Lot 27. An Art Deco diamond bow brooch, LaCloche Frères, circa 1925. Sold for US$ 10,625 (€8,967). Photo: Bonhams.
designed as a stylized bow, composed of flexible links, set throughout with single and round brilliant-cut diamonds, accented with baguette-cut diamonds; signed La Cloche, F.S., Paris, no.73851, with maker's mark and French assay mark; estimated total diamond weight: 6.45 carats; mounted in platinum; length: 2 1/8in.
Lot 41. A natural pearl and diamond pendant necklace. Sold for US$ 22,500 (€18,988). Photo: Bonhams.
Accompanied by GIA report # 1182431610, dated May 23, 2017, stating the 45.13 grams pearl as: Natural, Saltwater, no indications of treatment.
Lot 142. A diamond necklace, Boucheron. Sold for US$ 31,250 (€26,373). Sold for US$ 22,500 (€18,988). Photo: Bonhams.
PARIS - Manuscrit entièrement recouvert d’une somptueuse reliure d’or et de pierres précieuses, ce joyau de l’orfèvrerie française ne connaît pas d’équivalent. François Ier avait choisi d’offrir ce livre d’heures à sa nièce Jeanne d’Albret, élevée sous son autoritéà la cour de France. Henri IV et le cardinal Mazarin possèdent ensuite le recueil de prières, petit objet du quotidien mais dont la conception est d’une richesse inouïe.
Unique vestige des trésors des Valois totalement dispersés dès la fin du 16e siècle, le Livre d’heures de François Ier devient propriété de collectionneurs en Angleterre au début du XVIIe siècle. Son acquisition par le Louvre, pour un montant total de 10 millions d’euros environ, permet le retour en France de ce joyau de la Renaissance.
Grâce à la générosité exceptionnelle de LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton, la moitié de la somme nécessaire à cette acquisition a déjàété rassemblée. À partir du 24 octobre, le musée du Louvre lance une vaste campagne d’appel au don auprès des particuliers et des entreprises pour réunir 1 million d’euros avant le 15 février.
Le livre d’heures est présenté dans le cadre de la grande exposition François Ier et l’art des Pays-Bas (18 octobre 2017-15 janvier 2018).
Livre d’heures de François Ier (dos) et signet © S.J Philips
Afin de permettre l’entrée de ce chef-d’œuvre unique dans les collections nationales, aujourd’hui mis en vente par son propriétaire londonien et classé«œuvre d’intérêt patrimonial majeur », le musée du Louvre doit rassembler 8 millions de livres (soit environ 10 millions d’euros).
Le Louvre sollicite la générosité de tous afin de réunir 1 million d’euros avant le 15 février 2018 par une nouvelle campagne d’appel au don « Tous mécènes ! ».
LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton s’engage activement pour le succès de l’opération ; par son généreux don de 5 millions d’euros, la moitié du montant d’acquisition est déjà assurée. En parallèle, le musée poursuit sa recherche de fonds auprès des entreprises et des grands donateurs afin de compléter la somme nécessaire.
Christ en croix entouré de saint François et de saint Jérôme. Livre d’heures de François Ier (couverture), ©S.J. Philips
Une œuvre d’une grande rareté
Le Livre d’heures de François Ier, est une œuvre sans équivalent dans les collections françaises et étrangères. Il s’agit de la seule pièce d’orfèvrerie, avec la salière de Cellini à Vienne, à pouvoir être directement associée au souverain ainsi que la seule reliure précieuse française connue à ce jour pour les règnes de François Ier et des derniers Valois.
Manuscrit de tout petit format (8,5 de hauteur x 6,5 de largeur), ce livre d’heures est orné de seize peintures en pleine page et de nombreuses initiales décorées. Cet ensemble peut être daté grâce à la date de 1532 qui figure dans l’ornementation.
Couvert d’une reliure d’or émaillé, enrichie de pierres précieuses et de deux grandes plaques de cornalines ovales gravées en intaille, le livre d’heures est non seulement un chef-d’œuvre de l’orfèvrerie française sous le règne de François Ier, mais également un monument de la joaillerie.
Vierge à l’Enfant entourée de sainte Barbe et de sainte Catherine. Livre d’heures de François ier (dos)©S.J. Philips
Un nouvel appel au mécénat pour cette acquisition historique
Les précédentes campagnes « Tous mécènes ! » ont montré la forte adhésion du public et le souhait de chacun de participer, selon ses moyens, à l’enrichissement des collections du Louvre. La campagne 2016 avait mobilisé 3 700 donateurs pour réunir une somme de 670 000 €. Ce huitième rendez-vous vient renforcer une nouvelle fois le lien entre le musée et le public.
Livre d’heures de François Ier (signet)© S.J Philips
PARIS.- This book of hours (prayer book), a manuscript bound in gold and precious stones, is an unparalleled treasure of French precious metalwork. It was presented by King François I to his niece Jeanne d’Albret, who was raised under his guardianship at the French court. Small prayers books were everyday objects, but this one is remarkably elaborate. Its later owners included King Henri IV and Cardinal Mazarin.
King François I’s Book of Hours is a unique vestige of the treasures of the House of Valois, dispersed in their entirety over the centuries. The book became the property of collectors in England in the early 18th century; its acquisition by the Louvre, for a total of around 10 million euros, would bring this Renaissance masterpiece back to France.
Thanks to the exceptional generosity of LVMH Moët Hennessy— Louis Vuitton, half of the required sum has already been obtained. On October 15, the Musée du Louvre launched a major crowdfunding campaign aimed at individuals and companies in the hope of raising 1 million euros before February 15.
The book of hours is presented within the framework of the exhibition François I and Dutch Art (October 18, 2017–January 15, 2018).
This unique masterpiece, listed as a French National Treasure, has been put up for sale by its London owner. In order to add it to the French national collections, the Louvre must raise 8 million pounds (about 10 million euros).
The museum is therefore appealing to public generosity with a new Become a Patron! crowdfunding campaign intended to raise 1 million euros before February 15, 2018.
LVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton is actively committed to the success of the campaign; its generous donation of 5 million euros means that half the required sum is already secured. To reach the full amount, the museum is now targeting its fundraising efforts at major donors and the corporate community.
Livre d’heures de François Ier (dos) et signet© S.J Philips
An artwork of great rarity
The collections of museums both in France and abroad have no equivalent of King François I’s Book of Hours. Apart from the Benvenuto Cellini’s salt cellar in Vienna, it is the only piece of precious metalwork directly associated with this king and is, to date, the only known precious French book binding from the reigns of François I and the last Valois kings.
This tiny handwritten prayer book (8.5 x 6.5 cm) is decorated with sixteen full-page painted illustrations and numerous illuminated initials. It can be dated thanks to the date 1532 that appears in its ornamentation.
King François I’s Book of Hours is a masterpiece of precious metalwork from the reign of François I. With its enameled gold binding, embellished with precious stones and two large, intaglio-engraved, oval carnelian plaques, it is also a monument to the jeweler’s art.
A new appeal to public patronage for this historic acquisition
Previous Become a Patron! campaigns have garnered strong support and demonstrated people’s interest in contributing, according to their means, to the enrichment of the Louvre’s collections. The 2016 campaign mobilized some 3,700 donors who raised a total of €670,000. This eighth rendezvous will further strengthen the relationship between the museum and the public.
Livre d’heures de François Ier (page du manuscrit)© S.J Philips
Livre d’heures de François Ier (page du manuscrit) © S.J Philips
Livre d’heures de François Ier (page du manuscrit) © S.J Philips
Livre d’heures de François Ier (page du manuscrit) © S.J Philips
Livre d’heures de François Ier (page du manuscrit) © S.J Philips
Livre d’heures de François Ier (page du manuscrit) © S.J Philips
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, [Self-Portrait in India], 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Isaac Lagnado, 1995.
NEW YORK, NY.- A member of the “international set” in fin-de-siècle Europe, Baron Adolf de Meyer (1868–1946) was also a pioneering art, portrait, and fashion photographer, known for creating images that transformed reality into a beautiful fantasy. The “quicksilver brilliance” that characterized de Meyer’s art led fellow photographer Cecil Beaton to dub him the “Debussy of the Camera.” On view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Quicksilver Brilliance: Adolf de Meyer Photographs is the first museum exhibition devoted to the artist in more than 20 years and the first ever at The Met. Some 40 works, drawn entirely from The Met collection, reveal the impressive breadth of his career.
The exhibition includes dazzling portraits of well-known figures of his time: the American socialite Rita de Acosta Lydig; art patron and designer Count Étienne de Beaumont; aristocrat and society hostess Lady Ottoline Morrell; and celebrated entertainer Josephine Baker, among others. A highlight of the presentation is an exceptional book—one of only seven known copies—documenting Nijinsky’s scandalous 1912 ballet L’Après-Midi d’un Faune. This rare album represents de Meyer’s great success in capturing the choreography of dance, a breakthrough in the history of photography. Also on view are the artist’s early snapshots made in Japan, experiments with color processes, and inventive fashion photographs.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Rita de Acosta Lydig, 1917. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Mercedes de Acosta, 1952.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Etienne de Beaumont, ca. 1923. Gelatin silver print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Paul F. Walter, 2009.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Lady Ottoline Morrell, ca. 1912. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Le Prelude à l'Après-Midi d'un Faune, 1914. Album: 15 1/4 x 11 5/8. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, [View Through the Window of a Garden, Japan], 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Ueno Tōshō-gū, Tokyo, Japan, 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, [Amida Buddah, Japan], 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Olga de Meyer, Japan, 1900. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Mrs. Jackson Burke Gift, 1981.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Tamara Karsavina, ca. 1908. Autochrome. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005.
Born in Paris and educated in Germany, de Meyer was of obscure aristocratic German-Jewish and Scottish ancestry. He and his wife, Olga Caracciolo, goddaughter of Edward VII, were at the center of London’s café society.
After starting in photography as an amateur, de Meyer gained recognition as a leading figure of Pictorialism and a member of the photographic society known as the Linked Ring Brotherhood in London. Alfred Stieglitz exhibited de Meyer’s work in his Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession and published his images as photogravures in his influential journal Camera Work. At the outbreak of World War I, de Meyer settled in the United States and applied his distinctive pictorial style to fashion imagery, helping to define the genre during the interwar period.
The exhibition was organized by Beth Saunders, Assistant Curator in The Met’s Department of Photographs.
Adolf de Meyer, American (born France), 1868–1946, Olga de Meyer, ca. 1912. Platinum print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Paul F. Walter, 2009.
The Master of Zande Lou
The collection of J.M. Hu represents a lifetime’s dedication to connoisseurship and beauty. Across more than half a century, J.M. Hu acquired an exceptional grouping of Chinese ceramics—and in particular imperial porcelain—that illuminated the rich history of China and its people. In both his personal collection and in his bequests to cultural institutions, J.M. Hu stood as a model of the modern scholar-collector.
Hu Hui Chun was born in 1911 in Beijing; in later years, he changed his given name to Jen Mou. The eldest son of the influential banker Hu Chun, J.M. Hu was raised in an elegant private residence amongst his many stepbrothers and stepsisters. In keeping with tradition, he was given a rigorous background in the Chinese classics; more unusually, this was supplemented by a Western-style education, as well. He first encountered Chinese ceramics during his student years, when he purchased a nineteenth-century brush-washer for his desk. This initial foray into collecting would become emblematic of J.M. Hu’s poignant relationship with art: even amidst the upheavals of war and the evolution of his collection, the modest brush-washer stayed with him until his death in 1995. J.M. Hu’s boyhood studies within the Chinese literati tradition greatly informed his philosophical approach to life and collecting: humble and erudite, he consistently affirmed that it was the visceral connection between a collector and his acquisitions that was of essential importance. True value, in J.M. Hu’s estimation, lay far beyond monetary worth.
Mr. and Mrs. J.M. Hu, mid 1950s.
The early twentieth century was a ‘golden age’ of Chinese collecting. With the fall of the Qing dynasty, numerous works of art became available for the first time, allowing both Chinese and international enthusiasts to assemble world-class private collections. Expanded foreign access to China fostered interest in the nation’s rich history and culture, with ambitious overseas collectors such as John D. Rockefeller, Jr., John Pierpont Morgan, and Sir Percival David acquiring rare Chinese works of art. As the Chinese art market matured, J.M. Hu contended with a growing number of buyers for prized works, aided in his quest by a personal reputation for integrity and connoisseurship amongst Chinese dealers.
As the acquisition of Chinese works of art became increasingly competitive, J.M. Hu chose to concentrate his energies on Ming and Qing imperial porcelains. Qing monochromes, in particular, forever captured his attention. He was a fastidious buyer known for choosing only those pieces in pristine condition; on one occasion, he even rejected a pair of Guyuexuan enameled vases because one of the works had a minute chip in its glaze. A noted traditionalist, J.M. Hu went to great lengths designing wooden stands and fitted boxes to preserve and display his Chinese treasures, and delighted in sharing the collection with fellow connoisseurs. For J.M. Hu, collecting was a serious, scholarly pursuit not to be taken lightly; the joy of art came with a responsibility to honour both the artist and object.
J.M. Hu often spoke of the three necessary criteria in collecting: zhen (authenticity), jing (rarity and quality), and xin (condition). Yet it was an individual’s bond with a work of art—evidenced in J.M. Hu’s beloved brush-washer—that was of fundamental significance. In handling and examining his ceramics, J.M. Hu sought that indefinable delight that could come only from the beauty of artistry. In the tradition of Chinese literati who bestowed symbolic monikers upon their studios, libraries, and collections, the name of J.M. Hu’s studio—Zande Lou—referenced the influential Lanting Xu of the famed Jin dynasty calligrapher Wang Xizhi. The Lanting Xu text describes Zande as a person’s inner happiness. Although J.M. Hu intended the meaning of Zande to express this fleeting happiness—which he experienced as a collector when examining an object—the word has also come to be interpreted as the inherently transitory nature of collecting and possessing fine art.
Mr. J. M. Hu with his collection, 1960s
J.M. Hu’s collection of Chinese ceramics provided abundant opportunity for personal scholarship and historical investigation. As early as the 1940s, he longed for a welcoming social environment where like-minded collectors could share and discuss art and objects. Two decades later, he established the Min Chiu Society in Hong Kong alongside fellow collectors K.P. Chen and J.S. Lee. A noted cultural philanthropist, J.M. Hu gifted substantial groupings from his collection to the Shanghai Museum in 1950 and 1989; many of these objects remain on view in the museum’s Zande Lou Gallery. The collector also arranged to have his family’s set of imperial zitan furniture sent to the National Palace Museum in Taipei for display, and returned the important Siming version of the Huashan Temple stele rubbing to the Palace Museum, Beijing.
J.M. Hu remains a celebrated figure amongst collectors of Chinese art. The remarkable shapes and glazes of the Qing monochromes offered here serve as a reminder of the true spirit of Zande, as J.M. Hu’s beloved ceramics now bestow inner happiness on a new generation of connoisseurs.
Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III (cover).
Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. IV (cover).
Lot 2851. A fine pair of Guan-type glazed octagonal vases, Qianlong six-character seal marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,000,000 - HKD 1,500,000. Price realised HKD 1,625,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
Each facetted vase is applied to the shoulder with a pair of lug-shaped handles, covered overall with a thick, even glaze of greyish-blue tone, the foot dressed brown, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 167
Lot 2851, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, pl. 167.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 32.
Note: Vases of this type from the Qianlong period were applied with both guan-type and Ru-type glazes. The National Palace Museum Collection has two such examples, each inscribed on the base with an Imperial poem by the Qianlong Emperor, with lines indicating that these vases functioned as receptacles for flowers (see Obtaining Refined Enjoyment: The Qianlong Emperor’s Taste in Ceramics, Taipei, 2012, pl. 85, 86.) The current vases are covered with a thick, greyish-blue glaze and dressed brown on the feet, in imitation of Song guan wares. In the thirteenth year of the Yongzheng reign (1735), the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen,Tang Ying, listed in Taocheng jishi bei ji (Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production), a number of glazes in imitation of Song wares, including ‘moon-white, pale green and deep green, all copied from ancient pieces sent from the Imperial Palace’.
Compare also to a smaller example of this type (13.9 cm.) in the National Palace Museum collection, illustrated in the Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Qing Monochromes, Taipei, 1981, p. 149, no. 89.
Lot 2852. A rare Guan-type glazed pear-shaped vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 8 3/4 in. (22.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 7,900,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The vase is finely potted with a compressed globular body standing on a short splayed foot rising to a long straight neck, applied with an even glaze of sky-blue tone, the foot dressed brown, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 171
Lot 2852, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. IV, pl. 171.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 33.
Note: The Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong were keen antiquarians who collected and studied material from earlier dynasties. Deliberate copies of Song crackled glazes were therefore developed at the Qing imperial kilns in response to the emperors’ admiration for these early wares. It was recorded that the Yongzheng Emperor had specifically required good copies of Song glazes to be produced at Jingdezhen, at which the famous kiln director Tang Ying excelled. Tang Ying, in his Taocheng jishi bei ji (Commemorative Stele on Ceramic Production), listed out a number of glazes in imitation of Song wares, including ‘moon-white, pale green and deep green, all copied from ancient pieces sent from the Imperial Palace’.
Compare to a larger crackled Ru-type glazed vase (26.8 cm) of similar shape from the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p. 332. Compare also to a smaller Ru-type crackled glazed vase (17.2 cm) of similar form but with a gently flared mouth from the Stephen Junkunc, III Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 19 March 2008, lot 658.
Lot 2853. A fine and rare Guan-type glazed gu-shaped vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 7 7/8 in. (20.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 2,000,000 - HKD 3,000,000. Price realised HKD 3,940,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The vase is finely potted with a compressed globular mid-section above a spreading foot and below a widely flared neck, the mid and lower-sections each with four vertical flanges, covered overall with a lustrous glaze of pale greyish-blue tone, the foot dressed brown, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 173
Lot 2853, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. IV, pl. 173.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 36.
Note: The form of the present vase is based on the bronze ritual wine vessels known as gu from the Shang and Zhou dynasties, which were adapted as vases in later periods. This form provided inspiration for the guan and ge wares from the Song dynasty, notable for their pale greyish-blue colour and distinctive crackle, often finished on the foot with a brown dressing. The popularity of this form persisted throughout the later Ming and Qing dynasties. The present vase is an example that reflects this rich history, in its conscious imitation of earlier forms and glazes during the Qianlong reign.
According to the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops, the Emperor ordered wood stands to be made for seven pieces of ceramics in the second year of the Qianlong reign; one of which was a guan-type glazed gu-shaped vase with flanges. Additionally, in the third year of the Qianlong reign, Tang Ying was ordered by the Emperor to fire additional vases based on a Ru-type glazed flanged gu, with drawings prepared by draftsmen in the Imperial Household Workshops. The Qianlong Emperor was particularly interested in antiquities and reviving the traditions of the past. By these means he intended both to consolidate the position of the Manchu-born Qing empire within the long dynastic history of China, and to restore what he regarded as the superior moral rectitude of ancient times.
Compare to a pair of Ru-type glazed gu-shaped vases with slightly more pronounced flanges, also from the Zande Lou Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2012, lot 108, and illustrated in the Qing Imperial Monochromes – The Zande Lou Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 86, no. 26. Also, compare to a slightly larger Qianlong marked guan-type glazed vase of similar form (26.8 cm high) in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in the Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, no. 32.
Lot 2854. A very rare Ru-type glazed gu-shaped vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 8 1/8 in. (20.6 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 2,400,000 - HKD 3,200,000. Price realised HKD 3,460,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The vase is potted with a spreading foot rising to a globular mid-section and trumpet neck, with two raised bands above and below the midsection, glazed overall in pale sky-blue, the foot dressed brown, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 171.
Lot 2854, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, pl. 170.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 33.
Note: The form of the present vase is based on the bronze ritual wine vessels known as gu from the Shang and Zhou periods, such as the example illustrated in the woodblock printed catalogue Xiqing Gujian, ‘Inspection of Antiques’, which was published under the auspices of the Qianlong Emperor (fig. 1). The form enjoyed further popularity as the inspiration for Song-dynasty imperial wares, including ceramics covered with guan and ge glazes. The lustrous, uncrackled greyish-blue glaze on the current vase harks back to the revered Ru wares from the Northern Song dynasty. The present vase reflects this rich history, in its conscious imitation of earlier forms and glazes.
fig. 1.
It appears that the Qianlong Emperor enjoyed vases made in this classical gu shape. According to the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops, in the second year of the Qianlong reign, the Emperor ordered the Superintendent of the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, Tang Ying, to fire tianbai vases based on the shape of the classical gu vessels, with drawings prepared by draftsmen in the Imperial Household Workshops. Later in the third year of the Qianlong reign, a Ru gu-shaped vase was sent over to Jingdezhen for the potters there to replicate. It is very likely that the current vase is one of these examples specifically commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor.
Vases of similar shape and design were also fired in the Kangxi reign. Compare, for example, to a sky-blue glazed and a white-glazed gu-shaped vases, both with Kangxi reign marks and similarly decorated above and below the bulging mid-section with raised bands, but with additional friezes of bosses, in the Palace Museum, illustrated in Monochrome Porcelain, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1999, pls. 90 and 112.
Lot 2855. A fine Guan-type glazed vase, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,600,000 - HKD 2,400,000. Price realised HKD 4,900,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The vase is potted with a compressed globular body above a short splayed foot and below a long slender neck rising to a slightly flared mouth, covered overall with a crackled glaze of greyish-green tone. The foot is applied with a brown dressing, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 172.
Lot 2855, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. IV, pl. 172.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 34.
Note: The characteristics of Song guan wares, with a brown dressed foot and glaze thinning at the mouth rim to reveal the body underneath, is well exemplified on this current vase. Compare to another Qianlong-marked vase of this shape, with a ge-type glaze, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 20 May 1986, lot 83. A guan-type glazed vase with a Yongzheng mark of similar form was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 May 2009, lot 1888.
Lot 2856. A fine and very rare peacock-feather glazed garlic-head vase, Yongzheng incised four character seal mark and of the period (1723-1735); 10 7/16 in. (26.2 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 6,500,000 - HKD 7,500,000. Price realised HKD 12,700,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The vase is superbly potted with a pear-shaped body below a raised rib at the shoulder, rising to a slender neck and bulb-shaped mouth, covered overall with a thick bright turquoise glaze suffused with marbled mottling of deep red and violet tone. The foot ring is applied with a dark brown dressing, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 139.
Lot 2856, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, pl. 139.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 20.
Note: The extraordinary effect of this glaze is achieved by applying an opaque stippled turquoise glaze coloured with copper and made opaque by mixing the arsenic as an opacifier. Rose Kerr noted in Chinese Ceramics, Porcelain of the Qing dynasty, London, 1986, p. 88, that while visual examination reveals there to be two distinctive types of robin’s-egg glaze, one streaked with copper-red and the other stippled with blotches of turquoise and dark blue, further analysis is required to clarify the chemistry of these glazes. The Robin’s-egg glaze was a monochrome glaze first invented in the Yongzheng reign. The peacock-feather glaze appears to be closely related to the more common robin’s-egg glaze, but the former is much rarer, possibly due to the difficulty in successfully achieving its desired effect.
The form of this vase is based on the bronze wenhu (flask warmer) from the Han Dynasty, such as the example illustrated in the woodblock printed catalogue Xiqing Gujian, ‘Inspection of Antiques’, which was published under the auspices of the Qianlong Emperor (fig. 1). An almost identical vase, also incised with a Yongzheng four-character mark, is in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Qing Monochromes, Taipei, 1981, pl. 41 (fig. 2). The same collection has another larger vase of similar form but of different proportions (47.1 cm.), incised with a Qianlong reign mark (acquisition no. zhong-ci-0003849). Compare also to a peacock-feather glazed censer, incised with a Yongzheng six-character seal mark, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, May 31 2010, lot 1883.
fig. 1.
fig. 2. A peacock-feather glazed garlic-head vase, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735), Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Lot 2857. A fine and rare white-glazed anhua-decorated ‘kui dragon’ vase, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 4 7/8 in. (12.3 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 800,000 - HKD 1,200,000. Price realised HKD 2,125,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The tiered vase is delicately potted with two raised bands dividing the body into three registers. The neck is incised with a band of upright lappets, the shoulder with kui dragons, the central frieze with stylised ruyi pattern, and the foot with archaistic motifs. The vessel is covered overall with a clear glaze, box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 128.
Lot 2857, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, pl. 128.
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 23.
Note: The current vase, with its highly unusual form, is based on guan tiered vases from the Song and Yuan dynasties, such as a three-tiered celadon guan square vase in the National Palace Museum Collection, dating to the Southern Song to Yuan dynasty, illustrated in Precious as the Morning Star: 12th-14th Century Celadons in the Qing Court Collection, Taipei, 2016, p. 166-167, no. 11-48. Two other three-tiered celadon guan vases of similar form in the same collection are illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, P. 49, no. 3-4.
It is also likely that the current vase, applied with an even, lustrous clear glaze revealing the fine white body underneath, was intended to imitate the ivory-white Ding wares from the Song dynasty. Multiple entries from the Comprehensive Records of Zaobanchu Workshops documented that the Yongzheng Emperor had repeatedly ordered special stands to be made for selected Ding pieces in the Imperial collection, or have draftsmen make drawings of them. Additionally, the Records indicated that in the seventh year of his reign, a white Ding vase was sent to the Imperial kilns at Jingdezhen and the Emperor requested vases covered in guan-type and other glazes to be produced using it as a model. This reflected the Yongzheng Emperor’s deep interest in Ding white wares. The current vase, with its glaze resembling that of Ding wares and form resembling that of guan wares, superbly exemplifies the Emperor’s archaistic taste and pursuit.
An identical white-glazed anhua-decorated ‘kui dragon’ vase is in the National Palace Museum (acquisition no. zhong-ci 000759) (fig. 1). There is also another type of Yongzheng white-glazed vase of the same form and design, but with decorative motifs moulded in relief, such as the example fitted with a cover, in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1, xia, Beijing, 2005, pl. 87, and another example without a cover, in the National Place Museum (acquisition no. zhong-ci 000753).
fig. 1. Awhite-glazed anhua-decorated ‘kui dragon’ vase, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735), Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.
Lot 2858. A fine and rare white-glazed rectangular handled vase, Yongzhengperiod (1723-1735); 4 3/8 in. (11 cm.) wide. Estimate HKD 320,000 - HKD 480,000. Price realised HKD 1,500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The vase is potted with a rectangular foot and body below an angular flaring neck rising to a mouth of conforming shape. The neck is decorated with a raised band. The stepped shoulder is applied with a pair of scroll-shaped handles. The vessel is covered overall with an even clear glaze with the exception of the foot; box.
Provenance: The J.M. Hu Collection.
Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, Hong Kong, 1950, pl. 129.
Lot 2858, illustrated in Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. III, pl. 129
Exhibited: Shanghai Museum, Beijing Museum, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Qing Imperial Monochromes. The Zande Lou Collection, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, 2005, Catalogue, pl. 24.
Note: The form of this vase, which almost resembles a compressed gu-shaped vessel and probably based on a metalwork shape, is extremely rare. No other identical example appears to have been published to date.
Christie's. Imperial Qing Monochromes from The J. M. Hu Collection, 29 November 2017, Hong Kong
Lot 58. Zao Wou-Ki (1921 - 2013), 1.9.60, signé, signé en chinois; signé, titré et daté 1.9.60 au dos, huile sur toile, 81 x 65 cm; 31 7/8 x 25 9/16 in. Exécuté en 1960. Estimation: 1,000,000 — 1,500,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
L'authenticité de cette oeuvre a été confirmée par la Fondation Zao Wou-Ki. L’œuvre sera incluse dans le catalogue raisonné en préparation sous l’égide de Madame Françoise Marquet et Monsieur Yann Hendgen. Elle est accompagnée d'un certificat d'authenticité.
Provenance: Galerie de France, Paris
Collection particulière, Suède (acquis auprès de celle-ci par le propriétaire actuel circa 1960).
Note: At the end of the summer of 1960 whilst he was producing 1.9.60, Zao Wou-Ki had no longer any cause to envy the masters of the school of fine arts in Hangzhou who had trained him. He had no cause to envy those who “always tried to paint like Matisse and Picasso” and had not, like him, succeeded in assimilating the lessons of Cezanne as well as that of Tang and of Song.
“It took Zao over ten yers after his departure from China on the eve of Mao Tse Tung’s victory in 1949, to succeed in reconciling two such antagonistic traditions, two so different practices as that of oriental and western painting.” (Zao Wou-ki, Francoise Marquet, Autoportrait, Paris, 1988). But the first of September 1960, eve of the first election of the Tibetan parliament, today in exile, still celebrated as the Day of Democracy by the Tibetans, is this just a conincidence? The artist had definitively understood how to reconcile two heritages.
As he explained himself in his autobiography, the 1960s were for him “the end of a cycle” and the beginning of an “irreversible cycle”. The artist freed himself from all naturalist shackles, accepting to let himself be submerged by his emotions. “I wanted to paint what cannot be seen, the breath of life, the blowing of the wind, the movement and life of forms, the bursting of colours and their fusion”, he explains. From now on, he only has one idea in his head: “to paint painting” and to appropriate space and light. Remains to be found a balance between gesture and breath, the void and fullness, the visible and the invisibe. And to make colour speak beyond the world of forms. 1.9.1960 is a remarkable example of this achievement. Firstly because it is a large format for the period and that large surfaces ask him, as he admits, to battle with space in order to “express the movement, its throbbing slowness or its swiftness, and to make the canvas’s surface vibrate, thanks to contrasts.”
Lot 70. Zao Wou-Ki (1921 - 2013), Sans titre, signé, signé en chinois et daté 1948, huile sur toile, 46 x 38 cm; 18 1/8 x 15 1/8 in. Exécuté en 1948. Estimation: 300,000 — 500,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
L'authenticité de cette oeuvre a été confirmée par la Fondation Zao Wou-Ki. L’œuvre sera incluse dans le catalogue raisonné en préparation sous l’égide de Madame Françoise Marquet et Monsieur Yann Hendgen.
Provenance: Galerie Creuze, Paris
Vente: Perrin-Royère-Lajeunesse, Versailles, 19 mars 1989, lot 226
Collection particulière, Londres
Note: "Zao Wou-Ki retrouve à Paris Vadime Elisseeff qui, pour préparer sa venue, avait ramené de Chine quelques toiles et les avait montrées au musée Cernuschi dès son retour en juillet 1946. Il lui sert de guide, facilite ses contacts initiaux, l’introduit auprès de son collègue Bernard Dorival, conservateur au Musée national d’art moderne, qui présente sa première exposition personnelle à la galerie Creuze, en mai 1949. Elle attire l’attention de la critique par son alliance subtile, inédite, de deux traditions picturales. Le chroniqueur du Daily Mail parle de « Bonnard chinois ». L’un des visiteurs enthousiastes est le peintre Jacques Villon, qui reçoit cordialement Zao Wou-Ki dans son atelier de Puteaux et le fait admettre au Salon d’Automne. Les oeuvres réunies, une trentaine, étaient presque toutes antérieures à l’arrivée à Paris, car durant cette période d’acclimatation qui se prolonge jusqu’à la fin de 1949, Zao Wou-Ki n’a guère peint - (…) mais surtout dessiné et gravé, selon sa pente instinctive. Il fréquente l’Académie de la Grande Chaumière, où son correcteur est Othon-Friesz, ‘astreint à l’étude du nu comme exercice de contrôle et en tire quelques sanguines aux contours épurés."
Lot 57. Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013), 6.10.69, signé, signé en chinois; signé, inscrit, titré et daté 6.10.69 au dos, huile sur toile, 46 x 50 cm; 18 1/8 x 19 11/16 in. Exécuté en 1969. Estimation: 300,000 — 500,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
L'authenticité de cette oeuvre a été confirmée par la Fondation Zao Wou-Ki. L’œuvre sera incluse dans le catalogue raisonné en préparation sous l’égide de Madame Françoise Marquet et Monsieur Yann Hendgen. Elle est accompagnée d'un certificat d'authenticité.
Provenance: Galerie Sapone, Nice
Collection particulière, France
Vente: Tajan, Art Abstrait & Contemporain, 23 novembre 2000, lot 60
Galerie Applicat-Prazan, Paris
Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe. Collection Eleanor Post Close et Antal Post de Bekessy
Cette œuvre de Zao Wou-Ki, 06.10.69, tableau emblématique du cœur de la période lyrique de l’artiste, provient des collections d’Eleanor Post Close (1909-2006) et de son fils Antal Post de Bekessy (1943-2015).
Eleanor et Antal étaient les héritiers de l’une des plus importantes familles des Etats-Unis. Marjorie Merriweather Post (1887-1973), leur grand-mère et mère, était à la tête de la compagnie General Foods et fut un modèle de philanthropie, d’art de vivre et de culture.
Eleanor Post Close choisit de s’installer en France peu après la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Animée comme sa mère par l’envie passionnée de partager son amour de l’art, elle contribua à enrichir les collections de nombreux musées français et américains et constitua un ensemble imposant d’œuvres qu’elle disposa avec soin dans ses différentes résidences. Elle ponctua son importante collection classique de chefs-d’œuvre de l’art impressionniste et moderne : de Courbet à Zao Wou-Ki en passant par Vuillard.
Le fils d’Eleanor Post Close, Antal Post de Bekessy était lui aussi un fervent collectionneur, éclectique dans ses intérêts et ses goûts. Il se passionna autant pour le romantisme du XIXe siècle que pour le modernisme du XXe siècle, notamment des dessins réalisés par des artistes de la Sécession Viennoise.
Les collections léguées par Eleanor Post Close et Antal Post de Bekessy laissent transparaître la passion qu’ils partageaient pour la beauté sous toutes ses formes, leur immense culture et leur goût précis. Ce formidable ensemble de mobilier et objets d’art fera l’objet d’une vente de collection chez Sotheby’s à Paris les 19 et 20 décembre 2017.
Lot 59. Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013), Sans titre, signé et daté 61, gouache et aquarelle sur papier, 56,5 x 76,5 cm; 22 1/4 x 30 1/8 in. Exécuté en 1961. Estimation: 150,000 — 200,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
L'authenticité de cette oeuvre a été confirmée par la Fondation Zao Wou-Ki. L’œuvre sera incluse dans le catalogue raisonné en préparation sous l’égide de Madame Françoise Marquet et Monsieur Yann Hendgen.
Provenance: Galerie Dobbelhoef, Kassel
Collection particulière (acquis auprès de celle-ci en mars 1978)
Vente: Sotheby's, Paris, Art Contemporain, 3 décembre 2013, lot 115
Acquis lors de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel
Sotheby's, Art Contemporain – Evening Sale Paris, 06 déc. 2017, 07:00 PM
AKHINE, Origins, 2017
Lot 5. Attribuéà Corneille de Lyon, (1510-1574), Portrait d'homme en buste sur fond vert. Panneau de bois tendre, parqueté, 18,5 x 14,5 cm. Estimation 15 000 € / 20 000 €. Courtesy Piasa
Restaurations anciennes, petits accidents et manques. Sans cadre.
Tableaux Anciens, Haute Époque, Mobilier, Objets d’Artchez Piasa, 75008 Paris, le 06 Décembre 2017 à 17h30
Lot 68. Groupe de la Flagellation en ivoire sculpté, Allemagne du sud, entourage de Léonard Kern, vers 1610-40. Estimation 70 000 € / 90 000 €. Courtesy Piasa
en ronde bosse, socle en ébène, bois noirci, marbre, améthyste et bronze doré. Au centre le Christ debout, les mains liées derrière son dos, prend appui sur une jambe, l’autre fléchie, le buste incliné et la tête tournée vers la gauche ; son périzonium, noué sur le devant, tombe sur les cuisses, laissant découverte la hanche gauche ;
visage émaciéà la bouche entrouverte ; les vêtements des deux bourreaux s’inspirent de l’époque romaine avec une chemise ouverte à la partie inferieure festonnée en cuirasse à lanières, l’un porte un caleçon long, l’autre est
chaussé de bottes ; munis de branches et de cordes, ils lèvent chacun un bras s’apprêtant à frapper le Christ ; têtes aux traits accusés, aux chevelures courtes et longues moustaches ; colonne en marbre polychrome soulignée
de filets de bronze au chapiteau corinthien ; terrasse naturaliste, en pierres appareillées sous les pieds du Christ, et à la surface accidentée de
part et d’autre avec touffes d’herbe et lézard ; socle à ressauts orné toutes faces de plaques en améthyste dans des cadre en bronze ciselé
et doré ; pieds en sphère aplatie. Belle qualité d’exécution, avec le Christ sculpté dans un seul morceau d’ivoire.
H (totale) 75 × L 58,4 × P 24,5 cm (quelques accidents et restaurations notamment à un doigt et à un pied du Christ, tête de l’un des bourreaux cassée recollée)
La réalisation de ce très bel ensemble que constituent les trois grandes statuettes en ivoire et leur socle luxueux avec sa colonne en marbre polychrome et ses plaques en améthyste semble se situer en Allemagne du sud. Le style du sculpteur s’apparente en effet à celui d’un Léonard Kern pour les flagellateurs et à celui d’un Georg Petel pour le Christ. Les bourreaux par leur silhouette massive et leur tête virile à la chevelure courte, aux longues moustaches, aux sourcils froncés, font penser à certaines sculptures du célèbre ivoirier de Schwäbisch Hall comme le Bon Larron de Vienne, le Caïn et Abel du Victoria and Albert Museum ou la Gaïa de la Galerie Neuse. Quant à la figure du Christ, elle n’est pas très éloignée des interprétations de Petel, que cela soit dans ses Christs à la colonne ou ses crucifix, avec son déhanchement accusé, sa musculature fluide et son léger maniérisme. Des influences mutuelles sur les oeuvres de ces deux artistes ont d’ailleurs été relevées par les historiens d’art.
Ouvrage consulté : Exposition Schwäbisch Hall, Leonhard Kern (1588 – 1662), Hällisch Fränkisches Musem, octobre 1988 – janvier 1989, cat.
Tableaux Anciens, Haute Époque, Mobilier, Objets d’Art chez Piasa, 75008 Paris, le 06 Décembre 2017 à 17h30
Lot 51. Pierre Soulages (N. 1919), Peinture 46 X 55 cm, 12 décembre 1958, signé et daté 58; signé au dos, huile sur toile, 46 x 55 cm; 18 1/8 x 21 5/8 in. Exécuté en 1958. Estimation: 600,000 — 800,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
Provenance: Collection particulière, Milan (acquis auprès de l'artiste en 1959)
McRoberts and Tunnard Gallery, Londres
Collection particulière, New York
Vente: Sotheby's, New York, 1977
Galerie Boulakia, Paris
Vente: Sotheby's, Londres, Post-War and Contemporary Art, 27 juin 1985, lot 692
Bibliographie: Pierre Encrevé, Soulages, L'Oeuvre Complet, Peintures, Volume I, 1946-1959, Paris, 1994, p. 278, no. 351, illustré en couleurs
"Dans mes toiles, c’est davantage la lumière que reflète la peinture, que la couleur qui importe. Même si le noir a de tout temps été doté de pouvoirs magiques. Comment expliquer, sinon, que les hommes de Lascaux aient peint avec du noir dans les endroits les plus obscurs, alors qu’ils n’avaient qu’à se baisser pour ramasser de la craie." Pierre Soulages
Lot 66. Pierre Soulages (N. 1919), Peinture 92 X 130 cm, 24 avril 1994, signé, inscrit et daté 24.4.1994 au dos, huile sur toile, 92 x 130 cm; 36 3/16 x 51 3/16 in. Exécuté en 1994. Estimation: 400,000 — 600,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
Provenance: Collection de l'artiste
Galerie Bellecour, Lyon
Collection particulière, France
Exposition: Kruishoutem, Fondation Veranneman, Soulages, 25 mars - 6 mai 1995
Bibliographie: Pierre Encrevé, Soulages, L'Oeuvre Complet, Peintures, Vol. III, 1979-1997, Paris, 1998, p. 305, no. 1119, illustré en couleurs
Lot 74. Pierre Soulages (N. 1919), Peinture 46 X 55 cm, 1956, signé; signé au dos, huile sur toile, 46 x 55 cm; 18 1/8 x 21 5/8 in. Exécuté en 1956. Estimation: 300,000 — 500,000 €. Photo: Sotheby's.
Provenance: Collection particulière, Tokyo
Acquis auprès de celle-ci par le propriétaire actuel
Exposition: Tokyo, Minami Gallery, From Klee to Fontana, 8 juin - 9 août 1962
Bibliographie: Pierre Encrevé, Soulages, L'Oeuvre Complet, Peintures Volume I, 1954-1959, Paris, 1994, p. 240, no. 263, illustré
Sotheby's, Art Contemporain – Evening Sale Paris, 06 déc. 2017, 07:00 PM
Lot 30. Lucas Cranach the Elder (Kronach 1472 - 1553 Weimar), The Faun Family, signed lower left with the artist's winged serpent device and dated 1531, oil on panel, 44 x 34 cm.; 17 1/4 x 13 3/8 in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.
Provenance: In the collection of a Bavarian noble family;
Acquired from the above by the father of the present owner;
Thence by inheritance.
Exposition: Nürnberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Sammlung Heinz Kisters, 25 June – 15 September 1963, cat no. 9, plate 56;
Kreuzlingen, Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Kisters, 1971, cat no. 46, reproduced p. 46;
Hamburg, Bucerius Kunst Forum, Lucas Cranach. Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne, 6 April – 13 July 2003, no. 70;
Madrid, Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Dürer and Cranach. Art and Humanism in Renaissance Germany, 9 October 2007 – 6 January 2008, no. 75;
Rome, Gallery Borghese, Cranach – l'altro rinascimento, 15 October 2010 – 13 Febuary 2011, no. 9.
Bibliographie: D. Koepplin and T. Falk, Lukas Cranach; Gemälde, Zeichnungen, Druckgraphik, vol. 2, Basel – Stuttgart 1976, p. 601, cat no. 501, reproduced p.591, plate 305a;
M. Friedlander and J. Rosenberg, The Paintings of Lucas Cranach, London 1978, p.122, cat. no. 267A;
Lucas Cranach. Glaube, Mythologie und Moderne, exhibition catalogue, Hamburg 2003, p. 180, cat no.70, reproduced p. 74;
F. Checa (ed.), Dürer and Cranach: art and humanism in Renaissance Germany, exhibition catalogue, Madrid 2007, pp. 212 and 252, cat. no. 75, reproduced;
B. Aikema and A. Coliva (eds), Cranach – l'altro rinascimento, exhibition catalogue, Milan 2010, p. 156, cat. no. 9, reproduced p. 157.
Note: This is a quintessential and iconic mythological work by Lucas Cranach the Elder. The remarkable precision with which every detail is rendered serves to remind us that the picture was painted for the enjoyment of a private collector to marvel at Cranach’s artistic virtuosity; the very same reason for which it is to be so admired today. Painted at the height of the artist’s career, in 1531, this is an outstanding example of Lucas Cranach's art, commissioned no doubt by a member of the courtly circle in Wittenberg, where the artist was in the employ of the Electors of Saxony. The subject represents the mythological depiction of wild people, forest dwellers or demigods, which had long fascinated Cranach and first appeared in his works in prints and drawings, but culminated in a series of panel paintings from the second half of the 1520s onwards.
The present composition is unique to Cranach's œuvre. The artist executed at least two other treatments of the subject however in variants of similar overall mise-en-scène, but with differing arrangements and dispositions of the figures and landscape details: a painting formerly in the collection of Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, today at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (fig. 1); and a painting listed as in the collection of Duke Fürstenberg, Donaueschingen, Germany.1
fig. 1 Lucas Cranach the Elder, A faun and his family, Los Angeles, J. Paul Getty Museum, inv. no. 2003.100.
The subject of The faun family relates to the romantic topos of the ‘wild people who live in the forest’, which can be found in the Metamorphoses, a mythological moralizing poem by the ancient writer Ovid (43 BC – 17 AD), and in De Rerum Naturaby the Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius (circa 99 BC – 55 AD). Both texts were widely known during the Middle Ages, but they enjoyed increased popularity following their reintroduction during the Renaissance. At the beginning of the sixteenth century scholars contemplated the original state of mankind before civilization, a notion triggered in part by the accounts of travellers who witnessed the ancient tribes in the newly discovered Americas, as well as the idealization of ideas of ancient pagan traditions during the religious turmoil of the Reformation.
The motif of The faun family as a ‘wild family’ is close to a group of paintings in Cranach’s œuvre illustrating the Silver Age, the most celebrated treatment of which is the artist’s painting of The End of the Silver Age, today in the National Gallery, London.2 Classical authors described the various Ages and lamented the decline of freedom since the origins of time. During the Golden Age men lived free of duties or hunger; seasons and agriculture were introduced during the Silver Age; the Bronze Age brought war; and the Iron Age led to more conflict through power and personal greed. The family in the present work could be interpreted as half gods from the Golden Age or more likely as Fauns who were living in untamed woodlands during the Silver Age, although clearly the figure of the male faun with his club, seated over a dead lion, alludes to Hercules and the remarkable cult following that the god had in Germany at that time. There is a striking similarity between the male faun here and the figure of Hercules in the panel from the late 1530s sold in these Rooms in 1998 (fig. 2),3as well as with the counterpart faun in the Getty panel, particularly in terms of the facial likeness and the drawing and positioning of the feet and legs; the lower halves of the present and Getty fauns are effectively mirror images of the figure of Hercules in the ex-Sotheby’s panel.
fig. 2 Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Choice of Hercules, Sotheby's.
It is clear that images of ‘wild people’ were very fashionable during Cranach’s lifetime and it seems that collectors enjoyed the playful contrast between the wild and uncivilized life depicted in Cranach’s paintings and their own sophisticated structured life, perhaps alluded to in the beautiful and ordered cityscape that we see through the opening in the dense, verdant thicket in both this and the Getty panels.
1. For the former (82.9 x 56.2 cm.) see the exhibition catalogue, Cranach, Frankfurt, Stadel Museum, 23 Nov 2007 – 17 Feb 2008 and London, Royal Academy of Arts, 8 March – 8 June 2008, pp. 340–41, no. 106, reproduced; for the latter (27 x 18 cm.) see Friedlander and Rosenberg 1978, p. 122, no. 266, reproduced.
2. See the exhibition catalogue, Cranach, Frankfurt and London 2007–08, pp. 336–37, cat. no. 105, reproduced.
3. London, Sotheby’s, 17 December 1998, lot 15.
Sotheby's. Old Masters Evening Sale London, 06 december 2017, 07:00 PM
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), Virgin and Child in Glory, about 1673 © Walker Art Gallery
LIVERPOOL.- The Walker Art Gallery has welcomed back Virgin and Child in Glory (1673), an altarpiece by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682), following a major conservation project. The project has revealed more about the dramatic history of the painting, and about the skills and techniques employed by the renowned Spanish artist.
The altarpiece was originally commissioned by the Archbishop of Seville (1670-1684) Ambrosio Ignacio Spínola y Guzmán, to form the centrepiece of a private chapel in his palace. However, in the late 18th century its central section was cut out and a copy was inserted. In 1862, the original pieces were reunited, before it was acquired by the Walker in 1953.
For the first time, the copy is displayed next to the original altarpiece, along with a modello (preparatory study) which would likely have been produced by the artist to show to his patron before commencing work on the large altarpiece. The Walker is the only gallery to own both a preparatory oil study by Murillo and the large finished altarpiece for which the study was made.
The conservation work, funded by the Art Fund, is the first to have been carried out on the altarpiece in more than 150 years. Conservators at National Museums Liverpool used infrared reflectography to observe underdrawings on the artwork; sketches and initial outlines that were sometimes disregarded as the artist’s approach to the composition evolved.
Xanthe Brooke, Curator of European Art at National Museums Liverpool, said: “The conservation work has revealed more about the process behind Murillo’s painting. It’s been fascinating to discover how the artist revised his composition on the canvas, making improvements and experimenting with new ideas as he worked.
“After removing the discolored varnish on the painting, we were able to really observe the exquisite painterly skills for which Murillo is renowned as the most influential devotional painter of the post-medieval period. In particular, we see the subtlety of colours used on the many cherubs surrounding the Virgin Mary, and on her golden halo.”
Murillo was one of the great artists of 17th century Spain, renowned internationally for his painting and draughtsmanship, which influenced many 18th century British painters. By 1682, he was the most famous Spanish artist outside his homeland, better known than his compatriot Velázquez.
The large Virgin and Child in Glory altarpiece (h.2360 x w.1690mm) depicts a dark-haired Virgin Mary wearing a deep blue cloak over a red robe, holding in her arms a seated, fair-haired baby Jesus. The Virgin is standing on a base of clouds surrounded by cherubs in a wide variety of different poses, who emerge from a golden heaven.
Pigment analysis was also undertaken, demonstrating the use of costly blue ultramarine paint on the Virgin Mary’s robes. In contrast, a Prussian blue paint was used on the copy. Prussian blue was invented in 1706 – forty years after the original altarpiece was made by Murillo. This suggests that the copy is likely to have been painted in the 18th century.
By the early 19th century, the central section was in the possession of a retired linen draper in London, while the rest of the altarpiece was looted by a French general and taken to Paris. The works were eventually reunited under the ownership of Lord Overstone, a trustee of the National Gallery. X-ray analysis has allowed conservators to observe the skilful reinsertion work which was carried out by London restorer George Morrill.
It is not known why the central section of the altarpiece was replaced with a copy, or who the copyist was. Infrared analysis has revealed that the artist drew in freehand around a crossed line to locate the centre of the Virgin Mary’s face; a technique traditionally taught in drawing academies. The discovery of the artist’s drawing style may help to identify them in the future.
As part of the conservation work, damages and losses to both the modello and the altarpiece have been addressed. On the altarpiece, retouching has balanced the subtle differences that developed between the two sections of the painting while they were separated, as well as reducing any distraction around the cutting line where the central section was removed.
The recently-acquired preparatory sketch, the copy of the central section and the finished altarpiece are currently on display in Room 3 at the Walker Art Gallery.
Left: Varnish has been removed from the left side of her face revealing where the painting was cut. Right: After treatment. Photo: Gareth Jones.
Left: Olympia Diamond, Paintings Conservator, removing the yellow discoloured varnish. Right: Olympia Diamond positioning the digital x-ray plate over the painting. Photo: Gareth Jones.
Left: Detail photograph of cherub before conservation treatment. Right: Detail photograph of cherub after conservation treatment. Photo: Gareth Jones.
Installation of Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s altarpiece Virgin and Child in Glory (1673) at the Walker Art Gallery. Photo: Gareth Jones.
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo’s altarpiece Virgin and Child in Glory hanging in the Walker Art Gallery. Photo: Gareth Jones.
Titian, Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro, After Restoration, 1519–1526. Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice. Photo by Matteo de Fina.
Titian, Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro, After Restoration, 1519–1526. Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Venice. © DR
Titian, c.1485-1576, Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro, before restauration, 1519–1526, Oil on canvas. Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, San Polo. © Save Venice inc.
Titian, c.1485-1576, Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro, in restauration, 1519–1526, Oil on canvas. Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, San Polo. © Save Venice inc.
Titian, c.1485-1576, Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro, in restauration, 1519–1526, Oil on canvas. Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, San Polo. © Save Venice inc.
Lot 107. Left-hand drive 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Saloon. Registration no. not UK registered. Chassis no. DB5/2214/L. Sold for £830,300 (€941,564). Photo: Bonhams.
LONDON.- Bonhams Bond Street Sale took place in London on Saturday 2 December, and saw an impressive £8,605,940 realised from the 30 motor car entry. The top lot of the day was the 80s icon, the 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO Coupé, which achieved £1,883,333. Taking the second spot was the 1964 Aston Martin DB5 4.2-Litre Sports Saloon, originally owned by music legend Sir Paul McCartney. It achieved an incredible £1,345,500, demonstrating the power of provenance, and sold to a telephone bidder.
Lot 117. Delivered new in the UK; Ferrari Classiche certified 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO Coupé. Coachwork by Pininfarina. Registration no. C487 SFE. Chassis no. ZFFPA16B000056207. Sold for £1,883,333 (€2,135,710). Photo: Bonhams.
A second Aston Martin DB5, this time a left-hand drive 1965 Vantage Saloon, was the second most valuable lot of the day, exceeding its pre-sale estimate of £600,000-800,000 when it realised £830,300. The English marque was popular throughout the sale, with the 1962 Aston Martin DB4 ‘Series V’ Vantage Sports Saloon selling for £516,700, the 2004 Aston Martin DB7 Zagato Coupé achieving £359,900 and the 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Series 4 4.7-Litre Sports Saloon at £327,500.
Lot 107. Left-hand drive 1965 Aston Martin DB5 Vantage Saloon. Registration no. not UK registered. Chassis no. DB5/2214/L. Sold for £830,300 (€941,564). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 127. 2004 Aston Martin DB7 Zagato Coupé. Coachwork by Carrozzeria Zagato. Registration no. SN54 BCZ. Chassis no. SCFAE12333K700013. Sold for £359,900 (€407,426). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 129. 1962 Aston Martin DB4 'Series V' Vantage Sports Saloon. Registration no. 4777 BH. Chassis no. DB41119R. Sold for £516,700 (€584,932). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 118. 1963 Aston Martin DB4 Series 4 4.7-Litre Sports Saloon. Registration no. YWM 805. Chassis no. DB4/1034/R. Sold for £327,500 (€370,747). Photo: Bonhams.
The ever popular 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona Berlinetta proved its continued appeal, selling for £470,000.
Lot 122. 1972 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 'Daytona' Berlinetta. Coachwork by Carrozzeria Pininfarina. Registration no. YNC 181L. Chassis no. 16331. Sold for £467,500 (€529,235). Photo: Bonhams.
British marques triumphed in the packed New Bond Street saleroom, with 8 of the Top 10 spots occupied by home nation motor cars. The 1929 Bentley 4½-Litre ‘Le Mans Replica’ Tourer realised £561,500 and the elegant 1937 Alvis 4.3-Litre ‘Short Chassis’ Tourer sold for a convincing new world-auction record at £505,500. More modern vehicles were similarly popular, with the mighty c.1986 Ford RS200 Evolution Group B Rally Coupé selling to a bidder in the room for £281,500, exceeding its pre-sale estimate of £180,000-240,000 by some distance.
Lot 105. 1929 Bentley 4½-Litre 'Le Mans Replica' Tourer. Coachwork by in the style of Vanden Plas. Registration no. GC 7080. Chassis no. XF3523. Sold for £561,500 (€635,648). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 131. One of only 12 built 1937 Alvis 4.3-Litre 'Short Chassis' Tourer. Coachwork by Vanden Plas. Registration no. ELK 366. Chassis no. 14328. Sold for £505,500 (€572,253). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 128. c.1986 Ford RS200 Evolution Group B Rally Coupé. Coachwork by Carrozzeria Ghia/Tickford. Registration no. not UK registered. Chassis no. SFACXXBJ2CGL00105. Sold for £281,500 (€318,673). Photo: Bonhams.
Celebrity-owned cars soared at the sale, with the ex-Sir Elton John, 1960 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur Sports Saloon achieving £180,700, and the ex-Elton John/Alan Sugar Bentley S1 Continental Fastback £366,667. The unique ex-Brian Epstein, Ringo Starr, 1966 Austin Mini Cooper ‘S’ Sports Saloon will continue its celebrity ownership, as it was purchased in the room by a thrilled Geri Horner (née Halliwell) of Spice Girls fame and her husband, Christian Horner for £102,300.
Lot 111. The ex-Sir Elton John 1960 Bentley S2 Continental Flying Spur Sports Saloon. Coachwork by H J Mulliner. Registration no. 295 ACF. Chassis no. BC98AR. Sold for £180,700 (€204,562). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 119. The ex-Sir Elton John and Lord Sugar 1959 Bentley S1 Continental Sport Saloon. Coachwork by H J Mulliner. Registration no. 490 JLC. Chassis no. BC1BG. Sold for £366,666 (€415,086). Photo: Bonhams.
Lot 136. The ex-Brian Epstein, Ringo Starr 1966 Austin Mini Cooper 'S' Sports Saloon. Coachwork by Harold Radford/Hooper & Co. Registration no. LLO 836D. Chassis no. C-A2S7/799541. Sold for £102,300 (€115,809). Photo: Bonhams.
James Knight, Group Motoring Chairman and the auctioneer for the sale, commented: ‘Our exclusive Bond Street Sale is always a fantastic event, and the atmosphere today was no different. Bidders from around the world came to admire and purchase some of the most beautiful and important cars on the market. Once again, Bonhams displayed the broad range of its sales, with Group B rally cars selling alongside vintage sports cars. We look forward now to our last sale of the year which takes place on Wednesday at London Olympia.’
Lot 102. Maruyama Okyo (1733-1795), Ferocious Tiger (Mouko zu). Hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, signed and dated Meiwa kinototori aki hachigatsu Heian Senryo [Meiwa 2 (1765), August], sealed Heian jininshijichukin and Senryo, 35.8 x 47.5 cm. (painting only), 131 x 63.5 cm. (including silk and brocade mount). Estimate GBP 50,000 - GBP 70,000. Price realised GBP 175,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
Provenance: Duke Matsukata (Matsukata Masayoshi) (1835–1924), whose collection of art was sold in auctions at the Tokyo Bijutsu Club, 26th March and 9th April 1928.
Literature: Tokyo Art Club, ed., Zen-koshaku Matsukata-ke zohin nyusatsu(Duke Matsukata Family collection sale), auction cat., 26th March 1928 (Tokyo, 1928), no. 75
Tobi Kenkyujo and Tokyo Art Club, eds., Tokyo bijutsu shijo-shi (The history of the Tokyo art market), (Tokyo, 1979), pp. 443–44
Sasaki Johei and Sasaki Masako, eds., Kogasoran / Photographic Archive of Japanese Paintings, Maruyama, Shijo School, vol. 1, (Tokyo: Kokusho kankoukai, 2000), p. 576, no. 2430
Kamata Junko, “Maruyama Okyo hitsu Mouko zu“ (Picture of a Ferocious Tiger by Maruyama Okyo), Kokka Seiwaikai 11 (15th May, 2008), color illus., p. 7
Note: In 1928 and 1929, in the wake of a worldwide Depression and countless bank failures, many old collections in Japan were dispersed at auction. This masterful painting of a tiger, only recently “rediscovered,” was sold at auction in 1928 at the Tokyo Art Club. It had been in the collection of Duke Matsukata Masayoshi (1834–1924), the influential finance minister during the Meiji period, responsible for reforming and modernising Japan’s banking system and much more. Matsukata twice served as prime minister during the 1890s. As elder statesman in the period after 1900, he continued to wield power. He had over twenty children. His granddaughter Haru married Edwin Reischauer, the Harvard historian and American ambassador to Japan. His third son, Matsukata Kojiro (1865–1950), who attended Rutgers College, became the president of Kawasaki Shipbuilding Company and is best known for the collection of modern Western painting, sculpture and decorative arts that he assembled in France before World War I, now housed in the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo. He also amassed thousands of Japanese prints, now in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum.
Okyo was thirty-two (thirty-three by Japanese count) in 1765, when he painted this tiger. Although young, he was already recognized in Kyoto, his hometown, as one of the two or three top artists in the capital. The large-scale works for which he is now best know came much later—the Wisteria screens (1776) in the Nezu Museum, Tokyo, or Pine Trees in Snow, from the 1780s. The tiger, by contrast, is almost miniature in scale. 1765 is in fact the year Okyo gained the devoted patronage of Yujo (d. 1773), the aristocratic thirty-seventh abbot of the Enman-in Temple in Shiga Prefecture, a man deeply invested in positivism and natural history.
Okyo pioneered naturalistic “sketching from life,” a sensational new Western technique that had special appeal to his clients among the newly rich merchant class, collectors who felt uncomfortable with “traditional” art. Tiger imagery has a long history in East Asia. Tigers were frequently paired with dragons—the tiger representing the “male” principle, the yin to the female “yang“ of the dragon, ancient cosmological symbols. Tigers are also commonly paired with bamboo, strong and resilient. Here, however, Okyo eliminates all background noise. He fills the space with the sinuous, elongated creature, exposing the back with its a magnificent pattern of undulating black stripes. With obsessive layering of tiny strokes, Okyo recreates the soft texture of a furry pelt. The hair of the underbelly is painted with white gofun, or powdered oyster shell. As the animal uses its tongue to groom its fur, it glares straight at the viewer. The frighteningly large green eyes are remarkable; they seem to glow.
It is of interest that one of Okyo’s most talented students, Genki (1747–1797), made a quite faithful replica of this painting. Genki was some ten years younger than his teacher, but his painting, now in the Joe and Etsuko Price Collection, might have been painted shortly after he saw the work of his master. Genki could not resist adding some rocks and foliage, and his painting is exactly twice the size of Okyo’s tiger. His beast is more of a pussycat, flattened and decorative.
Christie's. Art of Japan, 5 December 2017, London
Lot 95. A porcelain dish, Nabeshima ware, Okawachi official kilns, Hizen (Imari city), Edo period (Late 17th - early 18th century); 20.3 cm. diam. Estimate GBP 12,000 - GBP 15,000. Price realised GBP 22,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The circular dish on a high ring foot, decorated in iron red and yellow enamel on underglaze blue with camellia blossoms strung on a thread, the reverse with three tasselled coin clusters, the ring foot with comb design
Note: For similar examples, see
Yoshiko Kakudo, ed., The Art of Japan, Masterworks in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991), pl. 113. (The Avery Brundage Collection)
Takasu Toyoji, Kakiemon, Nabeshima (Kakiemon and Nabeshima wares), vol. 23 of Toki zenshu (Collection of ceramics) (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1961), pl. 54
Mayuyama Junkichi, ed., Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I (Tokyo: Benrido Co., Ltd., 1976), pl. 138
Christie's. Art of Japan, 5 December 2017, London
Lot 100. A Yoshidaya Kutani dish, Fuku mark, Edo period, 19th century; 24.8 cm. diam. Estimate GBP 6,000 - GBP 8,000. Price realised GBP 20,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
Decorated in green, yellow, blue, aubergine, and black enamels with hydrangea flowers against geometric designs, the reverse with scrolling foliage, pine needles inside the foot ring.
Christie's. Art of Japan, 5 December 2017, London
Lot 94. A porcelain dish, Nabeshima ware, Okawachi official kilns, Hizen (Imari city), Edo period, Late 17th - early 18th century; 20.3 cm. diam. Estimate GBP 12,000 - GBP 15,000. Price realised GBP 15,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The circular dish on a high ring foot, decorated in iron red and yellow enamel on underglaze blue with camellia blossoms strung on a thread, the reverse with three tasselled coin clusters, the ring foot with comb design
Note: For similar examples, see:
Yoshiko Kakudo, ed., The Art of Japan, Masterworks in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1991), pl. 113. (The Avery Brundage Collection)
Takasu Toyoji, Kakiemon, Nabeshima (Kakiemon and Nabeshima wares), vol. 23 of Toki zenshu (Collection of ceramics) (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1961), pl. 54
Mayuyama Junkichi, ed., Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I (Tokyo: Benrido Co., Ltd., 1976), pl. 138
A similar example sold in
An Inquiring Mind: American Collecting of Japanese and Korean Art, Christie's, New York, April 22nd 2015, lot number 0063, sale number 3717
A porcelain dish, Nabeshima Ware, Okawachi official kilns, Hizen (Imari City), Edo period (1680-1720); 8 in. (20.3 cm.) diameter. Sold for USD 137,000 at Christie's, New York, April 22nd 2015, lot 63. © Christie's Images Ltd 2015
Christie's. Art of Japan, 5 December 2017, London
Lot 87. A large Arita dish with the monogram of the VOC [Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie], Edo period, late 17th century; 38.5 cm. diam. Estimate GBP 12,000 - GBP 18,000. Price realised GBP 13,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017
The shallow dish decorated in underglaze blue with the central roundel containing the initials of the Dutch East India Company, VOC [Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie], surrounded by two ho-o birds amongst pomegranate and camellia, the six radiating border panels at the rim enclosing alternatively bamboo with plum blossoms and peony divided by narrow bands of stylised foliage
Note: The porcelain in the second half of the seventeenth century ordered by the Dutch from Deshima Island were copied from Chinese Wanli 'kraak' porcelain. With the collapse of the Ming Dynasty in China in 1644 Holland's great source of supply of Wanli blue and white 'kraak' porcelain suddenly came to an end, and as a consequence the Dutch turned their attention to Japan. From about 1660 to 1700 a great variety of shapes and designs were exported to Batavia.
The 'kraak' style is mainly characterised by a central floral or animal motif surrounded by a radiating segmented border. The designs of the Japanese 'kraak' style dishes show some differences from the original Chinese prototypes. The wider panels without the use of auspicious symbols, and the depiction of the phoenix (ho-o birds) with their fanned-out tails, which again was later imitated in Europe on faience and porcelain. Dishes with the VOC. monogram are naturally exemplary of East West relations in ceramics and the role the company played in them. No special mention is made of them in the trade documents, but it can be taken that they were ordered for the use of the company staff at the factory on Deshima and possibly also in Batavia and other factories in Asia.
For similar examples, see:
Nagatake Takeshi, Yabe Yoshiaki, Imari, vol. 19 of Nihon toji taikei [Compendium of Japanese ceramics] (Tokyo, 1989), pl.30
Toguri Bijutsukan [Toguri Museum of Art], Nihon toji meihin zuroku [Japanese ceramics in the Toguri collection] (Tokyo, 1988), p. 95, 296, no.134 (the Toguri Museum of Art collection)
Christiaan J.A. Jorg, Fine and Curious, Japanese Export Porcelain in Dutch Collections (Amsterdam, 2003), p.225, no.285 (the Groninger Museum collection)
Similar example sold in:
Asian Art, Christie’s, Amsterdam, May 20th, 2008 – May 21st, 2008, Lot number 0401, sale number 2786
An Arita blue and white V.O.C. dish, Circa 1680; 36.2 cm. diam. Sold for EUR 11,650 at Christie’s Amsterdam, May 20th, 2008, Lot 401. © Christie's Images Ltd 2008.
For a similar example in the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, museum number 3-1886
Dish, blue and white porcelain, with VOC monogram, Arita ware, 1660-1680. Diameter: 36.5 cm, museum number 3-1886 © Victoria & Albert Museum, London
Christie's. Art of Japan, 5 December 2017, London
