Lot 114. A blue and white bowl, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Lot 122. A Dehua archaistic gu-form vase, 18th-19th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Lot 123. A small iron-rust-glazed bottle vase, 18th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Lot 125. A flambé-glazed bottle vase, 19th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Lot 127. A 'robin's egg'-glazed figure of Zhenwu, 18th-19th century.  Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Lot 129. A pair of archaistic faux bronze vases, 19th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Lot 130. A robin's-egg glazed circular box and cover, 19th-20th century. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016 

Installation view "Brilliant! The Futures of Italian Jewellery". Photo by Giulia Napoli

On the occasion of the XXI International Exposition, Triennale di Milano presents the exhibition Brilliant! The Futures of Italian Jewellery.

The selected jewels are emblematic of the future scenarios awaiting Italian jewellery, which are: Admirable Manufacturing, Everyday Beauty, Avant Craft, Precious Technologies and Collective Creativity. The queen of all is the necklace, the most representative jewel of Italian goldsmithing.

Damiani. Photo by Giulia Napoli

The exhibition aims to illustrate both the manufacturing mission and the technological innovation involved in contemporary Italian jewellery and the way it interacts with other sectors. What emerges is a variety of styles, experiments and research, from high jewellery to the latest wearable interactive technologies. Works of Antonini, Giampaolo Babetto, Giampiero Bodino, Buccellati, Bulgari, Margherita Burgener, Fabio Cammarata, Monica Castiglioni per Bijouet, Chantecler, Roberto Coin, Crivelli, Riccardo Dalisi, Damiani, De Simone, Sandra di Giacinto, Gianfranco Ferré, Forevermark Italia, Emma Francesconi, Roberto Giannotti, Stefan Hafner, Alba Polenghi Lisca, Liverino 1894, Stefania Lucchetta, Giulio Iacchetti per Maison 203, Manuganda, Stefano Marchetti, Marco Bicego, Marni, Mattia Cielo, Mattia Mazza, Mattioli, Mimi, Misis, Giancarlo Montebello, Moschino, Barbara Paganin, Pasquale Bruni, Francesco Pavan, Percossi Papi, Gaetano Pesce, Franco Pianegonda, Pomellato, Carla Riccoboni, Sanlorenzo, Santagostino, Sharra Pagano, Vendorafa, Vhernier, Francesca Villa, Vinaya, Giorgio Visconti, Graziano Visintin.

Bulgari. Photo by Giulia Napoli

Curator Alba Cappellieri, director of the Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza, sees the future of Italian jewellery five-fold: Admirable Manufacture, Everyday Beauty, Avant Craft, Precious Technologies and Collective Creativity. The 50 contemporary necklaces on display at La Triennale di Milano, as part of the Brilliant! The Future of Italian Jewellery exhibition, have been chosen to represent the themes of traditional ways of working precious materials, everyday luxury and artistic exploration, and the potential of rapid prototyping and 3D printing. 

Buccellati. Photo by Giulia Napoli

Precious materials range from fabulous coloured gemstones and diamonds, courtesy of Giampiero Bodino and Bulgari, to Pomellato’s tailored jet and rose gold chain links. The Pastries necklace by Moschino and the undulating creations by Gaetano Pesce express the whimsy of resin. Francesca Villa and Sandra Di Giacinto explore the possibilities of paper in necklaces of rose gold, sapphires and bingo numbers, while Mattia Cielo’s industrial chain of carbon, diamonds and gold, and Margherita Burgener’s naturalistic titanium, gold and silk flowers, demonstrate contrasting approaches to new materials. 

Santagostino. Photo by Giulia Napoli

A jewellery exhibition in a design and manufacturing context such as La Triennale di Milano is a vital opportunity for cross-fertilisation. Visitors as disparate as lovers of classic bling and industrial designers can study objects that might otherwise be inaccessible or off the radar in exclusive boutiques. The Brilliant! exhibition reminds us that beauty, imagination, innovation and craftsmanship thrive at all levels. 

Lot 582. The property of a European princely family. Burmese ruby and diamond brooch. Estimate 100,000 — 150,000 CHF. Lot sold 122,500 CHF. Photo Sotheby's 2012

Of floral design, the open work frame claw-set with oval rubies and highlighted with brilliant-cut and tapered baguette diamonds, signed G. Ernst, Wiesbaden. 

Accompanied by SSEF report no. 64685, stating that the rubies are of Burmese origin, with no indications of heating.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels Geneva | 14 Nov 2012

Catoxantha opulenta

Catoxantha opulenta

Catoxantha opulenta

Catoxantha eburnea

Posthumous portrait of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1719–48) holding a falcon, 1764. Muhammad Rizavi Hindi (Indian, active mid-1700s). Mughal India, probably Lucknow. Opaque watercolor with gold on paper; 28 x 23.8 cm (page); 14.4 x 10.3 cm (painting). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, 2013.347 (recto).

CLEVELAND, OH.- Art and Stories from Mughal India presents the story of the Mughals— and stories for the Mughals—in 100 exquisite paintings from the 1500s to 1800s. The exhibition and accompanying Mughal painting collection catalogue celebrate the Cleveland Museum of Art’s centennial with works drawn from the 2013 landmark acquisition of the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection of Deccan and Mughal paintings, many exhibited and published for the first time. Complementing the paintings are 39 objects including costume, textiles, jewelry, arms and armor, architectural elements and decorative arts, some on loan from other prominent institutions, such as the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, the Brooklyn Museum and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University. These objects resonate with details in the paintings and bring the sumptuous material culture of the Mughal world to life. Art and Stories from Mughal India is on view in the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation Hall from July 31, 2016 through October 23, 2016, and is free to the public in celebration of the museum’s centennial year. 

Layla and Majnun in the wilderness with animals, from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi (Indian, 1253–1325), about 1590–1600. Attributed to Sanwalah (Indian, active about 1580–1600). Mughal India, made for Akbar (reigned 1556–1605). Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; 24.9 x 16.8 cm (page); 18.6 x 16.2 cm (painting). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, 2013.301 (recto).

“The Cleveland Museum of Art has long boasted a particularly fine holding of Indian art, and with the acquisition of the Benkaim collection of Mughal paintings, we are now fortunate to have an extraordinary representation of one of its most celebrated artistic traditions,” said William M. Griswold, Director. “This exhibition—beautifully curated and magnificently installed—vividly evokes the richness and cosmopolitanism of one of the world’s great empires.” 

The Annunciation, from a Mir’at al-quds (Mirror of Holiness) of Father Jerome Xavier (Spanish, 1549–1617), 1602–4. Mughal India, Allahabad, made for Prince Salim (1569–1627). Opaque watercolor, ink, and gold on paper; 26.2 x 15.4 cm (page); 20.6 x 10.2 cm (painting). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2005.145.2.

The Mughal Empire existed for more than 300 years, from 1526 until the advent of British colonial rule in 1858. It encompassed territory that included vast portions of the Indian subcontinent and Afghanistan. The Mughal rulers were Central Asian Muslims who assimilated many religious faiths under their administration. Famed for its distinctive architecture, including the Taj Mahal, the Mughal Empire is also renowned for its colorful and engaging paintings, many taking the form of scenes from narrative tales.  

Nur Jahan holding a portrait of Emperor Jahangir, about 1627; borders added 1800s. Mughal India. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; 30 x 22.1 cm (page); 13.6 x 6.4 cm (painting). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper;Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, 2013.325 (recto).

Art and Stories from Mughal India is organized into eight sections based on the Persian idea of the nama. Nama may be translated as any of a number of English words, among them: book, tale, adventure, story, account, life and memoir. Paintings were integral to the production of namas in book form for royal collections in Mughal India. Art and Stories from Mughal India sets the paintings, now long separated from their bound volumes, into their nama contexts. Four of the exhibition’s sections focus on a specific nama: a fable, a sacred biography, an epic, and a mystic romance. Many of the paintings, long celebrated for their vivid color, startling detail and alluring sense of realism, are displayed double-sided to show complete folios from albums and manuscripts, a constant reminder of their original status as part of a larger book or series.  

Women enjoying the river at the forest’s edge, about 1765. Mughal India, Murshidabad or Lucknow. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; 33.1 x 24.9 cm (page); 30.5 x 22.2 cm (painting). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, 2013.351 (recto).

“The paintings are products of a powerful, multiethnic dynasty of rulers who valued art and literature as essential elements of court life,” said Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, the George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art. “They were made to inspire awe and delight, and this exhibition aims to do the same by making them accessible to audiences today.”  

Sumptuously designed to evoke the spaces of Mughal palace interiors and verandas where paintings were kept and viewed, the exhibition opens with a 25-foot-long 16th-century floral arabesque carpet, rarely seen because of its scale. The first two galleries are devoted to Mughal paintings made for Akbar, the third Mughal emperor (r. 1556–1605), who saw to it that his copies of fables, adventures and histories were accompanied by ample numbers of paintings. On view are some of the earliest works from Akbar’s reign by celebrated artists, such as Basavana (Basawan) and Dasavanta (Daswanth), from the Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot), and the culminating scene from the Hamza-nama (Adventures of Hamza), 70 cm in height, one of the few surviving pages from this massive 1,400-folio project in which the Mughal style became thoroughly synthesized.  

The dream of Zulaykha, from the Amber Album, about 1670. Mughal India. Opaque watercolor and gold on paper; 32 x 24.4 cm (page); 21.9 x 15.4 cm (painting). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift in honor of Madeline Neves Clapp; Gift of Mrs. Henry White Cannon by exchange; Bequest of Louise T. Cooper; Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund; From the Catherine and Ralph Benkaim Collection, 2013.332 (recto).

The next two galleries explore the relationship between Akbar and his oldest son, Salim, whose birth in 1569 was cause for great celebration. By 1600, Salim was ready to lead the empire and mutinously set up his own court where he brought paintings, artists and manuscripts from Akbar’s palace and commissioned new works, such as the illustrated Mir’at al-quds (Mirror of Holiness), a biography of Jesus written in Persian by a Spanish Jesuit priest at the Mughal court, completed in 1602. Like the Tutinama (Tales of a Parrot), the Mir’at al-quds manuscript is remarkable not only for its historical importance and artistic beauty, but because it survives nearly intact, though unbound, with few missing pages. Both manuscripts, crucial for the study of Mughal painting, are kept in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and most of their folios have never before been shown.  

Katar dagger, 1700s. India. Iron handle with gold inlay steel blade; wooden sheath with velvet cover, brass boss, iron tip with gold inlay; 45.6 x 8.2 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Morris and Eleanor Everett, 1985.119.

The story of the Mughals continues with works made for and collected by Emperor Jahangir—the name Prince Salim took after the death of Akbar in 1605—as well as his son Shah Jahan (r. 1627–58) and grandson Alamgir (r. 1658–1707). This period spanning the 17th century saw the production of some of the most exquisite paintings and objects ever made for the Mughals. Textiles, courtly arms, garments, jades, marble architectural elements and porcelains bring to life the painted depictions of the Mughal court’s refined splendor at the height of its wealth.  

Hookah bowl, about 1700. Mughal India. Gold on blue glass; h. 19.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cornelia Blakemore Warner Fund, 1961.44.

Concluding the exhibition is a large, dramatic gallery, painted black in keeping with depictions of the interiors of 18th-century Mughal palaces, with paintings framed in gold, hookah bowls, jewels, a vina, lush textiles and a shimmering millefleurs carpet. The assemblage celebrates the joy in Mughal art of the mid-1700s. The scenes predominantly take place in the world of women and the harem, where the emperor Muhammad Shah (r. 1719–48), who was largely responsible for the reinvigoration of imperial Mughal painting, grew up, sheltered by his powerful mother from the murderous intrigues that wracked the court after the death of Alamgir in 1707.  

Ring, 1700s–1800s. India. Gold, enamel, and chased stones; diam. 2.3 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Edward L. Whittemore Fund, 1944.68.

Throughout the exhibition viewers will note the international character of Mughal art and culture. Flourishing during the Age of Expansion between the 1500s and 1700s, Mughal India was the source for goods and natural resources coveted throughout the Western world, and visitors to the exhibition will encounter the origins of familiar aspects of current daily life in the works of art on view.

Wine cup in the shape of a turban gourd, 1625–50. Mughal India. Nephrite. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60J485. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Architectural panel, 1700s or early 1800s. Mughal India. Marble inlaid with variegated semiprecious stones; 46.4 x 24.4 x 7.5 cm. The Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Gary Smith, 86.189.4.

Pierced railing, about 1655. Mughal India. Marble; 33.5 x 64 x 5.5 cm. Harvard Art Museums / Arthur M. Sackler Museum, The Stuart Cary Welch Collection, Gift of Edith I. Welch in memory of Stuart Cary Welch, 2009.202.67. Image © President and Fellows of Harvard College.

Lot 61. Wucai‘Zhaofu‘ Dragon Dish, China, 17th century. Estimation : 4 420 €. Photo Auctionata AG

Porcelain with underglaze blue and polychrome painting. Rare Wucai dish with a flat foot rim. Motif with a green horned dragon rising from foaming waves and chasing a 'flaming pearl'. Two further dragons in iron red and green on the exterior racing amidst ruyi heads and pursue flaming pearls. Base with eight-character inscription in underglaze blue ‘Jiaxu chunmeng Zhaofu zaoyong’ (Jiaxu year first spring month, made for the use of the Zhao Mansion), within a double circle. Diameter: c. 25 cm. Good condition 

Provenance: Private collection, Berlin 

Comparable dishes are found in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated by Ming Wilson in ‘Rare Marks on Chinese Ceramics’, London 1988, p. 30-1, no. 5, the Palace Museum Beijing and in the Shanghai Museum. 

Literature: Cf. International Exhibition of Chinese Art, London 1935/1936, no. 1950, in Zhongguo taoci quanji - 21 - Jingdezhen caihui ciqi, Shanghai 1981, no. 50

Wucai 
The word Wucai can be translated with five enamel colors or ‘five color ware’. In reality Wucai is the combination of three enamel colors – red, green and yellow – and comes along with the underglaze blue and the white porcelain. The name originated in the Ming dynasty (1368-1642) and pieces with this color were especially made during the reign of Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli.

Zhaofu (Zhao Mansion) 
Zhaofu (Zhao Mansion) referred to the principality of Zhao, one of the 24 principalities, which were set up by the Hongwu Emperor in the first years of the dynasty. The ceramic mark甲戌春孟赵府造用is one of the best known marks of the workshops of the Chongzhen Era (1627-1644). 

Les Yeux de l'Asie. Chine et Japon, le 02 Août 2016 à 14h00 (2 pm CET) - AUCTIONATA AG, 10719 BERLIN

Lot 47. Blue and White Guan-Type Jar with Lion Mask Handles, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Estimation : 4 420 €. Photo Auctionata AG

Porcelain with underglaze blue painting. Baluster shaped body with tapering sides on a slightly recessed base to a rounded shoulder with flaring neck and everted waisted rim. Lion mask handles flank the shoulder. The wall with a revolving a garden setting with scholars and armed warriors with weapons or on horseback. Framed by double circles and a band of petal lappets at the foot and the shoulder. The neck with a freely painted band of crashing waves and the flat mouth rim encircled by key fret border. Height: 35.5 cm. Good age related condition.

Such vessels of this type were made for imperial use as well as for the export market. In their embellishment and shape they were produced to suit the Mongol taste and the Central Asian markets. 

Cf. a similar jar of this type from the Yuan dynasty in the collection of The Cleveland Museum of Art, illustrated in Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), Cleveland 1968, no. 156, also illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, London 1986, vol. II, p. 503, no. 587, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London 1992, pl. 177 and Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, London, 1956, pl. 27. A similar jar was exhibited by Yuan and Ming Blue and White Porcelain, David Lin and Co., Taipei 2000, cat. no. 1. 

Les Yeux de l'Asie. Chine et Japon, le 02 Août 2016 à 14h00 (2 pm CET) - AUCTIONATA AG, 10719 BERLIN

Lot 63. Ko-Akae Plate with Décor in Underglaze blue, China, Tianqi period (1621-1627). Estimation : 700 € / 910 €. Photo Auctionata AG

Porcelain with underglaze blue, overglaze polychrome enamels in green, yellow, and iron red. Saucer dish raised on a low foot with gently flaring and slightly lobbedsides, the rim indented, decorated inside with a scetchy landscape scene in underglaze blue and cartouches filled with flowers painted in polchrome enamels, below the rim some spiral patterns with flowers, the exterior with auspicious motifs in underglaze blue und iron red. The underside with chattered potter's wheel traces and with four-character Tianqi mark in iron red. Made for the Japanese export market. With a wooden box. Diameter: 19.6 cm. Good condition.

Provenance: German private collection. 

Literature: Gudrun Schmidt-Esters (Ed.), Momoyama-Keramik und ihr Einfluss auf die Gegenwart, exhib. cat., Keramion Foundation, Frechen 2011, p.71, no. 163.  

Ko-akae: Late Ming polychrome porcelains made for Japan are known under various names. The term ko-akae refers to the used colors ('old red pictorial' ware), wherea the term Tenkei akae is based on the production of a good number of these wares during the Tianqi, or Tenkei, reign period in the early 17th century, some of them bearing Tianqi reign marks.

Les Yeux de l'Asie. Chine et Japon, le 02 Août 2016 à 14h00 (2 pm CET) - AUCTIONATA AG, 10719 BERLIN

Lot 88. Blue and White vase with Dragons and Lucky Symbols, Ming dynasty (1686-1644). Estimation : 700 € / 910 €. Photo Auctionata AG

Porcelain with underglaze blue painting. Vase with a bulbous body. On a slightly sweeping foot. Short neck with a stressed mouth rim. The exterior decorated with a dragon and the eight Buddhist symbols of good fortune. Height: 31 cm. Good condition.

Blue and White Style. The blue white porcelain had its golden age in the Chinese Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), but it believed that this porcelain type was first made in the Tang Dynasty (618-906). Especially the proverbial ‘Ming vase’ characterizes mainly the European idea of the Chinese porcelain art. The blue color is caused by a mixture of cobalt oxide and water. The color has been painted onto the porcelain before glazing and firing. After that it is coated with a transparent glaze.

Les Yeux de l'Asie. Chine et Japon, le 02 Août 2016 à 14h00 (2 pm CET) - AUCTIONATA AG, 10719 BERLIN

Lot 56. A Shonzui-Style Blue-and-White Tea Cup, Late Ming Dynasty, first half 17th century. Estimation : 2 400 € / 3 120 €. Photo Auctionata AG

Porcelain with underglaze blue painting. Shonzui ware. Cylindrical shaped tea cup with ninefold modeled sides on a high stand. The exterior decorated with cartouches filled with landscape sceneries and geometric patterns, below the rim a patterned border, inside also adorned with geometrical decor. Glazed underside with mark 'Fuku' in underglaze blue. Made for the Japanese export market. With old fitting brocade bag and  accompanying black lacquer box, inscribed with silver makie. Height: 8.7 cm. Diameter: 9.4 cm. Good condition.

Provenance: German private collection

Literature: Gudrun Schmidt-Esters (Ed.), Momoyama-Keramik und ihr Einfluss auf die Gegenwart, exhib. cat., Stiftung Keramion, Frechen 2011, p.70, no. 155.

Shonzui Blue-and-White Porcelain. Chinese blue-and-white porcelain for the Japanese market, known as Shonzui or Ko-sometsuke, was popular at the end of the Ming period and was often used in Japan in the context of the tea ceremony. Such ceramics were fired in Jingdezhen private kilns in China; however, the sophistication and elegance of the styles appealed to the Japanese, who often commissioned pieces for specific use.

Les Yeux de l'Asie. Chine et Japon, le 02 Août 2016 à 14h00 (2 pm CET) - AUCTIONATA AG, 10719 BERLIN

Lot 553. Highly important 39.00 carats Burmese 'royal blue' sapphire and diamond ring. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 CHF. Lot sold 2,770,500 CHF. Photo Sotheby's 2012

Set with a step-cut sapphire of superb colour weighing 39.00 carats, between triangular diamond shoulders,size 52, sizing band.

Accompanied by SSEF report no. 64244 and Gübelin report no. 12110116, stating that the sapphire is of Burmese origin, with no indications of heating. The Gübelin report states that the colour variety of the sapphire may also be called 'royal blue' in the trade.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels Geneva | 14 Nov 2012

Lot 532. Highly important 16.99 carats Kashmir sapphire and diamond ring. Estimate 750,000 — 1,300,000 CHF. Lot sold 1,986,500  CHF. Photo Sotheby's 2012

The cushion-shaped sapphire of fine colour weighing 16.99 carats, set between baguette diamond shoulders,size 53, sizing band, French assay and maker's marks.

Accompanied by SSEF report no. 60653 and Gübelin report no. 12090163, each stating that that the sapphire is of Kashmir origin, with no indications of heating.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels Geneva | 14 Nov 2012

Lot 511. Property of a ducal house. Important Colombian emerald and diamond ring. Estimate 470,000 — 745,000 CHF. Lot sold 1,874,500 CHF. Photo Sotheby's 2012

Claw-set with a step-cut emerald, between pear-shaped diamond shoulders, size 60, sizing band, numbered, French assay marks.

Accompanied by Gübelin report no. 12100101, stating that the 17.54 carat emerald is of Colombian origin, with indications of minor clarity enhancement.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels Geneva | 14 Nov 2012