Where the Collections are Sold
Carl Kempe, Dr. Emil Hultmark and Gustaf O. Wallenberg’s Collections at Important Winter Sale
After successful live auctions of contemporary and modern art and design, the autumn season concluded with the Important Winter Sale – the season’s largest live auction featuring the best by the best from various periods and genres. As part of the auction, several significant collections were presented, including Carl Kempe’s Gold Collection, Dr. Emil Hultmark’s collection, and Gustaf O. Wallenberg’s collection.
Carl Kempe’s Gold Collection
Bukowskis has a long tradition of selling prominent collections of cultural-historical significance, which, during the spring, included a collection of Asian gold objects with provenance from Carl Kempe. During the Important Winter Sale, additional items from Carl Kempe’s Gold Collection were auctioned, this time focusing on objects from the Mediterranean region.
Carl Kempe was a well-known industrialist and internationally recognised collector, particularly of Asian antiques and works of art. Later in his life, from the 1950s until his death in 1967, Kempe expanded his collection to include gold objects from the Mediterranean. The portion of the collection offered at auction included gold items from Greece, Italy, and Egypt, with highlights including a collar in Egyptian style, a bracelet in Byzantine style, and a wreath, likely Hellenistic, which sold for a final price of SEK 193 750.
Dr. Emil Hultmark’s Collection
Dr. Emil Hultmark was a contemporary of Kempe and known as a distinguished art historian, collector, donor, and art patron who created one of the largest and most remarkable private art collections in Sweden. Hultmark, together with Carl Kempe and Crown Prince Gustav Adolf, was a co-founder of the 'China Club' in Stockholm in the 1920s. Alongside his collection, Hultmark also built an archive of Swedish artists and craftsmen and a comprehensive library on Swedish art.
Items in the collection included ceramic bowls from the Song Dynasty, a plate from the Jin/Yan Dynasty, and a large celadon-glazed plate with lotus decoration from the Song/Ming Dynasty, all of which sold for high final prices. The collection’s highlight was the so-called Horus Falcon in patinated bronze from Egypt, likely from the Saite Period (663-525 BC), which, after an intense bidding, sold for a spectacular final price of SEK 1 300 000.
Gustaf O. Wallenberg’s Collection
Another prominent collection had provence from the Wallenberg family. Gustaf O. Wallenberg was a Swedish businessman, diplomat, and politician. He was the son of André Oscar Wallenberg, who founded Stockholm Enskilda Bank (SEB), and the grandfather of the famous diplomat Raoul Wallenberg. Gustaf Wallenberg served as Sweden’s Envoy to Tokyo between 1907 and 1918 and played an important role in establishing diplomatic relations between Sweden and China. It was during these years that Wallenberg laid the foundation for his Asian collection, which was partly inherited by Raoul Wallenberg and later deposited at the East Asian Museum before being returned to the family.
Highlights of the collection included a bowl from the Qing Dynasty with the Yongzheng mark, a bowl from the Qing Dynasty with the Kangxi mark, and a covered box from the Ming Dynasty with the Wanli mark. The highest final price was achieved for a porcelain vase from the Qing Dynasty with the Yongzheng mark, which sold for SEK 900 000.
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