Behind the sale: Grace and flavour

The collection of antiques and art entitled ‘Wilton Crescent: A Robert Kime Interior’ was due to be auctioned at Christie’s on 1st May, before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Nearly three months later, on 23rd July, the sale finally took place at the company’s King Street premises in London, where 229 lots from the early 19th-century townhouse in Belgravia made over £2m. ‘The sale exhibition the previous weekend had gone surprisingly well, with over 200 people attending it, more than we were expecting in the circumstances,’ reports Christie’s head of sale, Caitlin Yates. ‘Private collection sales like this are always exciting and on the day there were quite a few people bidding in the room – socially distanced, of course –