Lot 371. Colombian  emerald and diamond pendant, 19th century. Estimate 146,000 — 245,000 CHF. Lot sold 430,000 CHF. Photo Sotheby's.

Set with a step-cut emerald weighing 9.24 carats, within a frame of cushion-shaped diamonds, suspending a detachable briolette emerald drop, brooch fitting deficient.

Accompanied by SSEF report  no. 77072, stating that the step-cut emerald is of Colombian origin, with a minor amount of oil in fissures; and by SSEF report no. 77071, stating that the drop shaped emerald is of Colombian origin, with a moderate amount of oil in fissures.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Genève, 12 mai 2015, 10:30 AM 

A large Chinese dish decorated in the famille rose palette for the Persian market, Qianlong period (1736-1795), circa 1740. © Galerie Nicolas Fournery 2016

Of octogonal form, painted in the famille rose palette, the wide rim moulded in eight planes sloping inwards, with angles clearly showing where they radiate towards the points on the rim. Decorated with eight sepia roundels, each gilded with one of two alternating flowers and set within an irregular border of sepia scrollwork, heightened with thick icy-pink scrolls. The eight roundels are separated by heavily-enameled formal flowers in blue. Lotus-petals with sepia whorls and blue  enamel clouds surround the central motif of a quatrefoil lotus in sepia with gilt decoration. 32 cm. Price: 620 US dollars (Reference :B306)

Related works: For a plate with this pattern, see Howard and Ayers, China for the West, TII, p. 463, no. 471.

Notice: Such considerable patterns of considerable  complexity are typically of the Persian or Turkish taste towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and this dish would have been part of an important dinner service for this market.

Galerie Nicolas Fournery

Imperial yellow glaze porcelain deep cup, Ming dynasty, Jiajing six-character mark and period (1522-1566), China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. H. 2 in x W. 4 in. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P2336. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

Jar with lotus scrolls, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566), China, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with underglaze-blue and overglaze enamel decoration. H. 4 1/4 in x Diam. 4 3/8 in, H. 10.8 cm x Diam. 11.1 cm.  The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P2361. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

This piece is a clear emulation of the Chenghua style, closely following its color scheme, green enamel over underglaze-blue in this case. While akin to doucai wares in its blue outlines, the green was filled with wider passages of sinuous leaves. The borders of cloud heads on the shoulder and the lotus panels and scrolls below were simplified during the Jiajing. The famous quality visible in this piece is its achievement of the forest green color, a hue that other potters sought to re-create in later periods.

Cup with a scene of Taoist temples, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566), China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Painted and glazed porcelain. H. 4 in x Diam. 4 1/2 in, H. 10.2 cm x Diam. 11.5 cm.  The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P2374. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

The shape of this cup, resembling an upside-down bell, was commonly reproduced throughout the Qing period. The interior creates an atmosphere of immortal lands, with clouds on both the lip and the base. The outside is painted with four open panels on a cloud-and-crane background, each embracing an image of a sacred building borrowed from architecture and contemporary paintings. The light blue color, typical of the period, was an attempt to imitate the Chenghua underglaze-blue.

Fish bowl, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), probably reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566), China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with blue and white glaze. H. 20 1/2 in x Diam. 24 3/4 in. The Avery Brundage Collection, B61P19. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

Jar, Ming dynasty, Jiajing six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1522-1566), China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. Porcelain with underglaze blue decoration. The Avery Brundage Collection, B62P88. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

Fahua style glaze porcelain jar with lid, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566). H. 15 1/2 in x W. 14 1/2 in. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P75+.a-.b. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

Jar with fish in lotus pond, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Reign of the Jiajing emperor (1522-1566), China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province.Porcelain with underglaze blue and overglaze polychrome decoration. H. 11 1/2 in x Diam. 13 5/8 in, H. 29.2 cm x Diam. 34.6 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P79. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture.

Fish in a lotus pond, symbolic of eternal prosperity, had been a widespread motif in Yuan porcelain and became repopularized in the Xuande and later periods. With charming naturalism, fish-in-lotus-pond motifs commonly adorned daily wares, particularly blue-and-white and polychromedecorated porcelain. From the sixteenth century onward, fishpond vessels increased in size, the primary subject varying in composition and components. The round, generous shapes of large jars were an especially suitable format for suggesting the fluid world of a fishpond. Along with their practical functions as fishbowls, display pieces, warmers, or storage containers, jars with such auspicious motifs satisfied clients' demands for intergenerational symbolism.

The exterior of this large jar is decorated with golden red fish swimming through layers of blue water plants in a deep pond. This vessel is an example of a method developed by the Xuande imperial kiln. On high-stemmed cups, bowls, and plates, potters depicted red dragons or mythic beasts against a blue ocean, or conversely blue creatures against red seas, by combining two processes: over a prefired blue-andwhite piece, red pigment was applied in empty areas drawn by the blue, and then fired again at a temperature of 700 to 800°c. This method was employed for broader subjects from the sixteenth century onward. Attesting to the level of potters' skill during this period, the red color with tints of orange and yellow served to express the glittering scales of the fish.

"When it came to Sotheby’s 2016 jewellery sales, pink and blue diamonds reigned supreme. From the radiant ‘Unique Pink’ diamond sold in Geneva to the ‘De Beers Millennium’ blue diamond sold in Hong Kong, it was a year for exceptional jewels with colour and carats to match. Of soothing pastel hues, these stones also perfectly reflected Pantone’s Color of the Year, which in 2016, was a unique pairing of Rose Quartz and Serenity. Click ahead to discover the 20 lots that topped this year’s jewellery list, and look out for our February Fine Jewels sale in New York to get 2017 off to an extra dazzling start."–Stephanie Sporn

Lot 1843. ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4,’ Superb and rare 10,10 carats fancy vivid blue diamond and diamond ring. Sold for HK$248,280,000 ($32,013,223) at Sotheby's Genève, 17 mai 2016. Photo Sotheby's

Cf. Sotheby’s Hong Kong présente le « De Beers Millennium Jewel 4 »

‘The Unique Pink,’ World Auction Record Price for Any Fancy Vivid Pink Diamond. Sold for CHF30,826,000 ($31,561,200) at Sotheby's Geneva, 17 May 2016. Photo Sotheby's.

Cf. "The Unique Pink" chez Sotheby's Genève

 Lot 336. Magnificent 17.07 carats fancy intense pink diamond ring. Sold for CHF20,825,000 ($20,778,352) at Sotheby's Geneva, 16 Nov 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Magnificent 17.07 carats VVS1 Clarity step-cut fancy intense pink diamond ring

 Lot 494. Superb 7.32 carats fancy vivid blue diamond ring. Sold for CHF16,714,000 ($17,112,629) at Sotheby's Geneva, 17 May 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Superb 7.32 carats fancy vivid blue diamond ring 

Lot 337. ‘The Sky Blue Diamond’ Superb 8.01 carats Type IIb fancy vivid blue diamond ring, Cartier. Sold for CHF17,112,500 ($17,074,168) at Sotheby's Geneva, 16 Nov 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. “The Sky Blue Diamond”. Superb 8.01 carats Type IIb fancy vivid blue diamond ring, Cartier

 Lot 329. Magnificent 13.20 carats fancy intense pink diamond ring. Sold for CHF16,268,750 ($16,232,308) at Sotheby's Geneva, 16 Nov 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Magnificent 13.20 carats Internally Flawless fancy intense pink diamond ring

 Lot 298A. Magnificent 7.74 carats fancy deep blue diamond ring. Sold for CHF$13,737,500 ($13,706,728) at Sotheby's Geneva, 16 Nov 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Magnificent 7.74 carats VVS1 Clarity oval fancy deep blue diamond ring

 Lot 405. Important 6.64 carats fancy intense blue diamond brooch, Alexandre Reza. Sold for CHF13,354,000 ($13,672,493) at Sotheby's Genève, 17 mai 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Important 6.64 carats fancy intense blue diamond brooch, Alexandre Reza

 Lot 411A. Important 18.51 carats fancy pink Type IIa diamond pendant. Sold for CHF9,546,000 ($9,773,672) at Sotheby's Genève, 17 mai 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Important 18.51 carats fancy pink Type IIa diamond pendant

 Lot 331. Important 40.30 carats pear-shaped fancy light pink diamond ring. Sold for CHF7,550,000 ($7,533,088) at Sotheby's New York, 19 Apr 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Important 40.30 carats VVS2 Clarity pear-shaped fancy light pink diamond ring

 Lot 462. Pair of important 8.85 and 8.79 carats fancy blue and fancy orangy pink diamond earrings. Sold for CHF5,850,000 ($5,989,523) at Sotheby's New York, 19 Apr 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Pair of important 8.85 and 8.79 carats fancy blue and fancy orangy pink diamond earrings

 Lot 411. Fine 6.03 carats pear-shaped fancy intense blue diamond ring. Sold for CHF5,626,000 at Sotheby's New York, 19 Apr 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Fine 6.03 carats pear-shaped fancy intense blue diamond ring

 Important 53.53  heart-shaped ring. Sold for CHF4,730,000 ($4,842,811) at Sotheby's Genève, 17 mai 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Important 53.53 heart-shaped diamond ring

 Lot 189. Magnificent Platinum and 12.45 carats fancy purplish pink diamond ring. Sold for $4,562,000 at Sotheby's New York, 19 Apr 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Magnificent Platinum and Fancy Purplish Pink Diamond Ring

 Lot 296. 8.73 carats Fancy intense pink diamond ring. Sold for CHF4,287,500 ($4,277,896) at Sotheby's Geneva, 16 Nov 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. 8.73 carats VVS2 Clarity step-cut fancy intense pink diamond ring

 Lot 335. Superb  8.37 carats Burmese ruby and diamond ring, Cartier. Sold for CHF4,287,500 ($4,277,896) at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 05 Apr 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Superb 8.37 carats Burmese cushion-shaped ruby and diamond ring, Cartier

 Lot 1844, Important 22.40 carats D Colour, Internally Flawless Type IIa Diamond Ring. Sold for HK$28,760,000 ($3,708,314) at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 05 Apr 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Important Diamond Ring

 Lot 486. Attractive 14.18 carats fancy blue diamond ring. Sold for CHF3,610,000 ($3,696,098) at Sotheby's Genève, 17 mai 2016. Photo Sotheby's. 

Cf. Attractive 14.18 carats step-cut fancy blue diamond ring

Lot 420. Important 8.20 carats fancy purplish pink diamond ring. Sold for CHF3,610,000 ($3,696,098) at Sotheby's Genève, 17 mai 2016. Photo Sotheby's

Cf. Important 8.20 carats fancy purplish pink diamond ring

Lot 303. A large Famille Rose punch bowl, Early Qianlong period. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000 © Christie's Images Ltd 2016.

A continuous palace garden scene on the exterior, a deep floral border above a large central floral cluster inside - 15 ½ in. (38.1 cm.) diameter 

The Popowich Collection.

Christie's. Chinese Export Art, 18 January 2017, New York, Rockefeller Center

Lot 469. Pair of fine gem set and diamond clips, Cartier, circa 1930. Estimate 69,000 — 98,000 CHF. Lot sold 466,000 CHF. Photo Sotheby's.

Each set with a carved emerald leaf, within a frame of cabochon rubies, ruby beads and baguette and single-cut diamonds, the clip fittings backed with mother-of-pearl, each signed Cartier, numbered, French assay marks, fitted case stamped Cartier.

Formerly in the collection of Lydia, Lady Deterding.

Biliography: Cf: Alexandra Rhodes and Stefano Papi, 20th Century Jewelry & The Icons of Style, London, 2013, pg. 38 for an illustration of these clips.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Genève, 12 mai 2015, 10:30 AM 

A large Chinese famille rose armorial dish for the Italian market, Yongzheng period (1723-1735), circa 1722. © Galerie Nicolas Fournery 2016

Lot 316. From a noble family. Natural pearl and diamond necklace. Estimate 39,000 — 58,000 CHF. Lot sold 454,000 CHF. Photo Sotheby's.

Designed as a graduated line of natural pearls measuring from approximately 4.95 to 14.05mm, the clasp accented with two circular-cut diamonds, length approximately 410mm.

Accompanied by an SSEF report no. 79542, stating that the forty-three pearls were found to be natural, saltwater.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Genève, 12 mai 2015, 10:30 AM 

Lot 371. Colombian  emerald and diamond pendant, 19th century. Estimate 146,000 — 245,000 CHF. Lot sold 430,000 CHF. Photo Sotheby's.

Set with a step-cut emerald weighing 9.24 carats, within a frame of cushion-shaped diamonds, suspending a detachable briolette emerald drop, brooch fitting deficient.

Accompanied by SSEF report  no. 77072, stating that the step-cut emerald is of Colombian origin, with a minor amount of oil in fissures; and by SSEF report no. 77071, stating that the drop shaped emerald is of Colombian origin, with a moderate amount of oil in fissures.

Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Genève, 12 mai 2015, 10:30 AM 

A large Chinese dish decorated in the famille rose palette for the Persian market, Qianlong period (1736-1795), circa 1740. © Galerie Nicolas Fournery 2016

Of octogonal form, painted in the famille rose palette, the wide rim moulded in eight planes sloping inwards, with angles clearly showing where they radiate towards the points on the rim. Decorated with eight sepia roundels, each gilded with one of two alternating flowers and set within an irregular border of sepia scrollwork, heightened with thick icy-pink scrolls. The eight roundels are separated by heavily-enameled formal flowers in blue. Lotus-petals with sepia whorls and blue  enamel clouds surround the central motif of a quatrefoil lotus in sepia with gilt decoration. 32 cm. Price: 620 US dollars (Reference :B306)

Related works: For a plate with this pattern, see Howard and Ayers, China for the West, TII, p. 463, no. 471.

Notice: Such considerable patterns of considerable  complexity are typically of the Persian or Turkish taste towards the middle of the eighteenth century, and this dish would have been part of an important dinner service for this market.

Galerie Nicolas Fournery

Chinese export porcelain garniture with moulded panels, c. 1700, Kangxi reign, Qing dynasty. © Victoria & Albert Museum

LONDON.- Organised in partnership with the National Trust, this display explores the history of the garniture; a set of ornamental vases unified by their design and a specific context. Complete sets of garnitures are exceptionally rare. A status symbol between the 17th and 19th centuries, garnitures later fell out of fashion. Sets were damaged or broken up and individual pieces sold off; few complete sets now exist, and even fewer survive in their original settings. This display brings together garnitures loaned from 13 different National Trust houses. These are complimented by objects from the V&A’s collection as well as two private loans to present an overview of this overlooked ceramic phenomenon. Highlights include a set reconstructed especially for the display, a garniture made in miniature for a dolls house, an extremely rare seventeenth-century silver set of jars, a striking Rococo set and Wedgwood ceramics. 

Garnitures are usually made up of an odd number of vessels and arranged symmetrically. Displayed on top of furniture, on the mantelpiece, or over doorways, garnitures enhanced the interior and expressed the wealth and taste of their owners. Early in the 17th century, the first sets were assembled from imported Chinese porcelain. Later, complete sets with matching decoration were made for the European market in both China and Japan. As the fashion spread around Europe, British and European potters made their own versions.  

Five-piece garniture, China, 1690, saved from the fire at Clandon Park. © National Trust Images/James Dobson.

The display recreates for the first time, an early type of garniture made up of pairs of jars, bottles and beakers from different collections. This reconstruction, based on seventeenth-century engravings, is assembled from Chinese porcelain vessels of about 1640, from historic houses Ickworth, Suffolk and Scotney Castle, Kent, as well as pieces from the V&A’s own collection. The show also includes a five-piece garniture, also of Chinese porcelain and dating to about 1685-95, which was rescued from Clandon Park following a fire which significantly damaged the property in April 2015. Also on display is a rare collection of Chinese porcelain painted in iron-red enamels, usually on display at Petworth House and previously belonging to Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset (1662 – 1748), known as ‘The Proud Duke’. 

The most celebrated and controversial English garniture, a set of seven jars and vases in different shapes designed to hold potpourri and painted with avant-garde, highly erotic mythological scenes on the front and bucolic peacocks on the reverse, are on show. Their extreme form of Rococo design was intended to rival French luxury goods. Dating to c. 1762-4, the history of the set can be traced back to the 1850s to Knole house in Kent. It is now usually shown in the interior of Upton House in Warwickshire.  

Five-piece Imari-style garniture from Dunham Massey, Cheshire, about 1700 – 20, porcelain, Arita, Hizen province, Japan. Dunham Massey, Cheshire. © National Trust. Photograph: Robert Morris.

When imports of Chinese porcelain were interrupted, porcelain forms were imitated in Dutch, French and Japanese ceramics and in English silver. The display includes a five-piece silver garniture made in London between 1670 – 80, an elaborately decorated five-piece set of Japanese porcelain (1700- 20) and a tin-glazed earthenware three-piece set manufactured in Delft, The Netherlands (about 1695). This particular set was bought new for Kingston Lacy in Dorset in 1698 and has never before left the house. Once the secret of porcelain was mastered in Europe in the early 18th century, many local factories produced their own versions of garnitures. In the hands of Josiah Wedgwood and his partner Tomas Bentley, garnitures took a new direction influenced by the shapes of ancient Greek vases recently discovered at Herculaneum and Pompeii. In 1769 Wedgwood described the public’s insatiable appetite for vases as a ‘violent Vase Madness’ and by 1775 he made over 500 shapes available. The display includes a garniture of four covered urns and three vases in black stoneware decorated in imitation of antique red-figure vase painting, manufactured in Wedgwood’s factory.  

Three-piece Kakiemon-style garniture from Dunham Massey, Cheshire, about 1680, porcelain, Arita, Hizen province, Japan. © National Trust. Photograph: Robert Morris

Reiono Liefkes, Senior Curator of Ceramics at the V&A, said: “It is stunning to see these pieces from all over the country together here for the first time. Many have been cleaned and restored especially for the show, and you can see them close up, in all their glory.” Patricia F. Ferguson, the National Trust's External Adviser on Ceramics, said: "This display promises to change the way you see historic vases; they were almost always designed to be part of a set". 

To coincide with the exhibition, V&A publishing and the National Trust have published the richly illustrated catalogue Garnitures: Vase Sets from National Trust Houses by Patricia F. Ferguson. The book explores exceptional examples of surviving garnitures and traces their history. It reveals an early use of the term in relation to Chinese porcelain on display in the palace of Versailles under Louis XIV, whose son the Grand Dauphin had over 100 vessels arranged over a bedroom fireplace. Extraordinary massed displays placed on shelves with mirrors behind them were also created by Mary II in her palaces in the Netherlands and England, and are documented in engravings from the period.

Three-piece cabinet garniture from Kingston Lacy, Dorset, tin-glazed earthenware, about 1695, Delft, the Netherlands. © National Trust. Photograph: Robert Morris

Covered pot-pourri vase from Upton House, Warwickshire, soft-paste porcelain, 1762–64, Chelsea factory, London, England. © National Trust. Photograph: Robert Morris

Three-piece ‘Hamilton’ vases from Saltram, Devon, about 1770–80, black basalt, Wedgwood and Bentley, Etruria, Staffordshire, England. © National Trust. Photograph: Robert Morris

Five-piece chimney garniture from Blickling Hall, about 1804–7, soft-paste porcelain, Barr, Flight and Barr factory, Worcester, England. © National Trust. Photograph: Robert Morris

Imperial yellow glaze porcelain deep cup, Ming dynasty, Jiajing six-character mark and period (1522-1566), China, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province. H. 2 in x W. 4 in. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P2336. © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture