Da Vinci’s Writing on Water, Cosmos, Brings $28 Million

A 72-page manuscript in which Leonardo da Vinci explores the mysteries of water and the cosmos through words and pictures sold for $28 million Friday--plus another $2.8 million for Christie’s commission, bringing the total to $30.8 million.

Christopher Burge, chairman of Christie’s America, said it was the highest price for any work of art sold at auction in the last four years. The pre-sale estimate had been $10 to $15 million.

An anonymous private collector, bidding by telephone, won a dramatic bidding war against a representative of the Cariplo Foundation of Milan, Italy, who was in the auction room at Christie’s in Manhattan.

The manuscript was sold by the Armand Hammer Museum of Art and Cultural Center in Los Angeles. The late oil tycoon Armand Hammer had bought the work, known as the Codex Hammer, in 1980 for $5.6 million.