Across five sessions at Sotheby's Paris, from 4 to 9 November 2026, the contents of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani's residence on Avenue Floquet realized €21.4 million. Every lot found a new home, and, on average, 57 percent of the lots finished above their high estimates.
The residence, in the 7th arrondissement and looking out toward the Eiffel Tower, was assembled room by room under the sheikh's eye, in close collaboration with the decorator Alberto Pinto. Presented under the title Une demeure princière, the series gathered more than 1,400 works — old masters, furniture, silver, ceramics, and twentieth-century design, the carefully assembled world of a Paris hôtel particulier. The evening sale led the week at €7.3 million, followed by the Art Deco session at €5.5 million, the day sale at €4.9 million, the Kunstkammer at €1.9 million, and the online session at €1.8 million. Among the decorative arts, Delft pottery drew particular enthusiasm, including a pair of late-seventeenth-century flower pyramids.
What lingered, beyond the total, was the sense of a complete interior finding new admirers. For collectors, it was a week in which historic decorative arts and furniture were met with fresh appetite — a reminder that provenance and a distinctive eye still carry a collection a very long way.
The Wall Art Gallery
Sources:
- Il Sole 24 Ore, 10 November 2026: https://en.ilsole24ore.com/art/white-gloves-the-sheikh-hamad-collection-AJIb04BC
- Official series page, Sotheby's: https://www.sothebys.com/en/series/une-demeure-princiere