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A guri-style ‘Jizhou’ jar, Yuan dynasty

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A guri-style ‘Jizhou’ jar, Yuan dynasty

Lot 74. A guri-style ‘Jizhou’ jar, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 21cm, 8 1/4 in. Estimate 25,000 — 30,000 GBP. Lot sold 32,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby’s

the rounded shoulders tapering gently to the foot, surmounted by a slightly waisted neck with lipped rim, covered overall in a rich dark brown glaze forming the ground for the 'guri lacquer' style motif picked out in a speckled buff tone, the design formed from upright ruyi heads enclosing tight scrolls above corresponding pendent ones.

Provenance: Collection of Francisco Capelo.

LiteratureFrancisco Capelo et. al., Forms of Pleasure. Chinese Ceramics from Burial to Daily Life, London, 2009, pl. 54.

Note: The design on this jar is after contemporary carved guri style lacquer vessels with the smooth brown glaze applied to recreate the feel of a lacquer ware. The same motif can be found executed in repousse silver; for example see a silver meiping and cover excavated from a Song hoard in Deyang county, Sichuan province and now in the Sichuan Provincial Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji. Gongyi meishu bian, vol. 10, Beijing, 1987, pl. 99.

While guri style decoration is commonly found on 'Jizhou' bowls and smaller vessels; for example see a bowl illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection Catalogue of Chinese, Corean and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, vol. 6, London, 1928, pl. XV, no. F77; and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, published in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, pl. 113, it is rare on vases and larger wares such as the present meiping. However, a smaller meiping painted with the guri design, excavated in Qin jiang county, Jiangxi province, not far from the Jizhou kiln site at Yonghezhen, and now in the Jiangxi Zhangzhou City Museum, is illustrated in Ye Peilan, Yuandai ciqi, Beijing, 1998, pl. 534, and also in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 10, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 163. Compare also a meiping included in the exhibition Song Chinese Ceramics. 10th to 13th Century (Part 3), Eskenazi, London, 2007, cat. no. 20; and another sold in our New York room, 30th March 2006, lot 33.

For further examples see four smaller vessels with painted guri scrolls published in Jan Wirgin, 'Some Ceramic Wares from Chichou', Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 34, Stockholm, 1962, pl. 5a, a ewer in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; pl. 5b, a bowl in the City Art Gallery, Bristol; pl. 5c, a jar in the British Museum, London; and pl. 5d, a vase in China.

Sotheby’s. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 05 nov. 2014, 10:00 AM


A black-glazed painted jar, Yuan dynasty, 13th century

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A black-glazed painted jar, Yuan dynasty, 13th century

Lot 78. A black-glazed painted jar, Yuan dynasty, 13th century. Height 8 in., 20.2 cm. Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 USD. Lot sold 15,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

of ovoid form, the full rounded shoulders tapering towards the foot, the shoulders painted in bold brush strokes with four stylized leafy sprays in iron-brown against a black ground, the short neck with a flange below the lipped rim, the base with a recessed circle in the center covered with a thin brownish black glaze and the footrim unglazed.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 17 Sep 2013

The Light of the Campagna: Exhibition at Hamburger Kunsthalle presents drawings by Claude Lorrain

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), View from Monte Mario; the River Tiber winding into the left foreground, the Tiburtine hills in the distance, c.1640. Brush drawing in brown wash, 185 x 265 mm. London, British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings© Trustees of the British Museum.

HAMBURG.- The exhibition The Light of the Campagna presents drawings by one of the greatest European landscape artists: Claude Gellée, known as Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682). This is the first large-scale show in Germany to be devoted explicitly to Lorrain’s drawings. Some 1,200 drawings have been identified to date as belonging to the multifaceted oeuvre of the French painter and draughtsman, who spent nearly his entire life in Rome. The exhibition features 90 remarkable pen and brush drawings from the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum in London. The carefully selected works come for the most part from the prestigious collections of Sir Richard Payne Knight and the Dukes of Devonshire. 

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), View through a group of pine trees on a medieval fortified tower in the Campagna, around 1638/40. Brush in brown and dark brown over black chalk, 221 x 330 mm. London, British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings © Trustees of the British Museum, London.

Claude Lorrain developed over the course of his career an idealised image of the Italian landscape and the southern light that suffuses it – a vision that would leave its mark on international landscape painting until the mid-19th century and also inform the work of artists such as Claude-Joseph Vernet and William Turner. Lorrain’s many mythological and historical figures from ancient Rome populated atmospheric and light-filled compositions that have been a fixed reference point that every subsequent generation of artists has strived to emulate.  

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), Ship in a storm, around 1638. Brown pencil and brush, 270 x 220 mm, London, British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings© Trustees of the British Museum, London

The exhibition presents a selection of distinguished drawings in a wide variety of techniques. Many were freely executed from nature during sketching expeditions in the Roman Campagna and around Tivoli. These surprisingly modern-looking, free-form landscape studies exude a freshness and spontaneity far ahead of their time. Claude Lorrain was one of the pioneers of drawing in the countryside. His drawings compellingly display how the artist was able to capture nature and the phenomena of the outdoor light extremely accurately with pen and brush and then translate them into highly picturesque scenes on paper.  

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), Aeneas and Dido in Carthage (drawing from the Liber Veritatis after the painting of the Hamburger Kunsthalle), c. 1675/76. Pen in brown, brush in brown and gray, over black chalk, 193 x 257 mm, London, British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings© Trustees of the British Museum, London

On view alongside these nature scenes are studies for paintings as well as a concise selection from Claude’s famous Liber Veritatis, an album of masterful drawings the artist made to record the compositions of his finished paintings, resulting in artworks in their own right. 

 

To enable viewers to compare Lorrain’s idealised painted landscapes with his wonderful drawings of his own work, the Hamburg painting Dido and Aeneas in Carthage from 1675/76 will be shown side-by-side with the corresponding drawing from the Liber Veritatis.

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), A man observes a draftsman sitting on a fallen tree, around 1635/40. Brush in brown, 321 x 214 mm, London, British Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings© Trustees of the British Museum, London. 

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), The Tomb of Cecilia Metella on the Via Appia Antica, c. 1638, pen and brush in brown, gray washed, graphite, border line (pen in brown, pruned), 285 x 221 mm, London, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), Group of trees, c. 1640, brown and brown feather and brush, traces of color in gray, fragment of a border line (pen in brown), 259 x 240 mm, London, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), Ideal landscape with bridge and rider and the Temple of the Sibyl in Tivoli at sunset, c. 1642, pen and brush in brown, gray washed, 196 x 264 mm, London, © The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Claude Lorrain (1604/05–1682), Landscape with the Annihilation of Hagar and Ishmael by Abraham, c. 1668, pen and brush in brown, heightened with white, 195 x 256 mm, London,© The Trustees of the British Museum

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Claude Gellée, gen. Lorrain (1600 - 1682), Aeneas and Dido in Carthage, 120 x 149.2 cm, oil on canvas,© Hamburger Kunsthalle / bpk, Photo: Elke Walford.

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Richard Earlom (1743 - 1822), engraver, after Claude Gellée, gen. Lorrain (1600 - 1682), Aeneas and Dido in Carthage / "A Sea View, with Buildings and many Figures", In: "Liber Veritatis", Volume II , London 1777, Sheet 186, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Library, © Hamburger Kunsthalle, Photo: Christoph Irrgang. 

A 'wucai''dragon and phoenix' bowl, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735)

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A wucai''dragon and phoenix' bowl, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735)

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Lot 285. A 'wucai' 'dragon and phoenix' bowl, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735); diameter 5 7/8 in., 14.9 cm. Estimate 8,000—10,000 USD. Sold 60,000 USD. photo courtesy Sotheby's

of U-shape rising to a slightly everted rim, painted to the exterior with two striding five-clawed scaly dragons in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', one painted in green enamel, the other painted in iron-red, interspersed with two descending phoenix picked out in green, aubergine and yellow enamel with underglaze-blue and iron-red, all below a border of the bajixiang ('Eight Buddhist Emblems') at the rim, the interior well with an iron-red dragon in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl' surrounding by flames, enclosed by an underglaze-blue double ring.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 16 Sep 09. New York

A 'famille-rose' incense holder, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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A 'famille-rose' incense holder, Qing dynasty, 18th century

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Lot 287. A 'famille-rose' incense holder, Qing dynasty, 18th century; height 6 1/2 in., 16.5 cm. Estimate 10,000—12,000 USD. Sold 60,000 USD. photo courtesy Sotheby's

of cylindrical form molded and reticulated to portray a windswept figure holding a fly-whisk, with his attendant carrying a large double-gourd, both gazing upward as a crane descends, walking amidst a rockwork landscape, shaded by a tall pine tree, the sky enshrouded by mist, picked out in green, aubergine, yellow and pink enamels with iron-red, the bottom with a porcelain cap fitted with a metal insert to hold the incense (2).

ProvenanceSotheby's London, 29th February 1972, lot 281.

Note: Two slightly taller incense holders, also molded and reticulated, attributed to the Qianlong period, are illustrated in G.C. Williamson, The Book of Famille Rose, London, 1927, p. 198, pl. LXI.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 16 Sep 09. New York

A pair of 'doucai' saucer dishes, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735)

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A pair of 'doucai' saucer dishes, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735)

Lot 210. A pair of 'doucai' saucer dishes, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735); diameter 5 7/8 in., 14.9 cm. Estimate 35,000 — 45,000 USD. Sold 43,750 USD. photo courtesy Sotheby's

each with rounded flared sides springing from a low tapered footring, the interior painted with a central roundel enclosing a knotty peach tree bearing blossoms and fruit growing amid rocks and bamboo, encircled around the cavetto with further peach boughs interspersed with paired butterflies, the underside with clusters of bamboo and lingzhi (2).

Note: Two closely related dishes were sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 30th October 2002, lot 321, and 24th May 1978, lot 244; another was sold in our London rooms, 6th April 1976, lot 158. For the Kangxi prototype see a pair, from the collection of Helen and Peter Lin, included in the exhibition Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., 1993, cat. no. 63.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 16 Sep 09. New York

Two rare and similar 'famille-verte' bowls, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735)

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Two rare and similar 'famille-verte' bowls, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735)

Lot 279. Two rare and similar 'famille-verte' bowls, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735); diameter 4 1/4 in., 10.8 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Sold 41,250 USD. photo courtesy Sotheby's

each of shallow form with gently curved sides, finely enameled to the exterior with six descending blue magpies, among dense pine and prunus, with three cartouches enclosing lotus and peonies, picked out in green, blue and aubergine enamel with iron-red and underglaze-blue, all above a green and aubergine lappet border at the foot, the interior well with a radiating iron-red lotus flowerhead accentuated with finely painted underglaze-blue stamens, centered by a gilt lotus heart (2).

ProvenanceSotheby's Hong Kong, 31st October - 1st November 1974, lot 242.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. 16 Sep 09. New York

The Top 20 Diamonds and Jewels of 2017 at Sotheby's

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1. “The CTF Pink Star,” Fancy vivid pink diamond ring, weighing 59.60 carats. Sold for $71,175,926 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

Totalling more than half a billion dollars, including live and online sales, Sotheby’s 2017 jewellery auctions  were exceptionally memorable. Among the top moments, as well as the top prices were, “The CTF Pink Star,” which set the world auction record for any diamond or gemstone, and “The Memory of Autumn Leaves” and “The Dream of Autumn Leaves,” which achieved a world auction record for earrings. Pink and blue diamonds led the year, with rubies and sapphires also soaring past their estimates. Click ahead to recap the top 20 best-selling jewels and stay tuned to discover the glittering trove on offer in 2018.

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2. “The Memory of Autumn Leaves,” Fancy vivid blue diamond, weighing 14.54 carats. Sold for $42,087,302 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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3. “The Dream of Autumn Leaves,” Fancy intense pink diamond, weighing 16.00 carats. Sold for $15,338,176 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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4. Fancy vivid blue diamond and diamond ring, weighing 5.69 carats. Sold for $15,130,800 at Sotheby’s New York.

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5. Fancy intense purplish pink diamond ring, weighing 7.04 carats, Piaget. Sold for $13,245,750 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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6. Fancy light pink diamond ring, weighing 33.63 carats, Harry Winston, circa 1970. Sold for $12,818,240 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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7. Very rare and impressive ruby and diamond ring, weighing 13.26 carats, Designed and mounted by BHAGAT. Sold for $10,452,800 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

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8. Fancy vivid blue diamond ring, weighing 3.32 carats. Sold for $6,798,815 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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9. Fancy pink diamond ring, weighing 21.11 carats. Sold for $5,441,565 at Sotheby’s Geneva. 

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10. Extraordinary pair of platinum and diamond earrings, weighing 20.29 and 20.02 carats. Sold for $5,300,000 at Sotheby’s New York.

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11. Ruby and diamond ring, weighing 18.86 carats. Sold for $5,037,091 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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12. Very fine unmounted diamond, weighing 31.98 carats. Sold for $4,980,800 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

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13. Very fine fancy intense blue diamond and diamond ring, weighing 3.13 carats. Sold for $4,790,858 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

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14. Fancy intense yellow diamond and diamond necklace, weighing 102.50 carats. Sold for $4,121,662 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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15. Important pair of unmounted diamonds, weighing 12.26 and 12.03 carats. Sold for $3,560,164 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

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16. Diamond ring, weighing 32.42 carats, Harry Winston. Sold for $3,330,288 at Sotheby’s Geneva.

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17. Sapphire and diamond bracelet, Van Cleef & Arpels. Sold for $3,135,000 at Sotheby’s New York.

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18. Important pair of unmounted diamonds, weighing 12.36 and 12.00 carats. Sold for $2,854,400 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

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19. Fancy orangy pink diamond ring, weighing 11.44 carats. Sold for $2,792,790 at Sotheby’s Hong Kong.

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20. Fancy intense blue diamond and diamond ring, weighing 2.05 carats. Sold for $2,655,000 at Sotheby’s New York.


Sotheby's Top 10 Auction Results of 2017

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From masterpieces of fine art, to magnificent jewellery and fine Chinese ceramics, Sotheby's 2017 auctions achieved exceptional results. In New York, Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled, the most significant work by the artist to ever appear at auction, sold for $110.5 million. A new record for any diamond or jewel was set in Hong Kong when the 'CTF Pink Star' sold for HK$553 million. Gustav Klimt's magnificent 1907 work Bauerngarten (Blumengarten) led London's Impressionist and Modern Art auction, selling for £48 million in March.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982. Sold for $110,487,500 in New York© Sotheby's

Basquiat’s Untitled is a singularly important work from a formative year of Basquiat’s meteoric career and indisputably the most significant work by the artist to ever appear at auction. After a dramatic competition between two determined bidders, the painting was sold to Tokyo-based collector and e-commerce entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, who revealed himself as the happy buyer with an effusive Instagram post minutes later.

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CTF The Pink Star: One Of The World's Great Natural Treasures. Sold for HK$553,037,500 in Hong Kong© Sotheby's

On 4 April 2017 in Hong Kong, Sotheby’s set a new record for any diamond or jewel when the Pink Star, a 59.60-carat oval mixed-cut fancy vivid pink internally flawless diamond, sold for HK$553 million (US$71.2 million) to renowned jeweller Chow Tai Fook, who has renamed the stone 'CTF Pink Star.' Not only was the price more than double the previous record for a fancy vivid pink diamond, but it was also a new record for any work ever sold at auction in Asia.

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Gustav Klimt, Bauerngarten (Blumengarten), 1907. Sold for £47,971,250 in London. © Sotheby's

Among the finest works by Gustav Klimt ever to come to auction, Bauerngarten was painted during the golden years of Klimt’s career and was a highlight of the critically acclaimed Painting the Modern Garden exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London last year.

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Superb and Extremely Rare Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond. Sold for CHF41,862,500 in Geneva. © Sotheby's

The Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels sale in May 2017 was headlined by ‘The Apollo Blue', which sold for CHF41,862,500. It was sold alongside 'The Artemis Pink', which achieved the second highest price in the auction. The two diamonds, since renamed ‘The Memory of Autumn Leaves’ and ‘The Dream of Autumn Leaves’, sold for US$57,425,478 / CHF 57,118,750, becoming the most valuable pair of earrings ever sold at auction.

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Wassily Kandinsky, Bild mit weissen Linien (Painting with White Lines), 1913. Sold for £33,008,750 in London© Sotheby's

Produced in 1913, Bild mit weissen Linien represents an important period in Kandinsky's career during which he perfected his own lyrical form of abstraction. During this period, Kandinsky took his cue from the language of musical composition – and determined that every colour corresponded with a particular emotion or 'sound'.

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Francis Bacon, Three Studies Of George Dyer, 1966. Sold for $38,614,000 in New York© 2017 Estate of Francis Bacon/ Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London.

Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of George Dyer is a rare triptych that shows the artist at the height of his power. George Dyer was a singular figure in Bacon’s work, appearing in more than 40 paintings, with as many created following his death as during his lifetime. However, triptychs of Dyer in this intimate scale are exceptionally rare. The present work was exhibited shortly after its execution and had not been seen publicly until its appearance at auction.

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A Highly Important and Extremely Rare Ru Guanyao Brush Washer. Northern Song Dynasty. Sold for HK$294,287,500 in Hong Kong© Sotheby's

A new world auction record for Chinese Ceramics was achieved in Hong Kong when an extraordinarily rare Ru guanyaobrush washer sold for HK$294.3 million ($37.7million) after 20 minutes of tense bidding. Regarded as the most celebrated of all wares in the history of Chinese ceramics, the brush washer broke the previous record of HK$281.24 Million (US$36.05 Million) set in 2014 by a Ming Dynasty Chicken Cup.

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Andy Warhol, Mao, 1972. Sold for $32,404,500 in New York. © 2017 Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Evincing the same commanding presence of the official state portrait that inspired it, Andy Warhol’s extraordinary Mao is among the most historically potent of the artist’s portraits. Fixing the viewer with a gaze both utterly penetrating and entirely opaque, Chairman Mao commands our full attention with a provocative bravura that characterises the artist’s most indelible Pop images.
 
It's no surpise that a Warhol Mao from 1973 was also among the top performing works for the year, earning HK$98.5 million (US$12.6 million) at Sotheby’s Hong Kong and setting an auction record for a work of Western contemporary art sold in Asia.

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Joan Miró, Femme et oiseaux, 1940. Sold for £24,571,250 in London. © Successió Miró / ADAGP, Paris and DACS London 2017

Femme et oiseaux is the eighth composition in Miro's Constellations– a series comprising twenty-three paintings that he produced in under two years, from January 1940 to September 1941. The painting is a mesmerising example of the Miró's celebrated lyricism and freedom of expression: the ground has been brushed, scraped, polished, moistened and rubbed, creating the gradated pockets of light and dark that convey the celestial boundlessness in which the objects float.

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An Exceptionally Large, Fine and Important Blue and White Lobed ‘Fish Pond’ Bowl Mark and Period of Xuande. Sold for HK$229,037,500 in Hong Kong© Sotheby's

This outstanding Xuande lobed bowl, intricately painted in the most brilliant tones of underglaze blue with a design of fish swimming in a pond, and preserved in extraordinary condition, is arguably the greatest example of early Ming blue and white porcelain in private hands. The only comparable examples are two smaller bowls preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. Revered and extensively published in Japan since its first public exhibition at the Tokyo National Museum in 1963, its appearance on the international art market now is a moment of celebration.

Sotheby's: Top 10 Old Masters of 2017

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2017 was another impressive year for Old Masters at Sotheby's, with saleroom successes on both sides of the Atlantic including a record-breaking result for Joseph Wright of Derby's arresting An Academy by Lamplight which sold for £7.3 million, more than double its estimate. J.M.W. Turner's Ehrenbreitstein, one of only six works by the artist still in private hands, sold for £18.5 million in London in July. Click through to see the top results from across sales in New York and London.

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Joseph Mallord William Turner, Ehrenbreitstein, or The Bright Stone of Honour and the Tomb of Marceau, From Byron's Childe Harold. Sold for £18,533,750

The only oil painting by Turner of a German subject left in private hands, this magnificent picture is one of the artist's great late masterpieces. It is at once indebted to Claude, but also pre-emptive of the leaps to be made in the art of landscape painting  in decades to come, particularly by the Impressionists. When it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1835 Ehrenbreitstein elicited huge critical acclaim and it has been considered one of the artist's most celebrated masterpieces ever since.

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Joseph Wright of Derby, A.R.A., An Academy by Lamplight. Sold for: £7,263,700

The greatest masterpiece by Wright of Derby left in private hands, this picture is one of the most iconic images of the British Romantic movement. An Academy by Lamplight is one of a small number of important early candlelit subject paintings, all of which were painted in the late 1760s and early 1770s before he travelled to Italy, which both established the artist's contemporary celebrity and for which he is most famous today.

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Sir Peter Paul Rubens, Study of a Horse with RiderSold for: £4,060,000 ($5,075,000).

This newly discovered work is a rare example of a large-scale animal study by Rubens. Until recently, the painting had been associated with Sir Anthony Van Dyck, and was exhibited as a work by that artist in Genoa in 1955. However, the picture's attribution has been impossible to discern with any certainty until now. 

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Adam de Coster, A Young Woman Holding A Distaff Before A Lit Candle. Sold for: £3,880,000 ($4,850,000)

In this painting, the glow of a single flame illuminates the various rich fabrics and delicate features of a young woman set against a dark background. Vivid shadows cast throughout the composition define her engaging visage as well as the patterned details of her sleeve, the tufts of fur that line her robe, and the wispy tendrils of the distaff she holds near the candle. The same rich crimson color found in her robe and striped headdress is also subtly detectable in her supple lips, the apple of her cheeks, and the sheen of the stem of the candlestick.

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Willem Drost, Flora. Sold for: £3,700,000 ($4,625,000).

William Drost's enchanting Flora was painted during the artist's brief stay in Venice during the 1650s and has hitherto remained unknown to scholars. The work should be considered one of Drost's very best paintings, comparable to his undisputed masterpiece, the Bathsheba in the Louvre. It is a remarkable synthesis of the artist's early training in Amsterdam under Rembrandt and the more mature style he developed in Venice, when he came under the direct spell of Titian, to whom this work is a clear homage.

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Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder, Still life of flowers in a Berkemeijer glass beaker. Sold for £2,971,250.

Ambrosius Bosschaert was one of the very first artists to specialise in still-life painting. In his finest works such as this he rendered his subject with a meticulous naturalism leading to the suggestion that it might have been commissioned by a botanist. The smooth surface of the copper lends this work a rich enamel-like finish which combines with the extraordinary detailing of the flowers and insects to lend this small panel a richness which transcends its scale.

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Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, Ecce HomoSold for £2,746,250.

Whether painting genre scenes or religious subjects, Murillo's greatest achievement lies in his ability to portray individuals as convincing human beings and to express their emotional state. In this exceptional late work, categorised by Diego Angulo Iñiguez as the best example of the composition, Murillo creates a powerful image of great psychological and painterly subtlety. In his interpretation of the Ecce Homo the Sevillian master pays homage to Titian, while at the same time producing an invention that is profoundly original.

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Bernardo Bellotto, VenicePiazza San Marco looking east towards the BasilicaCirca 1739: Sold for £2,521,250

This quintessential view of Venice was painted by all the great view painters of the Serenissima, including Michele Marieschi, Antonio Canaletto and Francesco Guardi. To this majestic group can be added Bernardo Bellotto, to whom this splendid example of the Piazza San Marco was correctly reattributed when it was published by Beddington in 2004. The artist trained in the studio of his uncle, Canaletto, and by the age of sixteen was producing work of such quality that it was indistinguishable from, and indeed often sold as, the work of his celebrated uncle.

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Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Portrait of a Lady as FloraSold for £2,408,750.

This is one of only a very small number of paintings of beautiful women in fancy dress by Tiepolo to have survived. Though they occupy only a tiny part of his output, these depictions of idealised feminine beauty remain among the most famous and easily recognised of all Tiepolo’s works. Painted during the artist's last years in Venice in the late 1750s, this canvas was very probably among a series of 'half-length figures of women done a capriccio' recorded in a letter of 1760 as painted for the Empress Elizabeth of Russia. Completely unknown and unrecorded before its reappearance in 2008, the present canvas is without doubt the most beautiful and important Tiepolo discovery of recent years. The remarkable pristine condition of this canvas, unlined and with all of its original brushwork and impasto intact, is here revealed for the first time following its recent restoration.

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John Constable, R.A., The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, seen from Whitehall Stairs, London, 18 June 1817Sold for: £2,289,000.

This recently rediscovered sketch is an important, previously lost, early study for one of John Constable's most celebrated paintings, The Opening of Waterloo Bridge (Tate Gallery), which the artist exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1832. Probably the artist's first attempt at working out the composition, it is believed to be the picture Constable showed to Joseph Farington in 1819, an event recorded in the latter's diary for 11 August that year but which hitherto no previously known sketch has been traced.

Owl as a drinking vessel, Southern Germany, around 1540

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Owl as a drinking vessel, Southern Germany, around 1540. Silver, gilded, reverse glass painting, enamel. H 45.0 cm. Green Vault, IV 302© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden 

Although the owl is rendered in a very stylized way, the extremely fine chiselling of the plumage and the effective alternation between gilded and non-gilded parts are impressive. The cover figure in the shape of an ancient warrior presents a shield with the Saxon-Saxon alliance coat of arms in reverse glass painting, which was probably added later under Christian I. Taking off the head of the owl, her body can absorb liquid. The owl probably served as a welcome, as a representative drinking vessel, where guests were served a welcome drink on special occasions. His background from the "Secret Collegiate College" suggests that until then, it was in one of the regal castles for whose inventories this institution was responsible. The goldsmiths of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries developed a multitude of different forms of vessels, including those in the form of animals, in almost limitless ingenuity. Among these, the owl cups make up one of the largest groups. As inscriptions on some pieces show, the owl, the attribute of the goddess Minerva, has been understood as a symbol of wisdom. But the nocturnal animal could also stand for excess, gluttony and drunkenness. Some had bells attached to their legs, referring to the use of the owl as a decoy and, from this, its importance as a symbol of temptation (to drink). The ambiguity and inconsistency of allegorical interpretations may well have been intended. The Dresden owl vessel is one of the earliest examples of this species and proves by its enormous dimensions as a truly princely object. Its size also gives a good impression of today's terms excessive alcohol consumption in the courts of the time.

Lid cup from Martin Luther's estate, Southern Germany, around 1540

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Lid cup from Martin Luther's estate, Southern Germany, around 1540. Silver, gilded. H 14.3 cm, diam cover 9.7 cm, diam foot 8.4 cm. Green Vault, IV 313. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden

In addition to the Luther cup in the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum in Leipzig, the low lid cup of the Grünes Gewölbe belongs to the scientifically secured silver objects owned by the Reformer. Around 1540 he was given this by his friend and fellow combatant, the Wittenberg theologian and Probst Justus Jonas. Its coat of arms is adorned with a small medal on the lid knob. A larger from the year 1538 with the portrait of Luther and his motto "In stillness and hope you will be strong" is in the lid. On 29 August 1677, the pastor and General Superintendent Calovius gave this cup to his Elector Johann Georg II, who had him placed nine months later in his Electoral Kunstkammer.

Coconut Cup with scenes from the story of the prodigal son, probably Nuremberg, mid-16th century

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Coconut Cup with scenes from the story of the prodigal son, probably Nuremberg, mid-16th century. Coconut, carved, silver, gilded. H 28.0 cm, dia cup 13.2 cm, dm foot 11.0 cm; Weight: 693 g. Green Vault, IV 330.© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

The "Native American" nuts imported from Central and South America have been processed by Western European goldsmiths into precious and imaginative drinking vessels since the second half of the 16th century, three examples of which are gathered here. The serving as Kuppa coconuts have often been refined with finely carved reliefs. The stocky trophy shows scenes from the story of the prodigal son, which go back to a then widespread series of prints by Hans Sebald Beham. In the bottom of the cuppa is a medal with the image of Christ and the inscription> EGO SUM JHESUS A ET O <. It is possible that the trophy is one of the two listed in the electoral treasury inventory of 1586/87, "Engulfed Indian Noss in Vorgult silver, with lids".

Wine jug, Germany, around 1550

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Wine jug, Germany, around 1550. Gold, enamel, 7 diamonds, 14 rubies. Height 16.9 cm, width 8.5 cm, weight 301 g. Green Vault, 41. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

The small communion pot is made of pure gold and carries on the foot, "belly" and lid colored enamelled ornament, which is set with diamonds and rubies in high box settings. The smooth Kopus stands out brilliantly from the colored relief. The shape of the decor dates back to the middle of the 16th century. A black enamelled V (Vinum) on the front indicates that the vessel was intended for wine. Typically, a wine jug had a counterpart to water, labeled A (aqua). However, this is not known. The precious vessel is listed 1641/1642 in the estate of the widowed Elector Hedwig of Saxony. Together with a golden goblet (Inv.No .: IV 42), a simple golden host box (Inv.No .: IV 82) and a godfather (Inv. IV 74) it was in the church of the castle Lichtenburg, the widow seat of the wife Christian II. Of Saxony. Electress Hedwig could have united the four vessels, which came from different times, for personal use into a four-part communion meal. In the Green Vault, the four pieces are mentioned for the first time in the silver inventory 1723, but without reference to their origin. The message published in 1841 that the Last Supper is from the estate of the Elector Magdalena Sibylla, wife of Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony, can not be proven by sources. In the Green Vault, the four pieces are mentioned for the first time in the silver inventory 1723, but without reference to their origin. The message published in 1841 that the Last Supper is from the estate of the Elector Magdalena Sibylla, wife of Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony, can not be proven by sources. In the Green Vault, the four pieces are mentioned for the first time in the silver inventory 1723, but without reference to their origin. The message published in 1841 that the Last Supper is from the estate of the Elector Magdalena Sibylla, wife of Elector Johann Georg II of Saxony, can not be proven by sources.

Mother-of-pearl jug, Gujarat (India), the mounts: Nuremberg or Antwerp, around 1540

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Mother-of-pearl jug, Gujarat (India), the mounts: Nuremberg or Antwerp, around 1540. Silver, driven, cast, chased, hallmarked, gilded, copper (pot), mother-of-pearl, cut. H 29.0 cm, W 23.3 cm, dia foot 15.9 cm; Weight: 1392 g. Green Vault, IV 256. © Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

The jug, densely covered with mother-of-pearl tiles, and the pomp of the same material (IV 181) were imported to southern Germany via Portuguese traders from Gujarat in north-western India. In Nuremberg or Antwerp, around 1540, the two vessels were given a uniform version by a goldsmith in order to adapt them to the taste of a German prince of the Renaissance. The pot, whose original core of copper is still hidden under the new silver frame, was slipped over a neckpiece with a bird-like spout, attached to it by a tall, tendril-like handle and a tall, beautifully shaped foot. All newly added parts are artfully connected by clasps. The European version remained surprisingly close to the Indian vascular tradition. Even the flat lid of the silver version is reflected in the popular contemporary rose water trimmings of the Mughal palaces. Traditionally considered to be the first baptismal font of the Wettin family, the watering set, which was particularly valuable because of its old age and its magnificent goldsmith work, can not be archived. In 1832 she came from the dissolved this year Kunstkammer in the Green Vault and is now on display in the vault.

Rose water basin, Gujarat (India), the mounts: Nuremberg or Antwerp, around 1540

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Rose water basin, Gujarat (India), the mounts: Nuremberg or Antwerp, around 1540. Silver, driven, cast, chased, hallmarked, gilded, wood, painted green on a cream background (basin), copper (pot), mother-of-pearl, cut. Diameter: 56 cm, H 8,6 cm; Weight: 4911 g. Green Vault, IV 181.© Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

The pompous basin covered with mother-of-pearl tiles and the corresponding pot of the same material (IV 256) were imported to southern Germany via Portuguese traders from Gujarat in north-western India. In Nuremberg or Antwerp, around 1540, the two vessels were given a uniform version by a goldsmith in order to adapt them to the taste of a German prince of the Renaissance. The pelvis was adorned by the technically and artistically adept master with a wide rim with sculptured princely busts, surrounded by ornamental friezes modeled on the designer Peter Flötner. By means of putty and pins, this attached edge was connected with the likewise gold-plated precious metal strip in the base of the bowl and the base ring with the wooden core of the vessel. If one dissolves the raised surface of silver from the vessel body, so a bright red painted ground is visible, as can be found in most of these Indian nacreous works. Traditionally considered to be the first baptismal font of the Wettin family, the watering set, which was particularly valuable because of its old age and its magnificent goldsmith work, can not be archived. In 1832 she came from the dissolved this year Kunstkammer in the Green Vault and is now on display in the vault.

A Chinese export armorial famille-rose tea set with the coat-of-arms of the House of Orange, Qing dynasty, circa 1747

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A Chinese export armorial famille-rose tea set with the coat-of-arms of the House of Orange, Qing dynasty, circa 1747

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Lot 12. Property of a Dutch Baronial Family. A Chinese export armorial famille-rose tea set with the coat-of-arms of the House of Orange, Qing dynasty, circa 1747. Estimate £15,000–25,000© Sotheby's

comprising: a tea pot and cover; covered sugar bowl; covered cream jug; waste bowl; a smaller bowl; twelve cups and nine saucers; a small dish; two shell-shaped dishes; each decorated with the arms of Prince William IV Karel Hendrick Friso of Orange (1711-1751) within an elaborate border of floral garlands, inscribed with the motto VIVAT ORANYE. Quantity: 32; the teapot diameter: 11 cm, 4 3/8  in. 

Provenance: Probably commissioned by Samuel Baron van Eck van Overbeek (1691-1760) for Huis Overbeek in Velp which was destroyed by a fire in 1704, rebuilt in 1767 and demolished in 1906;
Thence by direct descent to the present owner.

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Twenty-four Berlin (K.P.M.) porcelain plates painted with scenes from Goethe's Faust, circa 1821

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Lot 17. Property from an Important Berlin Collection. Twenty-four Berlin (K.P.M.) porcelain plates painted with scenes from Goethe's Faust, circa 1821. Estimate £60,000–100,000. © Sotheby's

within tooled gilded borders, and individual gilded borders at the rims, the first in the series, No. I, signed and dated 'Roentgen. f. 1821.', sceptre marks in underglaze-blue, painter's marks, all except one with a Roman numeral in black enamel and lines of verse to the reverse, pressnummern 22, 25, impressed mark of three dots, inventory number 'D 218'. Quantity: 24 - 24.6cm., 9 5/8 in. diameter

Related LiteratureDr. Samuel Wittwer, Refinement and Elegance: Early Nineteenth-Century Royal Porcelain from the Twinight Collection, New York, 2007, pp. 73-75, pl. 85. 

Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s tragic play is considered to be his masterpiece and one of the greatest works of German literature. The work concerns the fate of the scholar Faust and his quest for the true essence of life, "was die Welt im Innersten zusammenhält." This fixation leads the devil, in Goethe’s version represented by Mephistopheles, to wager he can satisfy all of Faust's desires.

The first appearance of Goethe’s work in print was Faust, a Fragment, published in 1790. He completed a preliminary version of what is now known as Part One in 1806 and its publication in 1808 was followed by the revised 1828–29 edition, the last to be edited by Goethe himself. Goethe finished writing Part Two in the last years of this life before he died in 1832. The present series of plates follows an early publication which uses engravings by the German painter and draughtsman Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch (1779-1857). In 1821, a partial English translation of Faust Part One was published anonymously by the London publisher Thomas Boosey and Sons, which also used the illustrations of Retzsch.

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Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, ‘Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust’, Stuttgart und Tübingen, 1816, tav. 2.

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Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch

Upon visiting Retzsch in 1834 the English commentator Mrs Jameson would later write "I saw in Retzsch's atelier many things novel, beautiful and interesting... There was, on a small panel, the head of an angel smiling. He said he was often pursued by dark fancies, haunted by melancholy foreboding, desponding over himself and his art", "and he resolved to create an angel for himself, which should smile upon him out of heaven." Mrs Jameson wrote that Retzsch’s painting of the angel was radiant in the spirit of joy, though looking upon it was ‘enough to exorcise a whole legion of blue devils.’1

Retzsch was born in Dresden. He joined the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in 1798 copying the pictures in the collection of the Gemäldegalerie. He was made a member of the academy in 1817 and a professor in 1824. Among his earliest commissions was when the Cotta publishing house asked him to produce twenty-six illustration plates for Goethe's Faust. He produced plates for other well-known literary works, most notably Friedrich Schiller's Lied von der Glocke of 1799, the Ballads of Gottfried August Bürger and works by Shakespeare.

Johann Christoph Roentgen was employed by K.P.M in 1814. He had previously worked at Dagoty's factory in Paris for five years and to provide proof of this in his application he sent an extract from Morgenblatt of 1808 in which he is mentioned. In a passage reproduced by Wittwer, op. cit., he was referred to as being not only Dagoty's favourite assistant but also a personal friend.

A series of twenty-four plates painted with the story of Faust after Retzsch's engravings, was sent as a gift to Prince Carl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1785-1837), as two groups for Christmas in 1821 and 1822. He was the son of Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1741-1816) and his second wife Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt (1755-1785). On the 24th May 1819 the Prince had played the role of Mephisto in the Berlin premiere to great acclaim,a performance was later given at Schloss Monbijou. Twelve plates from this series were sold in an anonymous sale at Christie's South Kensington, 2nd October 1997, lots 146-157 and are now in the collection of Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin. This series differs from the present group in the gilded borders and it is probable that the plate with a full gilded border in the present lot originally belonged to the Prince Carl gift. A series of engravings by Retzsch from 1820 is still preserved in the KPM archive.

A plate showing a scene of Gretchen, numbered XVI, which most likely once belonged to the present series of plates, was sold at Lempertz, Berlin, 2nd May 2015, lot 153.

 

[1] Mrs Jameson, Visits and Sketches at Home and Abroad, London, 1834, Vol. I, pp. 128-129.
[2] Dr. Samuel Wittwer, op. cit., p. 73.

National Portrait Gallery to bring together surviving portraits of Thomas Gainsborough's daughters

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The Painter’s Daughters Chasing a Butterfly by Thomas Gainsborough, c.1756. © The National Gallery, London. Henry Vaughan Bequest, 1900. 

LONDON.- The National Portrait Gallery London is to bring together for the first time all twelve surviving portraits of Thomas Gainsborough’s daughters in a major new exhibition, Gainsborough’s Family Album, opening on 22 November 2018. The portraits, which trace the development of the Gainsborough girls from playful young children to fashionable adults, include such famous images as The Artist’s Daughters chasing a Butterfly (c.1756)and The Artist’s Daughters with a Cat, (c.1760-1). These will be seen alongside rarely seen paintings, such as the grand double full-length of Mary and Margaret Gainsborough as sumptuously-dressed young women (c.1774). 

Featuring over fifty works from public and private collections across the world, Gainsborough’s Family Album will provide a unique insight into the private life and motivations of one of Britain’s greatest artists. The exhibition will include a number of works that have never been on public display in the UK, including an early portrait of the artist’s father John Gainsborough (c. 1746-8) and a drawing of Thomas and his wife Margaret’s pet dogs, Tristram and Fox. 

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Painter’s Daughters with a Cat by Thomas Gainsborough, c.1760-61.© The National Gallery, London. Bought, 1923

Thomas Gainsborough, (1727–88), was one of Britain’s most successful eighteenth-century portraitists, but in his private correspondence he lamented that the need to earn his living from an endless parade of ‘damnd Faces’ prevented him for pursuing his devotion to landscape, the branch of art he most loved. Nonetheless, he still managed to find the time, the energy and the desire to paint more portraits of his family members than any other artist of his or any earlier period is known to have produced. These include pictures of himself, his father, his wife, his daughters, two sisters and two brothers, a brother-in-law, two nephews, one niece, and a few more distant connections, not to mention his dogs. The vast majority of these works stayed with the family throughout the painter’s lifetime, by the end of which he had singlehandedly created an unusually comprehensive visual record of an eighteenth-century British kinship network, with several of its key players shown more than once, at different stages of their lives. 

Gainsborough’s Family Album will chart Gainsborough’s career from youth to maturity, telling the story of an eighteenth-century provincial artist’s rise to metropolitan fame and fortune. However, alongside this runs a more private narrative about the role of portraiture in the promotion of family values, at a time when these were in the process of assuming a recognizably modern form. The exhibition will both offer a new perspective on Gainsborough the portraitist and challenge our thinking about his era and its relationship to our own. 

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Margaret and Mary Gainsborough by Thomas Gainsborough, c.1770-74. Private Collection.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director, National Portrait Gallery, London, says: ‘We are delighted to be able to bring together so many of Gainsborough’s family portraits for the first time. The exhibition, which is unique in focusing on his paintings made for love, rather than for money, provides an unprecedented opportunity to see the intimate and personal aspect of Gainsborough’s portraits through this remarkable body of works depicting ‘ordinary people’ from a time when portraiture was almost exclusively confined to the rich, the famous and the upper classes’. 

Professor David Solkin, Exhibition Curator and Emeritus Professor of the Courtauld Institute of Art says: ‘My hope is that Gainsborough’s Family Album will prompt new ways of thinking about Gainsborough, and about the family albums that so many of us create’. 

Tristram And Fox by Thomas Gainsborough (private collection)

Tristram and Fox by Thomas Gainsborough, c.1760s. Private Collection.

Gainsborough’s Family Album is curated by Professor David Solkin, with support from Dr Lucy Peltz, Senior Curator, 18th Century Collections and Head of Collections Displays (Tudor to Regency), at the National Portrait Gallery. Professor Solkin is one of the world’s leading authorities on the history of British art. He joined The Courtauld Institute of Art in 1986 and completed his career there as Walter H. Annenberg Professor of the History of Art and Dean and Deputy Director. He has published extensively on eighteenth-century art and culture, is the author of four major books, the latest of which are: Painting out of the Ordinary: Modernity and the Art of Everyday Life in Early Nineteenth-Century Britain (Yale, 2008); and Art in Britain 1660-1815 (2015). He has also curated several important exhibitions including, most recently, Turner and the Masters (2009). 

Dr Peltz joined the National Portrait Gallery in 2001 as Curator of 18th Century Collections and has curated several permanent galleries, temporary exhibitions and displays including The Regency in the Weldon Galleries (2003-); Brilliant Women: 18th Century Bluestockings (2008); Thomas Lawrence: Regency Power and Brilliance (2010-11) and Simon Schama’s Face of Britain (2014-15), a project which resulted in a TV series, a -Viking-Penguin book and an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

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The Artist with his Wife and Daughter by Thomas Gainsborough, c.1748. © The National Gallery, London. Acquired under the acceptance-in-lieu scheme at the wish of Sybil, Marchioness of Cholmondeley, in memory of her brother, Sir Philip Sassoon, 1994.

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Thomas Gainsborough by Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1758-1759. © National Portrait Gallery, London.

'Agon! Competition in Ancient Greece' on view at CaixaForum Barcelona

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Niké-winged with wind-blown clothes, c. 100 BC., Halicarnassus. Marble Statue. © The Trustees of the British Museum

BARCELONA.- This exhibition, jointly organised by ”la Caixa” Foundation and the British Museum within the terms established in the strategic agreement established by the two institutions, offers a unique opportunity to discover an extraordinary collection of works related to games, sports and competition in Ancient Greece. The objects on show range from marbles and dice used by children 2,200 years ago to a fragment of the frieze from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. 

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Athlete or hero, c. 320-300 BC. Roman version in marble of a Greek original. Probably from Italy© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

The competitive spirit, inherent to human nature 

The Ancient Greeks believed that the competitive spirit was inherent to human nature and could transmit positive, innovative and dynamic power. In contrast to the individualism that dominates many aspects of life today, in Ancient Greece competition represented the collective personality and was a factor in social cohesion. 

Nike, the goddess of victory who connects the world of mortals and the world gods, welcomes you to the exhibition and invites you to discover the idea of competition in Ancient Greece, where heroes, athletes and warriors illustrate the rivalry that dominated all aspects of life, including artistic creation. The Greeks aspired to attain excellence through the balance between body and spirit, through sport, on the one hand, and through philosophy, the arts and the sciences on the other. 

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One of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Frieze on a slab showing the Greeks fighting against women Amazons, c. 350 BC. Marble of the Mausoleum of Halicarnaso, present Bodrum (Turkey). © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

The Greeks were sports enthusiasts, and the Panhellenic Games, which took place at Olympia, Delphi, Nemea and Isthmia, attracted the finest athletes. The winners were considered heroes and could win great prizes, both material and in terms of fame and prestige. Sporting events drew huge crowds and provided the Ancient Greeks with a popular source of entertainment. 

Theatrical and musical contests also attracted thousands of spectators. Writers such as Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles and Aristophanes took part in these contests. 

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Red-figured volute-krater (bowl for mixing wine and water), Apulian, Greece, circa 370 BC-350 BC © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

Another field in which the competitive spirit thrived was war. The Greek city states and kingdoms were in almost constant conflict with each other or with their neighbours. Battle scenes, both real and imaginary, were popular subjects in Greek art, from small gemstones to large architectural sculptures and memorials set up in honour of dead soldiers. 

As is still the case today, people from different classes and backgrounds competed in civic life, though in the case of Ancient Greece, the arenas of competition ranged from public spaces to cemeteries. The powerful competed for greater public presence and recognition, and their disputes extended to the realm of luxury objects and continued after death, as is reflected in sumptuous tombs and mausoleums. 

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Black-figured kylix in 'Siana' shape, attributed to the C Painter, 575 BC-550 BC, Archaic Greece, Attica © 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

The sculptures from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, on loan for the first time 
Agon! Competition in Ancient Greece brings together, for the first time, a large number of masterpieces from the renowned vaults of the British Museum, where more than 100,000 objects form what is one of the largest and most complete collections of antiquities from the classical world. 

This generous selection, formed by 172 ancient works from the British Museum, ranges from around a dozen large statues to smaller figures, from finelyengraved seals to coins, all brought together for the first time. Indeed, many of these pieces are now displayed outside the British Museum for the first time as part of this exhibition, a good number of them brought here directly from the exhibition rooms in London.  

This is the case, for example, of the final section of the show, which explores death through sculptures from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the tomb of King Mausolus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Never before has the British Museum loaned out these famed, iconic sculptures, which have also been restored for the occasion.

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Gold jewel of a Greek tomb belonging to a rich people, c. 450-400 BC. Found in Acarnania, in Central Greece© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Famous athletes training. Red figures amphora, c. 520-500 BC. Made in Athens. From Vulci, Italy© The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Athlete with discus. Marble, Roman Period (after a lost Greek original of about 430 - 400 BC), about 160© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Red figures kylix (detail), Attributed to Douris, Attica, Greece, excavated at Vulci, Italia, 500 BC-490 BC© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Three runners in an amphora, trophy of the Athens Olympics, 333-332 BC. Black figures in an amphora-shaped trophy. Made in Athens. Found in Benghazi, in Cyrenaica (Libya)© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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The Vaison Diadumenos, 118 - 138. Roman copy of a lost Greek bronze original of about 440 BC. Excavated Vaison, at the Roman theatre, 1870,0712.1© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Dionysos. Marble head, Roman version of a Greek original, circa 150-100 AD© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Portrait head of Euripides. Parian marble, Roman (Flavian copy of Greek bronze original), 1st century© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Relief of Comic and tragic Greek masks. Marble, Roma, 2nd century© 2017 Trustees of the British Museum.

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Heracles. Bronze figurine, 400-350 BC. Made in southern Italy © The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Attributed to The Antimenes Painter, Black-figuredhydria, c. 510 BC. Made in Athens. Found in Vulci, Italy© The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Greek warrior ready to fight. Bronze statuette, c. 350-300 BC. Found in Corfu© The Trustees of the British Museum.

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Breastplate with sculpted muscles, upper armor of the richest soldiers, c. 350-300 BC. Bronze. Found in Ruvo, Southern Italy© Trustees of the British Museum

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Portrait statue of a wealthy Greek woman. Marble. About 130 -100 BC. Probably from Turkey© Trustees of the British Museum

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