Lot 24. A large Longquan celadon-glazed dish, Early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644); 43.5cm (17 1/8in) diam. Estimate £ 4,000 - 5,000 (€ 4,600 - 5,800). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
Heavily potted, the centre carved with a flowering branch and foliate scrolls, covered in a rich olive-green glaze except on the partially-glazed base revealing the orange biscuit body.
Provenance: Luiz Papazian Collection.
Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, London, 16 May 2019
Lot 24A. Henri Matisse (1869-1954), Le guitariste debout, signed 'Henri Matisse' (lower right), oil on canvas, 21 ¾ x 18 ¼ in. (55.2 x 46.4 cm.) Painted in 1903. Estimate USD 3,000,000 - USD 5,000,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.
Provenance: Ambroise Vollard, Paris (acquired from the artist, by 1904; placed in storage by Erich Chlomovich at the Société Générale, Paris, 1940-1979).
Restituted to the heirs of Ambroise Vollard (1998).
Acquired from the above by the present owner, 1999.
Literature: P. Schneider, Matisse, London, 1984, p. 200, note 30.
Exhibited: (Probably) Grandes serres de la Ville de Paris, 19e exposition de la sociétédes artistes indépendants, March-April 1903, no. 1667.
(Probably) Paris, Galerie Vollard, Exposition Matisse, January 1904, no. 30.
Paris, Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées, Société du Salon d’Automne, October-November 1904, p. 59, no. 609 or 610.
London, Royal Academy of Arts and New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Matisse, His Art and His Textiles, March-September 2005, pp. 85 and 180, no. 6 (illustrated in color, p. 85).
New York, Eykyn Maclean, Matisse and the Model, October-December 2011, pp. 66 and 77, no. 46 (illustrated in color, p. 67).
New York, Hammer Galleries, Matisse & Picasso, November 2015-February 2016, p. 12 (illustrated in color, p. 13).
Note: Georges Matisse has confirmed the authenticity of this work.
Painted in 1903 when Matisse was 33 years old, a senior member of the rising generation of the avant-garde, the present Guitariste presciently anticipates some of the most radically innovative aspects of the artist’s oeuvre. Depicting a male model outfitted as a guitar-playing toreador in knee breaches and pink stockings, his mouth open in lively song, the painting is among the earliest manifestations of several themes—music and dance, exotic costume and theatricality—that would come to have a determinative role in Matisse’s creative universe. The volumetric modeling of the guitarist reflects Matisse’s integration of the lessons of Cézanne, whose work would remain a modernist touchstone for the younger master throughout his career, while the background space of the studio resolves into a nearly abstract assemblage of overlapping, colored planes, rendered with proto-Fauve autonomy and exuberance. At the far left, most notably, making its first appearance in Matisse’s work, is a length of toile de Jouythat the artist had recently acquired, which would serve thereafter as his trusted ally in disrupting the laws of perspective and subverting traditional canons of three-dimensional illusion.
This revelatory, forward-looking canvas, acquired by the dealer Ambroise Vollard within a year of its creation, is all the more remarkable for having been painted during a period of profound adversity for Matisse. In May 1902, his wife Amélie’s parents were implicated in a financial scam that their employers Frédéric and Thérèse Humbert were found to have perpetrated for years. Amélie’s father, Armand Parayre, then sixty years old, was arrested and imprisoned. Amélie’s own health suffered, and she was forced to close her millinery business, from which she and the artist derived practically their sole income. In December 1902, to cut costs and escape the rampant gossip in Paris, they and their three young children took refuge at Matisse’s childhood home in Bohain. It was not until the following August, when the Humberts were tried and convicted, and the Parayres recognized as blameless instruments in their crimes, that the family could put the entire scandal behind them and return to Paris.
The present Guitariste, representing a burst of unfettered joyfulness during this time of struggle, can be placed with some precision within the chronology. The canvas was painted in Matisse’s atelier at 19, quai Saint-Michel in Paris—a proper studio with good light and a platform for the model—and not in Bohain, where the artist lacked such amenities. At the Salon des Indépendants in spring 1903, Matisse showed either the present painting or a pendant Guitariste, the latter depicting the model seated rather than standing; the two versions are certainly contemporaneous, suggesting that both were created before the exhibition opened in mid-March. Complicating matters, Matisse later recalled that he purchased the toile de Jouy in the background of the present painting in 1903, having spotted it in the window of a second-hand clothing shop on the Left Bank while he was riding a horse-drawn bus. The canvas, in that case, can only have been painted in the opening weeks of 1903, presumably during one of several brief trips that Matisse made to Paris over the course of his exile in Bohain.
Temporarily back in the capital, Matisse would have been eager to avail himself of the artistic resources there. To pose for both versions of Le Guitariste, he enlisted a familiar figure—a burly Italian laborer turned professional model named Giovanni Bevilacqua, his only regular sitter outside the family during these cash-strapped early years of his career. Matisse had first worked with Bevilacqua in the studio of Eugène Carrière, where he took painting instruction in 1899-1900. When Carrière’s class folded and a group of former students banded together to share a model, Matisse insisted that they hire Bevilacqua, drawn to his craggy, muscular physique and sense of feral energy. Over the next three years, the bearded peasant became a regular on the quai Saint-Michel, posing for Matisse well over a hundred times by the artist’s count. “Various female models would absorb him at intervals in the future to the exclusion of all else,” Hilary Spurling has noted, “but this was the only time he ever subjected a male body to the same brooding and possessive scrutiny” (H. Spurling, The Unknown Matisse: A Life of Henri Matisse, New York, 1998, p. 214).
Bevilacqua is best remembered today as the model for Matisse’s early sculptural masterpiece Le Serf, an unidealized embodiment of sheer, tangible physicality and rugged strength. Although scholars long believed him to be the same person as César Pignatelli, a fixture in the Parisian model pool who made his name posing for Rodin’s figure of Saint John the Baptist in 1878, recent research has demonstrated that Bevilacqua was in fact 25 years younger than Pignatelli (H. Spurling, “Matisse’s Italian Models” in exh. cat., op. cit., 2011, p. 62). The two men were remarkably alike in physical type, though, and hailed from the same mountainous, poverty-stricken region of Italy. Moreover, the bold split-stance of Rodin’s Saint John—and its visionary, turn-of-the-century variant, L’homme qui marche—re-appears both in Le Serf, where it conveys stoical effort and endurance, and in the present Guitariste, where it generates instead an effect of dynamic bravado.
In dressing up Bevilacqua as a Spanish guitar player, Matisse—suddenly the sole breadwinner in the family—no doubt hoped to capitalize on the Salon penchant for picturesque costume pieces. The present canvas harks back to Courbet and Manet’s renderings of the same subject, as well as presaging Matisse’s own future explorations on Spanish themes, from Femme à la tambourin (1909) and Le châle de manille (1911) to a 1923 series depicting his favorite Nice model Henriette as a mantilla-clad señorita. Around the same time that Bevilacqua posed for Le Guitariste, Matisse enlisted a gray-bearded man to sit for him in a monk’s habit and paid a Beaux-Arts costume model to impersonate the actor Lucien Guitry playing Cyrano de Bergerac. Even Amélie agreed to dress up, donning the same costume that Bevilacqua wears here and perching on a kitchen chair strumming a guitar. Tensions were running high in the household, though, and the modeling session ended when she threw down the instrument in frustration and Matisse kicked over his easel in response—whereupon they both burst out in cathartic laughter.
Whereas the subject matter of Le Guitariste represents a nod to tradition, the execution of the canvas is audaciously modern, ahead of its time. In nearly all the pictures that Matisse created in conservative Bohain during 1902-1903, he opted for a muted, tonal palette—“a return to the soft harmonies and close values,” he wrote to fellow painter Simon Bussy, “that will certainly be better received by collectors” (quoted in J. Flam, Matisse, The Man and His Art, Ithaca, 1986, p. 82). Here, by contrast, he laid down the background in vivid shades of yellow, pink, and orange, which gain in intensity from their juxtaposition to cooler, more neutral tones. The face of the guitarist is enlivened with slabs of non-naturalistic color—yellow and orange for the brows, coral for the ear and mouth—that anticipate the dazzling orchestrations of pure pigment that Matisse would create during his transformative Fauve summer at Collioure in 1905. “The essential thing is to spring forth,” he declared, “to express the bolt of lightning one senses upon contact with a thing. The function of the artist is not to translate an observation but to express the shock of the object on his own nature; the shock, with the original reaction” (quoted in ibid., p. 85).
The composition of Le Guitariste is also highly innovative. The arrangement of broad, planar forms in the background calls attention to the underlying modernist grid, anticipating Matisse’s radically condensed masterpiece on the theme of music, La leçon de piano (1916). The length of toile de Jouy at the left in the present painting would become a veritable talisman for Matisse during the ensuing years, eventually bursting beyond its naturalistic confines to become the motif of the whole composition. Here, Matisse visualized the textile in shades of gray rather than its actual blue, abstracting the design of floral bouquets and leafy arabesques into an all-over pattern of active, sinuous marks that galvanizes the picture surface. “Even when he centered the figure on the canvas,” Jack Flam has noted, “Matisse tended to work from the edges in rather than out from the center, avoiding excessive focus on the ‘subject’ by activating the entire picture. All elements of the painting are given equal emphasis and all parts of the surface are worked with equal intensity” (ibid., pp. 93-94).
As a guide through the formal problems that Matisse was confronting at this time, no artist was more important to him than Cézanne. “If you only knew the moral strength, the encouragement that his remarkable example gave me all my life!” Matisse later declared. “In moments of doubt, I thought: ‘If Cézanne is right, I am right.’ Because I knew that Cézanne had made no mistake” (quoted in J. Flam, Matisse on Art, Berkeley, 1995, p. 80). The most prized work in Matisse’s small collection was Cézanne’s Trois baigneuses (Rewald, no. 360), which he acquired from Vollard in December 1899. Some three years later, in Le Guitariste, he used a faceted, Cézannesque stroke to integrate the weighty, volumetric figure with the flat, rectilinear forms of the background, creating a dynamic and fluid pictorial ensemble. “Matisse learned from Cézanne how volumes could be accommodated to the flat surface of the painting,” John Elderfield has written, “how volumes could be created from a cumulative mass of broad flat touches of pigment that both belonged to the surface and denoted space” (Matisse, New York, 1978, p. 30).
Ever on the lookout for promising new talent, Vollard had made his first purchases from Matisse in November 1901, a few months after he gave the young Picasso his breakthrough exhibition in Paris. Matisse began to court Vollard for a solo show—the very first of his career—during the summer of 1903, but the shrewd dealer took his time in committing; the exhibition finally opened in June 1904, with 45 canvases on view tracing Matisse’s development as a modernist from 1896 onward. Of the three Guitaristepaintings—two of Bevilacqua and one of Amélie—two were featured in this landmark show; the present version, which Vollard is thought to have acquired sometime that year, was very possibly one of them. Matisse also included a pair of Guitaristes among the fourteen paintings that he exhibited at the 1904 Salon d’Automne, most of which had been shown at Galerie Vollard in June. The present canvas remained in Vollard’s collection at the time of his death in 1939.
Christie's. Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, 13 May 2019
Lot 25. A large Longquan celadon-glazed dish, 14th century; 46.4cm (18 1/4in) diam. Estimate £ 15,000 - 18,000 (€ 17,000 - 21,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
Sturdily potted, the gently rounded sides rising from a short foot, the interior carved with stylised lotus in the centre encircled by further scrolling lotus, the underside undecorated, covered overall with a lustrous olive-green glaze except the wide ring on the recessed base burnt russet in the firing.
Provenance: Sotheby's London, 30 June 1937
Bluett & Sons Ltd., London (label), stock no.3191
Maurice Ingram (1890-1941)
Andrew Williams Esq., Oxfordshire.
Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, London, 16 May 2019
Glasstress 2019, Installation Image, © Nikola Grozdanov
Returning for the 58th Biennale di Venezia, the sixth edition of GLASSTRESS brings together a new line-up of leading contemporary artists from Europe, the United States, Latin America, India, and China in an ambitious exhibition exploring the endless creative possibilities of glass.
GLASSTRESS is a project by Adriano Berengo dedicated to supporting his mission of marrying contemporary art and glass. Since its debut in 2009, GLASSTRESS has revived the traditional craft of Murano glassblowing by forging new alliances with internationally renowned artists and designers. With little or no prior experience working with glass, these artists have embraced the challenge of creating extraordinary works in cooperation with Muranese maestri. The output of this unusual encounter defies the stereotypes associated with this ancient artistry, ultimately pushing the boundaries of both contemporary art and glass.
To celebrate 10 years of GLASSTRESS and 30 years of Berengo Studio, the exhibition goes back to its historical roots on the island of Murano. An old abandoned glass furnace is now an evocative exhibition space for striking new works and installations by returning artists Ai Weiwei, Laure Prouvost, Tony Cragg and Thomas Schütte as well as first time participants Prune Nourry, José Parlá and Rose Wylie, amongst others. For this section, Brazilian artist Vik Muniz has invited all artists to explore ‘how glass redefines our perception of space’.
Ai Weiwei, Study of Perspective in Glass, 2018. Glass Installation of 12 elements, 3.5 x 200 x 20 cm. Courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio and Berengo Studio © Francesco Allegretto
Ai Weiwei, Study of Perspective in Glass (detail), 2018. Courtesy Ai Weiwei Studio and Berengo Studio
Laure Prouvost, Hard Connections, 2019 Glass, Variable dimensions. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio © Francesco Allegretto.
Tony Cragg, The Bridge, 2018. Size 92 x 16 x h 30 cm. Photo Credit Francesco Allegretto. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio.
Rose Wylie, Things that Fly and Beatles, 2019. Glass, Variable dimensions (installation). Courtesy the artist, Berengo Studio and David Zwirner Gallery © Francesco Allegretto
Rose Wylie, Things that Fly and Beatles (detail), 2019, Glass, © Francesco Allegretto Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio.
In another section, curated by Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen, highlights from the past ten years will also go on display, including Mutter (2016/17) by Erwin Wurm, a series of sculptures exploring the equilibrium between everyday objects and their meaning; Laura’s Hands (2011), a piece by Jaume Plensa referencing the artist’s ongoing series of giant sculptures of a Barcelonan girl in a state of dreaming; and A Different Self (2014) by Mat Collishaw which combines the unique form of a Venetian mirror with a digital screen to evoke reflections from the past. Referring to the making of glass works, Vanmechelen says: ‘the world of the unknown and unseen becomes visible and tangible through beautiful accidents in time.’ A special project by Robert Wilson, curated by Jean Blanchaert will also feature as part of the exhibition.
Erwin Wurm, Various works. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio © Francesco Allegretto.
Jaume Plensa, Laura’s Hands, 2011© Francesco Allegretto.
Mat Collishaw, A Different Self, 2014© Francesco Allegretto.
Koen Vanmechelen, Black Medusa, 2015© Francesco Allegretto
NEW WORKS AT GLASSTRESS 2019
Many of the artists in the exhibition produced pieces which engage with pertinent environmental concerns and man’s relationship to nature. These include Bricolante by French - Argentine artist Pablo Reinoso, a life-size sculpture which references the wooden poles (‘bricole’ in the Venetian dialect) that line the channels of the city and its lagoon. Reinoso views these poles as a strong visual identifier of the city which, when translated into glass, echoes its fragility and the ecological threats it faces.
Similar issues are addressed in the work of Brazilian sculptor Valeska Soares, titled Acqua Alta after the yearly flooding of the city, comprising a series of glass containers which refer to the pollution of manmade objects as well as to vessels used to carry water. Acqua Alta acknowledges water as a precious natural resource, susceptible to the forces of nature and highlights the tensions between excess and decay.
Valeska Soares, Acqua Alta. Photo Credit Francesco Allegretto. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio
Valeska Soares, Acqua Alta. Photo Credit Francesco Allegretto. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio
New-York based, French artist Prune Nourry has created a sculpture inspired by an anatomical drawing of the human vascular system. Symbolising our inherent connection to nature, the glass veins and arteries which make up its structure resemble both a system of rivers and streams as seen from above, and the sprawling branches of a tree – two elements essential to our survival but which are suffering under the strain of environmental damage.
Socio-political topics are the focus of several works this year including Tiempos Frágiles (Fragile Times) by American artist José Parlá. Inspired by recent tumultuous political events in the US, the piece is composed of a metal fence, glass barbwire and parts of ribbons made from Murano glass which spell out the word ‘Fragile’. For Parlá, the contrast presented in glass, a material that is both delicate and dangerously sharp, is a metaphor for the polaric state of the world. Tiempos Frágiles emphasises the very fragility of humanity in its current state of existence and the human-made divisions imposed by borders.
José Parlá, Tiempos Frágiles (Fragile Times). Photo credit Francesco Allegretto. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio.
José Parlá, Tiempos Frágiles (Fragile Times). Photo credit Francesco Allegretto. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio
Italian artist, Monica Bonvicini’s sculpture In My Hand references her piece, A Choir of Five (2016), during which a group of female performers produced clacking sounds using leather belts. In My Hand depicts female hands firmly holding a belt bent in half, as if it were ready to deliver a strike. Nevertheless, the violent move is frozen in glass, representing the struggle against cultural symbols of masculinity, discipline and violence.
Other artists, such as Vik Muniz, have used conventional craftsmanship methods in unexpected and innovative ways. Known for incorporating mundane and everyday objects into his photographic collages and mosaics, Muniz has appropriated a centuries-old decorating technique to produce a hyper-realistic self-portrait made completely with Murrine - colourful glass patterns, traditionally used to ornament blown glass works.
Vik Muniz, (Murrine), 2019. Photo Credit: Alessio Buldrin. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio.
Vik Muniz, Mina (Murrine), 2019© Alessio Buldrin. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio.
Reflecting on his collaboration with Berengo, Vik Muniz says: ‘The idea of transforming Murano by breathing life into the creative craft of glassworks brings a new vision of what glass can be and do. GLASSTRESS speaks about tradition, about the history of the city and what was done here centuries ago. It’s a very interesting way not only to see how the city has adapted to its context as a contemporary art capital but also how it managed to still retain a lot of its own soul.’
9 MAY - 24 NOVEMBER 2019 Fondazione Berengo Art Space Campiello Della Pescheria, Fondamenta dei Vetrai, Murano
Denise Milan, Earth Banquet, photo credit Sergio Coimbra. Courtesy the artist and Berengo Studio
Lot 239. A red glass mallet-shaped vase, Guangxu incised four-character mark and of the period (1875-1908); 13cm (5 1/8in) high. Estimate £5,000 - 8,000 (€ 5,800 - 9,300). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
The vase with a cylindrical neck rising from a bell-shaped body, the recessed base with a wheel-cut four-character reign mark within a square, the glass of a deep rich ruby-red colour.
Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, London, 16 May 2019
Lot 276. Two similar translucent blue glass lobed bottle vases, 19th century; 12 1/8 in. (31 cm.) high. Estimate GBP 10,000 - GBP 15,000 (USD 13,000 - USD 19,500). © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.
Each vase is elegantly modelled with a globular lobed body, supporting a tall, columnar neck. The glass is of an attractive, sapphire-blue tone. One vase is incised just below the rim with an apocryphal Yongzheng mark, and the other with an apocryphal Qianlong mark.
Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 14 May 2019
Lot 429. A red overlay yellow ground bottle vase, Qing dynasty (1644-1911); 15.1 cm, 5 7/8 in. Estimate 1,000 — 2,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.
the compressed globular body rising from a short foot to a tall straight neck, carved in relief through a layer of bright red glass to the opaque yellow ground with a peach tree and flowers issuing from rockwork.
Sotheby's. St George Street Sale: Asian Art, London, 17 May 2019 10:00 AM
Aleksander Willemse, Chemical love at first sight. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
AMSTERDAM.- Eduard Planting Gallery in Amsterdam presents from 11 May until 13 July 2019 an exhibition of Dutch photographer Aleksander Willemse. The artist exhibits with 'Dare to Love' for the first time at the gallery. The colorful and carefully stylized images of flower collages reflect a message of positivity, love and happiness, in response to the current information age. Flower power in optima forma.
The photographic artist has been an avid flower collector since his childhood and now he has an extensive archive of images. For the compositions of his artworks all flowers are photographed individually. He creates modern still lifes to dream away from everyday reality. The intriguing creations can disguise harsh reality with a field of tension between seeing and feeling.
Aleksander Willemse, Killing Violence regrets the machine. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
Aleksander Willemse (Leiden, 1968) worked for years as a concept creator and copywriter in the advertising industry. With nominated and award-winning campaigns. Since he got his degree at the Photo Academy in Amsterdam in 2010, he has fully focused on photography and 'feel good' art. His autonomous work has been shown at photo festivals in Amsterdam, Lagos, Leiden, Naarden, New York and Sydney.
Eduard Planting Gallery | Fine Art Photographs in Amsterdam specializes in photographs by (inter)nationally well-known artists. Besides that, the gallery regularly gives attention to upcoming talent. This creates an interesting mix and contrast between famous and unknown photographers. The mixture ensures that for every budget and for every interior an appropriate artwork can be found, for individual collectors as well as for collecting companies. The gallery started in 2008 and has since then developed to one of the leading photography galleries in the Netherlands.
Aleksander Willemse, Explosion of Love. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
Aleksander Willemse, New Life Victory. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
Aleksander Willemse, Mickey. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
Aleksander Willemse, LeaveLust. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
Aleksander Willemse, Methylthioninium chloride. Courtesy Eduard Planting Gallery.
Lot 35. A rare and large 'Fahua''Bajixiang and dignitaries' jar and cover, guan, First half of the 16th century; 44cm (17 1/4in) high. Estimate £ 30,000 - 50,000 (€ 35,000 - 58,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
Of compressed globular form, the central band decorated with scholars on horseback followed by a boy-attendant carrying a qin, amid gnarled pine trees, clouds and rocks, all between the Eight Buddhist Emblems on the shoulder and a band of lappets around the waisted base, all picked out in white, purple and turquoise on a dark blue ground.
Note: The present jar is a classic example of the vibrant Fahua-decorated vessels manufactured at Jingdezhen during the mid Ming period. These wares were produced using raised slip lines to produce small areas in which differently coloured, low-fired, glazes could be applied. Fahua vessels were usually decorated with detailed designs of figures which would have been more time-consuming to make than large-scale simplified floral motifs.
Compare with a similarly decorated turquoise-glazed Fahua jar, circa 1500, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Musuem, illustrated by J.Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no.55. Another example, decorated with the Eight Immortals on a turquoise-glazed ground, is in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., acc.no.F1907.75. Finally, a turquoise-glazed Fahua jar, Ming dynasty, decorated with figures on horseback, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 2 March 2011, lot 99.
Fahua ware wine jar with design of the Eight Immortals, Ming dynasty, late 15th-early 16th century. Stoneware with trailed slip decoration under lead-silicate glazes. H x W: 26.6 x 28.9 cm (10 1/2 x 11 3/8 in). Gift of Charles Lang Freer, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., acc.no.F1907.75. © 2019 Smithsonian Institution.
A turquoise-ground 'Fahua' jar, Ming dynasty; height 12 1/2 in., 31.8 cm. Sold for 56,250 USD at Sotheby's New York, 2 March 2011, lot 99. photo Sotheby's 2011
Cf. my post: A turquoise-ground 'Fahua' jar, Ming dynasty
Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, London, 16 May 2019
Lot 168. A rare and large 'fahua' figure of Buddha, Ming Dynasty (1368-1644); 62cm (24 1/2in) high. Estimate £50,000 - 60,000 (€ 58,000 - 70,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
Finely modelled seated in dhyanasana on a lotus throne supported on a high pedestal base, his hands in auspicious mudras and wearing a loose flowing robe tied at the waist, his face with gentle expression beneath hair curled tightly around the ushnishaterminating in a bud finial, all brightly glazed in rich cream, aubergine and turquoise-blue glazes.
Note: Fahua wares have been produced since the 14th century in the north in Shanxi, during the Yuan dynasty, and in the south at Jingdezhen during the 15th century. The alkaline glazes of fahua wares were mainly used for large wares and it is likely that the present lot was used in a temple or shrine. Compare with a closely related pair of slightly larger fahua seated Buddhas, Wanli, in the Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore (acc.no.1995-03477).
Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, London, 16 May 2019
Lot 102. A large Fahua jar, Ming dynasty, 16th century; 32.3 cm, 12 3/4 in. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's.
the robustly potted baluster body rising from a gently splayed foot to a rounded shoulder surmounted by a short neck and a lipped rim. boldly decorated to the body with two scenes of the Daoist philosopher Laozi setting off on his donkey and transmitting his teachings, between lotus lappets at the base and ruyi panels enclosing anbaxian emblems, the neck rendered with further stylised clouds, all reserved on a dark blue-glazed ground, the interior glazed green, wood cover and stand.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 15 may 2019
Lot 30 A. Fernand Léger (1881-1955) La grande parade (Le Cirque), signed and dated ‘F. LEGER 49’ (lower right), oil on canvas, 38 ¼ x 51 ½ in. (97.2 x 130.8 cm.) Painted in 1949. Estimate USD 6,000,000 - USD 9,000,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist by the present owner, October 1953.
Literature: L.E. Levick, "Centuries Telescoped in Orbit of New Shows" in New York Journal-American, 3 March 1962, p. 7 (illustrated).
G. Bauquier, Fernand Léger: Catalogue raisonné de l’oeuvre peint, 1949-1951, Paris, 2003, vol. VIII, p. 64, no. 1353 (illustrated in color, p. 65; with incorrect provenance).
B. Mayer, The Passionate Collector: Robert B. Mayer's Adventures in Art, New York, 2011 (illustrated in color).
Exhibited: New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Fernand Léger: Five Themes and Variations, February-April 1962, p. 85, no. 104 (illustrated, p. 96).
Chicago, International Galleries, Fernand Léger, 1881-1955: Retrospective Exhibition, November-December 1966, p. 63, no. 47 (illustrated, p. 53).
Paris, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Fernand Léger, October 1971-January 1972, p. 144, no. 224 (illustrated).
Note: Léger painted La grande parade (Le Cirque) in 1949, as he prepared to undertake the final, crowning achievement of his half-century-long career, La grande parade—he completed the état définitif, in 1954 (Bauquier, no. 1592). A large red circle, devised from two letter “Cs”, is the focal point in this large mural, since 1962 a centerpiece in the collection of the famously rotunda-shaped Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. The traditional circus parade is the customary sideshow of acrobats, clowns, dancers, and musicians, performing atop an elevated platform outside the entry gate, intended to entice onlookers among the gathering crowd to pay admission at the ticket booth, enter, and enjoy the star attractions within.
The Guggenheim La grande parade is Léger’s apotheosis of le cirquetheme, which threads its way through his oeuvre from start to finish. Having survived the horrendous carnage on the front lines during the First World War, Léger celebrated the November 1918 Armistice and a return to peacetime pursuits by completing seven canvases depicting the ring, acrobats, and clowns of the fabled Cirque Médrano on the edge of Montmartre (Bauquier, nos. 107-114). As the Cirque Fernando until 1897, this venue featured in paintings by Degas, Renoir, Seurat, and Toulouse-Lautrec. Following the turn of the century as the Médrano, and before the war, this circus also provided entertainment and subject matter for Picasso, van Dongen, and Chagall, as well as their friends, the poets Apollinaire, Cendrars, and Max Jacob. Circularity became the fundamental, constructive element in Léger’s pioneering, virtually abstract compositions of spinning cylinders and cones, the series les contrastes de formes of 1913-1914.
During the 1920s, Léger touted the circus as the epitome of modern spectacle, a public phenomenon that, in its traditions and evolution, he believed to represent a genuine art of the people. “The 'Big Top' of the New Circus is an absolutely marvelous world,” the artist wrote in 1924. “When I am lost in this astonishing metallic planet with its dazzling spotlights and the tiny acrobat who risks his life every night, I am distracted... There are more ‘plastic passages’ in ten minutes of an acrobatic spectacle than there are in many scenes of ballet” (quoted in “The Spectacle,” ibid., pp. 39-40).
Loose-limbed, elastic acrobatic movement guided Léger’s conception of the figure in major compositions during the late 1930s and 1940s, as bicyclists, divers and swimmers, even workers perched high up on construction scaffolding. The men and women in his paintings celebrate the active, athletic pleasures of modern living, as they participate in a “new outdoors reality," which the artist showcased in large figure compositions. “The new thing in this type of big picture is an intensity ten times greaterthan its predecessors,” Léger wrote in 1939. “We can get this intensity by application of contrasts—pure tones and groupings of form...soul. That is the solution for the big picture" (quoted in C. Lanchner, Fernand Léger, exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998, p. 145).
During his five years of exile in America during the Second World War, Léger became a devotee of the spectacular, three-ring Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which then, as until its demise in 2017, performed annually in New York's Madison Square Garden. He painted several circus pictures before departing America (Bauquier, nos. 1205-1207), which presage the grande parade compositions of the later 1940s and 1950s. Having returned to France, the subject of the circus became even more compelling for Léger; as a beloved, popular tradition, le cirque was a stirring source of national pride. The Cirque Médrano and rival Cirque d’Hiver were still in operation. The grand circuses of Paris, together with smaller provincial troupes, represented for Léger an apt symbol of French esprit and joie de vivre, affirmative qualities that must be brought to bear to face the daunting challenges of postwar economic reconstruction and the revival of democratic government in the newly constituted Fourth Republic.
In 1950, Tériade published Le Cirque, Léger’s masterwork in print-making, a magnificent folio of 34 color and 29 black-and-white lithographs (Saphire, nos. 44-106). This compendium of the artist's circus subjects continued to inspire the imagery in the gouache and oil studies that preceded the Guggenheim mural, including La grande parade, 1er état, 1952—like the present painting, set against a dark blue background (Bauquier, no. 1517). Léger painted the Guggenheim état définitif (no. 1592) in his culminating, decorative mural style: a linear design of the figures and all other pictorial elements—executed in black paint, with some portions filled in with solid, local color—overlays large, swathe-like abstract shapes in solid primary and secondary colors. The latter appear to advance or recede, shaping the viewer’s perception of architectural space within the room. The present La grande parade was similarly conceived, then finished with the blue background, creating a dramatic contrast of light and dark that suggests stage-lighting falling on the performers in a darkened space or nocturnal setting.
"What grace is in the assemblage of curves and softened angles,” Léger wrote in Le Cirque. “The dance blends with the colored background. Carefully studied movement, its fixed phases, where a leg prudently returns to the floor after having risked space, lifted at arm's length, the free balancing of two rounded and pleasing limbs, the dynamic aggression of a collective mass that assaults the spectator. Speed, elevation, the instantaneous return to the floor and departure again; that with color, with lighting, with music to support the agile mass of feet, hands and bodies. The speed captures the motionless audience. It is most still when the action is furious. It luxuriates in this rapid, frothy interplay. This is what it came for" (quoted in ibid., pp. 173-174).
Christie's. Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, 13 May 2019
Lot 431. Important 5.14 carats Burmese 'pigeon blood' ruby and diamond ring, Bulgari. Estimate 1,250,000 — 1,350,000 CHF (1,254,675 - 1,355,049 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's
Set with a cushion-shaped ruby weighing 5.14 carats, within a surround of marquise- and pear-shaped diamonds, size 501/2, signed Bulgari, maker's mark.
Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Geneva, 14 may 2019
Lot 422. Spectacular pair of 33.25 and 33.88 carats diamond earrings. Estimate 1,150,000 — 1,500,000 CHF (1,154,301 - 1,505,610 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's
Each set with a cushion-shaped diamond weighing 33.25 and 33.88 carats respectively, the surmount set with a button-shaped cultured pearl, post and butterfly fittings.
Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Geneva, 14 may 2019
Lot 434. Fancy purplish pink diamond ring, weighing 7.56 carats. Estimate 1,100,000 — 1,800,000 CHF (1,104,114 - 1,806,732 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's
Set with a cut-cornered rectangular modified brilliant-cut fancy purplish pink diamond weighing 7.56 carats, size 52.
Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Geneva, 14 may 2019
Lot 413. Property from a Royal Collection. Superb pair of 17.01 and 17.71 carats Colombian emerald and diamond pendent earrings. Estimate 800,000 — 1,400,000 CHF (802,992 - 1,405,236 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's
Each set with a cushion-shaped emerald weighing 17.01 and 17.71 carats respectively, embellished with step-cut and baguette diamonds, post and clip fittings.
Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Geneva, 14 may 2019
Lot 442. Fine 11.55 carats Colombian emerald and diamond ring. Estimate 800,000 — 1,400,000 CHF (802,992 - 1,405,236 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's
Set with a step-cut emerald weighing 11.55 carats, the mount accented with brilliant-cut and baguette diamonds, size 591/2, partial Italian maker's mark.
Sotheby's. Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels, Geneva, 14 may 2019
Lot 63. Mark Rothko (1903-1970), No. 16/No. 12 (Mauve Intersection), oil on canvas, 58 3/8 x 64 ¼ in. (135.6 x 163.2 cm.) Painted in 1949. Estimate USD 2,000,000 - USD 3,000,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.
Provenance: Sidney Janis Gallery, New York.
The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. (acquired from the above, 1957); sale, Parke-Bernet Galleries Inc., New York, 17 November 1971, lot 8.
Cecil “Titi” Blaffer von Fürstenberg, Houston (acquired at the above sale).
By descent from the above to the present owners.
Literature: D. Ashton, “Art: Mark Rothko” in Arts & Architecture, August 1957. p. 8 (illustrated).
H.L. Jaffé, Le grandi epoche dell’arte: L’arte del XX secolo, Florence, 1970, p. 246, no. 374 (illustrated).
I. Sandler, The Triumph of American Painting: A History of Abstract Expressionism, New York, 1970. p. 180, no. 13-5 (illustrated; dated 1948).
M. Tuchman, The New York School: Abstract Expressionism in the 40s and 50s, London, 1970, p. 140, no. 110 (illustrated).
P. Richard, “Phillips Collection to Sell a Rothko” in The Washington Post, 15 November 1971, p. B1 (incorrectly illustrated; dated 1948).
T. Fujieda, “Special Feature: Mark Rothko” in Mizue 888, March 1979, p. 18 (illustrated).
D. Anfam, Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas, Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven, 2001, p. 306, no. 400 (illustrated in color).
A. Cohen-Solal, Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel (Jewish Lives), New Haven, 2016, pp. 173 and 274.
Exhibited: New York, Betty Parsons Gallery, Mark Rothko, January 1950.
Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, American Painting 1950, April-June 1950.
Washington, D.C., The Phillips Gallery, Paintings by Rothko, Tomlin, Okada,January-February 1957.
Washington, D.C., The Phillips Collection, Paintings by Mark Rothko, May 1960.
New York, Museum of Modern Art, Mark Rothko, January-March 1961, p. 18, no. 12 (illustrated; dated 1948).
Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Institute of Contemporary Art, 1943-1953: The Decisive Years, January-March 1965.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, New York School: The First Generation, Paintings of the 1940s and 1950s, July-August 1965, p. 183, no. 102 (illustrated; dated 1948).
Washington, D.C., Corcoran Gallery of Art, Past and Present, April-September 1966.
Washington, D.C., National Collection of Fine Arts; Bucharest, Dalles Hall; Timi?oara, Museum of Banat; Cluj-Napoca, Galeria de Arta; Bratislava, Slovak National Gallery; Prague, Narodni Galerie, Wallenstein Palace and Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, The Disappearance and Reappearance of the Image: Paintings in the United States since 1945, November 1968-November 1969, p. 25 (illustrated in color; dated 1948).
Richmond, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, American Painting 1970, May-June 1970.
Barcelona, Fundació Joan Miró; Basel, Fondation Beyeler, Mark Rothko: A Consummated Experience Between Picture and Onlooker, November 2000-April 2001, p. 172, no. 14 (illustrated in color, p. 85)
Note: “…to understand Rothko—to see his artistic evolution, comprehend his goals and the means he used to realize them, to live his internal struggle to manifest the human soul and chart that manifestation—one need only study the 1940s”—Christopher Rothko
(C. Rothko, "The Decade," in B. Collins, Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade 1940-1950, exh. cat., Columbia Museum of Art, 2012, p. 33).
Painted at a pivotal moment in the artist’s career, Mark Rothko’s No.16/No.12 (Mauve Intersection) is an early example of the enigmatic and colorful floating planes of color that would come to distinguish his entire oeuvre. One of the most accomplished of his Multiforms, this evocative painting marks the moment when Rothko finally began to relinquish the figurative paintings that had proliferated during the early part of career, and condense the enigmatic shapes into forms that would become Rothko’s main artistic expression for the rest of his life. Like Jackson Pollock’s "drips," they would come to be regarded among the purest forms of postwar abstraction, and these first acts of a painterly drama would ensure Rothko’s place as one of the most important artists of the 20th century. An important example from a narrow window of creativity, this painting was part of the internationally important collection of Rothko’s paintings at the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. for over a decade between 1957 and 1971, before being acquired by the family of the present owner, where it has remained ever since.
The scorching passages of yellows, golds, reds, pinks, purples and oranges that coalesce across the surface of No.16/No.12 (Mauve Intersection) offer up the visceral sense of the drama that Rothko felt was inherent to the surface of his paintings. This action plays itself out in the tussling, jostling, cajoling forms that are the result of the artist laying down multiple layers of pigment. A large passage of golden yellow occupies the upper right quadrant, within its confines floats a rich mix of many different tonal values. Darker hues seem to bubble up from beneath the surface, in some parts breaking through to reveal schisms of fiery red and dark oranges. In the lower right quadrant, a rectangle of warm hues appears to dissolve before our very eyes, its vestiges seen in the white-hot perimeter of the slowly disappearing form. Although, dominated by these large passages of color, the painting is distinguished by a multitude of areas where the passages of color collide, a quality particularly desired by the artist who always insisted that it was at the edges of these passages of color where he intended most of the painterly action to take place. It was here that the competing forces of his contrasting color fields came into direct contact with each other, and it was here that Rothko felt that his paintings truly reached the apex of their power, “…colors push outward in all directions,” he said or “contract and rush inward. Between these two poles you can find everything I want to say” (Rothko in conversation with A. Jensen, 17 June 1953 in J.E.B. Breslin, Mark Rothko: A Biography, Chicago, 1993, p. 301).
Christopher Rothko maintains that his father’s works from this decade “…[are] the keys to everything. Everything” (C. Rothko, "The Decade," in op.cit., exh. cat., p. 33). It was during the late 1940s that Rothko’s work undergoes a significant shift from the Surrealist inspired organic forms that he painted mid-decade (exemplified by Slow Swirls at the Edge of the Sea, 1944, Museum of Modern Art, New York), to shifting planes of color that would dominate his compositions for the rest of his career. This change was influenced, in part, by his reading of the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, who believed that Greek tragedy was the ultimate form of artistic expression. The German philosopher understood that it held in tension the two fundamental and opposing facets of human existence—the terror of death and the will to life, which he called the Apollonian and the Dionysian. It was this eternal tussle that Rothko sought to capture in the surface of his canvases. “In the tension between the forms and formless in the later Mutliforms, Rothko found a way to express what Nietzsche had called the Apollonian and the Dionysian—terms it should be noted were a regular part of his vocabulary in the 1950s” (B. Collins, “Beyonf Pessimism: Rothko’s Nietzschean Quest, 1940-1949 in ibid., p. 33).
Another significant influence on Rothko’s work from this period are the paintings of his fellow artist, Clyfford Still. When Still moved to New York in 1945 he showed Rothko several of his paintings, including a striking canvas filled with colorful vertical forms called 1945-H (now in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art). Rothko was so impressed that he implored Peggy Guggenheim to give Still an exhibition at her famed Art of This Century gallery. More importantly, Rothko took Still’s soft-edged irregular forms and began to incorporate a similar language into his own work. In the introduction for Still’s 1946 show at Art of This Century, Rothko wrote “Every shape becomes an organic entity, inviting the multiplicity of associations inherent in all living things. To me they form a theology of the most elementary consciousness, hardly aware of itself beyond the will to live—a profound and moving experience” (quoted in, ibid.).
Beginning with his Multiforms, Rothko sought to eradicate the conventional meaning of representation in order to arrive at something new. In his now famous 1947 essay “The Romantics Were Prompted,” he started that the “familiar identity of things has to be pulverized in order to destroy the finite associations with which our society increasingly enshrouds every aspect of our environment” (Ibid). No.16/No.12 (Mauve Intersection) marks an important step in that process, and as a result is among the first of his truly abstract paintings. Here, he explored with greater freedom than ever before the expressive potential of color, light and form. He saw these compositional elements as having the ability to convey a sense of elemental human drama, which was, in his view, the center of gravity of his art. When speaking of his father’s paintings from this period, his son Christopher claimed, “Rothko is looking for something, looking intently… Ultimately, he is trying to discover his artistic persona, not to tell us who he is, but in order to communicate with us directly about who we all are. He is mustering all of his resources to speak his philosophy more clearly, a very immediate and human philosophy” (ibid., p. 33).
Christie's. Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, 13 May 2019
Lot 598. A 9.98 Carat ‘No Oil’ Colombian Emerald and Diamond Ring. Estimate: HK$4,800,000-6,000,000 (€ 540,000 - 680,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019..
Hong Kong – The international auction house Bonhams will present its Hong Kong Jewels and Jadeite sale on Sunday 26 May 2019, offering a collection of jewellery which is perfect for every occasion, be it daytime, cocktails or dinner. Led by a mesmerising and near-flawless 9.98 carat Colombian 'no oil' emerald ring, this collection features important coloured gemstones, white and coloured diamonds, jadeite, signed jewellery sets and vintage jewellery, and is a curated response to the changing tastes of contemporary jewellery collectors.
Paul Redmayne-Mourad, Head of Sale, Jewellery, Bonhams Hong Kong, commented: "There is a marked trend that our clients are increasingly collecting for style rather than buying merely for safekeeping. We are seeing that these collectors enjoy wearing their pieces about town in a more relaxed setting, whilst also mixing and matching for different – perhaps more formal – occasions. These collectors are also very well-informed and proactively seek information about what they collect,"
"Our forthcoming sale is a response to these trending tastes, as we offer a diverse range of jewellery that will allow contemporary collectors to buy what defines their style for any occasion," Redmayne-Mourad continued.
Among the highlights is an exceptional collection of fine emeralds, rare and historic sapphires, rubies, spinels and white and coloured diamonds. This includes two unheated Kashmir sapphire rings weighing 5.01 carats and 4.22 carats respectively, as well as a 3.04 carat Burma no heat pigeon's blood ruby ring.
The auction will also offer an array of striking signed jewellery from such prestigious houses as Boucheron, Bulgari, Cartier, Tiffany & Co and Van Cleef & Arpels, as well as a number of vintage items including a diamond tiara from the late 19th century, a carved emerald brooch by Cartier from the 1930s, a selection of Art Deco rings, and a highly desirable Van Cleef & Arpels ruby and diamond bracelet from the 1960s.
HIGHLIGHTS FOR CONTEMPORARY COLLECTORS FOR ALL OCCASIONS
FOR DAYTIME WEAR
Lot 515. A Malachite and Diamond Pendant Necklace, by Cartier. Estimate: HK$40,000 – 60,000 (€ 4,500 - 6,800). © Bonhams 2001-2019
The domed malachite pendant, accented by brilliant-cut diamonds, completed by an adjustable trace-link chain, highlighted with a similarly set malachite detail towards the back, signed Cartier, numbered, maker's mark, pendant detachable, pendant length 2.5cm, full chain length 65.0cm, original pouch and paperwork
Accompanied by a Cartier authenticity certificate. Report number 2243315, serial number BQY930, dated 20 July 2015.
Lot 516. A Pair of Diamond 'LOVE' Bangles, by Cartier. Estimate: HK$118,000 - 200,000 (€ 13,000 - 23,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019
Each hinged bangle pavé-set throughout with brilliant-cut diamonds, one inset with black ceramic, the other of similar screw-head motifs, diamonds approximately, 4.15 carats total, signed Cartier, numbered, inner circumference 15.0cm, original pouches and paperwork (2)
Accompanied by two Cartier authenticity certificates. Reference numbers N6036916 and N6032416, serial numbers XZ0070 and BEP274, dated 22 September 2014 and 14 June 2015 respectively.
Lot 528. Two 'B.Zero1' Rings, by Bulgari. One ring set as a single band; the other designed by Zaha Hadid as a triple band. Estimate: HK$15,000 - 25,000 (€ 1,700 - 2,800). © Bonhams 2001-2019
both signed Bulgari, Italy, ring sizes 7½ and 8 (2).
FOR COCKTAILS
Lot 597. A Fancy Yellow Diamond and Diamond Bracelet/Choker. Estimate: HK$450,000-650,000 (€ 51,000 - 74,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019
Of stylised openwork design, the articulated bracelet set with eleven radiant-cut fancy yellow diamonds, within 'four-leaf clover' surrounds pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds, to similar and baguette-cut diamond frames, completed by a leather bracelet, fancy yellow diamonds 12.89 carats total, remaining diamonds approximately 14.45 carats total, leather segment detachable, individual bracelet lengths 16.5 and 17.7cm, choker length 34.2cm
Accompanied by eleven GIA reports stating that the 1.86-1.00 carat diamonds are natural Fancy Yellow colour, VS2-SI2 clarity.
Lot 551. A Ruby and Diamond Bangle, by Van Cleef and Arpels. Estimate: HK$280,000-360,000 (€ 32,000 - 41,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019
The hinged bangle centring upon a cabochon ruby, within a brilliant-cut diamond surround, completed by a row of calibré-cut rubies, between brilliant-cut diamond borders, diamonds approximately 11.20 carats total, signed Van Cleef and Arpels, numbered, maker's mark, French assay marks, inner circumference 16.2cm.
Lot 570. An Art Deco Carved Emerald, Gem-set and Diamond Bar Brooch, by Cartier Paris, Circa 1930. Estimate: HK$160,000-240,000 (€ 18,000 - 27,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019
Centring upon a carved cabochon emerald, between two carved emerald beads, enhanced by corallium rubrum and onyx plaques, to single-cut diamond accents, emeralds approximately 11.35 carats total, signed Cartier, numbered, maker's mark, French assay marks, length 5.3cm
Accompanied by an authenticity report from Cartier, Paris. Report number GE2007-173, dated 26 September 2007.
Cartier
Joining the family firm at the turn of the twentieth century, three brothers had grand plans for its future. Louis, Pierre and Jacques Cartier wanted to grow the modest Parisian jewellery store that their grandfather had founded in 1847 into the leading jewellery business of the world.
In an age before globalization, it was an unusually ambitious goal but they were determined and they had a plan: divide and conquer.
They split the world between them, with each brother taking responsibility for a different region. Louis - the eldest - remained in Paris, looking after the chic continental European clients and creating some of the most sought-after jewellery, objets d'art and timepieces of the early twentieth century. Pierre, an astute businessman, spotted the opportunity in America well before most of his French peers and opened a New York branch in 1909 to cater to the new class of wealthy industrialists, glamorous heiresses and Hollywood stars. Jacques, the youngest, managed the London branch, where he designed pieces not only for the English aristocracy, but also for clients from the British colonies, and most significantly the Maharajas of India. Since 1911, from his frequent trips to the East, Jacques brought back many exotic stones and ideas which inspired the luxurious jewellery collections following that era and whose DNA we see in today's creations.
FOR EVENING WEAR
The step-cut emerald, weighing 9.98 carats, between two baguette-cut diamond shoulders, diamonds approximately 1.45 carats total, ring size 6½.
Accompanied by a SSEF report stating that the natural emerald has no indications of clarity modification and originates from Colombia. Report number 90326, dated 8 March 2017.
Accompanied by an AGL (American Gemological Laboratories) report stating that the natural emerald has no indications of clarity enhancement and originates from Colombia. Report number 8085858, dated 16 February 2017.
Accompanied by a Gubelin report stating that the natural emerald has no indications of clarity enhancement and originates from Colombia. Report number 17014009, dated 10 February 2017.
Colombian "No Oil" Emeralds
Colombia accounts for approximately 70-90% of the international emerald market. Geologically speaking, Colombian emeralds are said to be the purest emeralds in the world because the deposits are the only ones on earth found in sedimentary host rock, rather than in igneous rock. Typically, emeralds contain various inclusions that are visible to the naked eye. While most emeralds on the market today have been enhanced in some way, untreated emeralds – referred to in the trade as "no oils"– are exceptionally rare, and when combined with a rich colour and a clean crystal with very few/no inclusions, their rarity and hence desirability increases significantly. Top quality "no oil" Colombian emeralds of fine, transparent material are highly sought after today.
Lot 608. A 5.01 Carat Unheated Kashmir Sapphire and Diamond Ring. Estimate: HK$1,600,000 - 2,400,000 (€ 180,000 - 270,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
The antique cushion-shaped sapphire, weighing 5.01 carats, between single-cut diamond shoulders, ring size 5½
Accompanied by a SSEF report stating that the natural sapphire has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Kashmir. Report number 105838, dated 20 March 2019.
Accompanied by an AGL (American Gemological Laboratories) report stating that the natural sapphire has no evidence of heat enhancement and originates from Kashmir. Report number 8088740, dated 14 February 2019.
Accompanied by a Gubelin report stating that the natural sapphire has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Kashmir. Report number 18122040, dated 3 January 2019. Also accompanied by an information sheet, stating that natural unheated gem-quality sapphires from Kashmir are scarce.
Kashmir
Kashmir sapphires were first discovered in the late 1870s/early 1880s high up in the snow-clad Great Himalayas of north-western India. The area was worked sporadically until the late 1920s/early 1930s but the glory years of the 1880s were never repeated. Legend tells that the finest stones from this 30-40 year period were all acquired by the Maharaja and jealously guarded in the chambers of the Kashmir State Treasury. British geologist, Charles Stewart Middlemiss, Superintendent of the Mineral Survey of Jammu and Kashmir State from 1917 until 1930, recorded seeing some of this fabled hoard, describing the sacks of rough and cut gems as a "king's ransom", with some sapphires the size of polo balls.
Today, Kashmir sapphires set the standard against which all other sapphires are measured and are avidly sought by collectors who are prepared to pay princely sums for top-quality specimens from this extraordinary period in the history of gemmology.
Lot 602. A Jadeite and Diamond Ring. Estimate: HK$280,000-350,000 (€ 32,000 - 40,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
The oval jadeite cabochon of intense emerald green colour, within a surround set with brilliant, marquise and emerald-cut diamonds, diamonds approximately 7.00 carats total, jadeite measuring 23.1 x 14.7 x 7.6mm, ring size 6
Accompanied by a Hong Kong Jade & Stone Laboratory report stating that the natural colour fei cui (jadeite jade) has no resin detected. Report number SJ 182850, dated 4 April 2019.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Lot 540. A 3.04 Carat Unheated Burmese Mogok 'Pigeon's Blood' Ruby and Diamond Three-stone Ring. Estimate: HK$1,700,000 - 2,500,000 (€ 190,000 - 280,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
The cushion-shaped ruby, weighing 3.04 carats, between old brilliant-cut diamonds weighing 1.09 and 1.07 carats, within a double surround set with brilliant-cut diamonds, extended to the openwork gallery and half hoop,remaining diamonds approximately 1.75 carats total, ring size 6
Accompanied by an AGL (American Gemological Laboratories) report stating that the natural ruby has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Burma (Myanmar). Report number 8088266, dated 23 August 2018. Also accompanied by an AGL premium appendix stating that the ruby is of 'pigeon blood' red hue, with a number of internal features indicating that it is from the fabled mines of Mogok valley, Burma, and is a rare, noteworthy and exceptional gemstone.
Accompanied by a Gubelin report stating that the natural ruby has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Burma (Myanmar). Report number 16111106, dated 28 November 2016. Also accompanied by two information sheets stating that rubies from Mogok, Burma, are rare and associated with being the most desirable in the world.
Accompanied by a GRS report stating that the natural ruby is (GRS type 'pigeon's blood') vivid red colour, has no indications of thermal treatment and originates from Burma (Mogok, Myanmar). Report number GRS2016-101110, dated 29 October 2016.
Accompanied by two GIA reports stating that the 1.09 and 1.07 carat diamonds are F and G colours, VS2 and VVS2 clarity respectively. Report numbers 2257208779 and 1156695376, dated 19 March 2017 and 15 March 2017.
Pigeon's Blood
The term comes most appropriately from Burma, home to what are considered to be the finest ruby specimens on earth and where local miners have, for generations, compared the most vivid red examples to the first drops of blood from a freshly-killed pigeon.
This vernacular description was picked up by the trade, who also reserve it for the very best-in-class coloured rubies and it subsequently appeared on a laboratory certificate for the first time in 1996. Since this date, it has been adopted by most major international laboratories. Being attributed the fabled "pigeon's blood" suffix by a laboratory confers on an unheated Mogok ruby the highest pedigree and makes it significantly more desirable in the market.
Lot 571. A Rare 4.22 Carat Unheated Kashmir Sapphire and Diamond Ring, Circa 1920. Estimate: HK$1,200,000 - 1,600,000 (€ 140,000 - 180,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019.
Of floral design, the cabochon sapphire, weighing 4.22 carats, between millegrain-set single-cut diamond bifurcated shoulders, French assay mark, ring size 6½
Accompanied by a SSEF report stating that the natural sapphire has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Kashmir. Report number 85412, dated 6 April 2016.
Accompanied by a Gubelin report stating that the natural sapphire has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Kashmir. Report number 16030115, dated 23 March 2016.
Accompanied by a GCS report stating that the natural sapphire has no indications of heat treatment and originates from Kashmir. Report number 5776-4256, dated 13 January 2016.
Kashmir Sapphires
Sapphires hailing from Kashmir display a vivid velvety blue hue that is unique to the region. They are among the most highly-prized gems due to their rarity and their scarcity and the mine that yielded the finest specimens was largely exhausted by 1887, after only a few years of production.
Today, Kashmir sapphires set the standard against which all other sapphires are measured and are avidly sought by collectors who are prepared to pay princely sums for top-quality specimens from this extraordinary period in the history of gemmology.
Lot 569. A Late 19th Century Diamond Tiara, Circa 1890. Estimate: HK$120,000 - 200,000 (€ 14,000 - 23,000). © Bonhams 2001-2019
The five old brilliant-cut diamond garlands graduating in size towards the front, between similar and rose-cut diamond spacers, completed by a black silk ribbon, diamonds approximately 10.20 carats total, frame detachable, tiara frame diameter 12.8cm, detached segment length 14.5cm.
Lot 57. Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Concetto spaziale, Attese, signed, titled and inscribed 'l. fontana "Concetto spaziale" ATTESE 1+1-3U' (on the reverse), waterpaint on canvas, 39 x 31 1/8 in. (99 x 79 cm.) Executed in 1960. Estimate USD 800,000 - USD 1,200,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2019.
Provenance: Private collection, Japan.
Private collection, Paris.
Tokyo Gallery, Tokyo.
Cecil “Titi” Blaffer von Fürstenberg, Houston (acquired from the above, 1968).
By descent from the above to the present owners.
Literature: E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: Catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, Milan, 2006, vol. I, p. 507, no. 60 T 155 (illustrated).
Note: Lucio Fontana’s tagli or "cuts" are some of the most revolutionary paintings in the 20th-century art historical canon. Following on from his buchi series—works in which he transgressed the sanctity of the painting’s surface by piercing holes in it—the tagli are largely monochromatic canvases into which Fontana cut into the painted support with a sharp knife. Within this act, the artist transgresses the previously sacrosanct concept of the canvas, introducing a paradigm shift that would forever change the ways in which artists considered the picture plane.
Concetto spaziale, Attese features four curved vertical cuts; the two outermost cuts have been created larger, producing concave openings revealing more of the dark interior, while the two inner cuts are more concise and do not expose the interior through the surface of the painting. In addition, this painting includes a rare example of the artist’s "sign" in the form of a mark in the lower right corner; this form of "signature" appears in only about twenty-five tagli executed between 1959 and 1960.
Leading up to the event of the cut, each canvas was primed and painted methodically in ways to minimize evidence of artist’s hand, so as to ensure that the surface was completely flat and taught—entirely visual, purely chromatic. Fontana’s use of water-suspended pigment specifically aided in producing this quality that the artist preferred to work from. Across his work, “Fontana called for an integration of the dimensions of space and time. He wedded those two elements both literally and symbolically. The indeterminate, potentially limitless expanse of color is incised, in a precise and split-second way, by the artist’s tool” (J. van der Mark, Lucio Fontana: From Tradition to Utopia, Brussels, 1974, p. 19).
Christie's. Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale, New York, 13 May 2019