Sotheby’s auction house, which in November set...

Sotheby’s auction house, which in November set the world record price for a painting with the $53.9-million sale of Vincent Van Gogh’s “Irises,” has announced its best fourth-quarter results ever. It reported worldwide auction sales of $622 million (340 million pounds) for the latest three months, up 2.7% on the same period last year. Sotheby’s President Michael Ainslie said buyers were flocking toward top-quality artwork despite the October stock market crash. Ainslie also cited strong sales of jewelry, contemporary art, impressionist paintings, manuscripts, silver, Old Master paintings, arms and armor, antiquities and Chinese porcelain.