In January, Christie’s announced total sales of $7.4 billion for 2015, down 5 percent over the previous year. The company is not required to report profitability on its sales, which can carry large guarantees, or promised minimum prices.

Over the last two years, the teams at the three main auction houses — which include Sotheby’s and Phillips — have been in flux. Most notably, Mr. Gorvy announced last week that he was leaving to join forces in private sales with the dealer Dominique Lévy, at her Madison Avenue gallery which will now be known as Lévy Gorvy.

But Mr. Cerutti said that he had confidence in the remaining team, which includes Stephen Brooks as deputy chief executive and Jussi Pylkkanen as global president — and was pleased that Mr. Gorvy would continue to work closely with Christie’s from the outside.

“Brett is a great individual but he was also a member of the team and the team remains in place,” Mr. Cerutti said, “I’m confident they will take over.”

Ms. Barbizet ran Christie’s from Europe, where she lives in Paris. Her other residence is in Manhattan on West 57th Street, but she spends much of her time on airplanes, visiting companies from America to Asia. Previous chief executives, including Mr. Murphy, have not been based in New York.

Mr. Cerutti said he, too, planned to remain in London, but to travel frequently to New York and to Asia, where Christie’s recently opened a new Beijing office.“London is the historic center of our company,” he said, adding that he would be traveling shortly to New York to meet with the team there. “I love New York,” he said. “I love being in the United States, you can be absolutely sure.”