Tech Kingpin Sean Parker Bought an Old Master Painting at Christie’s for Almost $6 Million. After That, Things Got Messy—Fast

Call it a case of seller’s remorse. After a consignor
successfully sold an Old Master painting at Christie’s for a
considerable profit at auction last year, she had an abrupt change
of heart, touching off a legal dispute that entangled not only the
auction house, but also the work’s celebrity buyer: tech
billionaire Sean Parker, the founder of Napster and first president
of Facebook.

In this case, it would appear, the devil is not in the
details. Parker acquired the painting, Peter Paul Rubens’s
A Satyr holding a Basket of Grapes and Quinces with a
Nymph (1620), on behalf of his charitable foundation in
2018. The consignor, San Diego collector Debra Turner, has
provided no reason for seeking to renege on the sale. And as anyone
who has seen The Social Network would attest, Parker
(played by Justin Timberlake in the movie and, in real life, the
owner of works by Ai Weiwei and other
artists) is a formidable foe.

Amid the deadlock, as stipulated by the consignment contract,
Christie’s proceeded with arbitration, presumably the best way to
avoid alienating the powerful, wealthy clients on either side of
the transaction. (It was also the best way to keep the dispute out
of the headlines—at least, until Christie’s had to file paperwork
last month to have the arbitrator’s decision held up by the
courts.)

In a statement, a Christie’s representative said: “A
consignor sought to cancel a completed auction sale and following
repeated attempts to settle the matter amicably, the matter was
submitted to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled that Christie’s
complied with its contractual obligations and that the successful
bidder had lawfully acquired the painting. Christie’s is now
seeking to confirm the arbitration award in federal court to
conclude this matter, and transfer the painting to the buyer and
the significant sale proceeds to the consignor.”

Turner consigned the painting at the center of the battle, a
dramatic chiaroscuro-style work made in Antwerp, in early
2018. She and her longtime partner, property developer Conrad
Prebys, had bought the work three years earlier, in a private sale,
for $3.72 million, according to court documents. (After Prebys died
in 2016, Turner separately sued the directors of his eponymous
foundation, in part over their decision to award $15 million to his
son, Eric, who had been cut out of his will.)

Turner, who represented herself without the aid of an attorney
in the Christie’s arbitration, was not immediately available for
comment.

When Turner first consigned the work to Christie’s, the auction
house gave the painting a pre-sale estimate of $5 million to $7
million. The reserve, the undisclosed minimum price that the work
must reach in order to sell, was set at $5 million, according to
the court documents. The consignment agreement included a provision
that the work could not be withdrawn by the seller once the deal
was signed.

At the Old Masters evening sale in April 2018, Parker won the
work for a hammer price of $4.8 million. (The suit notes that
Christie’s ponied up the additional $200,000 to get the price up to
the reserve, in accordance with the contract.)

The foundation—which focuses on global public health, civic
engagement, the arts, and life sciences—paid a final price of $5.7
million (including buyer’s premium) in full on May 2, 2018, and
promptly began to arrange for delivery of the painting. But before
long, Turner claimed that she had withdrawn the painting before the
auction, despite the fact that she signed the sale contract
prohibiting her from doing so.

After several unsuccessful mediation attempts and the production
of thousands of pages of documents, the appointed arbitrator
determined that the Parker Foundation was the rightful owner of the
work. He ruled that Christie’s should ship the work to the
foundation and turn over the sale proceeds ($4.9 million after a
two percent seller’s commission) to Turner.

Parker’s attorney declined to comment to Artnet News, but in a
letter to the judge, he said the foundation supported the
resolution.

The post Tech Kingpin Sean Parker Bought an Old Master
Painting at Christie’s for Almost $6 Million. After That, Things
Got Messy—Fast appeared first on artnet News.