Christie's Prints and Multiples auction in New York on October 21 brought in $6.13 million across 163 works, landing squarely inside the pre-sale estimate range of $4.59 million to $6.84 million. Four-fifths of the 204 lots on offer found buyers, an 80 percent sell-through rate.

The top lot was Henri Matisse's Jazz (1947), which climbed to $537,600 — 79 percent above its $300,000 low estimate. Pablo Picasso's La Femme à la fenêtre followed at $256,000, while two entries from Andy Warhol's Endangered Species series, African Elephant and Grevy's Zebra, made $243,200 and $179,200 respectively.

The evening's biggest surprise belonged to M.C. Escher. His 1963 print Möbius Strip II (Red Ants), estimated at just $20,000, drew determined bidding and closed at $96,000, nearly five times its low estimate. Across the sale, 91 works — more than half of the lots sold — beat their high estimates, while only 16 went below their low estimates. Twelve works carried guarantees, including Roy Lichtenstein's Road Before the Forest from the 1985 Landscape Series, which reached $83,200 against a $60,000 low estimate.

Not everything found a home: 39 lots were bought in, among them Jasper Johns's The Seasons (1987), estimated at $80,000 to $120,000, while two further Johns works were withdrawn before the sale. Even so, the spread of bidding — from modern masters to the Escher sleeper — suggested collectors remain willing to chase works on paper when the material is fresh. The result keeps works on paper among the market's steadiest categories this season.