Lot 193. Museum-quality silver cup and cover with the coat of arms of the grand master Archduke Maximilian III, presumably Germany or Austria-Hungary, dated on plaque 1595. Approximately 546g. Height 35cm. Estimate 25,000 - 30,000 EUR. Lot sold 43,000 EUR. © Van Ham

Silver, applies. On circular base with profiled rim and bulbous, raised center short shaft with strong knob. On it ram heads alternating with fruit in relief. High, slightly conical cuppa decorated with scrolls. In each of three upright oval medallions a unicorn, deer, or respectively a bear set against a wide landscape scenery. Between them high flower arrangements in amphora vases, very delicately chased and on punched ground. The slightly domed slip lid with scrolls, reclining putti and fruit in relief. Its center raised pedestal-like with a supporter in armor. On the shield the coat of arms of the barons of Bobenhausen. The Grand Master Archduke Maximilian III and date 1595. Along the rim circumscription: ' MAXIMIL · DG · ARCHID · AVST · MAG · PRVSS · ATMINIST · ET · ORD · TEVTO · MAGIS · D · D '. 

Marked on the foot: Presumably assayer's mark with G and maker's mark with G (...) both largely indistinct. Lemberg duty mark 1806-07 for taxable, marked pieces and Austrian-Hungarian exemption stamp for older works of silver 1809/10 (Tardy pp.65 and 74). Condition A / B.  

Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt Collection, Cologne. 

Literature: Beuing, Raphael: The Treasury of the Teutonic Order. Sources and Studies on the History of the Teutonic Order, vol.70, Weimar 2015. 

Note: This cup is not only remarkable in its masterly quality, but also owing to the historic link between the two coats of arms engraved in it.
Master of the Teutonic Order Henry of Bobenhausen of Mergentheim, who held this position from 1572 to 1590. Yet, the engraving does not depict his coat of arms as Grand Master, but just the heraldic animal of the Barons of Bobenhausen: the fox with a dead goose in its jaws. 
His term in office was characterized by major conflicts with Emperor Maximilan II. As a consequence, he was assigned a cohabitutor from 1585 onwards, leaving him practically disempowered. In 1590 he was forced to resign for good, deceased in 1595. His co-author and successor in office was none other than Archduke Maximilian III, whose coat of arms as Grand Master was added to the year of his predecessor's decease - thus the year of his definitive assumption of the office.

The treasure of the Teutonic Order still today holds an impressive welcome from the possession of Heinrich von Bobenhausen. The vessel is worked in the form of his heraldic animal, a fully sculpted fox with a goose in its mouth. It comes from the hand of the Nuremberg silversmith Paulus Tullner and is dated 1565 (Beuing, 2015, p.132, cat.-Nr.99). Since the masters of the Teutonic Order had the right to withhold the estate of deceased Order members, this welcome was also part of the Order's treasury, as shown in an inventory of 1606. This may also have been true for the here present cover cup, as only the existence of both coats of arms and the year 1595 would be explained. The Grand Master Archduke Maximilian III. itself contributed to probably the most extensive increase of the treasure. 

Although the collection of the treasury of the Teutonic Order has undergone a varied history over the centuries and suffered many losses, especially during the wars of the 17th and 18th centuries, its present size and quality is an impressive testimony to the history of the Order, his Grand Master and Knights of the Order.

Lot 194. Large vermeil cup and lid with decorations in relief, Juryen van Ham, Emden, 1603. Approximately 594g. Height 38cm. Estimate 25,000 - 30,000 EUR. Lot sold 48,000 EUR. © Van Ham

Silver, applies. Repeatedly receeding circular foot with bulbous raised center, thereon a shaft in the shape of a vase with three small applied scroll motifs decorated with mascarons. The high cuppa cylindrically waisted in the middle. On the bulbous upper and lower parts ornamental bands with strapwork panels, in them alternating cherub heads and bowls of fruit and flowers. The waisted middle is decorated with an arrangement of fruit. Flat-domed slip lid with a broad rim and matching décor. Large figure of a supporter in armor as final on the base-shaped center. 

Marked thrice: assayer's mark Emden with C for 1603 (Scheffler, Lower Saxony no.592), maker's mark Juryen van Ham (master 1597-1616, ibid. No.599). Condition A / B. 

Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt Collection, Cologne. 

Note: Another cup and lid is from the surviving works of the silversmith, it is kept in the town hall of Emden. 

Lot 197. Silver columbine cup, Franz Doth, Nuremberg, ca. 1600. Height 31.5cm. Estimate 12,000 - 14,000 EUR. Lot sold 14,000 EUR. © Van Ham

Silver, parcel-gilt and gilt interior. On circular, slightly domed foot with rising middle, two rows of staggered, trumpet-shaped bumps. On chased ruffled decorations a small baluster shaft, on it a slightly flared cuppa with fine decorations of flowers and scrolls on punched ground in between two rows of bumps. The slip lid with protruding rim decorated similarly and with high flower finial. 

No assayer's mark, maker's mark on cuppa Franz Doth (active 1592 - 1619 (?), GNM no.168b). Condition A/B.  

Provenance: Friedrich Wilhelm Waffenschmidt Collection, Cologne.

Note: Other pieces by this silversmith are in important collections such as the Hermitage in St Petersburg, the armory of the Kremlin, or the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. 

Lot 41. An Antique bronze and shell necklace, early 1st millennium. Long. : 49,7 cm. Estimation: 1 800 € / 2 200 €. © Artcurial

Collier composé d'éléments antiques en coquille en forme de vase, de perles grenetées en bronze et d'un élément central en agate en forme d'égide.  

Provenance : Ancienne collection de Monsieur A., Paris 

Archéologie, Arts d’Orient & Art Précolombien chez Artcurial, 75008 Paris, le 22 Mai 2018 à 14h30

Lot 42. An Antique bronze and cornelian necklace, circa early 1st millennium. Long. : 50,7 cm. Estimation: 1 800 € / 2 200 €. © Artcurial

Collier composé d'éléments antiques en cornaline en forme de vase, de perles grenetées en bronze et d'un élément central en or.  

Provenance : Ancienne collection de Monsieur A., Paris 

Archéologie, Arts d’Orient & Art Précolombien chez Artcurial, 75008 Paris, le 22 Mai 2018 à 14h30 

Lot 79. A Roman marble bust of a woman or a goddess, circa 1st century. Haut. : 50,5 cm. Estimation: 50 000 € / 70 000 €. © Artcurial

Torse féminin représentant probablement une Vénus impudique, debout, en légère torsion vers la droite. La sculpture devait être en appui contre un pilier dorsal aujourd'hui lacunaire. Quelques éclats.

Provenance : Ancienne collection de Monsieur M. près de Rouen, avant 1980. 

Archéologie, Arts d’Orient & Art Précolombien chez Artcurial, 75008 Paris, le 22 Mai 2018 à 14h30 

Lot 80. A Roman marble male torso, circa 1st-2nd century. Haut. : 39,9 cm. Estimation: 50 000 € / 70 000 €. © Artcurial

Torse masculin, nu, en léger contrapposto, aux muscles saillants.

Provenance : D'après le registre de la collection: 
Ancienne collection du Professeur Wilhelm Kreutzberg, Munich 
Achat Maxburg Galerie Antiken, Munich en 1976. 

Archéologie, Arts d’Orient & Art Précolombien chez Artcurial, 75008 Paris, le 22 Mai 2018 à 14h30

Lot 571. A 33.02 carats Burmese Sapphire and Diamond Necklace, Van Cleef & Arpels. Estimate HK$4,300,000 - 5,500,000 ($550,000-700,000). © Phillips

One cushion-shaped sapphire, 33.02 carats. Twelve marquise-shaped diamonds in the surmount, totalling approximately 5.50 carats. Brilliant-cut diamonds on the necklace, totalling approximately 25.00 carats. 18 karat white gold and platinum. French assay and maker's marks. Pendant detachable in two ways to form a diamond necklace with or without the marquise diamond-set centre piece. Signed V.C.A. and numbered 89956 on both the pendant and the necklace. Length approximately 400mm.

Lot 609. An Antique 5.65 carats Kashmir Sapphire and Diamond Brooch. Estimate HK$1,900,000 - 2,500,000 ($240,000-320,000). © Phillips

One cushion-shaped sapphire, 5.65 carats. Old European-cut and round diamonds in the openwork design, totalling approximately 6.80 carats. 18 karat yellow gold. With pendant fitting.

(5.65-carat Sapphire) . AGL report, numbered 1088037, dated 25 October 2017, Kashmir, no gemological evidence of heat.
Gübelin report, numbered 17082093, dated 12 September 2017, Kashmir, no indications of heating.

René Magritte, Le fils de l'homme (Son of Man), 1964; oil on canvas; private collection; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Banque d'Images, ADAGP / Art Ressources, NY.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- René Magritte: The Fifth Season—presented exclusively at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art from May 19 through October 28, 2018—focuses on the latter half of Magritte’s career, from approximately 1943 to 1967, a period of remarkable transformation and revitalization for the artist. With loans from North and South America, Europe and Asia, it is the most complete presentation of Magritte’s late work mounted since the artist’s death in 1967. Including more than 20 artworks being shown for the first time in a U.S. museum, and the first concentrated examination of Magritte’s sunlit surrealism and gouaches in this country, René Magritte: The Fifth Season marks a major milestone in the artist’s exhibition history. 

René Magritte, Les valeurs personnelles ( Personal Values), 1952; collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Phyllis C. Wattis; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

ENCHANTED DOMAIN AND DOMINION OF LIGHT PRESENTATIONS 
A key highlight of the exclusive SFMOMA presentation is a collection of five rarely seen canvases from The Enchanted Domain (1953), Magritte’s monumental 360-degree panorama and his largest work. The mural, 236 feet in circumference, was commissioned for a circular room in the Grand Casino in Knokke, Belgium. Magritte created eight oil paintings that established the design of the frieze on a 1:6 scale. With five paintings displayed continuously around a curved gallery wall, SFMOMA’s presentation is the first time in 40 years that this many of The Enchanted Domain works have been seen together in a museum exhibition. 

Adjacent to The Enchanted Domain is an astounding selection of works entitled The Dominion of Light. Depicting nighttime landscapes with broad daylight skyscapes, the works in this series show day and night co-existing seamlessly in a scene that Magritte portrayed more than 20 times during his career. Until now, no more than three of these paintings have been exhibited together. This exhibition offers the first opportunity to experience the series simultaneously, in a fully immersive gallery with seven unique depictions, including two monumental canvases that have never previously left Europe. 

René Magritte, Le domaine enchanté I (The Enchanted Domain I), 1953, Würth Collection, Künzelsau, Germany; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Banque d'Images, ADAGP / Art Ressources, NY.

MAGRITTE INTERPRETIVE GALLERY 
A longtime leader in using digital content to engage audiences, SFMOMA embraces opportunities to experiment with creative approaches to museum education. Building on a legacy of unique interpretation that appeals to a wide range of learners and visitors, SFMOMA presents the Magritte Interpretive Gallery, in partnership with global design and strategy firm frog. 

This gallery at the conclusion of René Magritte: The Fifth Season invites audiences to enter and experience Magritte's worlds and philosophies through six augmented reality interactions. Utilizing advanced depth-sensing cameras and motion-tracking technology to create an immersive environment, SFMOMA and frog enable visitors to investigate Magritte’s themes through a series of altered and augmented windows. In some, the windows function as digital mirrors in which the viewers’ reflections do not behave as expected. In others, the visitors’ presence in front of the window opens a portal into another reality. Looking past the two-dimensional plane, the Magritte Interpretive Gallery adds a third dimension in which human perception may be manipulated through motion, altered visuals and 3D software. The result is an experience that complements the exhibition, in which visitors can gain a deeper understanding of Magritte’s art, and explore visual perceptions of the world and each another. 

René Magritte, L’Empire des lumières (Empire of Light), 1953–54, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

MAGRITTE AUDIO GUIDE 
For René Magritte: The Fifth Season, SFMOMA’s Interpretive Media team has created a new audio guide available for both iPhone and Android users. Unconventional and impressionistic, the tour features conversational musings and insights from Caitlin Haskell and Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture at SFMOMA, as well as artists Vija Celmins and Jeff Koons, and writer and personal friend of Magritte, Suzi Gablik. Devices will be available for rental, or visitors can download the experience at sfmoma.org/app.

René Magritte, La Grande Famille (The Great Family), 1963, Utsonomiya Museum of Art, Japan; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Banque d'Images, ADAGP / Art Ressources, NY.

René Magritte, L'heureux donateur (The happy donor), 1966, Musée d'Ixelles, Brussels; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: © Community Museum of Ixelles.

René Magritte, Le monde invisible (Invisible World), 1954, The Menil Collection, Houston; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Hickey-Robertson, Houston.

René Magritte, La courbure de l'univers (The Curvature of the Universe), 1950, The Menil Collection, Houston; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo: Paul Hester.

René Magritte, La préméditation (Forethought), 1943, Koons Collection; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

René Magritte, Le tombeau des lutteurs (The Tomb of the Wrestlers), 1960; Private collection; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artitsts Rights Society (ARS), New York.

René Magritte, Les promenades d'Euclide (Where Euclide Walked), 1955; Minnepolis Institute of Art, The William Hod Durnwoody Fund; © Charly Herscovici, Brussels / Artitsts Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo Minnepolis Institute of Art

Lot 243. A pair of wucai'galloping horse' jars and covers, Shunzhi (1644-1661). Each 41cm (1/8in) high. Estimate £6,000 - 8,000. Sold for £ 8,750 (€ 10,020). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of baluster form, decorated around the exterior with three horses galloping amidst the bajixiang reserved on a red whorl ground and divided by rocks and foaming green waves, the domed covers similarly decorated and surmounted by lotus-bud finials. 

Provenance: a European private collection.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 17 May 2018, 10:30 BST, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET

Lot 247. A wucai'dragon and phoenix' bowl, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722); 15.2cm (6in) diam. Estimate £4,000 - 6,000. Sold for £ 8,750 (€ 10,020). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Lot 248. A wucai'dragon and phoenix' bowl, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722); 15cm (5 7/8in) diam. Estimate £15,000 - 20,000. Sold for £52,500 (€ 60,120). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Lot 249. A rare pair of doucai'dragon and phoenix' bowls, Kangxi six-character marks and of the period (1662-1722). The largest 15.4cm (6in) diam. Estimate £30,000 - 50,000. Sold for £ 52,500 (€ 60,120). © Bonhams 2001-2018

Jan Fabre. The appearance and disappearance of Bacchus, Antwerp, Christ (2016). Special creations for The State Hermitage Museum. Courtesy Templon, Paris & Brussels. 

BRUSSELS - Galerie Templon in Brussels, is unveiling a series of work by artist Jan Fabre, previously unseen in Belgium, produced for his major exhibition Knight of Despair, Warrior of Beauty at St Petersburg’s Hermitage Museum in autumn 2016. The exhibition coincides with the presentation of the series My Queens (2016) at the Brussels Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts 1 a collection of bas-reliefs and a sculpture in white Carrara marble, also produced for the Russian project.

With The Appearance and Disappearance of Antwerp/Bacchus/Christ, Jan Fabre holds up an unfathomable mirror to the viewer: the blue ballpoint pen ink, applied until the point of saturation, ideal for conjuring up apparitions. This blue, which has become one of his signature shades, is the colour of the blue hour, that fleeting moment when night ends and day begins, when forms escape their boundaries and everything seems possible. The moment ‘when everything turns upside down (…) offers every freedom,’ explains the artist. Made up of a photographic film covered in layers of ballpoint pen ink, the works see their painted motifs disappear, only to reform again according to the exhibition’s light, resulting in a permanent transformation.

In creating these works, destined for the Rubens Room at the Hermitage Museum, Jan Fabre drew inspiration from the Flemish master, a fellow son of Antwerp, thus paying him poetic tribute. His work features the themes of the city of Antwerp as metropolis, the secrets of Christian faith, the Christ as artist and Dionysian mysteries. Jan Fabre’s models use the body language of Rubens. But whereas in the theatre the artist develops these themes exuberantly, here he reduces the baroque to a ‘post-modern reference, as modest as a Byzantine icon,’ as Paul Huvenne describes it.2

Jan Fabre. The appearance and disappearance of Bacchus, Antwerp, Christ (2016). Special creations for The State Hermitage Museum. Courtesy Templon, Paris & Brussels. 

A visual artist and internationally renowned author who has worked in the theatre, Jan Fabre, (born in 1958 in Antwerp where he lives and works), has developed a body of art work over the last thirty years based on a variety of materials, including blood, beetle wings, bones, stuffed animals, marble and blue ballpoint pen ink.

Jan Fabre is an inveterate draughtsman, creating sculptures and installations that explore his favourite topics, including metamorphosis, the dialogue between art and science, humankind’s relationship to nature and the artist as a warrior of beauty. Recent remarkable solo exhibitions include his retrospective at the Louvre (L’ange de la metamorphose, 2008) and shows at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Musée d’Art Moderne in St Etienne (Jan Fabre. Les années de l’heure bleue, 1986 – 1991, 2011) and Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg (2016). The Fondation Maeght in Saint Paul de Vence is presenting a major exhibition of his work from 29 June 2018: Ma nation: l’imagination.

1 Exhibition from 20/04 to 19/08. Press Office : Samir Al Haddad +32 (0) 2 508 34 08

2 Former Administrator of Musée Royal des Beaux-Arts d'Anvers (KMSKA) in Jan Fabre, Knight of Despair, Warrior of Beauty, Skira, 2017

Galerie Templon. Apr 18th – Jun 2nd. Brussels, Rue Veydt 13A - Veydtstraat 13A

Installation views. Jan Fabre. The appearance and disappearance of Bacchus, Antwerp, Christ (2016). Special creations for The State Hermitage Museum. Courtesy Templon, Paris & Brussels. 

Lot 284. A sancai-glazed pottery horse, Tang dynasty (618-907); 49.5 cm, 19 1/2  in. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 GBP. Lot sold 13,750 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

standing foursquare on a rectangular base with the head raised and held slightly to the left, the body with streaky ochre and cream glazes, the breast, crupper and halter straps in ochre hung with green foliate-shaped plaques, the saddle, saddle blanket, hooves and base unglazed, wood stand. Quantity: 2.

Provenance: Asahi Art Co., Tokyo, 1980.

Sotheby's. St George Street Sale: Chinese Art, London, 18 May 2018

Lot 344. A 'Longquan' celadon jar, guan, 14th-15th century; 32 cm, 12 1/2  in. Estimate 1,000 — 2,000 GBP. Lot sold 3,250 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the broad baluster body rising from a spreading foot to a short broad neck, carved around the exterior with a chrysanthemum scroll and covered overall in a pale celadon glaze.

Literature: U. Wiesner, Seladon Swatow Blauweiss/Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of Ignazio Vok, Koln, 1983, pl. 35.

Sotheby's. St George Street Sale: Chinese Art, London, 18 May 2018