department, where a cloisonné vase from the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) exceeded 1 million SEK. After lively bidding, the vase was hammered down at just under 1.4 million SEK. Additional highlights included a lacquer box with smaller inset boxes in tianqi lacquer, a bowl dish and a brush pot from the Qing dynasty, and a dish decorated with five-clawed dragons chasing the flaming pearl among the clouds.
Selected highlights
Bukowskis is welcoming consignments for our upcoming auctions Welcome to contact us today
Stockholm
Louise Wrede
Head of Art Department, Specialist Contemporary Art, Private Sales
+46 (0)739 40 08 19
Stockholm
Björn Extergren
Head of Consignment and Sales Department, Fine Art. Specialist Antique Furniture, Decorative Arts and Asian Ceramics
+46 (0)706 40 28 61
Stockholm
Carl Barkman
Head Specialist Fine Art and Antiques
+46 (0)708 92 19 71
Stockholm
Christopher Stålhandske
Head Specialist Carpets, Textiles and Islamic Works of Art
+46 (0)708 19 12 58
Stockholm
Cecilia Nordström
Senior Specialist Asian Ceramics and Works of Art, European Ceramics and Glass
+46 (0)739 40 08 02
Stockholm
Karin Aringer
Head Specialist Contemporary Art and Photographs
+46 (0)702 63 70 57
