Lot 313. An outstanding and fine pair of zitan square stools with burlwood tops, 18th Century; 20 by 20 by 20 in., 50.8 by 50.8 by 50.8 cm. Estimate 80,000 — 100,000 USD. Lot sold 102,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

with superbly figured dense burlwood floating-panel within a thick frame with rounded outer edge, set on a high straight waist and bulging curved legs of square section terminating in high hoof feet, all secured by plain straight aprons and slightly humpbacked flattened foot-stretchers set into the hoofs, accented by raised beading along all inner edges, and the curved legs subtly tapering in thickness from the pronounced bulge at the waist to a slender 'ankle' just above the feet to impose a sense of lightness in the form to balance the heavy weight and opulent variations within the grain.

Provenance: Christie’s New York, 21st September 2000, lot 45

Lot 337. A rare jichimu octagonal three-part composite table, yueyazhuo, Qing dynasty, 18th Century; 34 3/4 by 42 1/2 by 41 1/2 in., 88 by 108 by 108 cm. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 USD. Lot sold 114,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

comprising a rectangular table and a pair of trapezoidal tables each with solid board-top, butted on the short-ends with a shallow closing member, set at the corners with straight legs of irregular faceted section in order to conform with the overall octagonal shape, and secured by straight stretchers accented with linked double-ring struts and reticulated spandrels formed from scrolling archaistic gui-dragons, the inner edge of the legs, struts, and braces all accented with shallow grooves, the straight feet further secured by a lattice of conforming rectangular or trapezoidal form in interwoven rectangular brick-form diaper, (3).

Note: It is very rare to find tables of this three-piece octagonal form.  More commonly found are 'D' shaped tables of semi-circular form which were made in pairs that could be joined to form a single circular table.  On their own, they served as side tables.  Very few pairs have survived and even fewer three-piece tables like the present lot exist.  The lattice work on this table is especially fine.  A single 18th century jichimu D-shaped table was sold in these rooms 26th November 1991, lot 429, as well as a pair that sold in these rooms 3rd June 1992, lot 344. 

PHILADELPHIA, PA.- On February 27, Freemans’s sold a rare work by the Master of the Embroidered Foliage for an impressive $2,470,000, setting a new world auction record for such a work. One of only 10 works attributed to the Master, the “Nursing Madonna” generated a great deal of inquiries from around the world. It led to a spirited competition between eighteen telephone bidders from Australia, Italy, France, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom and America, as well as several collectors in the room and online. Ultimately, the aforementioned Madonna went to a European buyer on the phone. Very rare at auction, the painting is only one of two paintings officially deemed to be by the Master’s hand offered in the 21st century. All other known paintings by the anonymous Master are in national and international museum collections, including the Louvre, the National Gallery of Scotland and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The work was widely exhibited, and during the 1920s belonged in the collections of Sir Francis Beaufort Palmer and Calouste Gulenkian. Ruth Farkas, who served as President Nixon’s Ambassador to Luxembourg, later gifted the painting to the current consignor. 

Lot 5. Master of the Embroidered Foliage (Netherlandish, active Brussels, late 15th century), "Nursing Madonna", Oil on cradled panel, 33 3/4 x 28 in. (85.7 x 71.1 cm). Estimate $150,000 - $250,000. Sold for $2,470,000. Courtesy Freeman's.

Provenance: Private Collection, Spain, 1912. 
The Spanish Gallery, London, 1912. 
Collection of Sir Francis Beaufort Palmer, United Kingdom, until 1919. 
His sale, Christie's, London, sale of April 11, 1919, lot 33. 
Buttery, London, 1920. 
Collection of Calouste Gulbenkian, London, United Kingdom. 
A gift from the above. 
Collection of Lord Radcliffe, later Baron Radcliffe, London, United Kingdom. 
His sale, Christie's, London, sale of June 26, 1959, lot 45. 
Faerber & Maison Ltd., London, United Kingdom. 
Christie's, London, sale of May 4, 1979, lot 123. 
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. George Farkas, New York, New York. 
A gift from the above. 
New York University Art Collection, New York, New York.

Exhibited: "Exhibition of Flemish & Belgian Art (1300-1900), Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom, January 8-March 5, 1927, no. 131 (exhibited as "Rogier van der Weyden.") 
"L'Art Flamand dans les Collections Britanniques et la Galerie Nationale de Victoria," Musée Communal-Groeninge, Brussels, Belgium, August-September, 1956, no. 6 (as "School of Rogier van der Weyden"). 
"Art Treasures Centenary Exhibition," City Art Gallery, Manchester, United Kingdom, October 30-December 31, 1957, no. 21 (as "Master of the Embroidered Leaf")

Literature: Flemish and Belgian Art, 1300-1900, an exhibition catalogue, London, 1927, no. 131, pp. 52-53. 
Tancred Borenius, "Memorial Catalogue of the Exhibition of Flemish and British Art," in Sir Martin Conway, London, 1927, no. 131, p. 57. 
Max Friendländer, "Noch Etwas über das Verhältnis Rogier van der Weydens zu Memling," in Oud-Holland, 1946, vol. LXI, pp. 15-16. 
Max Friendländer,Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IV, 1967, no. 89, plate 82 (illustrated as "Master of the Embroidered Leaf"). 
L'Art Flamand dans les Collections Britanniques et la Galerie Nationale de Victoria, an exhibition catalogue, Bruges, 1956, p. 20. 
F. Grossman, "Flemish Paintings at Bruges," in The Burlington Magazine, vol. XCIX, January 1957, p. 4, note 12. 
Art Treasures Centenary: European Old Masters, an exhibition catalogue, Manchester, 1957, no. 21, pp. 6-7. 
Max Friendländer, "Rogier van der Weyden and the Master of Flémalle," in Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. II, Éd. Nicole Veronee-Verhaegen, New York-Washington D.C., 1967, p. 90, add. 137. 
Max Friendländer, "Hugo van der Goes," in Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. IV, Éd. Nicole Veronee-Verhaegen, New York-Washington D.C., 1967, no. 89, plate 82, pp. 65, 82 and 101. 
Le Maître au Feuillage Brodé: Secrets d'Atelier, Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, R.M.N., 2005, fig. 5, p. 18 (illustrated). 
Le Maître au Feuillage Brodé: Démarches d'Artistes et Méthodes d'Attribution d'Oeuvres à un Peintre Anonyme des Anciens Pays-Bas du XVe siècle,Symposium organised by Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Librarie des Musées, 2007, discussed p. 173. 

Note: Comfortably swaddled in the arms of his mother, the baby smiles. She tenderly looks back at him, seated on the steps of a wooden throne surmounted by a damask baldachin, and gives him her breast, from which a drop of milk has just escaped. Her magnificent draped clothes fall heavily on the floor, whose tiles lead to a small open passage flanked by twisted columns. Outside, everything appears peaceful. Flowers, ferns and grasses are arranged in an amazing and detailed variety. Two white greyhounds face each other in the blooming vegetation, while a peacock scans the horizon, majestically installed on the crenellation of the surrounding wall. In the distance, a river flows gently towards a far away town. 

MADONNA LACTANS 

The scene depicts the Virgin Mary breastfeeding the Infant Jesus. It belongs to the iconography of the Madonna Lactans, or Nursing Madonna, an intimate 12th century representation of the Madonna and Child, in which Mary is shown nursing Christ. 
This painting, attributed to the Master of the Embroidered Foliage since 1926, is an exceptional example of his refined technique. Its composition is based on the comparable figures of Rogier van der Weyden's (1399-1464) Saint Luke Drawing the Madonna, completed between 1435-1440 and now at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The stylistic bond between the Master and Rogier van der Wyden is so evident that the present painting was thought to be completed by Rogier van der Weyden himself whilst in the collections of Sir Francis Beaufort Palmer, and Calouste Gulbenkian in the 1920s. 
Although our work only copies the left side of van der Weyden's prototype, it is still very much filled with the "spiritual stillness" which characterizes the original painting of Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin, the noblest possible subject of the time (Saint Luke was considered the patron Saint of artists and depictions of him adorned the premises of the painters' guild in various cities in Europe). 

A MEDIEVAL MYSTERY 

The name "Master of the Embroidered Foliage" was coined in 1926 by German art historian Max Jakob Friedländer (1867-1958), who likened the particular way the artist painted the foliage in his works to the repeated pattern of stitches in embroidery. The director of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin from 1896 to 1933, Friedländer also worked as a critic and an expert. Throughout his various studies and his countless volumes dedicated to the early Netherlandish painters of the late fifteenth century, he unveiled the existence of several small masters, to whom he gave conventional names. According to Friedländer, the Master of the Embroidered Foliage was active in Brussels in the late fifteenth century and produced (alone or with the help of a dedicated studio) a group of ten paintings, which all depicted the 'Virgin Mary and Christ Child' in similar poses. In each different version of the painting, the Master of Embroidered Foliage used varied backgrounds and made minor alterations to some details of the landscape. These variations and details were likely introduced to satisfy the wishes of individual buyers, which suggests a lucrative market. 
Almost all of the paintings attributed to the Master of the Embroidered Foliage were intended to glorify the Virgin and inspire devotion. In this particularly idealized vision of a world without sin, the artist inserted many details to symbolize the ultimate virtue of the Virgin. The throne hints at her future status as the Queen of Heaven, though out of humility, she sits down on the step. It is decorated with sculptural figures of Adam and Eve, individuals responsible for the Original Sin for which Christ and the Virgin will atone. In the background, the loggia gives access to an enclosed garden, or hortus conclusus - a typical representation of a heavenly paradise resembling the earthly world, which here symbolizes the Virgin's chastity. The two white greyhounds in the grass, typically considered the Prince's dogs, refer to Christ's and Mary's purity. As for the peacock, seen in the garden, it is a common Christian symbol of immortality and of Christ's resurrection; legend held that the flesh of a peacock never decayed. 
Recently, the painting has been examined under infrared and ultraviolet light. Comparative study of the infrared images and the finished panel indicates that much of the composition was established in detail prior to painting. However, the infrared imaging also revealed that some changes were made during the painting process. 
The most significant change is seen in the right background. Originally, the brick wall was positioned further in the distance, and two figures were standing facing the landscape, where the peacock is now perched. Both were underdrawn but not rendered in paint. Such figures, which are generally accepted as Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, the parents of the Virgin, take their inspiration from Rogier's famous aforementioned work. The two figures also appear in The Virgin and Child Enthroned, another painting attributed to the Master of the Embroidered Foliage, and now at the Clark Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The background in the Williamstown painting is indeed, the exact-scale replica, with some modifications, of the background in Rogier's Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin.Although fascinating, this is far from surprising since the Master used a large range of models, and stencils, based on Rogier's paintings before adapting them to his new compositions. 
Here, the artist depicts a humanized Virgin Mary, despite the presence of a halo above her head. Through contemporary architecture and landscape, he creates an intimate and familiar space for the viewer to feel assisted in his or her prayers. The small format of the painting, and the fact that it was painted on three narrow sheets of oak panel, also marks a new movement in the Netherlandish art; when private buyers started to collect works of art to enhance their self-devotion, as opposed to life-size altars. 

A LANDSCAPIST: 

Since Friedländer, only two specific criteria have been used by art historians in order to link a work of art to the workshop of the Master of the Embroidered Foliage: the way the artist captured the foliage via small and systematic points of light; and the repetitive use of a motif derived from several compositions of Madonna and Child by Rogier van der Weyden. 
When naming the Master of the Embroidered Foliage, Friedländer paid close attention to the way the artist captured the foliage in his paintings. He compared the properly spaced points of light to the repeated pattern of stitches one could notice in embroideries of this time period. According to Édouard de Callataÿ, the Master of the Embroidered Foliage was primarily a landscape specialist who worked for various other masters by painting the background of their paintings, hence participating in the most innovative artists trends of the time. Although this opinion is no longer considered true (too many stylistic differences among the Master's backgrounds and landscapes have been noticed), the special attention given to the landscape in the works of the Embroidered Foliage shows an innovative trend in art history at the time. Traditionally, 15th century landscapists are all studied in a Ganto-Bruges context. As such in her 1991 thesis, C. Fisher decided to compare the floral motifs used by the Master of the Embroidered Foliage, with those that could be found throughout Hans Memling's (1430-1494) oeuvre. Based on the similarities she found, especially in the common rendering of large, stylized ferns, she concluded it was possible that the Master was directly inspired by Memling, who died in Bruges in 1494. The presence of the two elongated greyhounds in the background of our painting seems to corroborate this assumption, since it clearly recalls the two seated dogs in Memling's famous painting The Allegory of Vanity (now in Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg), making it a sort of iconographic "signature" used by several Flemish artists over the years to fill their compositional space. Yet, by comparing the Master's work to the art of the tapestry, Friedländer became the first to link his production to a region of Brussels, a city where painters had the sole privilege of producing tapestry cartoons. He confirmed this geographical assumption by proving the repetition of various models of a Virgin and Child after the Rogier van der Weyden, the official painter of the city of Brussels. Today, scholars believe that the Master mainly worked after four models of 'Virgin and Child' by Rogier van der Weyden. They are: The Nursing Madonna from Saint Luke Drawing the Virgin(Boston Museum of Fine Arts), a lost Madonna which inspired the Triptych of Salve Regina of Tournai (Musée des Beaux Arts de Tournai), a seated Madonna and Child, only known through a drawing now at the Boijmans van Beuningen Museum of Rotterdam, and the Madonna Duran at the Prado Museum in Madrid. 

STUDIO SECRETS: 

The Master of the Embroidered Foliage is one of several anonymous painters with a name. Although the name itself is an invention of the early 20th century, the tradition of naming anonymous painters dates back to the late 18th century, when European scholars invented a system of conventional names to identify unknown artists. 
Traditionally speaking, each conventional name is composed of the term "Master", as in the one who excels in his art, followed by an adjective made up of a characteristic which can be observed in several works by the artist, such as a year repeatedly inscribed on the artwork, a monogram, or the way the artist depicted a place, a figure or a special motif. This system proved handy, and art historians still name new "Masters" today. In some way, it exemplifies the human need to personalize works of art since the time of the Renaissance - art is considered to be an individual creation, it needs to be attributed to an author in order to survive throughout the years and gain posterity. 
Historically speaking, anonymous painters have always been considered minor artists. Their works have largely been depreciated, due to their anonymity, but also because of their quality. Art historians analyzed their paintings as mere copies of great masters such as Jan Van Eyck (1390-1441), Hans Memling or Rogier van der Weyden (although those artists themselves often copied others). Luckily, this hasty judgment has since been revised. It is now commonly accepted that the art of imitating the great masters is far from secondary. On the contrary, it is anchored in a very old tradition, celebrated by Erasmus (1466-1536) himself, who encouraged young artists to look for already-existing images of perfect beauty, in order to recreate them ("The wise architect will choose the most perfect works, rather than common works, and the painter will choose the best paintings when they look for a model"). To really understand the art of the small masters, it is necessary to embrace the idea of a large-scale production directed by craftsmen rather than artists, who are able to reproduce a large number of models via mechanical processes (such as calks and stencils). From the middle of the fifteenth century to the middle of the sixteenth century, the art of copying became an unavoidable phenomenon in the Southern part of the Netherlands. Local artists produced a handful of paintings for the nearby religious brotherhoods, corporations and private collectors, all the more numerous with the emergence of a bourgeois clientele. Altarpieces, domestic altars and simple images of devotion started to invade churches and homes. In order to meet the high demands, artists were forced to simplify their techniques, which ultimately resulted in an aesthetic impoverishment. To compensate for it, artists such as the Master of the Embroidered Foliage developed an art capable of distinguishing themselves: both narrative and decorative. 
Today, the Master of the Embroidered Foliage is no longer thought to be a single artist or a unique workshop. According to Florence Gombert, former curator at the Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille and now curator at the Musée du Louvre, the Master's works were not created by a single artist, but probably painted by different artists, from various workshops in the Flanders region, who referred to a common source. To her, it is then preferable to speak of a "group" of the Embroidered Foliage instead of a Master, as it is impossible to capture the personality of only one artist among the dozen works which Friedländer attributed to the "Master," since all show drastic stylistic differences which prove they originated from different workshops from the Flanders region in the late fifteenth century. According to Gombert, the term "group" is the best way to break free from the idea of a single artistic personality or a unique workshop while respecting the coherence of the whole group. 
In 2005, the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille devoted an entire exhibition to the Group of the Embroidered Foliage. At the time, it was the only show exclusively dedicated to an anonymous Flemish Master of the late fifteenth century, a complete stranger to the general public to say the least, but also an enigmatic figure in the eyes of the medieval art specialists themselves. Since this date, it was made clear that the Group of the Embroidered Foliage was not the small, "systematic, and repetitive" Master which Friedlander first described in 1926. Our painting itself reveals a remarkable composition with a pre-naturalistic sensibility, especially in the careful rendering of the background landscape and its miniaturist details, a symbolistic testament to the urban Europe of the fifteenth century.

Other highlights included a Venetian scene after Canaletto (Lot 8) that soared far higher than its estimate of $8,000-12,000, ultimately selling for $71,875. One of many Venetian scenes in the sale, this work follows the composition of a 1736 painting by Canaletto, now in Sir John Soane’s Museum in London. The piece was deaccessioned by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond to benefit their future acquisitions, along with “Death the Reaper”, a 17th century painting by Cornelis Saftleven, which sold for $20,000. 

Lot 8. After Canaletto (Italian 1697–1768) "Riva degli Schiavoni". Oil on canvas, 30 1/2 x 50 in. (77.5 x 127cm). Estimate $8,000-12,000. Sold for $71,875. Courtesy Freeman's.

Provenance: Collection of Lady Grant, Lowndes Square, London, United Kingdom. 
Knoedler & Co., New York, New York. 
Acquired from the above by 1958. 
Collection of Harold Talbot, New York, New York. 
Acquired from the above on July 16, 1958 (as "attributed to Bernardo Bellotto"). 
Property from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sold to Benefit Future Acquisitions. 

Exhibited: "Painters of the Renaissance," Artmobile, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, 1958-1961. 
Lynchburg Fine Arts Center, Lynchburg, Virginia, September 23-October 15, 1962. 
"Realities," Artmobile, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia, September 1981-May 1982; and September 1982-June 1985. 

Literature: European Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, 1966., no. 31, p. 23 (illustrated). 
W.G. Constable, Canaletto, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1962, vol. II, no. 122, p. 234 (illustrated). 

Note: The present work follows the composition of the 1736 painting by Canaletto, now in Sir John Soane's Museum in London. The original oil is 50 x 80 inches. 

Lot 1. Cornelis Saftleven (Dutch, 1607-1681),  “Death the Reaper”. Signed and dated 'C. Saftleven. fc. 1649.' bottom center left, oil on cradled panel , 27 1/8 x 39 in. (68.9 x 99.1cm). Estimate $8,000-12,000. Sold for $20,000. Courtesy Freeman's.

Provenance: The Hawkins Collection, New Orleans. 
The Berghoffer Collection, Chicago. 
Collection of Judge John Barton Payne. 
A gift from the above, 1919. 
Property from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sold to Benefit Future Acquisitions.

Literature: Wolfgang Schulz, Cornelis Saftleven 1607-1681: Leben und Werke, Mit Einem Kritischen Katalog der Gemälde und Zeichnungen,De Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 1978, no. 518, pp. 8, 28, and 188 (illustrated). 
Peter C. Sutton, A Guide to Dutch Art in America, The Netherlands-American Amity Trust, Washington D.C; Eedmans, Grand Rapids, 1986.

Note: Cornelis Saftleven was born into an important family of Dutch artists in Gorinchem in 1607. After training in Rotterdam, possibly with his father Herman Saftleven (d. circa 1627), Cornelis traveled to Antwerp around 1632, where he became familiar with the work of genre scene painters Adriaen Brouwer (c.1605-1638) and David Teniers the Younger (1610-1690). While in Antwerp, Saftleven gained considerable fame and collaborated with Sir Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) on no less than four projects. By 1634, Cornelis was in Utrecht where he painted a portrait of the Godard van Reede family, together with his brother Herman the Younger (1609-1685). He returned to Rotterdam by 1637, where he was appointed dean of the prestigious Saint Luke's Guild in October 1667. 
Saftleven was among artists of the Dutch Golden Age who never specialized in one particular genre, and thus his œuvre includes genre scenes, portraits, allegories and mythological themes, landscapes, and still lifes. Today, his images of Hell and his satires of Dutch society are considered to be his most important contributions to Dutch painting. 
With its attention to details and its captivating theme, the present work stands out as a unique subject in Stafleven's oeuvre. It falls within spookerijen ("spookery"), a common Dutch theme which includes a wide range of ghoulish images, such as Temptations of Saint Anthony, witchcrafts, Black Sabbaths, deaths and hells. Although Hieronymus Bosch (c.1450-1516) and Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c.1525-1566) were pioneers in this domain, Cornelis Saftleven brought the theme to a new level, creating a modern standard that strongly impacted later artists, and enjoyed continued popularity in the 17th century Netherlands. Such images were aimed at an audience of enlightened collectors, who did not necessarily believe in demons, but collected such paintings as a reflection on mortality and detachment from earthly vanities, thus mimicking the Christian philosophy of Memento Mori. 
Set in a hilly landscape near a forest entrance, this scene depicts Death disguised as a skeleton. A scythe in its hand, the threatening figure stands in front of various animals, for the most part exotic, as typified by the elephants and the camels in the background. While some are shown dead, others are still trying to escape. In the foreground a leopard leaps at a horse's neck. To the right, a ferocious lion who just struck a cattle is devouring his prey. Near him lies a dead goat, a sign of the devil. The majority of the figures depicted here are animals. However, Saftleven also represents men. While a scary group of bathers is shown fleeing in the distance, one can spot the remnants of human bones, including a skull, in the center of the composition, a painful reminder that no one escapes death. 
Saftleven executed the present painting in 1649, a decade after his return to the city of Rotterdam. The subdued palette of brown, maroon, and grey tones is typical of his earlier compositions, and resembles the tavern scenes by Brouwer. The impact of his contemporary Jan Brueghel the Younger (1601-1678) is also evident in the careful rendering of the subject and attraction to grisly details. The work combines precise scientific observation - as shown in the impressive body of the dead bull in the center of the composition - with a sense of powerful forces, as typified by the dramatic, and chaotic dispersion of the animals in the foreground. 
Dutch artists of the 17th century could study exotic animals like the ones shown here at fairs, markets, and menageries. But artists did not always have the opportunity to paint from real life, and sometimes had to rely on stuffed animals or the work of their contemporaries. In Safteleven's case, Roelandt Savery (1576-1639) inspired him to produce a large production of both fanciful animal allegories and detailed studies of lions, leopards, owls, and monkeys. According to Wolfgang Schulz (b. 1943), the present painting can be related to some drawings of lions and camels Saftleven produced during the 1640s, examples of which can be seen in the collections of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the Art Institute of Chicago, respectively. 

Reflecting the international aspect of the sale, the auction also featured a number of 19th century paintings from different countries in Europe. All sold very well, such as Lot 29, “Baigneuses” by French artist Henri Fantin Latour, which successfully achieved $32,500, and “Fin Octobre, Bois de Boulogne” (Lot 30) by Russian Impressionist Ivan Federvich Choultsé, which sold for $65,000. A colorful scene by Italian painter Alberto Pasini made $31,250. Other Italian works included four pristine paintings by Giulio Aristide Sartorio, one of which reached $30,000.  

Lot 29. Henri Fantin Latour (French, 1836–1904), “Baigneuses”. Signed 'Fantin' bottom right, oil on canvas, 19 7/8 x 24 1/8 in. (50.5 x 61.3cm). Executed in 1895. Estimate $20,000-30,000. Sold for $32,500. Courtesy Freeman's.

Lot 30. Ivan Federvich Choultsé (Russian, 1877–1932), “Fin Octobre, Bois de Boulogne”. Signed 'Iw F. Choultsé' bottom right; also inscribed with title in pencil on stretcher verso, oil on canvas ,21 1/2 x 25 3/4 in. (54.6 x 65.4cm). Estimate $50,000-70,000. Sold for $65,000. Courtesy Freeman's.

A work by the esteemed British equestrian artist Sir Alfred Munnings entitled “Two of Them” and dated 1913 sold for $175,000.  

Lot 40. Sir Alfred Munnings (British, 1878–1959), “Two of Them”. Signed and dated 'A.J. Munnings/1913' bottom left, oil on canvas, 25 x 30 in. (63.5 x 76.2cm). Estimate $200,000-300,000. Sold for $175,000. Courtesy Freeman's.

“I am absolutely delighted with the results of today’s sale” says chairman Alasdair Nichol. “In the week we announced Freeman’s move to a new premium location in Philadelphia, this is all very positive. While many houses have overlooked this exciting field, our continued belief in the Old Master market is justified by today’s outstanding results. We now look very much forward to our next sale of Old Master Paintings in our new flagship saleroom early November.“ 

A finely curated auction, the sale offered 44 lots in total, consisting mainly of paintings and works on paper. The sale totaled 3.2 million and achieved a 89% sold by value. Freeman’s European Art and Old Masters Department is currently inviting consignments for their next auction in November.

The Tibor Collection © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announced The Tibor Collection: A Noble Eye for Chinese Export, one of the most significant collections of Chinese Export porcelain in the world. Covering all aspects of Chinese Export porcelain, from late Ming blue and white to 18th century armorial and European subject wares, the sale is named for the stunning, oversized vases, jars and ‘soldier vases’ known in Hispanic America as tibores, of which more than 50 examples are offered, including many pairs. A true connoisseur’s collection comprised of objects of great beauty, quality and rarity, works with important provenance are also featured, highlighted by royal candlesticks and soldier vases made for Philip V of Spain. 

The landmark sale series begins with a single-owner sale on April 10 in New York, and continues with top pieces offered in ‘The Exceptional Sale’ across upcoming seasons in New York, London and Paris, with further dedicated sales to be announced. Comprised of more than 500 works of art in total, the collection is expected to exceed $6,000,000. 

The Tibor Collection © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

Becky MacGuire, Senior Specialist, Chinese Export Art, comments, “Visiting this magnificent collection was like stepping into the cultivated and elegant world of another century. The very personal vision of the collector, honed by his deep respect for the history of his region, led him to seek out a fantastic variety of charming and high quality porcelains.” 

The Tibor Collection was assembled over many decades by a highly discerning collector from a distinguished Latin American family. An exceptionally gracious man with a refined sense of beauty, he traveled widely and acquired pieces from top dealers and auction houses across the world. Housed in a longtime family house in a quiet, leafy quarter of a major capital city, The Tibor Collection was thoroughly enjoyed by its charming and erudite collector as well as by his large family and legions of friends, including major art dealers and scholars. The richly appointed rooms, with their eclectic mix of Chinese porcelain, Old Master paintings and Hispanic American furniture, reflected the collector’s exquisite taste, his family legacy and his many intellectual interests. 

The Tibor Collection  © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

Highlighting the collection are an amazing array of 30-plus lots of large-scale porcelain jars. First made as storage jars to hold oil or wine, the large-scale porcelain tibores became masterworks of the Chinese enameler – and highly impressive décor for Western palaces and halls. Fine examples include 10 lots of ‘soldier vases’, plus pairs of large jars and covers in armorial, famille rose, famille verte and blue and white.

Porcelains in very high-style European silver forms are well-represented in The Tibor Collection, led by a handsome pair of tureens, covers and stands extravagantly molded with vegetables after 18th century French silver (estimate: $100,000-150,000). Armorial porcelain includes top examples made for the Dutch and English markets and a notable group of pieces made for Spain or New Spain (as the Spanish territories in North and Central America were named), including important royal candlesticks (estimate: $40,000-60,000) and soldier vases (estimate: $500,000-700,000) made for Philip V of Spain.

A Rare Pair of Soup tureens, Covers and Stands, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Estimate: $100,000-150,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019

A pair of Rose-Imari ‘Soldier’ vases and covers, Yongzheng-Early Qianlong period, circa 1735. 52 in (132.1 cm). Estimate: $175,00-275,000.© Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

A rare large tiger and foxhunting bowl, Qianlong period, circa 1785. 16 in (40.6 cm) diameter. Estimate: $15,000-25,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

A large pair of famille rose laughing boys, Qianlong period (1736-1795). 14 in (35.5 cm) high. Estimate: $20,000-30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

An unusual massive blue-ground baluster jar and cover, 18th century. 24⅝ in (62.5 cm) high. Estimate: $10,000-15,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

The collection also features an extraordinary and rare group of magnificent bird and animal tureens comprised of goose, fish, rooster, duck, boar’s head and oxhead. A large variety of elegant porcelain cranes are offered, as well as richly enameled pairs of hawks and pheasants and a kennel-sized group of Chinese porcelain dogs. Estimates range from $5,000-7,000 to $300,000-500,000 for this group.

A massive pair of geese, late 18th-early 19th century. 22¼ in (56.5 cm) high the taller. Estimate: $40,000-60,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

A large pair of cranes, Qianlong period (1736-1795). Estimate: $30,000 - $50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

A pair of famille rose roosters, Qianlong period (1736-1795). 14½ in (36.8 cm) high. Estimate: $30,000-50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Lot 530. A pair of archaic bronze ritual wine vessels, gu, Shang dynasty, 13th century BC; 10 3/4 in., 27.4 cm. Estimate 35,000 — 45,000 USD. Lot sold 114,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

each of slender form with wide trumpet mouth, crisply cast in low relief with four upright lappet blades emerging from a band of taotie masks, the faces with raised bosses for eyes centered and divided by notched flanges and reserved on a leiwen ground, above double raised filets separating the central bulbous segment from the tall flaring foot similarly cast with taotie masks between notched flanges, with a pictogram to the inner wall of each foot, the surface with malachite encrustation.

Lot 3209. Arnold Böcklin (Basel 1827 – 1901 San Domenico bei Fiesole), The battle on the bridge. 1889. Oil on panel. Signed and dated lower left: A. Böcklin pint 1889. 96 x 149.5 cm. Estimate CHF 250 000 / 350 000 (€ 219 300 / 307 020). Courtesy Koller Zurich 

Lot 120. A large and rare white marble carving of a bodhisattva, Tang dynasty (618-907); 94 cm high. Estimate: 600,000-800,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

beautifully carved in the round, standing in contrapposto with a basket held in the proper right hand, the body lavishly adorned with beaded necklaces in scalloped tiers and jeweled pendants, an elaborate multi-strand necklace harness crossed over the sensual, rounded belly and looped to either side, pendent over the arms, the lower section of the necklace hanging just above the ankles and centered by a floriform pendant, the dhoti ribbon-tied at the waist beneath a chain belt, hanging in folds cascading from the contours of the legs, the head with a five-pointed diadem, all supported on a lotus base, further raised on a later stone lotus base with four mystical creatures supported by a square plinth (2).

Exhibited: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1916, p. 172, no. 32, ill. pl. 315. 

Lot 132. A magnificent large white marble lion, Northern Qi dynasty (550-577). Height 40 3/4  in., 103.6 cm.  Estimate: 400,000 — 600,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

stately modeled, the mighty beast carved seated on its haunches with forelegs outstretched and powerful paws firmly planted, its head held up and facing forward, shown with a fierce expression, the mouth open in a roar below large rounded eyes and thick bushy brows, all framed by a long mane falling into spiraling curls, its muscular back with two gently raised ridges, extending to a tail curling over the right, all raised on a rectangular base, the stone of mottled gray-buff color.

Exhibited: Treasures of Chicago Collectors, Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1961. 

Note: This magnificent lion is portrayed in a dramatic pose. Although seated, its bulging, tense muscles and menacing expression suggest a readiness to move. The carver’s confidence with the stone medium is seen in the rendering of the muscular body and in the detailed carving of the nose and mouth, which contrast the linear swirls of the animal’s mane. Free-standing sculptures of stone lions were seldom made in the Northern Qi dynasty, and those of such large size and made from marble are especially rare. 

Lot 627. A white jade pierced disc with boxwood 'elephant' stand, Qing dynasty, 18th Century; Disc 3 5/8 in., 9.2 cm; Qilin 3 1/2 in., 8.6 cm. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 USD. Lot sold 98,400 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the flat disc reticulated in the center with radiating entwined loops forming an openwork floret, carved in low relief with the 'Eight Trigrams' on one side, and the other with the 'Ten Celestial Stems' (tian gan) within linked ruyi heads, with a finely carved boxwood male elephant stand with scenes of figures and leaping carp at the saddlecloth, beneath a saddle of precious objects; together with a white jade pebble carving of a recumbent single-horned qilin, with leonine face and mane, and bifurcated tail, wood stand.

Lot 649. A finely carved white jade beaker vase group, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 7 1/4 in., 18.4 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 USD. Lot sold 96,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the flattened lobed gu beaker of quatrefoil section, the central bulb carved with taotie masks between keyfret blades at the lobed pedestal foot and trumpet neck, set upon pierced rockwork bearing flower sprays, with a pair of attendant laughing boys bearing a dog and a bird, and swirling clouds, set at the back with a very large dragon with barbed spine climbing to peer over the rim towards a 'flaming pearl', green-stained ivory openwork stand.

Lot 391. A fine 'Yaozhou' five-lobed bowl, Five Dynasties-Northern Song Dynasty (907-1126); 6 in., 15.2 cm. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 USD. Lot sold 72,000  USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely potted of conical form with the deeply rounded petals radiating out from a circular center, each rim delinated by a sharp notch at the rim and a raised edge separating the lobes, covered overall in an even pale celadon-green glaze stopping neatly before the knife-pared foot revealing the buff colored body.

Lot 771. An outstanding and fine pair of 'blanc-de-chine' Dehua large Buddhist Lions, Qing dynasty, 18th-19th Century; 15 1/4 in., 38.5 cm. Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 USD. Lot sold 84,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

each superbly modelled seated in opposing poses with their large heads turned at different angles, the male looking to its left with fierce stare, the bulging eyes slightly shaded beneath bushy curled eyebrows, the left foreleg raised upon a large reticulated 'brocade' ball set with studs, the impressive beast adorned with a collar of bells and applied with long locks of hair and snail-shell curls with a particularly fine openwork bushy tail, the female lion looking slightly up to her right, her snarling mouth open to grasp the paw of one animated lion cub clambering up her shoulder and looking down at the second lion cub struggling to escape beneath the heavy paw of the mother and draped beneath a long scarf, the details of the cubs equally finely executed, wood stand.

Note: The present pair of lions are among the finest and best preserved of this type, and the level of detail, sculpture animation, and charisma imparted the lions and two cubs is remarkable. A very similar pair of large Buddhist lions were exhibited in Chinese Ceramic Sculpture, The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York, 1990, cat.no. 53, with almost identical modelling of the lions, but different placement of the two cubs. Far smaller lions with similar modelling are also to be found on rectangular plinths set with columnar taper-holders, also within the late 18th or early 19th century tradition, see R. Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine. The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley, 2002, p. 90, pl. A, but clearly the present pair represents the zenith of the form.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including Property from the Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 19-20 march 2007

Lot 369. A 'four-dragon' rhinoceros horn libation cup, Qing dynasty, Kangxi Period (1662-1722); 5 in., 12.7 cm. Estimate 30,000 - 40,000 USD. Lot sold 72,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely carved with flaring barbed foliate sides rising from a tall conforming foot forming a shallow cup, carved on the exterior in low relief with a central band of scrolling lotus, the handle formed by four high-relief intertwining qilong, two peeking their heads over the rim of the cup to snatch the lingzhi sprigs on the interior, all between keyfret borders encircling the foot and mouth, the horn of deep, dark chestnut tone.

Note: finely carved with flaring barbed foliate sides rising from a tall conforming foot forming a shallow cup, carved on the exterior in low relief with a central band of scrolling lotus, the handle formed by four high-relief intertwining qilong, two peeking their heads over the rim of the cup to snatch the lingzhi sprigs on the interior, all between keyfret borders encircling the foot and mouth, the horn of deep, dark chestnut tone.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including Property from the Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 19-20 march 2007

Lot 380. A large 'pine forest' rhinoceros horn libation cup, late Ming-early Qing dynasty, 17th Century; 6 5/8 in., 16.8 cm. Estimate 30,000 - 40,000 USD. Lot sold 72,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the heavy and large truncated tapering horn carved with pines, paulownia and flowering trees scattered across mountain cliffs and high rocks, unusually empty of people and pavilions recalling a desolate mountain retreat, with a flowing stream depicted by unusual shallow-incised detached wavelets, the interior also unusually carved with deep fractured rock formations, with the handle at one end formed by a tall pine rising up and flowing over the rim, wood stand.

Provenance: Collection of Kenyon V. Painter, Cleveland, Ohio & Arusha, Tanzania, circa 1910s-40s.
By descent to the present owners

Note: Compare a cup with hunting riders, the rivers incised with similar wavelets and the foliage similarly carved, in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Vol. 44, Hong Kong, 2002, no. 146, pp. 168-169.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including Property from the Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 19-20 march 2007

Lot 821. A Ming-style blue and white globular bottle vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 14 1/2 in., 36.8 cm. Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 USD. Lot sold 78,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the globular body molded with double filets and further single filets at the stepped shoulder just below the tall waisted neck, finely painted overall with a major band of composite flower scroll above a skirt of upright lappets and classic scrolls at the flared foot, below further composite scrolls and pendant ruyi heads at the shoulder, and keyfret bands and upright plantain blades at the tall waisted neck, with further pendant ruyi heads and wave border to the flared rim, the bright cobalt blue finely stippled to imitate 'heaping and piling'.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, including Property from the Collection of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York, 19-20 march 2007

Lot 760. A circular Blue and white 'hundred boys' box and cover, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620); 8 7/8 in., 22.7 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 20,000 USD. Lot sold 66,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the domed cover painted in vibrant tones of underglaze-blue with an elderly man seated in front of a decorative screen raising a aloft an open book as if about to read to a group of small boys, while other boys scamper about the fenced garden pavilion flying a kite, acting or playing various games, all enclosed by a border of four striding dragons chasing ‘flaming pearls’ and a band of lingzhi sprays divided by 'precious objects', repeated around the exterior of the box, inscribed to the base with a six-character mark.

Exhibited: Washington and Lee University, Reeves Center, Lexington, Virginia, 1998 - 2006.

Note: Wanli boxes painted with the same scene are illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 11, 1982, no. 93, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.  Compare a box of the same decoration from the T.Y. Chao Collection, sold in our Hong Kong rooms 19th May, 1987, lot 244 and later re-sold from the Jingguantang Collection, Christie's New York, 20th March 1997, lot 80. 

DRESDEN.- In the Bauhaus anniversary year, three exhibitions pursue historic and contemporary questions on the theme of space, display, and constructivist art. The exhibition "Visionary Spaces: Kandinsky, Mondrian, Lissitzky and the Abstract-Constructivist Avant-Garde in Dresden 1919–1932” brings together master works from international museums. In the center of the show are spatial designs by Piet Mondrian and El Lissitzky, which were created for Dresden in 1926. This is also the starting point for new works by contemporary artists. The historical designs are the intellectual framework for a confrontation with different categories of space as geometric form and as a social place. 

Visionary Spaces: Kandinsky, Mondrian, Lissitzky and the Abstract-Constructivist Avant-Garde in Dresden 1919–1932 
In Paris in 1926, Piet Mondrian designed a boudoir for the Dresden collector Ida Bienert in a way that had never been seen before, while in Moscow El Lissitzky conceived of a room for abstract art in a comparably visionary spirit for the International Art Exhibition Dresden. The Albertinum now invites you to enter the groundbreaking and internationally known spatial designs from that time. The unique experience of these rooms – constructed both historically as well as virtually – is at the center of the exhibition. With major works by Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, and El Lissitzky as well as by Lyonel Feininger, Paul Klee, László Moholy-Nagy, Oskar Schlemmer and further artists, who were present in Dresden between 1919 and 1932, the Albertinum now makes accessible the intensive collecting and exhibition activities of abstract-constructive art of this time in Dresden. 

Wassily Kandinsky, Rot, 1924. Öl auf Karton, 70,6 x 40,8 cm, Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung. © Emanuel Hoffmann-Stiftung, Depositum in der Öffentlichen Kunstsammlung Basel, Foto: Bisig & Bayer, Basel

Wassily Kandinsky, Schweres Rot, 1924. Öl auf Karton, 58,7 x 48,7 cm, Kunstmuseum Basel. © Kunstmuseum Basel.

Wassily Kandinsky, Analytische Zeichnung nach einer, Fotografie, Feder in Tusche auf Transparent papier, 16,5 x 16,2 cm, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. 

“Visionary Spaces: Kandinsky, Mondrian, Lissitzky and the Abstract-Constructivist Avant-Garde in Dresden 1919–1932” comprises around 180 works, including paintings, drawings and graphics, reliefs, sculptures, photographs, books, and documents. Works are on view from the Kunstmuseum Basel, the Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Gemeente Museum Den Haag, the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the mumok in Vienna, the Kunsthaus Zürich, the Kupferstich-Kabinett of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, as well as 40 other museums and private collections. Furthermore, the exhibition tells hitherto little-known stories about Dresden art dealers, collectors, and exhibition makers – and their significant desire for the new. It traces how the formal approaches of a radical renewal of art in the 1920s, which are based on different social-utopian ideas, led to different abstract and constructive art movements.  

Charlotte Rudolph, Gret Palucca, 1925, Fotografie, Silbergelatine, 16,4 x 16,4 cm, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. © SKD, Repro: Andreas Diesend

Naum Gabo, Model for 'Rotating Fountain', 1925, zusammengesetzt 1986. Metall und Plastik, 44 x 40 x 40 cm, Tate, London© Tate, London 2018.

Lyonel Feininger, Ober-Reißen, 1924. Öl auf Leinwand, 50,7 x 77,5 cm, Sprengel Museum Hannover. © bpk | Sprengel Museum Hannover | Michael Herling | Aline Gwose.

Paul Klee, Kleines Schloss, gelb/rot/braun, 1922/49. Ölfarbe und Aquarell auf Papier auf Karton, 30,3 x 25,3 cm, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgaleri e, Museum Berggruen, Leihgabe aus Privatbesitz. © bpk | Museum Berggruen, Privatbesitz | Jens Ziehe

It is scarcely known, for example, that in an educational institution in the former Festspielhaus Hellerau (Hellerau Festival House) in 1924 and 1925, in addition to expressionist works, a hall for constructive art with pictures by Lissitzky was shown. The show in the Albertinum addresses significant exhibitions like the “Constructivist Exhibitions” at Galerie Emil Richter in 1923, the first solo exhibition of Piet Mondrian in Germany at the Kunstausstellung Kühl & Kühn in 1925, and the anniversary exhibition of Kandinsky’s 60th birthday in the Galerie Ernst Arnold. The Galerie Neue Kunst Fides frequently exhibited Bauhaus masters in contemporary exhibition architecture and rooms designed by Hinnerk Scheper. At the Albertinum, this design idea of the Bauhaus teacher is taken up in order to present groups of works by artists whose art was still controversial in their time on a 48-meter-long color-divided wall. Of the Dresden private collectors who were early adherents of the new tendencies in art, Ida Bienert was likely the most important patron of abstract-constructivist art. As a supporter of the Bauhaus and full of enthusiasm for ideas related to New Building and Living (Neues Bauen und Wohnen), in 1925 she commissioned Piet Mondrian with the design of a room in her family’s villa in Dresden-Plauen. Although the space could never be realized, the unique design drawings for it are preserved in the collection of the Kupferstich-Kabinett and, together with Mondrian's paintings, form a highlight of the exhibition.  

Piet Mondrian, Farbentwurf für den Salon der Ida Bienert (Axono Deckfarben, Tusche, Bleistift, 37,6 x 56 cm, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. © SKD, Foto: Herbert Boswank.

Piet Mondrian, Komposition mit Rot, Blau und Gelb, 1930. Öl auf Leinwand, 45 x 45 cm, Kunsthaus Zürich, Geschenk Alfred Roth, 1987. © Kunsthaus Zürich

Lissitzky’s Room for Constructive Art, which was originally planned as a prototype and has now been historically reconstructed in the Albertinum, aimed to increase the appreciation of what was then the most recent and still controversial works of art. With this “Demonstration Room” Lissitzky wanted on one hand to avoid the floridness of typical exhibition spaces and on the other hand to encourage an active and conscious viewing of art. Vertically mounted wooden slats painted in different colors made the pictures appear on white, gray, or black ground, depending on the point of view. Because the paintings that were exhibited in this room in 1926 were destroyed, lost, over-painted, or are too fragile to transport, in the current presentation, paintings by Hungarian, Russian, and Romanian artists, including Ljubow Popowa, Alexander Rodchenko and Lajos d’Ebneth are shown among others.  

The Raum_Labor (Spatial Laboratory), which belongs to the exhibition, finally invites the audience to make their own creative experiments. Lectures, city walks, dance performances and offers for school groups complete the program. 

El Lissitzky, Raum für abstrakte Kunst, Internationale Kunstaus, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. © SKD, Foto: Alexander Paul Walther, Repro: Andreas Diesend.

El Lissitzky, Proun 1 D, um 1919. Öl auf Leinwand, auf Sperrholz, 71,6 x 96,1 cm, Kunstmuseum Basel, Schenkung aus der Sammlung Oskar und Annie Müller-Widmann 1965. © Kunstmuseum Basel

El Lissitzky, Proun 6, um 1920. Öl auf Leinwand, 81 x 59 cm, Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt - Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale). © Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt - Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale), Foto: Punctum/Bertram Kober

El Lissitzky, Proun 93, um 1923, Bleistift, Tusche, Gouache, Farbstifte, 49,9 x 49,7 cm Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale). © Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt, Kunstmuseum Moritzburg Halle (Saale)

Heimo Zobernig, Piet Mondrian: A Spatial Appropriation 
For the atrium of the Albertinum, Heimo Zobernig (*1958 in Mauthen, Austria, lives and works in Vienna) has developed a walk-in spatial installation composed of colored surfaces. Its design harkens back to three sketches by the artist Piet Mondrian, made for a room in the villa of the Dresden art collector Ida Bienert, which is presented as part of the exhibition Visionary Spaces at the Albertinum. For the walls of the room, Mondrian forsaw a grid that should be painted with yellow, blue, red, and grey color fields. Zobernig transfers this foundational design principle of Mondrian into a walk-in cube that corresponds to the original dimensions of the room and is composed of a construction of nested wooden panels. 

At the same time, Zobernig repeats the design of the inner space on its surfaces and makes Mondrian’s unexecuted design now able to be experienced spatially and sculpturally. 

Heimo Zobernig has repeatedly dealt with geometric abstraction like that of Piet Mondrian. In a painting series begun in 2000, Zobernig examines the grid as the guiding artistic form since modernity with materials like acrylic paint and tape. A selection of paintings from this series will be exhibited to accompany his installation at the Albertinum.

Piet Mondrian, Farbentwurf für den Salon der Ida Bienert, (Axonometrie I), 1926. Deckfarben, Tusche, Bleistift, 37,6 x 56 cm, Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. © SKD, Foto: Herbert Boswank

Heimo Zobernig in Kooperation mit Eric Kläring, Piet Mondrian. Eine räumliche Aneignung, 2019. Isometrischer Plan der Raum-Installation für den Lichthof des Albertinum. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019

Heimo Zobernig, Ohne Titel, 2010. Tape, Acryl, Leinwand, 100 x 100 cm, Archiv HZ. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019; Galerie Nagel Draxler.

Heimo Zobernig, Ohne Titel, 2016. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019; Galerie Nagel Draxler.

Heimo Zobernig, Installationsansicht, Österreichischer Pavillon, Archiv HZ. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019

Heimo Zobernig, Installationsansicht, Kunsthaus Bregenz, 2015. © VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2019, Foto: Markus Tretter

Demonstration Rooms: Interventions by Céline Condorelli, Kapwani Kiwanga, and Judy Radul 
The artists Céline Condorelli, Kapwani Kiwanga, and Judy Radul were invited, within the framework of the project Demonstration Rooms, to develop artistic interventions in the Albertinum’s collection presentation. In different spaces of the museum they show newly-comissioned site-specific works that direct attention to those elements of the exhibition that otherwise would be easily overlooked: benches, light, plinths, and the transparent walls of the viewing depot. The new works deal with habits of seeing and of spatial perception. 

Céline Condorelli (*1974 in Paris, France, lives and works in London) researched seating furniture that has shaped the nature of spending time in the Albertinum in different decades. Six of these different seating furnitures were found in the museum’s storage and were newly designed by the artist. These are integrated in the exhibition tour as both functional and sculptural seating arrangements together with seating developed especially for the Albertinum, a series of drawings, as well as a selection of historic exhibition views of the Albertinum. 

Kapwani Kiwanga’s (*1978 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, lives and works in Paris) installation cites the gridded skylight in the room in which a brilliantly colored painting cycle by the impressionist Max Slevogt (1868-1932) is exhibited, which was created on a trip to Egypt in 1914. Kiwanga positions an illuminated, gridded cube centrally in the gallery space, whose light is oriented towards daylight in Egypt. It illuminates an arrangement of differently colored, large panels that borrow the colors from two paintings from Slevogt’s series: from the multi-faceted blue of the sky to ochre-colored sand and earth tones up to those colors used to define the skin of two Sudanese women. With her work, Kiwanga focuses on the relationship between real space, pictorial space, and exhibition space and the related questions of perception.  

Judy Radul (*1962 in Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, lives and works in Vancouver) reflects current media-specific habits of seeing that are shaped by frontality and flatness in a video installation in the transparent viewing depot in the entrance of the Albertinum. The viewing depot presents a part of the sculpture collection in a space that is not accessible to the visitor, but viewable through a large glass window. Radul installs cameras in different positions in this depot, that film parts of sculptures that otherwise aren’t visible for the viewer. These images are transmitted live onto a monitor that stands in front of the depot. The monitor is part of an installation of plinths that come from the holdings of the Albertinum, which in turn receive new pedestals from the artist. The result is a system that visualizes the hierarchies of showing as well as the associated relation to the observer. The intervention project “Demonstration Rooms” takes up the ideas of El Lissitzky, who used this concept for his spatial works, among them his Room for Constructivist Art, which was created as an exhibition space for the International Art Exhibition Dresden in 1926. With his unconventional spatial design Lissitzky pursued the goal of encouraging an active consideration of art. The progressive designs of Mondrian and Lissitzky have the potential to stimulate new thinking to this day.

Lot 821. A spinach-green jade circular table screen and a cloisonné enamel stand, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795); 10 ¼ in. diam., 16 ½ in. high including the cloisonné enamel stand. Estimate: US$100,000 - US$150,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Each side well carved with a scene of a deer and a pavilion in a mountainous setting of rockface and trees, the stone of rich spinach-green color.

Lot 822. A finely carved spinach-green jade brush pot, Qing dynasty, 18th century; 6 ¾ in. (17.1 cm.) diam. Estimate: US$200,000 - USD 300,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Intricately carved around the sides with a continuous mountainous landscape, the rocks and trees framing various vignettes, including a scholar accompanied by an attendant carrying a peach branch standing at the base of stairs leading up to a pavilion on a terrace above; a scholar and an attendant on a rocky path leading to a footbridge; a pair of deer; and another pavilion.

Lot 825. An Yixing prunus tree trunk-form teapot and cover, Wang Yinxian (China, 1943-2018); 5 ¾ in. (14.6 cm.) high. Estimate: USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Modeled as the gnarled trunk of a prunus tree, with a blossoming branch-form handle, and other small, blossoming branches on the sides, with one seal, Yinxian, beneath the handle, the base and the bottom of the interior each with a square seal, Wang Yinxian zhi(Made by Wang Yinxian), the interior of the cover with one oval seal, Yinxian, one square seal, Wangyang and one circular seal, Yinxian.