Lot 545. A rare Mozambique ruby, diamond and 18k white gold "Louise" ring, by John Rubel. Est: €68,000 - €72,000. © Artcurial

En or gris 18k (750) ornée dans le sens du doigt, d''un rubis rectangulaire à pans, encadré et épaulé de volutes feuillagées serties de rubis calibrés, ronds ou piriformes, l''envers de diamants bruns taillés en brillant - Poids du rubis: 3.02 cts - Signée John Rubel Paris - Dans son écrin - Tour de doigt: 52, Poids brut: 14.60 g. 

Accompagné de deux certificats des laboratoires SSEF (2015) et GRS (2012) indiquant origine Mozambique, sans traitement thermique. 

Avec son certificat d''authenticité.

Artcurial, July 18, 2017, 6:00 PM CET, Monte-Carlo, Monaco

Jean Delville, The Death of Orpheus (Orphée mort), 1893. Oil on canvas, 79.3 x 99.2 cm. Région de Bruxelles-Capitale, en prêt à long terme aux musées royaux de Beaux-Arts de Belgique. Followed by © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels. Photo: J. Geleyns – Roscan

NEW YORK - Through October 4, 2017, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum presents Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, the first museum exhibition on this revelatory and significant yet frequently overlooked series of Salons. Mysterious, mythical, and visionary themes, often drawn from literature, prevailed in the art of the six exhibitions, which were held annually in Paris from 1892 to 1897. Images of femmes fragiles and fatales, androgynous creatures, chimeras, and incubi were the norm, as were sinuous lines, attenuated figures, and anti-naturalistic forms. Featuring highlights from the Salons, the Guggenheim exhibition will include approximately forty works by a cross section of artists—some familiar, others less so—and invite a fresh look at and new scholarship on the legacies of late nineteenth-century Symbolist art.

Mystical Symbolism is organized by Vivien Greene, Senior Curator, 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art, with the assistance of Ylinka Barotto, Assistant Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Following its New York presentation, the exhibition will travel to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, from October 28, 2017–January 7, 2018.

Fernand Khnopff, I Lock My Door upon Myself, 1891. Oil on canvas, 72.7 x 141 cm, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich. Photo: bkp Bildagentur, Berlin/Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Neue Pinakothek, Munich/Art Resource, New York

In the spring of 1892 Joséphin Péladan (1858–1918), author, critic, and Rosicrucian, organized the first Salon de la Rose+Croix at the Galerie Durand-Ruel in Paris. Showcasing mystical Symbolist art, particularly a hermetic and spiritually devoted vein favored by the eccentric Péladan, the annual Salons were cosmopolitan in reach and served as a crossroads, gathering the work of artists from Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. Benefiting from extensive research to identify artworks shown in the original exhibitions, Mystical Symbolism will encompass painting, work on paper, and sculpture by artists such as Antoine Bourdelle, Rogelio de Egusquiza, Jean Delville, Charles Filiger, Ferdinand Hodler, Fernand Khnopff, Alphonse Osbert, Armand Point, Georges Rouault, Carlos Schwabe, Alexandre Séon, Jan Toorop, Ville Vallgren, and Félix Vallotton.

Mystical Symbolism provides an opportunity to explore the diverse and sometimes opposing concepts that informed Symbolism in the 1890s. Hinging on central artworks shown at each Salon, the exhibition will tease out seminal tropes, such as the role of Orpheus, adulation of the 15th-century early Renaissance Italian painters known as the Primitives, and the cult of personality that developed around figures including Richard Wagner and Péladan himself. Accompanied by historical documents and set in galleries adorned with lush furnishings, the exhibition conveys the spirit of the Salon experience. A musical component with work by Erik Satie and others underscores the key role occupied by composers for the movement.

Henri Martin, Young Saint (Jeune sainte), 1891. Oil on canvas, 65.4 x 49.3 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brest, France. Photo: © Musée des Beaux-Arts, Brest, France

Previous exhibitions on the Symbolist movement have focused primarily on a nationality or a broad theme, rather than on a specific event like the cultish Péladan’s Salon de la Rose+Croix. The participants’ diverging ideologies, ranging from politically conservative and Catholic to radically anarchist and anti-clerical, reveal how the varied approaches are dialectically related to the sacred and spiritual philosophies that constituted Symbolist art. By tracing the means through which the Salon proposed these impulses, the Guggenheim exhibition investigates the Symbolist precepts attendant in modernism.

The fully illustrated exhibition catalogue will offer new scholarship on the Salon de la Rose+Croix and Symbolism. It will be comprised of essays on the Salon and its main themes (Vivien Greene, Senior Curator, 19th- and Early 20th-Century Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York), the contemporary reception of the salon (Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond, independent scholar), and the connections between Symbolists tenets and those of early 20th-century avant-garde artists (Kenneth E. Silver, Professor of Art History, New York University). The catalogue will also contain a selected bibliography and artist entries authored by emerging scholars.

Charles Maurin, The Dawn of Labor (L’aurore du travail), ca. 1891. Oil on canvas, 79 x 148 cm, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint-Étienne Métropole, France. Photo: Yves Bresson, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain, Saint Étienne Métropole, France.

Charles Filiger, Madonna and Two Angels or Madonna of the Fireflies (Madone aux vers luisants), ca. 1892. Gouache and gilding on cardboard, 23.3 x 29.2 cm, Olivier Malingue. Photo: © Florent Chevrot, courtesy Olivier Malingue.

Ferdinand Hodler, The Disappointed Souls (Les âmes déçues), 1892. Oil on canvas, 120 x 299 cm, Kuntsmuseum Bern, Staat Bern. Photo: Courtesy Kuntsmuseum Bern, Staat Bern.

Carlos Schwabe, Poster for the First Salon de la Rose+Croix, 1892. Lithograph, 198 x 80.5 cm, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Given anonymously, 1987. Digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, New York.

Félix Vallotton, The Fine Evening (Le beau soir), 1892. Woodcut, image: 23.2 x 31.1 cm, Collection des Musées d’art et d’histoire de la Ville de Genève, Cabinet d’arts graphiques. Photo: MAH-CdAG © Collection des Musées d’art et d’histoire de la Ville de Genève, Cabinet d’arts graphiques, inv. no. E 65-0122

Armand Point, The Annunciation or Ancilla Domini (L’Annonciation), 1895. Tempera on panel, 99 x 51 cm. Private collection, courtesy Sotheby’s. Photo: Courtesy Sotheby’s.

Pierre Amédée Marcel-Béronneau, Orpheus in Hades (Orphée), 1897. Oil on canvas, 194 x 156 cm, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille. Photo: © Claude Almodovar/Collection du Musée des Beaux-Arts, Marseille.

Alexandre Séon, The Lament of Orpheus (Lamentation d’Orphée), ca. 1896. Musée d’Orsay, Paris. Gift of Fleury Gromollard, nephew and heir of the artist, 1917. Photo: © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. 

Jean Delville, Portrait of the Grand Master of the Rosicrucians in Choir Dress, Joséphin Péladan, 1895. Photo: Florent Gardin/ Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nîmes; © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/SABAM, Brussels.

Jean Delville, The Angel of Splendors (L’Ange des splendeurs), 1894. Courtesy of Musées royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique. © 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / SABAM, Brussels. Photo: © Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels.

Installation View: Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 30– October 4, 2017. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2017

Installation View: Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 30– October 4, 2017. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2017

Installation View: Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 30– October 4, 2017. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2017 

Installation View: Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 30– October 4, 2017. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2017 

Installation View: Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 30– October 4, 2017. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2017 

Installation View: Mystical Symbolism: The Salon de la Rose+Croix in Paris, 1892–1897, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, June 30– October 4, 2017. Photo: David Heald © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 2017

Lot 156. A fine and rare two-handled ruby-ground 'famille-rose' vase, Seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820), 31.7cm., 12 1/2 in. Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 GBP. Lot sold 388,800 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.

 finely enamelled around the ovoid body with a continuous landscape scene, depicting four elderly Daoist Immortals and their two young attendants standing amidst rocks and overhanging pine trees looking out across the Eastern sea to a pavilion raised on a rocky platform above foaming tumultuous waves, one of the attendants holding a cylinder of prayer sticks and the second restraining a crane while its mate flies with a prayer stick clasped in its beak over the waves to the Daoist Immortals Paradise, all set between ruyibordered bands of floral strapwork and auspicious emblems reserved on a rich ruby-red ground, the tall waisted neck set with a pair of dragon scroll handles, the interior and base glazed turquoise.

Note: In its shape and decoration the present vase belongs to a group of wares produced at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen during the early years of Jiaqing's reign. Wares of this period continued to be influenced by Qianlong designs and were possibly made by the same potters who made wares for the Qianlong emperor and his household. The very fine and meticulous painting of the scene of Immortals gathering in an idyllic landscape setting is reminiscent of scroll paintings with the ruby-ground band around the mouth and foot serving as borders for the painting.    

See a Qianlong vase of different shape painted with the design of nine elders in `famille-rose', also with ruby-ground decoration around the mouth and foot, illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 28, together with another vase painted with the Eight Immortals in between turquoise-ground panels, pl. 31; and a lantern-shaped vase, also with a Qianlong reign mark and of the period, decorated with playing children between a green-ground band, included in Treasures of the Royalty. The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 320. See also a Qianlong mark and period vase sold in these rooms, 7th December 1993, lot 282, painted with a similar celebratory scene.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Londres, 12 juil. 2006

Lot 502. A rare yellow-ground 'famille-rose' figure vase, seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820), 31 cm., 12 1/4 in. Estimate 3,000,000 — 4,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,560,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

the finely potted ovoid body supported on a slightly splayed foot, tapering gracefully to a tall waisted neck flanked by a pair of archaistic dragon handles below the flared mouth, delicately enamelled in meticulous detail with a continuous landscape scene depicting a gathering of the 'Eight Immortals' carrying their respective auspicious emblems, and including Liuhai with his three-legged toad clambering on his shoulder, Shoulao with a large ripe peach in one hand and a staff in the other, with other Immortals and attendants carrying various auspicious objects or vessels, set within a lake-side courtyard, with lush vegetation growing from gnarled rocks by the peaceful rippling water, and cloud swirls drifting above, all set between two bands of ruyi heads and lotus blooms borne on dense leafy scrolling stems, with a bat to each side above a xi character wreathed by peach sprigs, the mouth with a pendant foliate band, and a keyfret band at the foot, the interior and base turquoise, with a central square reserved in white for the six-character seal-mark in iron-red.

Provenance: From the collection of a Parisian gallery that ceased trading in the 1950s.

Note: In its shape and decoration the present vase belongs to a group of wares produced at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen during the early years of Jiaqing's reign. Wares of this period continued to be influenced by Qianlong designs and were made by the same potters who made wares for the Qianlong emperor and his household. The very fine and meticulous painting of the scene of the 'Eight Immortals' gathered in an idyllic landscape setting is reminiscent of scroll paintings, with the yellow-ground design on the neck and on the foot forming borders for the painting.

See a Jiaqing vase of different shape but painted with the design of the 'Eight Immortals', from the collections of Dr. Pierre Bernard and Leon and Mme Blum, sold in our London rooms, 12th July 2006, lot 156; and a Qianlong vase decorated with this theme illustrated in Kangxi. Yongzheng. Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 31.  In its form the present vase is possibly inspired by Qianlong ovoid vases with handles; see a Qianlong vase painted with the design of 'Hundred Boys' sold in these rooms, 1st November 1999, lot 399.

A fine and rare two-handled ruby-ground 'famille-rose' vase, Seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820), 31.7cm., 12 1/2 in. Sold for 388,800 GBP at Sotheby's London, 12th July 2006, lot 156. Photo Sotheby's.

(Cf. my post: http://www.alaintruong.com/archives/2017/07/16/35480716.html)

The Eight Immortals (ba xian) refer to eight legendary figures popularly worshipped by Daoist sects as well as ordinary people. They represent male, female, old, young, rich, poor, noble and humble Chinese. They are worshipped as gods of longevity as well as gods who punish evil, encourage good, help the distressed and aid those in peril. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007

Lot 510. A fine and rare gilt-decorated blue-ground vase, Seal mark and period of Jiaqing (1796-1820), 33.2 cm., 13 1/16 in. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 4,080,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

well potted with generous rounded sides tapering to a slender waisted neck and a flared mouth, flanked by a pair of archaistic dragon handles, finely and meticulously decorated in gilt on the front and back with a pair of swooping qilong dragon clutching a blooming lotus sprig in their jaws, all amid dense flowering and foliate lotus scrolls, set between pendant ruyi heads at the shoulder and a band of upright lappets at the foot, the neck decorated with a similar lotus meander, below a pendant foliate band at the mouth and above an elaborate foliate band and triangle diaper-band below, all reserved on a deep royal-blue ground, the interior and base turquoise, the countersunk base with a central square reserved in white for the six-character seal-mark in iron-red.

Provenance: Acquired at auction in France.

Note: It is extremely rare to find Jiaqing vases of this elegant form and decoration. The present vase is possibly inspired by a group of Qianlong blue wares with gilded decoration of which two examples from the Qing court collection and now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 15, Shanghai, 2000, pls. 91-92; and another is illustrated in Gems of the Official Kilns, Taipei, 1993, pl. 90.

See a blue glazed Jiaqing vase of ovoid form with a slender neck and a 'garlic' mouth, densely painted with lotus scroll and bajixiang decoration in gold illustrated in Gunhild Avitabile, From the Dragon's Treasure. Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, London, 1987, p. 28, pl. 16, where it is noted that the 'rich gold painting on an unusually bright cornflower blue glaze, an effect appearing for the first time in the Jiaqing period. Since Buddhist texts are written in gold on blue paper, these two colours have a special significance'.  Compare also a turquoise glazed Jiaqing vase of closely related form with white slip decoration, published ibid., pl. 17.   

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007

Lot 5142. A rare large doucai'dragon and phoenix' vase, yuhuchunping, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795), 51.3 cm., 20 3/16 in. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 3,600,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

the pear-shaped body supported on a slightly splayed foot and tapering gracefully below a wide trumpet mouth, painted around the sides in brilliant doucai enamels with a scaly five-clawed dragon and phoenix in mid-flight, the dragon striding in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl', with the phoenix prancing above, its long feathery wings and tail fluttering, all amid a dense ground of a composite floral meander, the large elaborate blooms wreathed by slender stems and a myriad of feathery leaves, with upright red and yellow petals around the foot, and a green keyfret band inside the mouthrim.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: It is rare to find the 'dragon and phoenix' design on doucai yuhuchunping, although this motif can be found on meiping-shaped vases, such as the piece, from the Buchanan-Jardine collection, included in the Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art 1935-36, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1936, cat.no. 2177. Another meiping decorated with the same design in the doucai technique was sold in our London rooms 12th July 2006, lot 128; and a pair, from the Qing Court collection is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 237.

A large doucai 'Dragon' meiping, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1975), 62cm., 24 3/8 in. Sold for 84,000 GBP at Sotheby's London, 12th July 2006, lot 128. Photo Sotheby's.

See a blue glazed Jiaqing vase of ovoid form with a slender neck and a 'garlic' mouth, densely painted with lotus scroll and bajixiang decoration in gold illustrated in Gunhild Avitabile, From the Dragon's Treasure. Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and 20th Centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, London, 1987, p. 28, pl. 16, where it is noted that the 'rich gold painting on an unusually bright cornflower blue glaze, an effect appearing for the first time in the Jiaqing period. Since Buddhist texts are written in gold on blue paper, these two colours have a special significance'.  Compare also a turquoise glazed Jiaqing vase of closely related form with white slip decoration, published ibid., pl. 17.   

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007

Lot 128. A large doucai'Dragon'meiping, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1975), 62cm., 24 3/8 in. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 GBP. Lot sold 84,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.

the slender baluster body decorated in characteristic technique in underglaze-blue and bright enamel colours with a large scaly five-clawed dragon amidst large peony blooms borne on leafy scrolling stems, surmounted by a narrow waisted neck encircled by classic scroll and stiff leaf bands.

Note: Another vase of this powerfully painted and exquisitely coloured design, from the collection of Sir John Buchanan-Jardine, was included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935, cat.no. 2177. Compare also a closely related meiping sold in these rooms, 2nd December 1997, lot 271; and another sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 31st October 1995, lot 512.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Londres, 12 juil. 2006

Lot 521. A blue and white jar with mask handles, guan, Yuan dynasty (1279-1366), 33.3 cm., 13 1/8 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 2,400,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

of sturdily potted baluster form with gently curving sides, flanked at the shoulders by a pair of crisply moulded lion mask handles, boldly painted in varying tones of cobalt-blue with a central frieze of six luscious peony blooms seen from the front, side and back borne on an undulating leafy stem, the petals and leaves lightly incised to render subtle veining, all beneath a band of six pendant ruyi-shaped heads enclosing dense peony and chrysanthemum scrolls, with a classic scroll and a band of lappets encircling the foot, and a further lappet border at the shoulder, the neck now missing.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: In its material, form and design, this majestic jar is a classic example of blue-and-white porcelain of the Yuan dynasty. The Yuan (1279-1368) was an innovative period for China’s ceramic production, when the aesthetic tradition of small, unobtrusive, and mostly monochromatic stoneware gave way to an impressive style of monumental porcelains with dense and bold decoration. These Chinese porcelains, unmatched in the world in quality and design, became prized objects at the courts throughout Asia and the Middle East. The present jar is typical of the best blue-and-white wares made during this period. 

The form known as guan provides the perfect canvas for the large banded decoration that usually combines the most characteristic elements of Yuan porcelain design – lotus scroll, classic scroll, petal-panels or lappets and ruyi-shapedpanels. As seen from the present jar, the decoration is painted in a calligraphic brush-work style allowing the artist to be creative and spontaneous with his design. The 'heaping and piling' and the tonal graduation of the cobalt is also typical of this period.

Lot 506. A Ming-style blue and white ewer and cover, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795), 29.5 cm., 11 5/8 in. Estimate 600,000 — 800,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,800,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

of finely potted pear-shape, set to one side with an elegant curved spout secured to the body by a strut, and to the other a broad strap handle surmounted by an eyelet and applied at the lowest point with three moulded bosses simulating pegs, painted in vivid tones of underglaze-blue with simulated 'heaping and piling', each side with a large quatrefoil panel, one enclosing a fruiting peach spray with leafy branches, the other a fruiting loquat, the panels flanked by the 'Flowers of the Four Seasons', comprising rose, peony, chrysanthemum and camellia, all above a band of lappets and a classic scroll on the short foot, the neck with a broad lotus scroll band below overlapping plantain leaves, the original cover with a further lotus scroll around the eyelet knop. Quantity: 2.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: Blue-and-white vessels based on early Ming shapes and using early Ming motifs, such as this ewer, belong to the classic repertoire of the imperial Jingdezhen kilns during the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods.

A ewer of this pattern with a Qianlong seal mark is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. III, London, 1986, pl. 2565 and col. pl. P. 920; one in the Musee Guimet, Paris, is published in The World's Great Collections, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 178; and another is included in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 59.

Aiguière à décor de fleurs de feuilles et de fruits, Chine, Jiangxi, Jingdezhen, Dynastie Qing, période Qianlong (1736-1795). Porcelaine Bleu et blanc. H. : 26 cm ; D. max. : 15 cm ; D. base : 10 cm, D. ouverture : 6 cm, Collection Ernest Grandidier, G 2687, Musée National des Arts Asisatiques-Guimet. Photo © Réunion des musées nationaux

relié au col par un pont polylobé et anse en oreille opposée.
Décor bleu sur fond blanc. Sur le col : feuilles dressées. Sur la panse : bandeau de lotus et de rameaux fleuris encadrant des médaillons polylobés enfermant des plantes et des pêches, panneaux de lotus à la base. Sur le pied : frise de spirales. Une marque sigillaire Qianlong figure sans encadrement.
La forme et le décor imitent un modèle du début du XVe :siècle.

Lot 271. A rare Ming-style blue and white ewer and cover, 18th century, 11½ in. (29.3 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 30,000 - GBP 50,000. Price realised GBP 51,650 © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Decorated in the Ming style with simulated 'heaping and piling' with a shaped cartouche on each side, one enclosing a peach branch, the other a loquat branch, each flanked by ascending flower stems, all between a band of petal lappets below and bands of foliate scroll and upright leaves on the neck, the curved strap handle decorated with detached lingzhi sprigs and applied on top with a foliate scroll, the curved spout decorated with leafy meander above a ruyi border and joined to the neck by a cloud-shaped strut, the gently domed cover with meadering lotus scrolls surmounted by a small loop.

Note: The design of these Qing dynasty ewers was a precise copy of blue and white porcelain ewers from the early 15th century. For a Yongle (AD 1403-24) vessel of this type from the Qing court collection in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 34 - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 43, no. 41. A ewer with the same decoration, but bearing a Xuande reign mark (AD 1426-35), also from the Qing court collection, and in the Palace Museum is illustrated ibid., p. 121, no. 115. A number of comparable Qing versions of this ewer design have been preserved in collections around the world. For similar examples, see R. Krahl and J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. III, Qing Dynasty Porcelains, London, 1986, p. 1106, no. 2565; The S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection - Chinese Porcelain, Part II, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1987, p. 86, no. 59; The Tsui Museum of Art - Chinese Ceramics IV - Qing, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 78; for one in the British Museum see J. Ayers and M. Sato, Sekai toji zenshu - 15 - Qing, Tokyo, 1983, p. 152, no. 161; and in the Nanjing Museum see Zhongguo qingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2003, p. 214, among others. 

Lot 522. A fine small blue and white 'lianzi' bowl, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424), 10.2 cm., 4 in. Estimate 800,000 — 1,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 1,320,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

delicately potted with deep rounded sides springing from a narrow foot, meticulously painted overall in contrasting tones of dark cobalt-blue with characteristic 'heaping and piling', the interior decorated in the centre with a stylised six-petalled flower head, encircled by a narrow pseudo-calligraphic meander, within a band of conjoined formal scrolls, all below a keyfret band at the rim, the exterior with a band of slender upright lotus petals beneath a band of zig-zag leaf motifs below the rim, the glazed base rising gently to a central point.

Provenance: Acquired in France in 1984.

Note: Although this bowl belongs to the well known family of lianzi or 'lotus' bowls, which seem to have been popular at the Ming court during both the Yongle and Xuande periods, the present version of the pattern in the interior of the vessel is unusual and appears to be a rare prototype of a more common Xuande design. Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 114, notes that bowls of this form were made at the imperial kiln at Jingdezhen for imperial use but were also sent to the Near East. For an example of a lianzi bowls found in the Ardebil shrine, Iran, see John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington D.C., 1956, pl. 47, no. 29.326.

See two examples of Yongle lianzi bowls in the British Museum, London, included in Harrison-Hall, op.cit., p. 114, pls. 3:29 and 3:30, where the author mentions a European oil painting representing Madonna and Child, in the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., depicting a lianzi bowl. The bowl, 'containing figs, is shown in the painting on a table to the right of Mary and Jesus. It is possible that the bowl depicted is the Xuande version or an Islamic copy of the Chinese bowl. The appearance of this bowl in such a painting is an indication of the high regard in which Europeans held Chinese porcelain in the fifteenth century'. 

Porcelain lianzi (lotus-seed) bowl with underglaze blue decoration. Lotus and gadroon designs with bands of squared hooks and key frets. Xuande six-character reign mark and period. 1952,0513.2. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Attributed to Francesco Benaglio (1432 - c.1492), Madonna and Child, detail. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Porcelain Lianzi [lotus-seed] bowl decorated in underglaze blue, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424).1939,0518.1. © The Trustees of the British Museum

A Yongle lianzi bowl of related design in the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 50; and another very similar bowl, from the Morrill Collection,  was sold at Doyle, New York, 16th September 2003, lot 86. 

For the more common Xuande version of bowls of this type, see a bowl of this elegant shape and related design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,  included in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat.no. 157, together with another related example cat.no. 160. Compare also a bowl in the Beijing Art Museum published in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 12, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 66.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007

Lot 524. A blue and white 'dragon' censer and cover, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620), 14 cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD. Lot sold 540,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

of rectangular shape with lion mask and free ring handles, supported on four tapering angular legs decorated with leaping dragons, the concave neck with two further dragons on the longer sides and cloud motifs flanking the handles on the shorter sides, the flattened rim with a band of lingzhi scroll and the six-character mark inscribed in a double rectangle on the base; the cover with a band of scrolling lingzhi fungus below the Eight Trigrams, the top formed by a reticulated dragon, its head rising to one side to act as the knop. Quantity: 2.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: Wanli censers of this form complete with a cover are extremely rare. It is also unusual to find censers that have the loose rings fitted in the handles as generally they get broken and lost. See a similar censer, but lacking a cover, in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, illustrated in Imperial overglaze - Enamelled Wares in the Late Ming Dynasty, Osaka, 1995, pl. 735; another from the collection of Gustaf Hillestrom, Stockholm, included in the exhibition Ming Blue-and-white, The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1964, cat.no. 75; and a third example sold in these rooms, 15th March 1979, lot 504, and again in our London rooms, 13th December 1983, lot 255.

 Compare also a Wanli mark and period censer of this shape painted with the design of clouds, dragons and waves, from the Qing court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 177.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007

Lot 256. A very rare yellow enamel-decorated dish, Xuande six-character mark and of the period (1426-35), 7½ in. (19 cm.) diam. Estimate GBP 300,000 - GBP 500,000. Price realised GBP 769,250 © Christie's Images Ltd 2011

Delicatelly potted with gently rounded walls and supported on a short foot, the interior enamelled with the six-character reign mark enclosed by overlapping petals, the cavetto with fruiting clusters of peaches, persimmons, lychees and pomegrantes, the exterior with four detached lotus sprays, the base unglazed.

Provenance: Acquired in Southern Europe in the 1950s. 

Note: This dish is a fascinating example of the way in which new archaeological excavation and research can change the way that scholars view a rare object. The current dish is one of only two identical Xuande dishes known with this type of decoration. The other dish of this type is in the collection of the famous British scholar-collector Sir Percival David, and was included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art at the Royal Academy in London in 1935-6, as exhibit number 1574 (illustrated in colour by R. Scott in 'Further Discoveries from the Imperial Kiln Site at Jingdezhen', Orientations vol. 23, no. 4, April 1992, p. 51, fig. 16). In 1935 no early 15th century imperial porcelains decorated solely in a single overglaze enamel colour were known and the dish was conservatively dated simply as 'Ming'. In later years Margaret Medley, respected scholar of Chinese ceramics and curator of the Percival David Foundation, wanted to date the Foundation's dish in accordance with its reign mark, but was, again, restricted by the lack of excavated evidence to support such a dating. She reluctantly settled for a conservative date of 16th century.

Dish painted in yellow with fruits. Porcelain with overglaze yellow enamel, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, Ming dynasty, about AD 1400–1430. Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, PDF A762. © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum

In the intervening years a wealth of new excavated material has allowed scholars to revisit these intriguing vessels and come to the conclusion that they are indeed imperial porcelains of the Xuande reign. Firstly, there is now ample evidence of single overglaze enamels being used to decorate imperial porcelains in the 15th century, as seen on a shard excavated from the Xuande strata in Jingdezhen and illustrated by the Chang Foundation inXuande Imperial Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, p. 120, pl. F11. From the excavation of the Yongle (1403-24) strata at the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, a stand with green enamel decoration was excavated in 1994 (illustrated in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996), while an early 15th century holy water bottle, similarly decorated with overglaze green enamel, was sold for a record price by Christie's London on 11 May 2010, lot 232. The latter had also previously been ascribed a 16th century date for lack of excavated 15th century ccomparisons. In 1984 a bowl decorated solely in overglaze iron red enamel was excavated from the late Yongle stratum at the imperial kilns (illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, pp. 134-5, no. 26), while a Xuande stemcup decorated solely in iron red oveglaze enamel was excavated in 1993 (illustrated in Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi, Beijing, 1999, p. 225, no. 210).

The use of overglaze yellow enamel as a ground colour in the Xuande reign on dishes with underglaze blue decoration is well known from examples preserved in international collections. This Xuande use of overglaze yellow enamel has now been confirmed by the excavation of a number of similarly decorated dishes from the Xuande strata at the Jingdezhen imperial kilns (illustrated in Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi, op. cit., pp. 222-4, nos. 206-9). The use of painting in overglaze green enamel has also been confirmed by the excavation of the partial doucai dishes from the Xuande strata of the imperial kiln site (illustrated ibid., p. 227, no. 212). Although other parts of the duck and lotus pond decoration on these dishes has underglaze blue outlines, or iron red overglaze outlines, the lotus leaves, stems and sagittaria leaves are all painted in overglaze green enamel without outlines. The use of both yellow and green enamels on biscuit in both the Yongle and Xuande reigns has, of course, also been confirmed by examples excavated at the imperial kilns (see Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, op. cit.,, p. 138, no. 28, for a Yongle example, while a Xuande dish with these two enamels applied to the biscuit is illustrated in Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi, op. cit., p. 262, no. 265). Yellow enamel was also used in the Xuande reign to provide an all-over colour on imperial monochrome wares (see the yellow lidded ewer and bowl illustrated ibid., p. 261, nos. 263 and 264). 

The use of yellow overglaze enamel alone to provide decoration on imperial Chenghua porcelains was confirmed by the excavation of small cups bearing yellow overglaze enamel dragons from the Chenghua strata at Jingdezhen (illustrated in A Legacy of Chenghua - Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua Reign Excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1993, pp. 256-7, no. C84), and part of a bowl bearing yellow dragons on the exterior and the character om in yellow overglaze enamel on the interior (see R. Scott, op. cit., p. 51, fig. 15, where the author notes that a complete bowl of this type has been preserved in Tibet) (Fig. 5). The Chenghua strata at the imperial kilns have also revealed Chenghua imperial porcelains decorated solely in green overglaze enamel. A Chenghua tripod censer decorated with overglaze green enamel is illustrated in A Legacy of Chenghua - Imperial Porcelain of the Chenghua Reign Excavated from Zhushan, Jingdezhen, op. cit., pp. 190-1, no. C51, while a similarly decorated Chenghua circular box is illustrated in The Emperor's broken china - Reconstructing Chenghua porcelain, London, 1995, p. 100, no. 127.

It is interesting to look at the choice of decoration on the interior of the current dish and its companion in the Percival David collection. Firstly, the fruiting sprays accord well with fruiting sprays depicted in underglaze cobalt blue on larger dishes excavated from the Xuande strata at the imperial kilns (see, for example, Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi, op. cit., pp. 193 and 197, nos. 152 and 158). Fruiting sprays came to prominence on imperial underglaze blue-decorated porcelains in the Yongle reign, but continued to find favour in the Xuande reign. It is notable that the ceramic decorator of the two yellow-enamelled dishes has been at pains to try and emulate the effect of the end of the branches being torn, rather than cut, from the bough, which is clearly seen on the blue and white examples. Since the branches are depicted in outline in yellow enamel, which flowed when fired, the decorator has, of necessity, made this feature somewhat larger than it appears on the blue and white examples. 

The feature of surrounding the central reign mark with petals displays an interesting continuity of style with imperial porcelains of the Yongle reign. Indeed, a petal band encircling the central roundel in a bowl or dish can be seen on imperial porcelains decorated in underglaze blue as early as the Hongwu reign (see Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, op. cit., pp. 88-91, nos. 11 and 12). A petal band also encircles the central medallion on an underglaze blue-decorated bowl, which was excavated from the late Yongle stratum at the imperial kilns in 1984 (illustrated in Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, op. cit.,, pp. 166-7, no. 42). A number of Yongle porcelains have reign marks encircled by a petal band on their interiors. The majority of these are white wares (see ibid, pp. 282, no. 110, and pp. 364-5, nos. 158-160), which makes the marks and petal bands rather hard to see. However, the reign mark on an underglaze blue decorated Yongle cup in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 34 Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), p. 82, no. 79) is not only easier to see , but particularly relevant to discussion of the current dish, since the petals that encircle the reign mark have the elegant S-form seen on the yellow-enamelled vessels. It is clear that reign marks continued occasionally to be encircled with petals on the interior of porcelain vessels of the Xuande reign. The National Palace Museum, Taipei, has a white stem bowl with such a mark (see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp.244-5, no. 95), and also a blue and white stem bowl (illustrated ibid., pp. 230-1, no. 88). The petal band encircling the reign mark on the yellow-enamelled dishes is in keeping with this tradition.

It is important to consider the medium used, when assessing the style in which the current yellow-enamelled dish and the Percival David dish are painted. Painting in lead-fluxed overglaze enamels is very different to painting in underglaze blue or even painting in overglaze iron red enamel. In the case of the iron red enamel, this is an over-saturated enamel which stays in place when it is fired, and thus can be painted using fine, even, sinuous lines. Painting in yellow or green overglaze enamels in the early Ming period was much more difficult, as can clearly be seen on all the excavated examples. The lead flux used in the preparation of the enamel colours meant that when they were fired they flowed and spread out. Fine lines could not be achieved and complex outlines were precluded. The result was for the decoration to look a little more static than might be expected if the decoration was in undeglaze blue, or indeed if these Ming dynasty porcelains had been painted in the later enamels of the famille rose palette, the compositions of which were adjusted to give somewhat greater control. 

It is greatly satisfying to scholars who have spent many years researching Chinese enamels, that the current dish, and the dish from the collection of Sir Percival David, can now be accepted as extremely rare examples of imperial porcelain of the Xuande reign.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 10 May 2011, London, King Street 

Lot 558. A diamond, emerald, onyx and 18k yellow gold clip, by Van Cleef & Arpels, circa 1990. Est: €40,000 - €60,000 © Artcurial

En or jaune 18k (750) stylisé d''un léopard sur une branche, entièrement serti de diamants taillés en brillant tachetés d''onyx, les yeux d''émeraudes navettes, la branche guillochée - Signée Van Cleef & Arpels 25703 - Dans sa pochette - Haut.: env. 6.7 cm, Poids brut: 41.39 g 

Fine Jewellery by Artcurial, July 18, 2017 6:00 PM CET - Monte-Carlo, Monaco, MC

Lot 559. A 1.90 ct Fancy Deep Yellow diamond and 18k yellow ring, by Van Cleef & Arpels. Est: €30,000 - €40,000 © Artcurial

En or jaune 18k (750) ornée d''un diamant jaune ovale dans un pavage de diamants blancs taillés en brillant - Poids du diamant jaune: 1.90 ct - Signée VCA 31341, poinçon du joaillier - Dans sa pochette - Tour de doigt: 50, Poids brut: 6.30 g 

Accompagné d''un certiifcat du laboratoire GIA (2017) indiquant couleur Fancy Deep Yellow, pureté SI2, pas de fluorescence 

Fine Jewellery by Artcurial, July 18, 2017 6:00 PM CET - Monte-Carlo, Monaco, MC

Lot 575. A pair of natural pearl, diamond, platinum and 18k white gold ear pendants. Est: €40,000 - €60,000 © Artcurial

En platine (950) et or gris 18k (750), ornés chacun d''une perle fine bouton retenant une chenille sertie de quatre diamants baguettes en chute et une perle fine piriforme - Dim. des perles boutons: env. 11.5 - 11.6 mm et 11.6 - 11.8 mm - Dim. des perles gouttes: env. 12.5 - 13.6 x 20.3 mm et 11.5 - 13.3 x 19.3 mm  - Haut.: 5.8 cm, Poids brut: 20.80 g  

Accompagné d''un certificat du laboratoire LFG (2017) 

Fine Jewellery by Artcurial, July 18, 2017 6:00 PM CET - Monte-Carlo, Monaco, MC

Lot 562. A natural pearl, diamond, emerald, sapphire, 18k gold and silver crown element, end of the 19th century. Est: €32,000 - €35,000 © Artcurial

En or 18k (750) et argent (>800) à décor de guirlandes et de noeuds de ruban, sertis de diamants taillés à l''ancienne et de saphirs calibrés, sommés de trois perles piriformes et de deux perles boutons; la base fil de couteau ornée d''une ligne de perles fines surmontées d''une rosace centrée d''une perle plus importante entourée de diamants taillés à l''ancienne dans un rayonnement feuillagé de perles fines et d''émeraudes piriformes (modifications, manque une perle) - Dim. des perles poires: env. 13.19, 10.9 et 9.5 mm, Poids brut: 56.75 g 

Fine Jewellery by Artcurial, July 18, 2017 6:00 PM CET - Monte-Carlo, Monaco, MC

Lot 579. A diamond, emerald and platinum necklace, by Cartier, circa 1925 .Est: €30,000 - €50,000 © Artcurial

En platine (950) à maillons "S" oblongs, comme les anneaux et les agrafes qui les entrecoupent, sertis de diamants taillés en brillant, les premiers ornés chacun au centre d'une émeraude sugar loaf, il retient un pendentif adaptable en forme de cascade serti de diamants taillés en baguette et en brillant, certains en pampille encadrés de trois émeraudes piriformes - Signé Cartier 2919574 - Long.: env. 38 cm, Poids brut: 63.45 g 

Fine Jewellery by Artcurial, July 18, 2017 6:00 PM CET - Monte-Carlo, Monaco, MC

Attributed to the Princeton Painter, Attic Black-Figure Hydria depicting a Warrior's Departure, Circa 540-530 BC. Terracotta, 42 cm H. Ariadne Galleries © 2017 London Art Week

Provenance: Private Collection, Mme I. Péreire (1825-1910), Paris. with Jean Mikas, Paris, 1950s. Ophiuchus Collection, New York, 1982.

Near the Dokimasia Painter, Fragment of an Attic Red-Figure Vase, Circa 480-460 BC. Terracotta. Ariadne Galleries © 2017 London Art Week

Provenance: Private collection, Chicago.

Attributed to Sophilos, Fragment of an Attic Black-Figure Dinos, Circa 580-570 BC. Terracotta. 9.4 cm H. Ariadne Galleries © 2017 London Art Week

Provenance: Private collection, Chicago.

Published: J.M. Padgett, ed., The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, Exhibition Catalogue (2003), pp. 236-238, no. 53. M.B. Moore, 'Sophilos and Early Greek Narrative', Metropolitan Museum Journal 51 (2016), pp. 17-18, fig. 11. Exhibited: The Centaur's Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art, Princeton University Art Museum, 11 October 2003-18 January 2004.

Ariadne Galleries is dedicated to providing the highest quality Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Eurasian and Byzantine art. Their international clientele includes renowned museums and dedicated private collectors from around the world. Torkom Demirjian, the Founder of Ariadne Galleries, has been an art dealer since 1972. Well known in the industry for his market expertise and acute aesthetic judgment, Mr. Demirjian and his sons, co-presidents James and Gregory, have been leaders in the field as both dealers and educators. Ariadne Galleries operates on the Upper East Side of New York, and Mayfair, London. For the past 40 years, Ariadne Galleries has been discrete with the goal of protecting the privacy and the best interest of their clients.

Contact information: Alexandra Hamburger / Gregory Demirjian info@ariadnegalleries.com - +44 (0)20 3053 9559 - www.ariadnegalleries.com

Address of Exhibition: 6 Hill Street, London, W1J 5NF

2017 London Art Week, 1-8 December 2017