Andy Warhol’s Portraits of Reigning Queens to Lead Phillips’ Editions Sale

A set of 1985 Andy Warhol portraits of four female monarchs reigning at the time, alongside works by David Hockney, Picasso Pablo, Banksy, and Cecily Brown and other British contemporary artists, will highlight Phillips’ editions sale in London later this month.

Warhol created a total of 16 royal-edition screenprints of the four Queens, including Queen Elizabeth II of the U.K., Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and Queen Ntfombi Tfwala of Swaziland. The so-called royal editions have different colour schemes, but all feature glimmering diamond dust, which accentuate the outline of the portraits.

This set of four images is being offered by a private, anonymous Dutch collector, who acquired them from Holland Art Gallery in Eindhoven in 2003, according to Phillips.

The set has an estimated total between US$260,000 and US$395,000. The highest-priced in the set is the portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, who died last September at the age of 96 after a seven-decade reign. It has a presale estimate of between £200,000 and £300,000 (US$240,000 and US$360,000)

A similar portrait from Warhols’ Reigning Queens series sold for C$1.14 million (US$855,000) last November at Canadian auction house Heffel, setting a record price for an editioned print by the American Pop artist.

Warhol’s portraits of Queen Elizabeth were based on photographs. A drawing of Queen Elizabeth said to be by Warhol was pulled 24 hours before its scheduled auction last week because of authentication doubts.

Phillips editions (prints and multiples) sale, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Editions Department in London, will feature 310 lots across two sessions from Jan. 18-19. Online bidding is open now and highlights will be on view to the public starting next Wednesday in Phillips’ galleries on Berkeley Square.

Another highlight of the sale is Hockney’s 1998 Dog Wall, a large-scale etching of his dachshunds, Stanley and Little Boodgie. It is expected to sell for between £200,000 and £300,000.

A selection of 15 works by Picasso, including important etchings and linocuts, will be led by Minotaure aveugle guidé par Marie-Thérèse au pigeon dans une nuit étoilée (Blind Minotaur Guided Through a Starry Night by Marie-Thérèse with a Dove). This 1934 work, depicting Marie-Thérèse Walter, his lover and muse at the time, holding a dove, has a presale estimate between £60,000 and £80,000.

In all, the January auctions will “feature some of the titans of 20th and 21st century printmaking and explore the broad spectrum of techniques that make collecting editions so enjoyable,” Rebecca Tooby-Desmond, a specialist and auctioneer at Phillips London, said in a news release.

In 2022, the auction house realised US$40 million in editions auctions globally, the highest total in its history, Tooby-Desmond said.

China’s securities regulator is ramping up support for the country’s embattled equities markets, announcing measures to funnel capital into Chinese stocks.

The aim: to draw in more medium to long-term investment from major funds and insurers and steady the equities market.

The latest round of policy boosts comes as Chinese stocks start the year on a soft note, with investors reluctant to add exposure to the market amid lingering economic woes at home and worries about potential tariffs by U.S. President Trump. Sharply higher tariffs on Chinese exports would threaten what has been one of the sole bright spots for the economy over the past year.

Thursday’s announcement builds on a raft of support from regulators and the central bank, as officials vow to get the economy back on track and markets humming again.

State-owned insurers and mutual funds are expected to play a pivotal role in the process of stabilizing the stock market, financial regulators led by the China Securities Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance said at a press briefing.

Insurers will be encouraged to invest 30% of their annual premiums earning from new policies into China’s A-shares market, said Xiao Yuanqi, vice minister at the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

At least 100 billion yuan, equivalent to $13.75 billion, of insurance funds will be invested in stocks in a pilot program in the first six months of the year, the regulators said. Half of that amount is due to be approved before the Lunar New Year holiday starting next week.

China’s central bank chimed in with some support for the stock market too, saying at the press conference that it will continue to lower requirements for companies to get loans for stock buybacks. It will also increase the scale of liquidity tools to support stock buyback “at the proper time.”

That comes after People’s Bank of China in October announced a program aiming to inject around 800 billion yuan into the stock market, including a relending program for financial firms to borrow from the PBOC to acquire shares.

Thursday’s news helped buoy benchmark indexes in mainland China, with insurance stocks leading the gains. The Shanghai Composite Index was up 1.0% at the midday break, extending opening gains. Among insurers, Ping An Insurance advanced 3.1% and China Pacific Insurance added 3.0%.

Kai Wang, Asia equity market strategist at Morningstar, thinks the latest moves could encourage investment in some of China’s bigger listed companies.

“Funds could end up increasing positions towards less volatile, larger domestic companies. This could end up benefiting some of the large-cap names we cover such as [Kweichow] Moutai or high-dividend stocks,” Wang said.

Shares in Moutai, China’s most valuable liquor brand, were last trading flat.

The moves build on past efforts to inject more liquidity into the market and encourage investment flows.

Earlier this month, the country’s securities regulator said it will work with PBOC to enhance the effectiveness of monetary policy tools and strengthen market-stabilization mechanisms. That followed a slew of other measures introduced last year, including the relaxation of investment restrictions to draw in more foreign participation in the A-share market.

So far, the measures have had some positive effects on equities, but analysts say more stimulus is needed to revive investor confidence in the economy.

Prior enthusiasm for support measures has hardly been enduring, with confidence easily shaken by weak economic data or disappointment over a lack of details on stimulus pledges. It remains to be seen how long the latest market cheer will last.

Mainland markets will be closed for the Lunar New Year holiday from Jan. 28 to Feb. 4.

Andy Warhol’s Portraits of Reigning Queens to Lead Phillips’ Editions Sale

The latest round of policy boosts comes as stocks start the year on a soft note