Art Nouveau cabinet almost discarded at the dump – sets world record
28.4.2026 18:12:00 CEST | Stockholms Auktionsverk (ENG) | Press Release
The rare Art Nouveau cabinet was on the verge of being discarded for recycling. Instead, this Norwegian national treasure became a sensation at Stockholms Auktionsverk’s live auction, The Design Sale, on Tuesday afternoon. The cabinet sold for close to 2 million SEK, setting a new world record for the significant artist Valentin Kielland.
Standing nearly 2.3 meters tall and richly carved with female figures and organic forms, the cabinet attracted intense bidding from both Swedish and international buyers during The Design Sale. The masterpiece, which had previously come close to being thrown away, was one of the auction’s most talked-about lots and exceeded its estimate by more than 400% with a final price of 1,937,500 SEK.
“Kielland’s cabinet is an outstanding work of art and is now becoming the international benchmark in the market that it deserves to be. The fact that this remarkable treasure of high cultural and historic importance got its happy end is absolutely wonderful,” says Ulrika Ruding, Head of Design at Stockholms Auktionsverk.
Comparable cabinets are today mainly held in museum collections, including the National Museum in Oslo and the Jugend Museum in Ålesund, further underlining the work’s significance.
Nordic 20th-century design saw several strong results on Tuesday evening, including a new Swedish record for Uno Åhrén’s Swedish Grace armchair from around 1925, which achieved a final price of 612,500 SEK.
Contacts
Dan PanasHead of Press
Tel:+46 701 865 290dan.panas@auktionsverket.comImages
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Stockholms Auktionsverk is the world’s oldest auction house, founded in 1674. For over 350 years, it has served as a central marketplace for Swedish and international cultural history. With more branches than any other Swedish auction house – in Sweden, Germany, and Finland – the company is a leading player in the Nordic region for quality auctions. By using the market-leading digital platform Auctionet, it also reaches more than one million registered buyers in over 180 countries. As of autumn 2025, Uppsala Auktionskammare is fully integrated into Stockholms Auktionsverk.
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