Swiss art expert dubbed the ‘Mick Jagger’ of the antiques world is sued by his assistant

An auctioneer described as the ‘Mick Jagger of art auctions’ has been taken to court by his former personal assistant for allegedly failing to pay her commission for six years.

Simon de Pury, a fine art expert who sells pieces for hundreds of millions of pounds, is being sued at an employment tribunal by Harmony Hambly-Smith.

Ms Hambly-Smith claims her 69-year-old former boss – considered to be the most famous auctioneer in the world – didn’t pay her because he was trying to work out a ‘tax efficient’ way of doing it.

A hearing in London was told the breakdown in their working relationship came amid Mr de Pury’s divorce from his glamorous wife, 50-year-old Dr Michaela de Pury.

Ms Hambly-Smith was made to choose which of the couple she would continue to work for after the couple’s split, the tribunal was told.

She elected to stay with Mr de Pury, but he fired her just a month after she demanded to be paid the commission she says she was owed.

Details of the divorce emerged during a preliminary hearing for the case.

In 2013 the couple – both art veterans who shared a lavish Mayfair home filled with expensive artworks – formed the highly successful de Pury & de Pury auction firm.

Ms Hambly-Smith began working for the de Purys in January the same year, acting as both of their personal assistant.

She alleges when she started work it was agreed she would be paid five per cent commission on all fees she negotiated plus two per cent for any works that she consigned for sale at auction.

Mr de Pury denies the arrangement.

Employment Judge Pavel Klimov said: ‘Her position is that although her entitlement to commission continued to accrue from February 2013, it was agreed that the de Purys’ liability to make payments in respect of her commission entitlement shall be deferred.

‘Therefore her commission payments were not due or payable until a tax efficient structure was set up.’

The hearing was told that in 2017, the de Purys’ marriage began to founder.

The judge’s report said: ‘When in 2017 [the] personal relationship between Simon de Pury and Michaela de Pury started to deteriorate, Ms Hambly-Smith’s position working for both of them became difficult.

‘In March 2018, Simon de Pury and Michaela de Pury started to negotiate a post-nuptial agreement, which was concluded in September 2018.

‘In December 2018, Simon de Pury issued divorce proceedings against Michaela de Pury, which created further strain in their relationship and made Ms Hambly-Smith’s position as a personal assistant to both of them increasingly more difficult.’

It added: ‘She needed to choose whether she wanted to continue working for Simon de Pury or Michaela de Pury, because Simon de Pury was not content with her working for both of them.’

Ms Hambly-Smith’s ultimately chose to work for de Pury over his wife – despite her attempts to poach her – and in November 2019 demanded unpaid commission payments from de Pury dating back to January 2013.

Mr De Pury sacked her for allegedly breaching her contract two months later.

Ms Hambly-Smith brings claims of unfair dismissal, wrongful dismissal, and unlawful deduction from wages relating to the unpaid commission and three months of unpaid salary at the end of her employment.

At the preliminary hearing at London Central, Judge Klimov ruled all claims must be answered by Mr de Pury and not his wife as she was no longer employing Ms Hambly-Smith.

Ms Hambly-Smith, who has since set up her own firm called Harmony Fine Art, will contest the claims against Mr de Pury at a full hearing.

Mr De Pury was dubbed the ‘Mick Jagger of art auctions’ due to his charismatic performance on the stand.

He started his career in Switzerland then worked for Sotheby’s in London and Monte Carlo, later rising to chairman of Sotheby’s Europe then chief auctioneer worldwide.

When he left Sotheby’s in 1997 he started his own art advisory company.