Christies
Christie's in King Street, St James's
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| Industry | Art, auctions |
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| Founded | 1766 |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
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Area served
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Worldwide |
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Key people
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François-Henri Pinault Guillaume Cerutti (CEO) |
| Products | Painting, modern art, fine arts, pop art |
| Parent | Groupe Artémis |
| Website | christies |
Christie's is a British auction house. It was founded in 1766 by James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's, in London, and in Rockefeller Center in New York City in the United States. The company is owned by Groupe Artémis, the holding company of François-Henri Pinault. Sales in 2015 totalled £4.8 billion ($7.4 billion). It has the credit of selling the Salvator Mundi for $400 million, the most expensive painting ever sold.
The official company literature states that founder James Christie conducted the first sale in London, England, on 5 December 1766, and the earliest auction catalogue the company retains is from December 1766. However, other sources note that James Christie rented auction rooms from 1762, and newspaper advertisements of Christie's sales dating from 1759 have also been traced.
Christie's soon established a reputation as a leading auction house, and took advantage of London's new found status as the major center of the international art trade after the French Revolution. From 1859, the company was called Christie, Manson & Woods. In 1958, it established its first overseas office, by placing a representative in Rome. The first overseas salesroom opened in Geneva, where Christie's holds jewellery auctions.
Christie's was a public company, listed on the from 1973 to 1999. In 1974, Jo Floyd was appointed chairman of Christie's. He served as chairman of Christie's International plc. from 1976 to 1988, until handing over to Lord Carrington, and later was a non-executive member of the board of directors until 1992. The auction house's subsidiary Christie's International Inc. held its first sale in the United States in 1977, 13 years later than Sotheby's. Christie's growth was slow but steady since 1989, when it had 42 percent of the auction market.
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