Lot 44. Michele Marieschi (Venice 1710 - 1743), Venice, view of the Canareggio, looking towards the Grand Canal, oil on canvas, 22 1/4  by 34 in.; 56.5 by 83.4 cm. Estimate 700,000 — 900,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: In the possession of the family of the present owners since circa 1900. 

Bibliography: To be included in the forthcoming monongroph on Michele Marieschi, by Dario Succi, where it will be listed as cat. no. 18. 

Lot 3539. A large wucai jar and cover, Transitional period, mid-17th century. Estimate $30,000 – $40,000. Price Realized $106,250. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The broad-shouldered jar is decorated with a scene of a lady with long sleeves in a palace setting attended by various female and male attendants. The domed cover with bud-form finial is decorated with boys at play. The base is unglazed. 18 ¾ in. (47.6 cm.) high.

Provenance: An Important Collection of Chinese Porcelain, The Property of the late Sir Alfred Aykroyd; Sotheby & Co., London, 17 May 1966, lot 157.
S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1986.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: The scene on the present vase, with a central figure of a lady with long sleeves flanked by attendants, appears on large wucai jars and covers, as well as sleeve vases, produced in the Shunzhi period. See a pair of sleeve vases in the San Antonio Museum, Texas, gift of Lenora and Walter F. Brown, illustrated by John Johnston in Chinese Ceramics: The Lenora and Walter F. Brown Collection at the San Antonio Museum of Art, San Antonio, 2014, p. 112, no. 67, where the scene is identified as from The Romance of the Lute, written by Sun You in the late Ming dynasty.

Other examples of large jars similar to the present lot include one in the Rijksmusuem, Amsterdam, illustrated by Christiaan J.A. Jörg in Chinese Ceramics in the Collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam: The Ming and Qing Dynasties, London, 1997, p. 84, no. 75, and one illustrated by Maria António Pinto de Matos and Jean-Paul Desroches in Chinese Export Porcelain from the Museum from the Museum of Anastácio Gonçalves, Lisbon, 1996, pp. 170-171, no. 86.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 13. Florentine artist, circa 1480-85, close to Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a young man, bust length, in a red cap, tempera on panel, in an engaged frame; overall: 19 3/8  by 12 5/8  in.; 49.2 by 32 cm.; painted surface: 16 3/4  by 10 1/4  in.; 42.8 by 26 cm. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Paolini, Rome, by 1912;
Marczell von Nemes collection, Budapest, by 1913;
With A.S. Drey, Munich (according to an annotation in the Bernard Berenson archive); 
With Kleinberger, Paris, by 1925 (according to Adolfo Venturi, see Literature);
Friedrich ‘Fritz’ Gutmann, Heemstede, by 1931 and entrusted D. Katz, Dieren, for safe-keeping, circa 1939, and subsequently lost as a result of Nazi persecution;
Dr. Richard Wetzlar, Naarden, acquired circa 1955;
Anonymous sale ("Property of a European Collector"), New York, Sotheby's, 30 January 1997, lot 74 (as by Botticelli, the attribution endorsed by Everett Fahy; sold pursuant to a settlement with the heirs of Fritz Gutmann);
There acquired by the late collector.

Exhibition: Amsterdam, Stedelijk, Italiaansche Kunst in Nederlandsch Bezit, 1934, cat. no. 52 (as by Botticelli).

Bibliography: H. Uhde-Bernays,"Ein unbekanntes Jünglingsbildnis des Sandro Botticelli," in Der Cicerone, 5, 1913, pp. 195–96, reproduced (as Botticelli);
A. Venturi, Botticelli, Rome 1925, p. 116, reproduced fig. 184 (as an early work by Botticelli);
R. van Marle, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, The Hague 1931, vol. XII, p. 132, reproduced 135, fig. 78 (as by Botticelli, perhaps a portrait of a pupil);
B. Berenson, "Quadri senza casa: Il Quattrocento fiorentino III," in Dedalo, vol. XII, 1932, p. 819-820, reproduced p. 820 (as attributed to Botticelli);
Stedelijk Museum, Italiaanische Kunst in Nedelandsch Bezit, (exhibition catalogue), Amsterdam 1934, cat. no. 51, reproduced fig. 51 (as Botticelli);
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: The Florentine School, New York 1963, vol. I p. 146 (as the Master of San Miniato);
R. Salvini, All the Paintings of Botticelli, New York 1965, vol. II, pp. 76-77, reproduced plate 131 (as attributed to Botticelli);
G. Mandel, L'opera completa del Botticelli, Milan 1967, pp. 111-112, cat. no. 163, reproduced (as an artist in the circle of Botticelli, possibly a self-portrait of Mariano d'Antonio);
B. Berenson, Homeless Paintings of the Renaissance, Bloomington and London 1970, p. 184, reproduced fig. 333 (as attributed to Botticelli);
B. Berenson and G. Dalli Regoli, Il Maestro di San Miniato, Pisa 1988, p. 119 (as School of Botticelli);
S. Goodman, The Orpheus Clock, New York 2015, p. 173, 194, 227-231 and 236 (as Botticelli).

Notes: When this striking and engaging portrait of a young man was last at auction, it carried a full and unhesitant attribution to Sandro Botticelli by Everett Fahy, who had studied the painting in the original.  Certainly, the work betrays the characteristics of the Florentine master’s style: the strong drawing of the features of the sitter’s face, the directness of his presentation, the strong and well modulated palette.  However, recent investigation of Botticelli has provided new information about the artist and his studio practice which has occasioned new avenues of study in late quattrocento Florentine portraiture.

The portrait depicts a young man in his mid to late teens, his torso in profile, with his head turned at a three quarters angle towards the viewer.  He is dressed stylishly, wearing a maroon gonnella (tabard) over a scarlet doublet (or farsetto) which has been padded in front to give him the broad, rounded chest then fashionable.  His bright red beretta matches his doublet.   His image is set against a dark background, and he seems to peer through a dusky pink fictive frame, which is painted to give the appearance of a three dimensional border.   The use of a dark background (as opposed to a lighter color or a landscape) is a device that Botticelli himself uses, somewhat early in his career.  A dark, blackish brown can be found in two of his portraits of young men, the paintings in the National Galleries in Washington DC (inv. 1937.1.19) and in London (inv. NG626; fig. 1).  Both these portraits have been dated to the first half 1480s, and it seems correct to place the present painting to about the same time, circa 1480-85.

 Sandro Botticelli, Portrait of a Young Man, oil on panel / National Gallery, London, UK / Bridgeman Images.

While the earliest provenance of the painting is not known, it first reappeared in the early 20th Century when in the possession of the collector and dealer Professor Paolo Paolini in Rome.  By 1913, it was with the voracious collector Marczell von Nemes, whose collection of Old Masters was internationally famous, and where it began to draw the attention of scholars.  It was published that year as a rediscovered portrait by Botticelli (see Literature).  For the most part, subsequent scholars connected the painting to Botticelli, attributing it to him or his close following. Bernard Berenson categorized the picture as “Attributed to Botticelli” but considered it in a broader scope of paintings he was studying with extremely strong Botticellian connections, the corpus of works he gave to an artist he christened the “Master of San Miniato” (he in fact grouped this portrait with that painter in his “lists,” see 1963 Literature).

An infrared image of the painting (fig. 2) shows the complex and varied creative process of the composition of the portrait.  The actual physiognomy of the sitter is laid out in a delicate manner, and shows traces of the marks of the transfer of the design by the spolvero technique.  The adolescent’s well drawn features—his nose, eyes, and his pursed lips, all show remnants of the small dots created by this method.  This suggests that the artist used a drawing from life to transfer the likeness of the youth onto the panel.  The rest of the composition is rendered free hand, and with a vigorous touch.  The tunic and sleeve of the sitter is drawn in with a carbon material, and certain outlines (for example, along the neckline of the garment) are enhanced with a more liquid medium to strengthen the contours.  The profile of the cap and the sitter’s hairline are all suggested, and vary from the final composition.  There are even some loose diagonal hatching marks on the back of the sleeve to suggest shadow.  Most interestingly, however, is the artist’s original intention of including the sitter’s left hand at the lower left edge of the composition.  The knuckles of the hand are clearly visible under infrared, and the hand would have been positioned, cropped, close to the front of the picture plane, to create a more dramatic sense of space, particularly when viewed next to the portrait’s framing element.  This same positioning of the top of the hand was used by Botticelli in his Portrait of a Man, (circa 1478) formerly in the Museo Civico Gaetano Filangieri, Naples (since destroyed).

Sotheby's. Master Paintings & Sculpture Evening Sale, New York, 25 janv. 2017, 06:00 PM

Lot 3547. A rare wucai sleeve vase, Shunzhi period, circa 1645-1655. Estimate $30,000 – $40,000. Price Realized $233,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The vase is of elongated, high-shouldered, tapering cylindrical form with a waisted neck and is finely decorated with a large Lake Tai garden rock amidst flowering branches of chrysanthemums, tree peonies, bamboo shoots, narcissi and millet stalks. The scene is set beneath sprays of lotus, peonies and camelia on the neck and an incised band on the shoulder. The base is unglazed. 18 5/8 in. (47.2 cm.) high.

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York, 1983.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, VA, 2002, pp. 126-129, no. 22.1.

Exhibited: Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, Shunzhi Porcelain: , Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 2 May – 8 September 2002.
The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, Texas, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 13 October 2002 – 5 January 2003.
University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, Virginia, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 25 January – 23 March 2003. 

Notes: Sleeve vases of this large size decorated in the wucai palette are exceedingly rare. Only a handful of examples similarly decorated with flowering branches and birds have been published. These include one from a private collection, illustrated by Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, 2002, pp. 126-129, no. 22.2; one in the collection of Sir Michael Butler, illustrated by Michael Butler, Margaret Medley, Stephen Little in Seventeenth-Century Chinese Porcelain from the Butler Family Collection, Alexandria, 1990, p. 154, no. 101, as well as by Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection: Beauty’s Enchantment, London, 2006,p. 179, no. 155; and one from the Fayerman Collection, illustrated in S. Marchant & Son, Exhibition of Chongzhen-Shunzhi Transitional Porcelain From A Private American Collection, London, 2007, p. 26, no. 14.

In her note to the present example in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Dr. Curtis explains “The iconography of the decoration is complex… The lotus is a symbol of purity and integrity; it flowers through “the mud but remains unstained.” The peony is known as the “flower of wealth and rank,” and is associated with a wish for rank in office in the emperor’s civil service and a salary an perquisites to ensure wealth. The camellia, identified by its prominent stamen, is called “mountain tea” (shancha), but appears to have no particular symbolic import. The chrysanthemum is a symbol of autumn and of fortitude; it blossoms in the fall with “the onslaught of frost and icy winds.” Known as the hermit of flowers, it is also associated with the fourth-century poet-recluse Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming), who resigned his official post and retired to his small farm to write poetry; some of his poems are about the chrysanthemum. The tree peony is the most frequently used floral motif in Chinese art from the Ming dynasty on and is referred to as “the king of flowers.” Bamboo is a symbol of constancy; it remains green in all seasons and bends in a storm but does not break. » And finally, she notes, that the combination of the rock, shi, the narcissus, xian, and bamboo, zhu, can be intrepreted as ‘the Immortals wish you long life’.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 7. Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, called Botticelli, and Studio (Florence 1445 - 1510), The Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, oil on panel, a tondo; diameter: 34 1/4  in.; 87 cm. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

Provenance: Lady Florence Emily Fermor-Hesketh (née Sharon) (1858-1924);
By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 6 March 1925, lot 121, to Smith (as Botticelli);
Dr. Seymour Maynard, M.D., 16 Prince Edward Mansions, Pembridge Square, London; 
By whose Estate sold, London, Christie's, 29 January 1954, lot 72, for 2000 guineas, to Engel (as Jacopo del Sellaio).

Bibliography: C. Thompson and H. Brigstocke, National Gallery of Scotland, Shorter Catalogue, Edinburgh 1978, p. 10, under cat. no. 1563 (as ascribed to Jacopo del Sellaio);
R. Lightbown, Sandro Botticelli, Complete Catalogue, Los Angeles 1978, vol. II, p. 135, under cat. no. C36 (as ascribed to Jacopo del Sellaio). 

Notes: This beautiful tondo by Sandro Botticelli, executed with assistance from his workshop, likely dates to the second half of the 1480s, when the artist had returned to Florence from Rome following the completion of his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel.  The design for the kneeling Virgin relates to Botticelli’s celebrated Madonna Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child in the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, which also dates to circa 1485 (fig. 1, inv. no. NG 2709).  The heavy, hooded mantle pools in similar folds on the ground and she clasps her hands in the same, quintessentially Botticellian gesture, crooking the little finger of each hand.  Unlike the Edinburgh Virgin, however, in the present painting the figure’s mouth is slightly open and there is a delicate shadow between her lips, a characteristic detail that is typical of the artist in this period.  He paid careful attention to light, depicting the highlights on the ox’s muzzle and horn with great sensitivity.  The veils that cover the Virgin’s head are rendered with similarly meticulous care.  The more the layers overlap, the more opaque they become, appearing whiter, an effect accomplished by building up fine layers of pigment in diagonal lines, mimicking the weave of the linen. 

Lot 3548. A rare small enameled jardinière, Shunzhi period, circa 1645-1650. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Price realised USD 81,250. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The deep and heavily potted vessel is decorated on the exterior with a scene of three female immortals gathering in the grounds of the Moon Palace with an attendant, with a deer emerging from behind a pine tree and a crane perched beneath a wall on the opposite side. The rim is unglazed and the base bears an apocryphal Jiajing mark. 8 ½ in. (21.6 cm.) diam. Lot 3548

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son., Ltd., London, 1990.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: This jardinière, like the blue and white vase decorated with “Washing the Elephant” (lot 3569), also exhibits the link between designs on porcelain and published designs for ink cakes. A 1606 edition of the Cheng Shi Moyuan shows a female immortal with attendant observing the jade hare pounding the elixir by the Moon Palace of Chang E. (fig. 1) The depiction of the Moon Palace rising from clouds can be closely compared to that found on the present jardinière.

Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Cheng Shi Moyuan (Catalogue of Cheng’s Ink Cake Designs), by Cheng Dayue (1542-c. 1616).

This jardinière is very rare; only one other of this shape and polychrome enamel palette, from the Butler Family Collection, appears to be published. The Butler Family example has been extensively published, most recently by Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection: Beauty’s Enchantment, London, 2006, p. 175, no. 53, as well as by Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little in Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, VA, 2002, p. 221, no. 75.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3549. A wucai gu-form vase, Shunzhi period, circa 1650. Estimate $40,000 – $60,000. Price Realized $106,250. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The tall slender vase, of cylindrical form flaring toward the mouth, is brightly enameled and decorated on the upper register with a scene set against an iron-red diaper ground, depicting a fierce tiger standing in a blue-wash pool, and a sinuous dragon emerging from clouds above in pursuit of a flaming pearl. The scene is set above a band of flowers and rocks and a lower border of pendent lappets, both set on an iron-red diaper ground. The interior of the mouth is enameled with green and yellow rocks with small iron-red flowers. The flat base is unglazed. 15 ½ in. (39.4 cm.) high.

Provenance: Collection of Uno Ranch, Sweden.
Acquired from S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., 2001.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Images of the dragon and tiger, two of the Four Divinities in Daoism, are known in China since at least the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050-256 BC). (Stephen Little with Shawn Eichman, Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000, p. 130) Representing two of the four cardinal directions, East (dragon) and West (tiger), they also symbolize the elements fire and metal. As explained by Little and Eichman, ibid., “In Taoist chemical alchemy (waidan, or “outer” alchemy), the tiger and dragon also represent two of the most powerful elixir ingredients known, lead and mercury, while in the Inner Alchemy (neidan) tradition, the two animals symbolize yin and yang as they are brought together in the inner (human) body through visualization and transformed to create a divine embryonic form of the practitioner. »

For a blue and white Shunzhi period jar from the Curtis Collection on which these two animals also appear, see lot 3551 in the present catalogue.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Coupe à décor géométrique, Vers 4800 av JC, Suse, Iran, céramique. H: 8,2 c m. D: 19 cm. Paris, musée du Louvre, SB3162. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux

Calice avec décor de bouquetins, Fin du 5e-début 4e millénaire av J.-C., Tepe Sialk, Iran, céramique peinte. H: 8,2 c m. D: 19 cm. Paris, musée du Louvre, AO17798. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / René-Gabriel Ojéda

Boisseau, Fin du 5e millénaire - début 4e millénaire, Suse, Iran, céramique. H: 8,2 c m. D: 19 cm. Paris, musée du Louvre, SB23346. Photo© RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux

Coupe, Vers 4000 av. J.-C., Suse, Iran, céramique peinte. H: 9,9 c m. D: 18,3 cm. Sèvres, Cité de la céramique, MNC16774. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (Sèvres, Cité de la céramique) / Thierry Ollivier

Gobelet à pied à décor de bandes et de losanges quadrillés, 5e millénaire av J.-C., Tepe Djowi, Iran, H: 20 cm. D: 20 cm. Paris, musée du Louvre, SB19326. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux

Calice avec frise de panthères, in du Vème et début IVème millénaire av JC., Tepe Sialk, Iran, terre cuite peinte. H: 28 cm. D: 29 cm. Paris, musée du Louvre, AO17797. Photo © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Franck Raux

"Sérénissime ! Venise en fête de Tiepolo à Guardi". Affiche.

PARIS - Au XVIIIe siècle, la stabilité politique et économique de la République Sérénissime établit le dernier âge d’or vénitien, auquel mettra un terme la conquête napoléonienne de 1797. Cet ultime chapitre d’une histoire millénaire sera marqué par un déploiement inouï d’évènements publics et privés à Venise. Les fêtes, célébrations, régates, et autres spectacles rythment la vie de la cité et attirent curieux et amateurs de l’Europe entière. 

Loin d’être de purs divertissements oisifs, ces festivités - comme le carnaval- participent à une véritable mise en scène politique et religieuse de Venise. Immortalisées par de grands noms, Tiepolo, Guardi, Longhi, elles impriment durablement et exportent partout en Europe les attraits de la cité des Doges. Plus de quarante peintures, gravures, dessins, provenant de collections françaises et européennes prestigieuses, seront ainsi présentés au public pour réanimer, le temps d’une exposition, les fastes déployés par la Sérénissime République de Venise au temps des Lumières. 

Le parcours de l’exposition propose d’explorer quatre thématiques liées aux fêtes vénitiennes :

Grandes et petites réjouissances. La danse et la musique occupent une place de choix dans la société vénitienne, aussi bien au sein de l’aristocratie que du peuple.

De la ville à la scène. La commedia dell’arte connaît un essor sans précédent à Venise au XVIIIe siècle, en particulier avec l’auteur de théâtre Carlo Goldoni. Quant à l’Opéra, il bénéficie alors de majestueuses salles de spectacle, dont la plus célèbre demeure la Fenice.

Le pouvoir en spectacle. Les institutions laïques et sacrées de la Sérénissime aiment convier des foules entières à de grandes festivités cristallisant l’image d’une Venise puissante et fastueuse. Les réceptions de princes étrangers, notamment français, sont également l’occasion d’extraordinaires célébrations sur la place Saint-Marc ou le Grand Canal.

Au carnaval. Que serait Venise sans son carnaval ? Instituée au Moyen Âge, cette fête colorée et masquée réunit au XVIIIe siècle une foule cosmopolite, qui aime autant les attractions foraines de plein air que les divertissements plus discrets du Ridotto, l’ancêtre du casino. 

Musée Cognacq-Jay. Du 25 février au 25 juin 2016.

Pietro Falca dit Pietro Longhi  (Venise, 1702-1785), Le Casotto du lion au Carnaval de Venise en 1762. Huile sur toile, Fondazione Querini Stampalia, inv. n. 20/274 © Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venise.

Pietro Falca dit Pietro Longhi  (Venise, 1702-1785), Le Charlatan, vers 1757. Huile sur toile, Toulouse, Fondation Bemberg, inv. 1029© Fondation Bemberg, Toulouse. Photo RMN - Grand Palais /Fondation Bemberg / Mathieu Rabeau.

Giuseppe Borsato (1770-1849), L’empereur Napoléon Ier préside la régate à Venise le 2 décembre 1807, 1814. Huile sur toile, Versailles, musée national des châteaux de Versailles et de Trianon, inv. MV. 1447 © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck Raux - Service de presse / Musée Cognacq-Jay

Francesco Guardi (Venise, 1712-1793), Le Doge Alvise IV Mocenigo porté sur la place Saint-Marc, vers 1775-1777. Huile sur toile, Grenoble, musée de Grenoble, inv. MG. 10 © Musée de Grenoble

Giovanni Battista Cimaroli (1687 –1771), Célébrations pour le mariage du dauphin Louis avec l’infante Marie-Thérèse d’Espagne au palazzo Surian, ambassade de France à Venise, en mai 1745, vers 1745. Huile sur toile © Lampronti Gallery, London.

Pietro Falca dit Pietro Longhi (Venise, 1702-1785), Le Ridotto, vers 1757. Huile sur toile, Venise, Museo della Fondazione Querini Stampalia, inv. -/438 © Fondazione Querini Stampalia, Venise

Giandomenico Tiepolo (Venise, 1727-1804), La Malvasia, 1791. Plume, encre brune, lavis gris sur esquisse à la pierre noire, Paris, École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, inv. Mas 2426. Don Jean Masson, 1925. © Beaux-Arts de Paris, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image Beaux-Arts de Paris / Service de presse / Musée Cognacq-Jay

Giandomenico Tiepolo (Venise, 1727-1804), Il mondo novo, vers 1765. Huile sur toile, Paris, musée des Arts décoratifs, inv. 11305 © Les Arts décoratifs, Paris/Jean Tholance

Attribuéà Lorenzo Tiepolo (Venise, 1736 – Madrid, 1776), Femme au masque, vers 1760. Pastel sur papier. Courtesy Enrique Frascione Antiquario, Florence © Photo Enrico Frascione

Giandomenico Tiepolo (Venise, 1727-1804), Le Triomphe de Polichinelle, 1753-1754. Huile sur toile, Copenhague, Statens Museum for Kunst, inv. kms3830 © SMK

Giambattista Tiepolo (Venise, 1696 – Madrid, 1770), Le Banquet de Cléopâtre, vers 1742-1743. Huile sur toile, Paris, musée Cognacq-Jay, inv. J. 104 © Musée Cognacq-Jay / Roger-Viollet

Francesco Guardi (Venise, 1712-1793), Bissona aux gondoliers chinois, vers 1770-1775. Plume et encre brune, lavis et rehauts de gouache sur papier, Londres, The Victoria & Albert Museum, inv. 144 et / inv. 143 © Victoria and Albert Museum, Londres

Jacopo Amigoni (vers 1682 – Madrid, 1752), Portrait de Carlo Broschi dit Farinelli (1705-1782), vers 1740. Huile sur toile marouflée sur bois, Paris, musée Carnavalet – Histoire de Paris, inv. P 1468. Don de M. Munier-Jollain, 1929© Rémi Briant / Musée Carnavalet / Roger-Viollet

Lot 3591. A large doucai dish, Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $18,000 – $25,000. Price Realized $131,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The large dish, with wide, flat, everted rim, is decorated with a scene of King Ding Xing on horseback approaching a Buddhist monk and a Daoist priest on the left, and accompanied by ladies on horseback and attendants. The channeled foot encloses a double circle on the base. 20 1/8 in. (51.1 cm.) diam.

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1995.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: The scene on this doucai dish comes from the wholly fictitious historical drama Jiao you Dian hua. In this scene, known as ‘Ding Xing Wang Ventures Out’, King Ding Xing is seen riding out in state – he has even given himself the dignity of being followed by an attendant carrying an official canopy. He is accompanied by two guards carrying lanterns and a group of his palace ladies, one of whom is playing a pipa, ride with him. As he progresses through the countryside he meets a Buddhist monk and a Daoist priest – shown on the left – who enter into discussion with him.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

Lot 3580. An underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated basin, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $20,000 – $30,000. Price Realized $62,500. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The basin is decorated in the interior with a praying mantis on a large rock beneath a prunus tree with a butterfly fluttering above. The cavetto is decorated with peony and chrysanthemum sprays beneath a band of flowering prunus branches on the everted rim. The basin is supported on an plain unglazed channeled foot. 14 ¼ in. (36.2 cm.) diam 

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1985.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: A basin of similar shape, decorated in underglaze blue and red and also exhibiting the channeled foot seen on the present lot, is in the Butler Family Collection and illustrated by Michael Butler and Wang Qingzheng in Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection: Beauty’s Enchantment, London, 2006, pp. 224-225, no. 75. The Butler Family example is painted in the center with a ‘Master of the Rocks’-style landscape, but the decorative scheme is the same as on the present dish, as are the sprays of peony branches on the rim. Sir Michael Butler notes another related basin in the Percival David Foundation, London, that bears a Zhonghetang mark dating to 1671, and bases the dating of his dish on this marked example (ibid., p. 224).

The unglazed channeled foot that appears on the present lot and the two examples noted above, as well as on lots 3581, 3583, 3589, 3591 in this catalogue, appears to have been used by the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of time around 1670, and disappears in the second half of the Kangxi period.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

 Lot 3581. A large and unusual underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722). Estimate $25,000 – $35,000 Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated in the interior with an overall design drawn in a penciled style with leaping carp and Buddhist emblems on a ground of undulating waves. The reverse is painted with four further Buddhist emblems above the channeled foot. 13 ¾ in. (34.9 cm.) diam.

Provenance: Frides Lameris, Amsterdam, 1988.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Notes: Like four other large dishes in the Curtis Collection, lots 3580, 3583, 3589, 3591, this unusual dish is finished with a channeled foot, although the present dish bears a Kangxi mark. This type of foot appears to have been used by the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of time around 1670, and disappears in the second half of the Kangxi period.

The decoration on this dish, with a large-scale ground pattern extending across the entire surface, is very unusual. It is possible that, like narrative scenes of the period, patterns and ground designs were also inspired by printed illustrations. (fig. 1)

 Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Fang Shi Mopu (Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs), by Fang Yulu, active 1570-1619.

For a related dish decorated in underglaze blue and copper-red with five carp on a similar wave ground, of slightly different shape than the present example, in Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo, see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, p. 148, pl. 144.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza 

Lot 3589. A large underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Early Kangxi period, circa 1670. Estimate $10,000 – $15,000. Price Realized $62,500. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated on the interior with a scene from the Romance of the Western Chamber, depicting Yingying’s servant Hongniang kneeling before Yingying’s mother and an attendant in a curtained pavilion. An inscription referring to the scene appears on the wall behind the mother. The dish is supported on an unglazed channeled foot. 13 1/8 in. (33.2 cm.) diam 

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, Ltd., London, 1986.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Julia B. Curtis, ‘Decorative Schemes for New Markets: The Origins and Use of Narrative Themes on 17th-Century Chinese Porcelain’, International Ceramics Fair & Seminar, London, 1997, p. 23, fig. 10.

Notes: In this scene, which is known as ‘Hongniang in the Dock’, Yingying’s maid Hongniang is shown being interrogated and rebuked by Yingying’s mother regarding her daughter’s relationship with Zhang Sheng. The text behind the seated mother reflects Hongniang’s view and reads rather bluntly: ‘Why persist in stopping them? Daughters and dead fish are not items to be retained’. A differently composed scene from the Xixiang ji depicting a tense encounter between Yingying’s mother and Hongniang decorates the Yuan dynasty meiping in the Victoria and Albert Museum, but the scene on the Curtis dish was almost certainly inspired by an illustration in the 1659 woodblock printed edition of the tale. (fig.1. Woodblock illustration to Xiuxiang Gelin Shicui (Ten Choice Selections of Song Medleys Elegantly Illustrated), 1659)

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza 

Lot 3545. A wucai sleeve vase, Shunzhi period, circa 1645-1660. Estimate $12,000 – $18,000. Price Realized $75,000. Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The vase is decorated on the exterior in underglaze blue and iron-red and yellow, green and aubergine glazes with four oblong cartouches each containing a spray of either chrysanthemum, peony, magnolia or crab apple, all beneath the waisted neck with fruiting branches bearing vibrant peaches and pomegranates. The flat base is unglazed. 15 in. (38.1 cm.) high – Lot 3545

Provenance: Earle D. Vandekar of Knightsbridge, London, 1987.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Literature: Michael Butler, Julia B. Curtis and Stephen Little, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, 2002, pp. 142-143, no. 33.

Exhibited: Honolulu Academy of Arts, Honolulu, Hawaii, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 2 May – 8 September 2002.
The Trammell & Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art, Dallas, Texas, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 3 October 2002 – 5 January 2003.
University of Virginia Art Museum, Charlottesville, Virginia, Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, 25 January – 23 March 2003.

Notes: Dr. Julia Curtis notes in the above listed exhibition catalogue that the combination of the four flowers depicted in the panels on this vase form the rebus “Wealth and rank in the Jade Hall” (yu tang fu gui).(Shunzhi Porcelain: Treasures from an Unknown Reign, 1644-1661, Alexandria, VA, 2002, p. 142) She adds that the flowers are “a reference to the Hanlin Academy, an official body in Beijing open only to high-ranking scholar-officials; and the chrysanthemum, emblem of autumn, is associated with Tao Qian (Tao Yuanming; 365-427), who, following family tradition, held several official posts before retiring from the civil service to follow his true vocation, poetry. The floral decoration on this rolwagen reveals a preoccupation with scholarly concerns that animated the scholar-gentry and affluent merchants in the seventeenth century. These two groups composed the consumers of porcelains in the Shunzhi emperor’s reign.”

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza