Last Monday night at Rockefeller Plaza was simply one of the most amazing evenings in New York auction history with Christie’s stunning record sale of Modigliani’s “Nu Couché” at more than $170 million.  The buyer?  A former Chinese taxi driver turned billionaire who will bring the masterpiece to  Shanghai where he owns two private museums.   But the Modigliani was not Christie’s only success as the running total for the week of New York sales has topped $1 billion.  More here from Christie’s:

Works by Picasso, Matisse and Cézanne among the highlights of an Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale which sees 91 per cent sold on value

The Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale in New York — the third evening sale of the week in New York after The Artist’s Muse and Post-war and Contemporary Art, brought the week’s running total to $1.05 billion.

The 62 lots offered in the evening sale realised $145,545,000 (including buyer’s premium), with bidders from 34 countries contributing to figures of 83 per cent sold by lot and 91 sold by value. On the night, 10 lots sold for over $5 million, and 16 realised over $3 million.

The running total for the week in for Impressionist & Modern Art, including works from other sales, soared to $487.8 million, led by the sale of Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu couché, 1917-1918, for $170,405,000 in The Artist’s Muse — the second highest price ever paid for a work of art at auction. This figure will rise with day sale, works on paper and companion online-only sales results still to come.