Thursday, October 1, 2009

Question - 335


Connect the two pictures.

Answer: The game of Rock-Paper-Scissors was played between Christie's and Sotheby's to obtain the rights to auction of a collection of Impressionist paintings including the one shown about by Cezanne.

Answered by:
Mihir, Rajesh K, Iam, Ravi Handa, Anon, Rajesh, Raghu, Dinesh, Jaggi, Ramji, Anand and Srivats

Note:
Feedback on the question is appreciated. I am trying to find out if such a mildly-easy-to-Google question from one of the clues is interesting. Or do people prefer visuals with less workable clues.

For those of you attempted to find the answer but didn't, let me know where you got stuck.

12 comments:

Mihir said...

Great question!

The sketch shows the classic game of rock-paper-scissors.

The painting is Cézanne's "Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan".

Wikipedia says the rights to auction this painting and a few others were decided by a Rock-Paper-Scissors match between Sotheby's and Christie's.

Really like the ingenuity of the questions. Keep them coming!

Anonymous said...

Rock-paper-scissors (second visual identification led to first visual thro wiki). First visual is one of the several impressionist paintings that were to be auctioned by Sotheby's or Christie's whoever won the R-P-S shootout. The paintings belonged to a Japanese CEO. (I wonder if the Seinfeld episode with Kramer and Mickey RPSing to choose among twins was inspired by this auction) - Rajesh K

Raghu said...

Cézanne's "Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan", was sold by Christie's after it won a rock-paper-scissors contest with Southeby's to its rights.

Christie's went with "scissors" because of the sound advice that "everyone expects you to choose rock."

Iam said...

Rock Paper Scissors

Christie's beating Sotheby's in a game of rock-paper-scissors for paintings collection including Cezanne's "Large tree under the Jas de Bouffan"

dinesh said...

Large trees under the Jas de Bouffon and other paintings in the collection of the Japanese millionaire Hashiyama were sold through Christie's which won the right over Sotheby's through a game of rock-paper-scissors

Anonymous said...

connect = Rock-Paper-Scissors

Ravi Handa said...

Rock Paper Scissors

rajesh said...

Rock-paper-scissors contest between Sotheby's and Christie's

Srivats said...

When Takashi Hashiyama, CEO of a Japanese television equipment manufacturer, decided to auction off the collection of impressionist paintings owned by his corporation, including works by Cézanne, Picasso, and van Gogh, he contacted two leading U.S. auction houses, Christie's International and Sotheby's Holdings, seeking their proposals on how they would bring the collection to the market as well as how they would maximize the profits from the sale. Both firms made elaborate proposals, but neither was persuasive enough to get Hashiyama’s business. Unwilling to split up the collection into separate auctions, Hashiyama asked the firms to decide between themselves who would hold the auction, which included Cézanne's "Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan", worth $12–16 million.

The houses were unable to reach a decision. Hashiyama told the two firms to play rock-paper-scissors, to decide who would get the rights to the auction, explaining that "it probably looks strange to others, but I believe this is the best way to decide between two things which are equally good".

The auction houses had a weekend to come up with a choice of move. Christie's went to the 11-year-old twin daughters of an employee, who suggested "scissors" because "Everybody expects you to choose 'rock'." Sotheby's said that they treated it as a game of chance and had no particular strategy for the game, but went with "paper".

Christie's won the match, with millions of dollars of commission for the auction house.

Anand said...

rock-paper-scissors match between Christie's and Sotheby's to auction Cézanne's "Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock_paper_scissors

Jaggi said...

The Auction house (Christie Vs Sotheby) that would sell the above painting was decided by a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Christie pickes Sciccors and WON !

Unknown said...

When Takashi Hashiyama wanted to decide between Christie's and sotheby's to auction his collection (which included the first painting "Large Trees Under the Jas de Bouffan" by Cezanne), he asked them to play rock-paper-scissors, which Christie's won.