Christie’s Appoints Emmanuel Danan Global Managing Director Christie’s Luxury

Christie’s announces the appointment of Emmanuel Danan as new Global Managing Director of Christie’s Luxury. Reporting to Francis Belin, President of Christie’s Asia Pacific, who oversees the Luxury, as well as the Asian and World Art departments globally, Emmanuel joins Christie’s following the business’ nearly billion-dollar year in global sales of Jewels, Watches, Wine and Handbags in 2022. Based in Paris, as of February 20, Emmanuel will direct all aspects of Christie’s luxury business across both live and online auctions and Private Sales and will work closely with colleagues across the specialist departments in New York, London, Geneva, Paris, and Hong Kong.

Francis Belin, President of Christie’s Asia Pacific commented: “Emmanuel joins us at an exciting moment for Christie’s— following our record year and growth across the Luxury departments, both at auction and in our bespoke Private Sales business in 2022. His experience working across diverse markets internationally will provide an excellent framework to continue to move this part of our business forward.”

Luxury purchases are the major point of entry for new clients to Christie’s, and continue to drive the online sales platform, contributing more than half of all lots offered online. In 2022, the department achieved top prices for Jewels, including selling the largest white diamond ever offered at auction (228.31 cts) for $21.7M and The Fortune Pink, the largest pear-shaped, fancy vivid pink diamond ever to be sold at auction for $28.8M. Christie’s Luxury also had an exceptional year for Wine, including the sale of The Visionary’s Spectacular Cellar, which totalled $19.6M – becoming the most valuable single-owner wine collection ever sold at Christie’s. Handbags & Accessories also achieved a global annual total of $32.8M, the highest ever for the category, and Watches saw numerous successes with single-owner collections, including Legendary and Unique Watches, which totalled $32M and was 100% sold.

Emmanuel Danan joins Christie’s from Maesa, a Bain Capital Private Equity portfolio company, where he was President for Europe and the Middle East. He has more than 22 years of experience in business, including 17 years with L’Oréal, where he was General Manager of L’Oréal Paris for Western Europe, based in Paris. While at L’Oréal, Emmanuel has also held several General Management positions in Taipei, Düsseldorf and Shanghai. Prior to joining L’Oréal, Emmanuel was a Consultant at Kearney. Originally from Paris, Emmanuel holds a Master’s Degree in Business from EM Lyon and a Master’s Degree in Organization Sociology from Sciences Po Paris. 

Founded in 1766, Christie’s is a world-leading art and luxury business. Renowned and trusted for its expert live and online auctions, as well as its bespoke private sales, Christie’s offers a full portfolio of global services to its clients, including art appraisal, art financing, international real estate and education. Christie’s has a physical presence in 46 countries, throughout the Americas, Europe, Middle East, and Asia Pacific, with flagship international sales hubs in New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris and Geneva. It also is the only international auction house authorized to hold sales in mainland China (Shanghai).

Christie’s auctions span more than 80 art and luxury categories, at price points ranging from $200 to over $100 million. Christie’s has sold 8 of the 10 most important single-owner collections in history, including the Paul G. Allen Collection—the most valuable collection ever offered at auction (November 2022). In recent years, Christie’s has achieved the world record price for an artwork at auction (Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, 2017), for a 20th century artwork (Andy Warhol’s Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, 2022) and for a work by a living artist (Jeff Koons’ Rabbit, 2019). 

Christie’s Private Sales offers a seamless service for buying and selling art, jewellery and watches outside of the auction calendar, working exclusively with Christie’s specialists at a client’s individual pace.

Recent innovations at Christie’s include the groundbreaking sale of the first NFT for a digital work of art ever offered at a major auction house (Beeple’s Everydays, March 2021), with the unprecedented acceptance of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. As an industry leader in digital innovation, Christie’s also continues to pioneer new technologies that are redefining the business of art, including use of hologram technology to tour life-size 3D objects around the world, and the creation of viewing and bidding experiences that integrate augmented reality, global livestreaming, buy-now channels, and hybrid sales formats. 

Christie’s is dedicated to advancing responsible culture throughout its business and communities worldwide, including achieving sustainability by reducing our carbon emissions by 50% and pledging to be net zero by 2030, and actively using its platform in the art world to amplify under-represented voices and support positive change.

Browse, bid, [i]discover[/i], and join us for the best of art and luxury at: www.christies.com or by downloading Christie’s apps. The COVID-related re-opening status of our global locations is available [i]here[/i].