BBC News Online: Entertainment: Arts

Fine art season kicks off

Phillips has handled pictures by Impressionist Cezanne

Egon Schiele's oil on canvas Haus Mit Trocknender Wasche was the top lot at the sale of works owned by Los Angeles collectors Nathan and Marion Smooke.

The Schiele fetched $9,902,500, including the commission for the auction house, Phillips.

Kandinsky's Berglandschaft mit Dorf I fetched $4,952,500m, far exceeding its $3m high estimate.

Works by lesser known artists, including Antoine Pevsner, George Minne and Oskar Schlemmer, were sold for record prices.

A Degas sculpture was among the five unsold lots.

Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans had a pre-sale estimate of between $8m and $12m, but bidding topped out at $6m.

The auction was reportedly Phillips' strongest challenge yet to its big UK rivals, Sotheby's and Christie's.

The total was more than three times that of the auction houses's autumn 2000 sale, which saw about half its lots go unsold.

The company refused, however, to reveal whether or not the auction had been profitable.

Phillips continued its practice of offering clients a guaranteed price even if works of art remained unsold - an incentive system pioneered by Sotheby's and Christie's.