Christie’s Names Global Head of Luxury
PARIS — Following a stellar year for luxury resale at Christie’s, the auction house has named a new global managing director for the activity: Emmanuel Danan, a former L’Oréal executive, joined the firm earlier this month to oversee its luxury sales, including jewelry, watches, wine and handbags, based in Paris.
His remit includes overseeing both live and online auctions as well as private sales, working with specialist departments in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Geneva, Switzerland.
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Last year, Christie’s sold jewelry, watches, wine and handbags globally for a cumulated sum of nearly $1 billion. It claims that luxury purchases are the major point of entry for new customers, and are a major driver for its digital sales platform, making up more than half of lots offered online.
Major lots sold last year at Christie’s included the largest white diamond ever offered at auction, at 228.31 carats, which went under the hammer for $21.7 million, and The Fortune Pink, a pear-shaped, vivid pink diamond that sold for $28.8 million. It also sold handbags and other accessories for a total of $32.8 million.
In his new role, Danan reports to Francis Belin, president of Christie’s Asia Pacific, who oversees Christie’s luxury activity as well as the Asian and World Art departments globally.
He joins Christie’s from beauty company Maesa, controlled by Bain Capital Private Equity, where he was president of its activity in Europe and the Middle East.
Prior to that, he spent 17 years at L’Oréal, including as France-based head of L’Oréal Paris for Western Europe and in various general management positions in Taipei, Düsseldorf and Shanghai.
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