Lot 139. A blue and white 'Floral' bottle vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1735-1796); 30.5 cm, 12 in. Estimate 60,000 — 80,000 HKD (7,640 - 10,186 USD). Lot sold 525,000 HKD (66,848 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

Lot 140. A copper-red and underglaze-blue cupstand, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1735-1796); 17 cm, 6 5/8  in. Estimate 180,000 — 250,000 HKD (22,919 - 31,833 USD). Lot sold 225,000 HKD (28,649 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

Lot 142. A rare and finely painted blue and white 'floral' bowl, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 17 cm, 6 5/8  in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD (63,665 - 89,131 USD). Lot sold 687,500 HKD (87,539 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

Giulio Romano and workshop, Sala dei Giganti at the Palazzo Te, 1524–34.

“Con nuova e stravagante maniera”. Giulio Romano a Mantova is the new great event of the Complesso Museale Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, from October 6th 2019 to January 6th 2020. It is an exhibition dedicated to Giulio Romano (Roma, 1492 o 1499 - Mantova, 1546) and his “new way” to create art.

This project is the result of the exceptional support of the Musée du Louvre, which, for the first time, will lend seventy-two drawings in order to illustrate, in the most organic and complete way, the professional career of the great artist, from his beginnings in Rome to the long-lasting and intense activity in Mantua. The exhibition will be focused on the variety of Giulio Romano's interests, from architecture to painting, from tapestries to jewelry, from stuccos to printings, through the practice of drawing that he learned during his training at Raffaello's workshop. The most recent digital technologies will be used in order to recreate art objects and spaces designed by the artist through 3D reconstructions. There will be artworks coming from some of the most important museums in Italy and Europe, such as the Gallerie degli Uffizi in Florence, the Albertina in Wien, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle. The experience will be unique because visitors appreciate the works inside the Giulio's architectural places, from the Appartamento di Troia to the Palazzina della Rustica, favoring virtuous resonances between the exhibited objects and Palazzo Ducale.

Lot 3011. A large inscribed Zhangzhou crackle-glazed figure of Guanyin, Ming dynasty, Wanli period, dated 1615; 46.5 cm, 18 1/4  in. Estimate 450,000 — 550,000 HKD (57,299 - 70,032 USD). Lot Sold 1,625,000 HKD (206,911 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

the deity modelled seated with one leg raised supporting the right hand holding a scroll, the left arm lowered by the side resting on a lotus bud, clad in a long robe falling into voluminous folds and opening at the chest to reveal an elaborate beaded necklace, the serene face with downcast eyes and a gentle smile, framed by long hair neatly combed backwards and falling into two curled tassels on the shoulders, all supported on a base of swirling clouds, the flat base incised with a dated inscription of dedication corresponding to 1615.

Note: The inscription can be translated as:

Lot 3013. A fine and rare iron-red decorated 'sanduo' bowl, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 13 cm, 5 1/8  in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,500,000 HKD (190,995 - 318,325 USD). Lot Sold 4,975,000 HKD (633,467 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

well potted with rounded sides rising from a splayed foot, the exterior finely painted in sophisticated shades of iron red, depicting three detached leafy branches of the sanduo (Three Abundances) including peaches, pomegranate and lychee, the interior similarly painted with two bats in flight, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Collection of Henry M. Knight (d. 1971), The Hague, Holland.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19th May 1982, lot 313.
Bluett & Sons, London.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30th April 1996, lot 466.

Exhibited: The Arts of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1963, cat. no. 233.

Note: This exquisite bowl is remarkable for its detailed rendering of the sanduo (three abundances) motif. Iron red, which adheres in a thin, opaque layer, was masterfully utilised to capture the different textures of the fruits, from the ripe skin of the pomegranate and its dense array of seeds, to the leaves that bend in a highly naturalistic manner. Iron red was seldom used on its own prior to the Yongzheng reign, when all the enamels available to the potters at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen, were closely scrutinised to identify their unique properties and possibilities.

Bowls painted with this motif in iron red are rare, and only another closely related example appears to be known: from the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, London, 1994, pl. 785, and sold in these rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 5.

Sprays of fruiting pomegranate, peach and lychee represent a variation of the auspicious sanduo (‘three abundances’) motif, the lychee here replacing the more common finger citron. The lychee and pomegranate are both harbingers of an abundance of offspring: a pomegranate bursting with seeds expresses the wish for a hundred sons (liukai baizi), whilst the word for lychee (lizhi) is homophonous with “establishing a son” (lizi). The peach is a fruit associated with the goddess Xiwangmu, the Queen Mother of the West, in whose orchard peaches take 3,000 years to blossom and another to ripen, and hence peaches symbolise the wish for longevity. 

Lot 3014. A doucai wine cup, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 7.2 cm, 2 7/8  in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,500,000 HKD (190,995 - 318,325 USD). Lot Sold 2,125,000 HKD (270,576 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

well potted with rounded sides resting on a straight foot, the exterior painted with four floral medallions, each comprising a yellow, iron-red and purple chrysanthemum flowerhead wreathed by stylised leafy scrolls, all divided by stylised lotus sprays, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double square.

Provenance: Collection of Henry and Beatrice Goldschmidt.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 13th November 1990, lot 33..

Note: Meticulously painted with roundels of chrysanthemum flowers separated by lotus sprays, this charming cup is a testament of the Yongzheng Emperor’s penchant for classic styles of the past. Its fine and thinly potted body, smooth and tactile glaze, and its delicate motif were inspired by prototypes of the Chenghua reign (1465-87), which were especially treasured by the Yongzheng Emperor. Compare a Chenghua mark and period reconstructed cup with roundels of chrysanthemums, recovered from the Chenghua stratum at the site of the imperial kiln factory in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, and illustrated in Imperial porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty II, Beijing, 2016, pl. 179.

Lot 3016. A rare doucai'dragon' bowl and cover, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 20.6 cm, 8 1/8  in. Estimate 1,200,000 — 1,800,000 HKD (152,796 - 229,194 USD). Lot Sold 1,500,000 HKD (190,995 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

of conical form, the steep flaring sides supported on a straight foot, brightly painted in vivid enamels with a green and a yellow five-clawed dragon, both rising up from turbulent green waves amongst clusters of clouds and flaming pearls, the domed cover with an everted rim divided into six lobes, similarly decorated with two leaping dragons amongst scrolling clouds and flaming pearls, bordered by finely painted crashing blue waves at the rim, the base of the vessel inscribed in underglaze blue with a three-column mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30th April 1991, lot 103.

Note: This bowl is remarkable for its powerful motif of ferocious five-clawed dragons writhing their sinuous bodies above tumultuous waves. Bowls of this form, with steeply flaring sides to accommodate a similarly-shaped cover were an innovation of the Yongzheng reign and have been attributed to the early years of his reign. Bowls of this type are discussed by Peter Y.K. Lam in ‘Lang Tingji (1663-1715) and the Porcelain of the Late Kangxi Period’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 68, 2002-2003, p. 44, where he suggests that wares inscribed with a reign mark that features the character qing (great) with the yue (moon) radical written with a vertical line, instead of a horizontal line, as on this piece, were made not long after the death of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722).

Sotheby's. An Important Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2019

Lot 3017. A fine pair of doucai'sanduo' wine cups, marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 7.2 cm, 2 7/8  in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,500,000 HKD (190,995 - 318,325 USD). Lot Sold 3,750,000 HKD (477,488 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

each finely potted with rounded sides rising from a short foot to a gently flaring rim, the exterior delicately painted with three leafy branches of the sanduo (Three Abundances) namely peach, finger citron and lychee, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a floral meander, all divided by double-line borders, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 31st March 1992, lot 620.

Note: Delicately potted and exquisitely painted with the sanduo (three abundances) motif, these cups display the Yongzheng Emperor’s taste for elegant wares that were unassuming and yet of the highest quality. The craftsmen of this piece have utilised very few enamels to create a highly vibrant composition: two shades of green to depict the leaves, yellow and iron red to render the ripe skin of the peaches, and aubergine to depict pomegranates.

A closely related pair of cups is illustrated in Ye Peilan, Beauty of Ceramics: Gems of Doucai, vol. 6, Taipei, 1993, pl. 78; another pair is published in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 98; and a third pair is illustrated in Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, cat. no. 49. Cups of this type were also sold at auction, such as three pairs sold in these rooms, the first from the collection of Edward T. Chow, 19th May 1981, lot 561; the second from the collection of Paul and Helen Bernat, 15th November 1988, lot 6; and the third from the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4, London, 2010, no. 1748, sold twice in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 26, and 8th October 2014, lot 3627. 

This motif was inspired by Chenghua period (1465-1487) bowls painted with four fruiting sprays, such as a reconstructed bowl illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty II, Beijing, 2016, pl. 154.

Sotheby's. An Important Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2019

Lot 3018. A very fine and rare doucai'sanduo' bowl, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 16 cm, 6 1/4  in. Estimate 2,500,000 — 3,500,000 HKD (318,325 - 445,655 USD). Lot Sold 6,415,000 HKD (816,822 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

well potted with deep rounded sides rising from a gently tapered foot to a flared rim, the exterior finely painted in bright enamels within an underglaze-blue outline, depicting three detached branches of flowering and fruiting sanduo including pomegranate, finger citron and lychee, the interior similarly adorned with a central medallion enclosing a single flowering branch of two succulent peaches, all within double-line borders, the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Collection of Sam'l C. Davis (1871-1940), one of a pair.
Sotheby's New York, 27th November 1990, lot 190.

Note: The present bowl is a superb example of Yongzheng doucai porcelain in its clever manipulation of a restricted palette to create a variety of colours and textures. The doucai technique of drawing in underglaze-blue outlines and colouring in enamel washes, traditionally made use of the wucai (famille-verte) palette but later also incorporated fencai (famille-rose) enamels. The colour scheme used on this bowl is particularly interesting; only one of the fruiting branches, that of the pomegranates, uses a rose-pink enamel but not in the typical fencai combination with an opaque white, but superimposed on yellow. This has created a most original tone which is otherwise very rarely seen and suggests an early date in the Yongzheng reign. Furthermore the stippled iron red in the fruit enhances its sense of three dimensionality while endowing it with a naturalistic texture. 

Sotheby's. An Important Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2019

Lot 3019. A rare pair of doucai'longevity' bowls, marks and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 14.6 cm, 5 3/4  in. Estimate 1,500,000 — 2,500,000 HKD (190,995 - 318,325 USD). Lot Sold 1,875,000 HKD (238,744 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

each with rounded sides rising from a straight foot, the exterior finely painted with bright enamels in a delicate pencilled underglaze-blue outline, depicting four leafy branches each suspending a pair of peaches, one in green and the other in yellow inscribed with a shou character, all divided by pairs of iron-red bats in flight, the interior painted with a central medallion enclosing further bats flying amidst a fruiting peach tree growing from cragged rocks above a cresting sea, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10th April 2006, lot 1790.

Note: These delicately painted bowls brim with auspicious messages and evidence the Yongzheng Emperor’s (r. 1723-1735) penchant for portents of good fortune. Ripe peaches evoke the peach orchard of Xiwangmu, Queen Mother of the West, and the shou character inscribed on their interior creates the wish tuanshou (may you have longevity and completeness). Confronting red bats divide the fruit sprays and further convey the wish for blessings and longevity, making these bowls ideal birthday gifts.

Bowls painted with this design in the subtle doucai palette are unusual, although a closely related bowl was sold in these rooms, 27th April 1999, lot 426; another was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 13th November 1987, lot 485; and a third was sold at Christie’s London, 15th July 1981, lot 17.

A similar design of fruiting peach sprays inscribed with shou characters is also found painted in blue and white, such as a Yongzheng mark and period bowl, in the National Museum of China, Beijing, included in the exhibition La Splendeur du Feu, Centre Culturel de Chine, Paris, 2004, cat. no. 25.

The interior of this bowl is painted with the popular motif of the Seventh Trial of Zhao Sheng, a disciple of the Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) Daoist master Zhang Daoling, founder of the influential Way of the Celestial Masters school. Zhao was the only disciple of Master Zhang to have successfully obtained peaches from a tree growing sideways on a steep cliff. Whilst the rendition of this story on the present bowl excludes the figure, it retains the depiction of a lofty cliff overlooking a deep ravine with the peach tree emerging sideways.

Sotheby's. An Important Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2019

AlUla : merveille d'Arabieà l'Institut du Monde Arabe.

Masque en pierre, détail, Culture Teotihuacan, Vallée de Mexico, Classique, 450-650 AP. J.-C., estimation : 125.000 – 175.000 €. Courtesy Sotheby's.

PARIS - Sotheby’s a l’honneur d’annoncer, sous le titre Le Soleil de nuit, Trésors précolombiens d’une grande Collection française, la vente qui se tiendra à Paris le 30 octobre prochain. Cet ensemble majeur de 75 oeuvres d’art précolombien témoigne du goût éclairé d’un grand collectionneur français dont l’art imprégna littéralement la vie. Issues de sa succession, elles côtoyaient tant des spécimens d’histoire naturelle que des chefs-d’oeuvre d’arts décoratifs des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, du design et de l’art moderne. 

PARIS.- Sotheby’s Paris will present the auction Le Soleil de Nuit, Trésors Précolombiens d’une Grande collection Francaise, on October 30. The collection is from the estate of a lifelong collector whose well tuned eye assembled art of many eras and styles, from masterpieces of 17th and 18th decorative arts, natural history, to 20th design and modern art. The 75 works of Pre-Columbian fit comfortably in his domain, reflecting his passion for quality, beauty and the soulful element of fine objects. 

La collection se distingue par un exceptionnel ensemble de quatre masques de Teotihuacan, dont les traits et les pierres respectives - tecali lumineux (l’albâtre mexicain), la roche verte et la serpentine - traduisent les nuances sensibles de cet illustre corpus de visages idéalisés. Deux d’entre eux provenant de collections privées américaines constituées dans les années 1950 et 1960, avaient été exposés à l’Art Institute de Chicago (estimations : 125.000 – 175.000 € et 100.000 – 150.000 €). 

The collection is distinguished by a group of four Teotihuacan stone masks, in both luminous tecali, (the Mexican alabaster), and dark greenstone and serpentine, each visage conveying an individual element within the corpus of these idealized faces. Two of the masks were formerly in private American collections of the 1950’s and 1960’s, and exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (estimates: €125,000 – 175,000 and €100,000 – 150,000).  

Lot 27. Masque en pierre, Culture Teotihuacan, Vallée de Mexico,Classique, 450-650 AP. J.-C.; haut. 20 cm ; 8 in. Estimate: 125,000 — 175,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection M. et Mme Julian R. Goldsmith, Chicago, acquis ca. 1960 
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago (inv. n° 1991.469)
Sotheby's, New York, 11 mai 2012, n° 39, vendu par The Art Institute of Chicago
Importante Collection privée française

Exhibited: Chicago, The Arts Club, High Culture in the Americas Before 1500, 15 novembre - 31 décembre 1982
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, collections permanentes, 1992-2012

Note: Icônes de l’art précolombien, les masques originaires de la cité de Teotihuacan sont universellement reconnus pour leur beauté empreinte d’une très grande sérénité. Fait exceptionnel, cette importante collection française réunit quatre de ces masques qui, bien que tous façonnés selon le canon classique, illustrent chacun le génie individuel de l’artiste qui les a créés. Townsend parle ainsi de véritable « intention de portrait » lors de la création de ces masques dont les yeux et la bouche étaient souvent incrustés pour leur donner un souffle de vie, et les joues décorées de bandes incisées ou peintes pour les identifier (in Indian Art of the Americas, 2016, p. 177).

Ces masques n’étaient jamais portés par les hommes lors des cérémonies. Ils constituaient l’élément principal de grands décors faits d’éléments périssables et ornaient le visage de l’effigie du dieu célébré. Ces installations sont particulièrement lisibles sur les grandes peintures murales polychromes des palais Tetitla et Tepantitla à Teotihuacan. Chacun des masques qui ornaient les effigies était ainsi identifiable et assimiléà un dieu précis. Contrairement aux grandes effigies de pierre qui ornaient les temples, ces masques étaient transportables et pouvaient ainsi participer aux cérémonies de tous les grands centres de la région.

Ce masque s’impose au sein du corpus par les reliquats de pyrite et de pigments qui confèrent une coloration distincte à son regard et affirment son caractère individuel. S’ajoutent les bandes étroites incisées le long des joues, signes de l’âge de la personne représentée. Par l’ensemble de ses qualités esthétiques et par les caractéristiques physiques de la pierre utilisée, il s’apparente étroitement au masque en pierre du célèbre collectionneur anglais Jacob Epstein; voir Bassani et McLeod, Jacob Epstein Collector, 1989, p. 164, n° 677.

Pour d’autres masques de ce style, voir Berrin et Pasztory, Teotihuacan, 1993, p. 185 n° 24 et p. 187, n° 26.

The masks of Teotihuacan are one of the most recognized icons of Pre-Columbian art, imbued with a universal serenity.  Each of the four masks within this collection can be considered of the classic idealized form yet each has its own subtle individual character. Townsend notes the ‘intention of portraiture’,  whereby masks had inlay for the eyes and mouth, and some with inset bands on the cheeks, or painted stripes on the face (Townsend, Indian Art of the Americas, 2016, p. 177).

The masks were never to be worn for human performance. They served as the central feature within the elaborate accoutrements of perishable material on the festival effigy figures, as seen in the polychrome murals at compounds in Teotihuacan in Palace of Tetitla and Tepantitla. The masks and effigy figures were likely customized to represent the appropriate deity celebrated. Unlike large complete stone figures which may have been more fixed to one location, the masks could be transported for ceremony throughout the city and region. 

The wideset eyes show the distinct staining and remains of pyrite and pigment, adding to its individual character along with the narrow bands of age lines curving along the cheeks.  The overall design and proportion of this face are similar to the Teotihuacan stone mask from the renown English collector Jacob Epstein; see Bassani and McLeod, Jacob Epstein Collector, 1989, p. 164, no. 677.

For other masks of the type see Berrin and Pasztory, Teotihuacan, 1993, p. 185, no. 24 and p. 187, no. 26

Lot 29. Masque en pierre tecali, Culture Teotihuacan, Vallée de Mexico, Classique, 450-650 AP. J.-C.; larg. 19 cm ; 7 1/2 in. Estimate: 100,000 — 150,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection M. et M me Samuel A. Marx, Chicago
Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, 1958 (inv. n° 58.323 )
Sotheby's, New York, 11 mai 2012, n° 42, vendu par The Art Institute of Chicago
Importante Collection privée française

Exhibited: Chicago, The Art Institute of Chicago, collections permanentes, 1960-2012

Note: Ce très beau masque Teotihuacan est sculpté en tecali (onyx) de couleur jaune apprécié pour ses nuances de couleurs allant du blanc translucide au jaune teinté de vert comme c'est le cas ici. Cette pierre est originaire de la région de Puebla. Le visage s’inscrit dans un triangle à la pointe arrondie qui lui donne une certaine douceur. Sous un haut front fuyant et une ligne de sourcils très légèrement marquée, deux cavités ovales représentent les yeux à l’origine incrustés de pyrites ou de coquillage. Le nez à l’arête très fine s’élargit pour former un parfait triangle. Les lèvres épaisses encadrent la bouche légèrement ouverte et qui était incrustée de coquillages blancs pour figurer les dents.

Literature: Berjonneau (G.), Sonnery (J.-L.) et Deletaille (E.),  Chefs-d'œuvre inédits de l'art précolombien, 1985, p.116, n° 151
Kerchache (J.),  A visage découvert, 1992, dos de couverture
Burnand (G.), Mexique, terre des dieux : trésors de l'art précolombien, 1998, p. 131, n° 138
Aveleyra (L.), Pina Chan (R.), L'art précolombien : Olmèque - Maya - Aztèque, 2000, p. 203
Stierlin (H.), Teotihuacan. La cité des Dieux, 2009, n. p.

Note: Ce remarquable masque en serpentin noire ; le plus imposant des quatre masques de la collection ; affirme une force particulière transmise par son équilibre formel et sa couleur profonde. Il illustre la "beauté sévère" qu’Evans évoque dans ses commentaires sur les masques de la collection Dumbarton Oaks (Evans, Ancient Mexican Art at Dumbarton Oaks, 2010, p. 44).

La dextérité des maîtres lapidaires de Teotihuacan est ici particulièrement visible dans la finition et la conception du visage. La coupe nette et confiante des sourcils forme des arcs parfaitement équilibrés qui répondent aux plans faciaux latéraux légèrement aplatis définissant les pommettes saillantes. La tranche pointue du nez contraste avec le léger philtrum au-dessus de la lèvre supérieure de la bouche sculptée. Le polissage rend le noir presque lumineux et renforce l’expression impassible de ce visage à la beauté intemporelle.

Les masques de Teotihuacan ne sont pas en eux-mêmes un élément de transformation dans la façon dont nous concevons les masques, mais fonctionnent dans le contexte d'un plus grand assemblage. Leurs rôles rituels prenaient vie lors des rites de fête et de cérémonie. Certains ont peut-être été attachés à des effigies et présentés lors de cérémonies occasionnelles pour consulter ou vénérer un esprit.

The dark serpentine masks of Teotihuacan emit a particular force and formal balance in the deeply sculpted arched browlines and modeled facial planes. A type of 'severe beauty ', it is the epitome of a restrained aesthetic. (Evans, Ancient Mexican Art at Dumbarton Oaks, 2010, p. 44). 

The dexterity of Teotihuacan’s lapidary masters can be seen in the workmanship and design of the face. The sharp and confident carving of the brows form perfectly balanced arcs, the slightly flattened lateral facial planes define the high cheek bones, and the sharp bridge of the nose contrasts against the gentle philtrum above the upper lip of the sculpted mouth. The polishing makes the black almost luminous and reinforces the impassive expression of this timeless beauty face. It is a masterpiece of one aesthetic of the Teotihuacan mask tradition.

Teotihuacan masks are not in themselves the transformative element in the way we think of masks, but function within the context of a greater assemblage. The ritual roles they functioned in were part of festival and ceremonial rites. Some may have been attached to funerary bundles animating the effigy and displayed in occasional ceremonies to consult or venerate a spirit. 

Lot 34. Masque en tecali, Culture Teotihuacan, Vallée de Mexico, Classique, 450-650 AP. J.-C.; haut. 15 cm ; 5 7/8 in. Estimate: 60,000 — 80,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection privée, Belgique
Collection Gérald Berjonneau, Paris, acquis en 1977
Importante Collection privée française, acquis du précédent en 2005

Note: Le deuxième masque en tecali de cette collection montre l’apothéose du blanc que l’on retrouve dans le spectre des couleurs de cette pierre. A sa translucidité laiteuse répondaient dans un contraste saisissant les incrustations des yeux et de la bouche, ainsi que les éléments du costume périssable de l’effigie dont ce masque ornait le visage.

Ce masque se distingue par un plan facial large et lisse, un menton aplati et des yeux ovales étroits. Il a pu être décoré avec de la peinture et des incrustations supplémentaires, comme semblent l’indiquer les zones légèrement rugueuses sur les joues. Il n'est pas rare de trouver des masques Teotihuacan avec des décorations sur les joues, allant de motifs géométriques à des décors beaucoup plus figuratifs tels que des fleurs.

Pour des masques de type similaire, voir Sotheby’s, New York, 15 mai 2017, n° 74, et Sotheby’s, New York, 16 mai 2014, n° 279.

The second of the two tecali masks of this collection, this mask shows the very white side of the spectrum of colors of tecali stone. With its milky translucent quality it would have been a bright palette against the inlays of the eyes and mouth, as well as the surrounding brilliant perishable costume elements of a ceremonial effigy figure.

The facial style is distinct for the broad and smooth facial plane and flattened chin with narrowed oval eyes. The face may have been decorated with paint or additional inlay as indicated by the slightly roughened areas on the cheeks. It is not uncommon to find Teotihuacan masks with decorations on the cheeks of geometric patterns or flowers representing face paint designs. 

For similar masks of this type, see Sotheby’s, New York, May 15, 2017, no. 74, and Sotheby’s, New York, May 16, 2014, no. 279.

La culture olmèque, la plus ancienne des civilisations mésoaméricaines, est illustrée par deux oeuvres emblématiques. La première est une poignée de perforateur, prestigieux instrument cérémoniel utilisé par les dignitaires lors des rituels de saignée destinés à affirmer leur pouvoir lignager. Sculpté dans un jade bleu-vert, le plus prisé des matériaux, il représente l’homme-jaguar émergeant d’un épi de maïs. De la graine en germination s’élève la créature surnaturelle, mi-homme, mi-jaguar, évoquant en écho la naissance de la divinité du maïs, céréale essentielle à la vie (estimation : 200.000 - 300.000€). 

The earliest culture of Mesoamerica is represented with two iconic Olmec objects, a perforator handle of the infant were-jaguar emerging from a split ear of maize. This ceremonial tool was important for the bloodletting ceremonies that rulers performed to affirm their lineage and rulership. From the germinating seed of the maize kernel rises the supernatural half-human, half-jaguar creature. This perforator is carved in blue-green jade, the most prized of ancient materials, and echoes the birth of the corn god from the verdant growth of lifesustaining maize (estimate: €200,000-300,000€). 

Lot 22. Perforateur en jade, Culture Olmèque, Préclassique moyen, 900 - 600 AV. J.-C.; haut. 10,5 cm ; 4 3/8 in. Estimate: 200,000 — 300,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Edward H. Merrin Gallery, New York
Collection privée, Paris, acquis ca. 1980 
Sotheby's, New York, 17 mai 2007, n° 179
Importante Collection privée française

Literature: Berjonneau (G.), Sonnery (J.-L.) et Deletaille (E.), Chefs-d'œuvre inédits de l'art précolombien , 1985, p. 36, n° 8
Taube (K. A.), Olmec Art at Dumbarton Oaks, 2004, p. 90, n° 41a, dessin.

Note: Cette puissante représentation de l’homme-jaguar constituait la poignée d’un perforateur sacré, autrefois sertie d’une longue lame conique. L’homme-jaguar émergeant d’un épi de maïs fendu symbolise, dans une dynamique d’élan vertical, une posture de croissance éternelle. La sculpture invite ainsi le spectateur à anticiper et àêtre témoin de l’émergence ultime de la divinité. Sa forme diminutive éloquente témoigne de son importance rituelle et de la magistrale dimension expressive et narrative de l'art olmèque. Il s’agit de la plus ancienne représentation de l’infant homme-jaguar, incarnation du Dieu du maïs, l’une des divinités les plus puissantes et impérieuses peuplant la mythologie de l’ancienne Mésoamérique.

Brillamment ouvragé, ce perforateur s’inscrit dans l’infime corpus de quatre témoins répertoriés de l’infant homme-jaguar émergeant de l'épi fendu. Le corps doux et charnu contraste magistralement avec la dureté impénétrable du jade.

Les hommes-jaguars étaient omniprésents dans la mythologie et l'iconographie olmèques. Le jaguar était vénéré comme la créature la plus puissante du monde animal ; considéré comme le seigneur de la nuit, il fut finalement associéà la puissance politique, au pouvoir physique et divin. Dans certaines sculptures, les figures mi-humaines, mi-félines illustrent graphiquement la transformation chamanique de l'homme en animal, tandis que d’autres représentent des êtres humains portant des masques de jaguar. Chacune de ces formes traduit la puissance et le pouvoir de l'état transitoire. Ici, l’homme-jaguar se distingue par l'emblème surnaturel des lignes verticales scindant l'œil – iconographie qui le relie au dieu à l'œil bandé, l'une des principales divinités représentées sur la célèbre statue du Seigneur de Las Limas (Musée d’anthropologie de Veracruz, Xalapa). Il est exceptionnel que le dieu à l’œil bandé soit représenté sous les traits d’une figure en pied, comme ici (Joralemon in Benson et De La Fuente, Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, 1996, p. 56).

Pour les Olmèques, la dynamique perpétuelle entre les mondes terrestre et surnaturel constituait l'équilibre crucial du pouvoir exercé par les dirigeants et les chamans.

La saignée, offrande d'un fluide vital sacré, était l'un des actes rituels les plus importants pratiquéà l’époque olmèque. Il se perpétua, de manière hautement cérémonielle, pendant toute la période maya. Cet acte de pénitence et de purification était aussi considéré comme l’offrande à la terre d’une nourriture métaphorique destinée à assurer des cultures fertiles. Les artéfacts utilisés pour la saignée étaient réalisés dans des éléments naturels tels que des aiguillons de raie, des pointes de cactus ou encore des dents de requin. Leur typologie fut étudiée lors de missions scientifiques sur le site de La Venta, au cœur du territoire olmèque, et dans d’autres régions du pays olmèque.

“[La] création d'objets dotés d’un pouvoir magique, ouvragés dans des matériaux précieux et exotiques et utilisés lors de performances rituelles donnaient une forme visible aux pouvoirs chamaniques des dirigeants olmèques, agissant comme validation de leur revendication de pouvoir.” (Coe et al., Olmec World, 1995, p. 163).

Pour les trois autres perforateurs ornés d’une représentation de l’homme-jaguar, voir idem, pl. 76; Berjonneau, Deletaille et Sonnery, Chefs-d'œuvre inédits de l'art précolombien, 1985, fig. 5; et un exemplaire non reproduit conservé dans une collection privée américaine, cité par Joralemon dans Le Fort, Masters of Americas, Janssen Collection, 2005, p. 26. Joralemon souligne que le concept olmèque d'un être surnaturel émergeant d'une plante fut adopté comme forme sculpturale dans les figures Jaina des Mayas.

Pour un manche de perforateur en jade apparenté dans la collection de Dora et Paul Janssen, voir Le Fort, op. cit., p. 27.

"La culture olmèque a cristallisé avec cohérence et puissance les principes fondamentaux qui imprègnent la pensée mésoaméricaine " (Magaloni in Berrin et Fields, Olmec Colossal Masterworks, 2010, p. 10).

The powerful figure of the supernatural were-jaguar is the handle to a sacred perforator once with a long tapered shaft. The fully sculpted figure emerging from the cleft maize ear is in a dynamic position:  the sculpture engages and holds our anticipation of witnessing the final appearance of the full deity. The perforator handle conveys the intensely expressive and narrative ability of Olmec art in a small ritualized object.  This is the earliest graphic depiction of the were-jaguar infant representing the Maize God, one of the most omnipotent and dominant deities to pervade ancient Mesoamerica mythology.  

This finely carved perforator is one of only four examples of the infant were-jaguar emerging from the cleaved stalk of the plant. The were-jaguar’s soft fleshy body is masterfully juxtaposed to the impenetrable hardness of the jade.

Were-jaguars were the most prevalent creature of Olmec mythology and iconography. The jaguar was revered as the most powerful creature of the animal world; it was the lord of the night and ultimately associated with political might and physical and divine power. In some depictions, the half-human, half feline figures graphically show the shamanic transformation of man into an animal, in other sculptures they are humans wearing jaguar masks. But in all forms, they convey the potency and power of the transitory state. This were-jaguar is distinguished by the supernatural insignia of vertical lines bisecting the eye, and thus it is connected to the banded-eye god, one of the principal deities incised on the Las Limas seated figure, a virtual Rosetta stone of the Olmec pantheon of deities. Interestingly, the banded-eye god is never shown as a full figure, as rendered here (Joralemon in Benson and De La Fuente, Olmec Art of Ancient Mexico, 1996, p. 56).

For the Olmec, the continual dynamic between the natural and supernatural world was the crucial balance of power that was maintained by the rulers and shaman. Bloodletting, the offering of vital sacred fluid, was one of the most important acts that were practiced from Olmec times and continued in elaborate ceremonies through the Maya period. It was an act of penitence and purification, but also a metaphoric nourishing of the earth to help ensure fertile crops.

Bloodletters were made from natural objects such as stingray spines, cactus points, and sharks teeth. Blood letters of various types have been scientifically excavated at La Venta in the Olmec heartland area and other areas of the Olmec region.

“[The]…creation of magically empowered objects of precious and exotic materials animated in ritual performance gave visible form to the shamanic powers of Olmec rulers as a validation to their claim of rulership.” (Coe et al., Olmec World, 1995, p. 163).

For the three other perforators with were-jaguar figures, see (ibid: pl. 76);  Berjonneau, Deletaille and Sonnery, Rediscovered Masterpieces, 1985, p. 36, fig. 5; and an unpublished example in an American private collection as cited by Joralemon in Le Fort, ed. Masters of the Americas, Dora and Paul Janssen Collection, 2005, p. 26).  Joralemon also notes that the Olmec concept of a supernatural being issuing from a plant became a sculptural form in the ceramic Jaina figures for the Maya.

For a related jade perforator handle, see the jade perforator in the Dora and Paul Janssen Collection, Le Fort, ed. op. cit., p. 27. 

"Olmec culture coherently and powerfully crystallized fundamental principles that pervade Mesoamerican thought." (Magaloni, in Berrin and Fields, Olmec Colossal Masterworks, 2010, p. 10).

La seconde est un masque miniature en pierre au visage empreint de sagesse, finement incisé d’images symboliques des divinités olmèques. Il fut exposé en 1969 au Museum of Primitive Art (New York), dans l’une des plus importantes expositions jamais consacrées à l’art précolombien : Precolumbian art in New York, Selections from Private Collections. 

An Olmec stone maskette with the soulful face of humility and wisdom is finely incised with symbolic imagery of the Olmec deities. It was published and exhibited in 1969 at the Museum of Primitive Art, New York, in one of the important exhibitions devoted to Pre-Columbian art, Precolumbian art in New York, Selections from Private Collections. 

Lot 23. Masquette en pierre, Culture Olmèque, Préclassique Moyen 900-600 AV. J.-C.; haut. 8 cm ; 3 1/8 in. Estimate: 150,000 — 200,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection Miles et Margaret Lourie, New York, acquis ca. 1960
Christie's, Paris, 14 juin 2004, n° 375
Importante Collection privée française.

Exhibited: New York, Museum of Primitive Art, Pre-Columbian Art in New York: Selections from Private Collections, 12 septembre - 9 novembre 1969

Literature: Jones (J.), Pre-Columbian Art in New York: Selections from Private Collections, 1969, n° 3.

Note: Les masques en pierre de la culture olmèque sont des sculptures primordiales de l’époque Préclassique Moyenne. Ils constituent l'un des médias privilégiés par lequel les artistes olmèques produisaient des insignes de pouvoir en s'appuyant sur un système iconographique hautement symbolique et normalisé. Les masques olmèques sont réputés pour l’incroyable émotion qu’exalte leur visage.

Le raffinement de la culture Maya s’impose dans des objets de facture remarquable en jade, en céramique ou en pierre. Ses récits mythologiques se déploient avec la plus grande élégance sur le vase codex représentant le jeune dieu du maïs dans l’attitude du scribe, sur des réceptacles polychromes ou en céramique à laque noire, sur de délicats pendentifs en jade vert-pomme et des silex (estimation : 100.000 - 150.000 €).

The Maya culture is well represented in jade, ceramic and stone objects of refined workmanship and design. The Maya vase of codex of the Young Maize god as a scribe,) gracefully depicts this deity in the act of writing. The narratives of Maya mythology are also shown on polychrome cylinder vessels, lustrous blackware ceramic vessels, delicate stone pendants in apple-green jade, and the abstract ‘eccentric’ flints (estimate: €100,000 – 150,000). 

Lot 56. Vase de type Codex, avec Scribes, Culture Maya, Classique Récent, 550-950 AP. J.-C.; haut. 12 cm ; 4 3/4 in. Estimate: 90,000 — 120,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection privée, États-Unis, acquis en 1970
Sotheby's, New York, 12 mai 2005, n° 300
Importante Collection privée française.

Literature: Robicsek (F.) et Hales (D. M.),  The Maya Book of the Dead, The Ceramic Codex, 1981, couverture et p. 58, n° 69
Reents-Budet (D.),  Painting the Maya Universe: Royal Ceramics of the Classic Period, 1994, p. 37 fig. 2.2 pour le détail; p. 45 fig. 2.13b pour le détail du dessin, et p. 316, n° 4
Coe (M. D.) et Kerr (J.),  The Art of the Maya Scribe, 1998, p. 107, n° 76
Kerr (J.), mayavase.com, n° K1185.

L’art de l’ancien Mexique occidental s’illustre tant dans sa tradition délicate de la céramique, avec la poétique figure féminine Chinesco, assise dans une calme méditation, que dans la pierre (estimation : 60.000 - 80.000€). A côté de deux hachas, en forme d’humain et d’oiseau, s’impose un joug cérémoniel en pierre sculpté d’un serpent et de formes félines, symbolisant la ceinture en cuir et en textile portée par les joueurs de balle – sport rituel pratiqué pendant des millénaires en Mésoamérique. 

The refined ceramic tradition of ancient West Mexico is most poetically shown in the demure seated Chinesco female figure, poised in tranquil meditation (estimate: €60,000-80,000). The ballgame was one of the most important rituals of sport and prowess played throughout the millennia in ancient Mesoamerica. The collection features a stone effigy yoke from an early French collection, carved with a serpent and images of skeletal and feline forms. Yokes were the ceremonial version of the actual leather and textile belts worn by the players. The collection also includes two ballgame hachas in human and bird form. 

Lot 35. Statue anthropomorphe assise, Culture Nayarit, Style Lagunillas Type E, Protoclassique, 100 AV. J.-C. - 250 AP. J.-C.; haut. 32,5 cm ; 12 3/4 in. Estimate: 60,000 — 80,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Collection privée, États-Unis, acquis en 1972
Sotheby's, New York, 9 mai 2006, n° 170
Importante Collection privée française.

Note: Les statues "Chinesco" - ainsi fréquemment nommées pour leur supposée analogie stylistique avec l'art oriental - originaires de la région de Lagunillas (au Sud des Nayarit), comptent parmi les statues funéraires les plus évocatrices de l’Ouest mexicain. Agenouillé, les bras recourbés sous l’ample poitrine, le personnage féminin nous apparaît dans une transe profonde, d'une intense sérénité. Son iconographie évoque le « rituel de la nudité» qui, selon Townsend, constituait pour les jeunes femmes un rite initiatique (Townsend, Ancient West Mexico, 1998, p. 122).

La typologie des statues Nayarit distingue cinq sous-ensembles (A-E) et cette statue féminine relève du type E. Elle est sobrement décorée de peinture rouge et arbore une « main rouge » sur la poitrine, la joue et l'omoplate, ainsi qu’une délicate ceinture perlée soulignant la taille. La teinte crème subsistante qui souligne les cuisses indique la présence d’un pagne. Les traits du visage triangulaire sont moins prononcés que sur les autres styles et mettent en valeur les yeux gonflés, fendus, subtilement accentués par un masque noir. Elle est parée d’une perle nasale et d’une coiffure striée de fines lignes. Les traits de cette œuvre sont caractéristiques du style et intrinsèquement différents des autres types Nayarit, suggérant que les statues de type E ont pu être ouvragées par des ateliers individuels.

Pour des statues comparables, voir Townsend, idem, p. 284, n° 214 et 215, et Sotheby’s, New York, 7 mai 2016, n° 135.

"Chinesco" figures, as they are often designated, originating from the southern Nayarit region of Lagunillas, are some of the most evocative West Mexican funerary figures. Seated in a kneeling position with her arms underneath her wide-set breasts, she is in a deep trance, bearing a gentle but intense demeanor. Townsend refers to the 'ritual of nudity' as part of the young females' rite of passage (Townsend, Ancient West Mexico, 1998, p. 122).

There are five varieties of this Nayarit style; this female is typical of Type E. She is decorated sparingly with red paint and bears a ‘red hand’ on her breast, cheek and back shoulder, and wears a delicate beaded belt around her waist. A resist cream color demarcates her thighs, indicating the presence of a loincloth. The features on her slightly triangular face are less flat than other styles and exhibit puffy, slit eyes. A black mask lightly highlights the area around the eyes and she wears a small nose bead and has pierced ears. Thin, incised lines demarcate this figure’s coiffure.  The distinctive traits representative of this type of figure are internally consistent and significantly different from other Nayarit types, perhaps indicating that they were manufactured at individual workshops.

For similar figures, see Townsend, ibid.,p. 284, no. 214 and 215; see also Sotheby’s, New York, May 7, 2016, lot 135.

Le champ de la collection s’étend aux ornements d’or et de jade d’Amérique Centrale et jusqu’à la riche tradition artistique de la région andine. Cette dernière excella dans la métallurgie, illustrée ici par une rare figure en argent Chimu, exposée au Metropolitan Museum of Art en 2000, et par le textile, avec une éblouissante tunique Wari tissée en registres abstraits de messagers à tête de puma. 

The breadth of the collection extends into Central American gold and jade with finely necklaces and pendants. The rich tradition of metallurgy and textile art from the Andean region are shown with a rare Chimu silver figure, exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2000, and a dazzling Wari complete textile tunic woven with bands of abstract pumaheaded messenger figures.

Lot 57. Figurine en argent et métal, Culture Chimu, 1100-1300 AP. J.-C.; Argent (800°/00) et métal; Poids brut : 184,95 g; haut. 21 cm ; 8 1/4 in. Estimate: 80,000 — 120,000 EUR. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Marché de l’art, Europe, ca. 1960
Collection privée scandinave
Sotheby's, New York, 24 novembre 1986, n° 9
Collection Eugene Chesrow, Chicago
Christie's, Paris, 12 juin 2003, n° 513
Importante Collection privée française.

Exhibited: New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,  Rain of the Moon, Silver in Ancient Peru, 3 novembre 2000 - 22 avril 2001.

Literature: King (H. T.), Butters (L. J. C.) et de Mufarech (P. C.),  Rain of the Moon, Silver in Ancient Peru, 2000, p. 38, n° 10
Mufarech (P. C.), The Silver and Silversmiths of Peru, 1997, p. 16, frontispice.

Chimu et l'art de la métallurgie de l'argent
Heidi King, historienne de l'art précolombien

Ce réceptacle extrêmement rare et original représente un homme allongé sur le ventre, les bras croisés à l’avant de la tête formant la coupe. Il est l’œuvre des Chimú, peuple qui régna sur la côte septentrionale du Pérou, du XIIIe siècle jusqu'à la conquête des Incas à la fin du XVe siècle. Les Chimú ont perpétué de nombreuses traditions établies par les cultures déjà présentes dans la région depuis plusieurs milliers d'années, notamment la création de vases anthropomorphes en argile, en bois et en métaux précieux tels que l'argent et l'or. Certains de ces réceptacles anthropomorphes figurent la moitié ou une partie du corps telle que la tête, les bras, les mains, les jambes ou les pieds, et sont représentés en posture assise, agenouillée ou debout. Ces réceptacles étaient utilisés lors de rituels et de cérémonies impliquant la consommation de boissons telles que la chicha. Ils étaient ensuite enterrés avec des personnalités de haut rang dans des tombeaux sophistiqués ou encore placés dans des niches comme offrandes aux dieux ou aux ancêtres. Les vases dont la silhouette complète adopte cette posture sont très rares et leur signification demeure inexpliquée. Quelques exemples en céramique de la culture Vicús, qui s’est épanouie sur la côte nord du Pérou plus de mille ans avant les Chimú, ont été répertoriés. Un certain nombre de vases en argile présentant des petits personnages dans cette position ont été exhumées de la tombe d'un haut dignitaire Sicán, prédécesseurs des Chimú, à Batan Grande, dans la vallée de Lambayeque, également située sur la côte nord. Ces découvertes confirment que pendant des siècles, cette position devait être hautement significative pour les cultures de cette région.

Les Chimú construisirent la capitale de leur royaume à Chan Chan, située à l'embouchure de la vallée de Moche (à la périphérie de l’actuelle Trujillo). À la fin du XVe siècle, la ville couvrait une superficie de plus de vingt kilomètres carrés, en faisant ainsi la plus grande cité de l'ancien Pérou.

En son centre, dix monumentaux complexes royaux appelés ciudadelas (petites villes) étaient entourés des quartiers résidentiels de la petite noblesse et de vastes quartiers d'artisanat de produits de luxe. Ce réceptacle a probablement été créé dans un atelier de métallurgie spécialisé. Les métallurgistes de Chimúétaient si accomplis dans leur métier que les Incas, après avoir conquis leur territoire, ont envoyé les meilleurs d'entre eux dans leur capitale Cuzco, sur les hauts plateaux du sud, pour servir la royauté Inca.

Une grande partie de l'or et de l'argent travaillés par les Chimúétait transformée en contenants plutôt qu'en ornements individuels, comme sous la domination Moche quelques siècles auparavant.

Ce réceptacle est constitué de onze feuilles d’argent de formes diverses, assemblées ou reliées par soudure. Le personnage  est vêtu d’un simple pagne - visible sous le récipient - décoré d'un motif repoussé en pointillé et en zig-zag. Le haut du corps est nu. Sa tête dressée formant la coupe est coiffée d’un grand bonnet uni, maintenu par une mentonnière et bordé d’un alliage en or. L'alliance d'or et d'argent dans un même objet possédait une symbolique profondément enracinée dans le Pérou précolombien : le principe de dualité, de réciprocité et d'équilibre entre les contraires. L’or était considéré comme les larmes du soleil, et l’argent comme la pluie de la lune. Les doigts et les orteils sont en métal repoussé, tout comme les traits du visage, accentuant ainsi la proéminence des yeux rhomboïdaux grands ouverts.

Pour des réceptacles similaires en céramique, voir Makowski, Krzysztof et al., Vicús. Colección Arte y Tesoros del Perú, 1994, fig. 328 à 330.

Chimu, and the Art of Silver Metallurgy
Heidi King, Art Historian, Pre-Columbian Art

This very unusual and rare vessel is in the shape of an outstretched male figure lying on his stomach with crossed arms in front of his removable head which is open from the neck into the body which forms the container. It was made by the Chimú people who ruled over the North Coast of Peru from the 13th century until they were conquered by the Inca in the late 15th century. The Chimú continued many of the traditions established by earlier cultures in the region several thousand years before them, which included the manufacture of vessels in the form of human beings in a variety of materials such as clay, wood and precious metal like silver and gold. Many of these vessels show the human form – sometimes only half figures or only the head or body parts like arms, hands, legs or feet - in various poses, seated, kneeling, or standing. The vessels were used in rituals and ceremonies which involved the consumption of beverages such as chicha, and were subsequently buried with important individuals in elaborate tombs or placed in caches as offerings to the gods or ancestors. Full-figure vessels in this posture are very rare and its meaning remains unexplained. A few ceramic examples are known from the Vicús culture which flourished on Peru’s North Coast more than one thousand years prior to the Chimú. A number of clay vessels displaying small figures in this positon were excavated from a rich elite burial of the Sicán people, predecessors of the Chimú, at Batan Grande in the Lambayeque Valley, also on the North Coast.  This suggests that this posture of the human figure had significant meaning over many centuries on the North Coast of Peru.

The Chimú built the capital city of their kingdom at Chan Chan located at the mouth of the Moche Valley on the outskirts of the modern town of Trujillo. By the late fifteenth century the city covered eight square miles and was the largest in ancient Peru. Its core consisted of ten monumental royal compounds known as ciudadelas (little cities), surrounded by residences for the lesser nobility as well as sprawling quarters of artisans engaged in the manufacture of luxury goods. This vessel was probably made in a specialized metalworkers workshop. Chimú metalworkers were so accomplished in their craft that the Inca, after conquering their territory, relocated the best of them to their capital city of Cuzco in the southern highlands, to work for Inca royalty.

Much of the gold and silver worked by the Chimú was shaped into containers of various kinds rather than into personal adornments as was the case during Moche dominance of the region many centuries earlier. The vessel is made of eleven separately shaped pieces of sheet silver which have been tabbed together or joined by solder. The figure wears a simple loincloth decorated on the front - visible on the underside of the container – with a dotted and zig-zag pattern in repoussé. The upper body is naked.  The figure’s head forming the spout is held upright and wears a large, plain cap with a wide rim made of gold alloy; it is held in place with a chin strap. The use of gold and silver in one object had deep-rooted and long-standing symbolic meaning in Pre-Columbian Peru reflecting the concept of duality, reciprocity and balance between opposites.  Gold was considered the tears of the sun, and silver the rain of the moon. The figure’s facial features, fingers and toes are worked in repoussé; most prominent are the wide open lozenge-shaped eyes.

For similar figure vessels in ceramic see Makowski, Krzysztof, et al. Vicús. Colección Arte y tesoros del Perú. Lima, 1994, figs. 328 to 330.

Révélant la sensibilité et l’érudition de son auteur, cette remarquable collection françaiseéclaire l’ampleur de l’art ancien du Nouveau Monde et la richesse de sa mythologie. De ses chefs-d’oeuvre jusqu’aux objets plus modestes, chacune de ses oeuvres renvoie à la beauté et à l’âme des civilisations précolombiennes.

This distinguished French collection is a feast of objects from many cultures and eras, representing the scope of ancient art and mythology from the New World. It includes objects of grandeur as well as modest beauty which convey the quality and soul of Pre-Columbian art.

Lot 12. Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), Parc des Princes (Les grands footballeurs), signé'Staël' (en bas à gauche); signé de nouveau, daté et titré'PARC DES PRINCES Staël 1952' (au revers), huile sur toile, 201 x 351.5 cm. Peint en 1952 à Paris. Estimate EUR 18,000,000 - EUR 25,000,000 (USD 19,788,719 - USD 27,484,333). © Christie's ImageLtd 2019

signed 'Staël' (lower left); signed again, dated and titled 'PARC DES PRINCES Staël 1952' (on the reverse), oil on canvas 79 1/8 x 138 3/8 in. Painted in 1952 in Paris

Provenance: L'artiste.
Puis par descendance aux propriétaires actuels.

Literature: M. Arland, “Nicolas de Staël“, in La Nouvelle revue Française, n°41, Paris, 1956, p. 905.
A. Chastel, “Au Musée d’Art Moderne : Nicolas de Staël”, in Le Monde, Paris, 24 février, 1956, p. 6 (mentionné).
D. Cooper, “Nicolas de Staël : In Memoriam”, in The Burlignton Magazine, n° 638, Londres, mai 1956, p. 142 (mentionné).
L. Landini, “La mostra di de Staël a Parigi”, in Paragone, n° 79, Florence, juillet 1956, p. 75.
D. Cooper, Nicolas de Staël, Bergame, 1961 (mentionné, p. 50).
F de Staël et J. Dubourg, Nicolas de Staël, Catalogue Raisonné des Peintures, Paris, 1968, no. 386 (une vue d'atelier illustrée, p. 14; illustré en couleurs, p. 189 et illustré, p. 196).
D. Vallier, “Nicolas de Staël”, in Chronique de l’art vivant, n° 31, Paris, juin-juillet 1972, p. 4 (mentionné).
G. Dumur, Nicolas de Staël, Paris, 1975, p. 70 (mentionné).
J-L. Daval, Revoir Nicolas de Staël, catalogue d’exposition, Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris, 1981 (mentionné; non paginé).
J-P. Jouffroy, La mesure de Nicolas de Staël, Neuchâtel, 1981, no. 1, p. 7 (illustré en couleurs, pp. 8-9; mentionné, pp. 52, 152, 157, 171, 235; une vue d'atelier illustrée, p. 182).
R. Micha, “Trois maîtres : Dufy et de Staël à Paris, Kokoshka à Londres”, in Art International, n° 9-10, août 1981, p. 160 (mentionné).
M. Peppiatt, "Abstraction versus Figuration. The Mid-Century Dilemma of Nicolas de Staël”, in Art International, Paris, automne 1988, p. 23 (mentionné).
G. Viatte, Staël, au risque de peindre, catalogue d’exposition, Tokyo/Kamakura/Hiroshima, 1993, p. 16 (illustré).
Nicolas de Staël, catalogue d'exposition, Fondazione Magnani Rocca, Parme, 1994, no. 14 (une vue d'atelier illustrée).
D. Dobbels, Staël, Paris, 1994, pl. 37 (illustré en couleurs, pp. 156-157; une vue d'atelier illustrée, p. 241).
F. de Staël, Nicolas de Staël, Catalogue Raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Neuchâtel, 1997, no. 418, pp. 350 et 351 (illustré en couleurs).
M. du Bouchet, Nicolas de Staël, une illumination sans précédent, Paris, 2003 (illustré en couleurs, pp. 70-71).
T. Parsons, Nicolas de Staël, New York, 2009, no. 19, p. 31 (un détail illustré en couleurs, p. 2; illustré en couleurs, pp. 32-33).
V. Ribordy, "Nicolas de Staël. Quinze ans après", in Le Nouvelliste, supplément du 16 juin 2010, Suisse (illustré en couleurs, p. 9).
Nicolas de Staël, Lumières du Nord, Lumières du Sud, catalogue d'exposition, Le Havre, Musée d'Art Moderne André Malraux, 2014 (une vue d'atelier illustrée, p. 17).

Exhibited: Paris, Musée National d'Art Moderne, Salon de mai, mai 1952, no. 170.
New York, Knoedler Galleries, Nicolas de Staël, Paintings, Drawings and Lithographs, mars 1953, no. 43.
Paris, Musée Nationale d’Art Moderne, Nicolas de Staël 1914-1955, février-avril 1956, no. 55, p. 21.
Berne, Kunsthalle Berne, Nicolas de Staël, Rétrospective, septembre-octobre 1957, no. 50.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Nicolas de Staël, juillet-septembre 1972, no. 42, p. 159 (une vue d'atelier illustrée, p. 8; illustré en couleurs, pp. 78-79).
Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Nicolas de Staël, mai-août 1981, no. 56 (illustré, p. 76; une vue d'atelier illustré, p. 18).
Londres, The Tate Gallery, Nicolas de Staël, Rétrospective, octobre-novembre 1981, no. 26.
Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Nicolas de Staël, Rétrospective de l'œuvre peint, juillet-septembre 1991, no. 26, p. 84 (illustré en couleurs, pp. 26-27; une vue d'atelier illustrée, pp. 8 et 187).
Madrid, Museo de Arte Reina Sofia, Nicolas de Staël, Rétrospectiva, octobre-décembre 1991, no. 26, p. 86 (une vue d'atelier illustrée, pp. 8 et 189; illustré en couleurs, pp. 88-89).
Paris, Centre Georges Pompidou, Nicolas de Staël, mars-juin 2003, no. 118, p. 246 (illustré en couleurs sur la couverture et pp. 142-143; des vues d'atelier illustrées, pp. 46, 123-124).
Martigny, Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Nicolas de Staël 1945-1955, juin-novembre 2010, no. 23, p. 262 (une vue d'atelier illustré, pp. 14 et 48; illustré en couleurs, pp. 104-105).
Antibes, Musée Picasso, Staël, la figure à nu, 1951-1955, mai-septembre 2014, no. 1, p. 108 (illustré en couleurs, pp. 98-99).
Antibes, Musée Picasso, en prêt depuis 2014.

Note: “What I am trying for is a continuous renewal, really continuous, and it is not easy. I know what my painting is beneath its appearances, its violence, its perpetual games of power. It is a fragile thing in the good, in the sublime sense. It is as fragile as love” – Nicolas de Staël

“For de Staël, painting is essentially a vital medium in which the life of forms is captured and embodied. The elements of these forms – that is to say, the contours, surfaces, colour-planes, space-defining values and other visual and tactile elements – are simultaneously the materials of his craft and its very spirit: in a word, its “poetics”. In this poetics, the problems of representation and those of abstraction are not contradictory” – Roger van der Gindertael

A symphony of colour, form and movement, Parc des Princes is one of the great masterpieces of Nicolas de Staël’s career. It was painted in 1952 and has been held in his family’s private collection since his death just three years later. Vast in scale and ambition, it represents the peak of de Staël’s achievement and a critical moment in the story of Western post-war art. The painting made its debut at the Salon de mai in 1952, and was a highlight of the most significant exhibitions of de Staël’s work over the next half-century: his first New York solo show at Knoedler Gallery in March 1953; his posthumous surveys at the Palais de Tokyo in 1956 and the Kunsthalle Bern in 1957; and his major retrospectives at Tate Modern in 1981, the Museo Reina Sofía in 1991, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in 2003, for whose catalogue it graced the cover.
On 26 March 1952, de Staël and his wife watched a historic football match between France and Sweden at Paris’s Parc des Princes stadium. Enthused by the spectacle of athletic vigour and saturated, floodlit colour, the artist immediately embarked on a series of twenty-five ‘footballer’ paintings. While most of these are small, intense canvases, Parc des Princes is monumental. Spanning three-and-a-half metres in width, its massive bars and planes of oil paint – teals, malachites, sky blues, reds, electric whites and rich blacks – are dragged into a mural-sized nocturne that echoes the great history paintings of Uccello, Delacroix or Géricault. Synthesising abstraction and figuration, the painting operates both as a lyrical arrangement of shapes on a flat surface and as a representation of real space. De Staël conveys the match’s soaring bodies and bright stadium with grandeur and economy, fusing the excitement of the beautiful game with the physical action of painting itself. A depiction of a modern scene in an avant-garde idiom, the painting also exists in dialogue with the art of the past, reconciling de Staël’s respect for the Old Masters with his quest for a novel form of painterly expression.
That night in March 1952 was a crucial juncture for de Staël. Having worked in an almost entirely abstract mode for much of the preceding decade, he was in the process of gradually reincorporating figuration into his paintings. The football match, with its vivid colours, roaring noise and ecstatic motion, catalysed the new language he had been moving towards. As André Chastel has observed, ‘Staël loved ... the “synesthetic” and complex moment when, in the landscape, in a match, in a concert, all kinds of scores intersect, collide, and combine’ (A. Chastel, ‘Présentation par André Chastel’, Nicolas de Staël, Paris 1968, p. 20). In a letter to his friend René Char a fortnight after the match, the artist’s excitement remained at fever pitch. ‘My dear René,’ he began, ‘Thank you for your note, you are an angel, just like the boys who play in the Parc des Princes each evening … I think of you often. When you come back we will go and watch some matches together. It’s absolutely marvellous. No one there is playing to win, except in rare moments of nervousness which cut you to the quick. Between sky and earth, on the red or blue grass, an acrobatic tonne of muscles flies in abandon, forgetting itself entirely in the paradoxical concentration that this requires. What joy! René, what joy! Anyway, I’ve put the whole French and Swedish teams to work, and a bit of progress starts to be made. If I were to find a space as big as the Rue Gauguet, I would set off on two hundred small canvases so that the colour could sing like the posters on the motorway out of Paris’ (N. de Staël, Letter to René Char, 10 April 1952, in F. de Staël, ed., Nicolas de Staël: Catalogue Raisonné de l’œuvre peint, Neuchâtel 1997, p. 975).
When the poet Pierre Lecuire visited de Staël at his Rue Gauguet atelier in early April, he found a scene of heated activity. ‘His entire studio was cluttered with drafts of all sizes, inspired by this spectacle: here the captain of the French team, there the parade of players on the pitch, there the extraordinary scissor-kick of a player almost falling; everything, as if aflame, in chords of blue and red, skies, men articulated violently, localised and general movement, greens, yellows, a kind of “conquest of the air”’ (P. Lecuire, ‘Journal des années Staël’, 6 April 1952, in Nicolas de Staël, exh. cat. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 2003, p. 122). Not only far larger but also more sonorous and cooler in tone than the other ‘footballers’ canvases, Parc des Princes was likely completed after the initial burst of energy that engendered the smaller works in the series. It distils their compact verve and his multi-sensory experience of the match into a lucid, orchestral sweep of geometric form.
It was clearly not just the stadium’s tumultuous colour that delighted de Staël, but also the heroic exertion of the players, that ‘acrobatic tonne of muscles’ who together enter a Zen-like state of self-abandon and total presence when immersed in the game. Just such a duality can be said to characterise Parc des Princes, which at once depicts a subject and attains a new, musical dimension through the dance of shapes that makes up its surface. The creation of such a colossal work was an athletic performance for the artist himself, requiring great physical strength as well as an intuitive command of pictorial construction. De Staël used a huge sheet of metal in place of his usual palette knife, pulling heavy loads of paint across his canvas to produce blocks, facets and blurs of hue: a technique not unlike the ‘squeegee’ method Gerhard Richter would begin using some three decades later.
Born in St Petersburg in 1914 to an aristocratic family and forced to flee Russia after the Bolshevik revolution, de Staël led an itinerant existence from a young age. His early travels encompassed Holland, where he discovered Vermeer, Seghers, Hals and Rembrandt, and France, where he became aware of Cézanne, Matisse, Soutine and Georges Braque, who would later become a friend. By the time de Staël settled in Paris in 1938, he had received a rich art-historical education. Following a stint in the studio of Fernand Léger, his friendships with members of the Parisian avant-garde, including Sonia Delaunay, Le Corbusier and Jean Arp, encouraged his tendencies towards abstract work. He began to develop a singular technique, creating heavily built-up surfaces by applying oil paint with a palette knife. His status as a rising star was confirmed in 1944 with a group show at Galerie Jeanne Bucher, which included his work alongside that of the pioneering elder abstractionists Wassily Kandinsky and César Domela. Just as soon as he had seemingly consolidated his abstract style, however, from around 1949 de Staël began to explore figuration once more. ‘I do not set up abstract painting in opposition to figurative’, he later explained. ‘A painting should be both abstract and figurative: abstract to the extent that it is a flat surface, figurative to the extent that it is a representation of space’ (N. de Staël, in J. Alvard & R. Van Gindertael, Témoignages pour l’art abstrait, Paris, Éditions Art d’aujourd’hui, 1952, unpaged).
A key point in de Staël’s journey towards the ‘footballers’ series was the large-scale canvas Les Toits (The Roofs) (1951-52, Centre Georges Pompidou), which displays a tiled landscape of blacks and greys beneath an upper half suggestive of the sky. Departing from the pure abstraction of previous works, which were often simply titled Composition, Les Toits denotative title plainly offers the work up for a figurative reading. Already, this painting sees de Staël making virtuosic use of overlaid colour: warm yellowish tones offset cooler blue-greys, while one dark ‘roof’ has a red halo such that weightless, Rothko-esque light glimmers almost impossibly from the heavy layers of paint. The pigment’s thickness both competes with and emphasises the brilliance of the pictorial surface. By the time this hybrid idiom reached its full flowering in Parc des Princes, De Staël was neither ‘recreating’ nature in paint nor merely tessellating and weighing areas of colour, but was able to employ paint in its twofold existence to create a rich visual metaphor for his experience of the real world. Transposing the speed, force and colour of the football match into a mosaic-like tableau of interacting shapes and tones, Parc des Princes marks the brilliant zenith of this approach.
Although fired with direct inspiration for the ‘footballers’, de Staël was no en plein air Impressionist. He worked from recollection and reflection, engaging totally with his subject but always at the remove of his studio. His aim was less to convey an event unmediated than to convey that event’s impact on himself. Much as they bring together ostensibly opposed abstract and figurative realms, his paintings also seamlessly fuse feeling and thought: they radiate a passionate intensity through precise, considered execution. A 1936 letter to his adoptive mother, alive with the young de Staël’s love for the Old Masters, already exhibits the unique pairing of analytical and romantic outlooks that would define his mature painting. ‘One has to find some explanation for why one finds beautiful that which is beautiful – a technical explanation’, he writes. ‘One absolutely must know the laws of colour, know exactly why Van Gogh’s apples at the Hague, painted in decidedly foul local colours, seem so splendid, why Delacroix slashed his decorative ceiling nudes with rays of green and yet these nudes seem perfect and the flesh tones brilliant, why Veronese, Velázquez, Frans Hals all used more than 27 blacks and as many whites, why Van Gogh committed suicide, Delacroix died hating himself and Hals became a drunkard in despair – why? What were the reasons? For one small canvas of Van Gogh’s in the Hague Museum we have two pages of his notes on its orchestration. Each colour has its reason’ (Letter from Nicolas de Staël to Mme. Fricero, 30 November 1936, in F. de Staël, ed., Nicolas de Staël: Catalogue Raisonné de l’œuvre peint, Neuchâtel 1997, pp. 798-799).
De Staël’s emotive response to the works of his forebears – and his fascination with these artists as tortured souls – was not at odds with instructive study of their practical workings. He felt that beauty could be learnt from and understood. Indeed, it might not be too fanciful to see lessons from Hals’s ‘27 blacks and as many whites’ in Parc des Princes, or the splendour of Delacroix’s vast painted ceilings. Certainly, the composition owes something to the panoramic Battle of San Romano (c. 1438-40) by Paolo Uccello, which de Staël had seen in London’s National Gallery several months previously. That work’s limbs, lances and patterned pennants, as well as its interplay of rosy and verdant hues, find clear echoes in de Staël’s sweeping panels and masts of pigment. The football match – itself a ‘battle’ of sorts – is staged by de Staël as a historic moment. As the Centre Pompidou’s chief curator Jean-Paul Ameline has written, ‘The Parc des Princes … has all the characteristics of a grande machine, renewing for the twentieth century the genre of history painting as practiced for centuries. With its monumental dimensions, its epic subject, and its frieze-like composition whose movement is given by the play of vertical and oblique, the Parc des Princes is deliberately similar to the masterpieces of Géricault or Delacroix that Staël loved to visit the Louvre, but also, as has been said, the “battles” of Uccello seen in Paris and London’ (J-P. Ameline, ‘Funambulisme entre figuration et abstraction : Nicolas de Staël face à la critique’, in Nicolas de Staël, exh. cat. Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris 2003, p. 20).
De Staël’s enthusiasm for the Old Masters was not matched by his interest in the work of living artists. He pursued a single-minded vision, largely unconcerned by the fervent critical debates about abstraction, figuration, tradition and innovation that rocked mid-century France. Nonetheless, Parc des Princes can be understood in dialogue with the work of some of his avant-garde contemporaries. Its splintering, refracted hues might be seen to echo elements of paintings by his friends Robert and Sonia Delaunay, whose ‘Orphism’ moved from Cubism towards lyrical abstraction, eschewing recognisable form for the dynamism of pure colour and light. There are parallels to be drawn, too, with the papiers coupés of Henri Matisse, whose La Tristesse du roi (1952) – now in the collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou – was shown alongside Parc des Princes at the 1952 Salon de mai. Surpassing even de Staël’s canvas in scale, La Tristesse du roi’s massive, collaged planes of colour and abstracted human bodies similarly preserve a narrative subject while displaying a boldly melodic attitude to pictorial pattern. The Salon was a yearly exhibition held by an association founded in 1943, when France was under German occupation. Led by the critic Gaston Diehl, the group stood in strong opposition to Nazi ideology and the censorship of ‘degenerate art’, supporting formal experimentation and free expression. Showcased together as part of this progressive vanguard, de Staël and Matisse were in good company.
At the Salon de mai, Parc des Princes caught the eye of the influential New York-based art dealer Paul Rosenberg. He did not purchase the canvas, but Jacques Dubourg, de Staël’s European dealer, excitedly reported that ‘Rosenberg is still bitten ... the tableau in the Salon de mai is very pleasing to him, but the size scares him. He likes the [smaller] footballers too but they’re sold. The difficulty is an exciting thing and we have left him with his excitement’ (J. Dubourg, letter to N. de Staël, 7 June 1952, in F. de Staël, ed., Nicolas de Staël: Catalogue Raisonné de l’œuvre peint, Neuchâtel 1997, p. 130). Indeed, the story with Rosenberg was far from over. In March 1953, de Staël travelled to New York to hang his debut American solo exhibition. The show, at Knoedler Gallery on Manhattan’s 57th Street, opened to huge acclaim. Parc des Princes starred alongside 25 other paintings, including Rue Gauguet (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), Le Parc de Sceaux (Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.) and a number of smaller ‘footballers.’ André Chastel noted in his review that ‘The difficulty does not repel the public of New York; the grandeur of Nicolas de Staël’s work has long fascinated them; the crowds thronged’ (A. Chastel, ‘Succès de Manessier et de Nicolas de Staël à New York’, Le Monde, 10 April 1953). Time magazine summed up the reaction: ‘Manhattan critics, pleased to have something really new to write about, trowelled on the praise. “Majestic”, said the Times. Said Art News: “One of the few painters to emerge from postwar Paris with something to say, and a way of saying it with authority.” Manhattan buyers were just as complimentary in a more practical way; by week’s end the show was a near sellout’ (‘Say it with Slabs’, Time, 30 March 1953, p. 68). In June 1953, Rosenberg got back in contact, offering to become de Staël’s exclusive dealer in the United States. De Staël accepted. Rosenberg would show de Staël’s works in his gallery alongside those of Picasso, Braque and Matisse, and worked on generous terms that eased his long-running financial difficulties. With a steady income, de Staël was able to rent a house, travel in Italy – where he would paint his great Agrigente landscapes – and eventually purchase a chateau in Ménerbes, Provence.
Even before his deal with Rosenberg, an immediate blossoming of ambition followed de Staël’s critical and commercial triumph at the Knoedler show. Several of the large canvases that he made soon after Parc des Princes turn to overtly musical and performative themes, in tune with the stately and harmonious new mode of painting the work had unlocked for him. On his return from New York, he completed the major work Ballet (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): visible unfinished alongside Parc des Princes in Antoine Tudal’s 1952 photographs of the Rue Gauguet studio, this composition may well have begun as a second large ‘footballers’ painting before its change in title. Around the same time, he painted two works titled Les Indes Galantes, inspired by the music and choreography of Jean-Philippe Rameau’s opera-ballet of that name, as well as L’Orchestre (Centre Georges Pompidou), a palatial scape of elegant, faceted greys and greens that matches Parc des Princes in scale. On his canvas, de Staël transformed the football stadium from a site of contest to an arena for freedom in play, exploring the possibilities of paint with joyful, operatic openness.
Able to almost miraculously unite seemingly antithetical qualities in his paintings, de Staël was tragically unable to resolve his own internal conflicts. On 16 March 1955, almost exactly three years after he saw the game at the Parc des Princes, he threw himself from the ramparts of his studio in Antibes. He was just forty-one years old. His friend Douglas Cooper described him as ‘a complex and in many ways contradictory character: autocratic, exacting, exuberant, morose, charming, witty and uncompromising. And he lived out his life between a series of violent extremes. Thus pride would suddenly be replaced by humility, self-indulgence by asceticism, exaltation by gloom, uproarious laughter by withering scorn, supreme confidence by serious doubts, excessive work by deliberate idleness, great poverty by riches’ (D. Cooper, Nicolas de Staël, London 1961, p. 88). Grappling earnestly with the problems of perception and significance in paint, his career was not one of steady progression but rather, as André Chastel has observed, one of ‘a personal rhythm of impatience and fearlessness; from which some paintings emerge, from the outset, as obvious articulations, the three or four moments, where the painter, like a waking giant, has taken the full measure of the effort to be accomplished and has thrown himself à corps perdu – the only fitting expression – in its path. And finally this confrontation says it all’ (A. Chastel, ‘Présentation par André Chastel’, Nicolas de Staël, Paris 1968, p. 18).
Parc des Princes surely represents one of these spectacular moments. Its wholehearted majesty is inseparable from that of the man himself: an impressive, charismatic figure who made a profound impression on everyone who met him. A ‘great painting’ in every sense of the word, Parc des Princes is an eloquent union of instinct and design, of tradition and modernity, of body and mind, of art and life. For all its force, it is a thing born of difficult, delicate balance. ‘What I am trying for’, wrote de Staël in 1954, ‘is a continuous renewal, really continuous, and it is not easy. I know what my painting is beneath its appearances, its violence, its perpetual games of power. It is a fragile thing in the good, in the sublime sense. It is as fragile as love’ (N. de Staël, letter to J. Dubourg, December 1954, in F. de Staël, ed., Nicolas de Staël: Catalogue Raisonné de l’œuvre peint, Neuchâtel 1997, p. 1225).

Christie's. Paris Avant-Garde, Paris, 17 October 2019

Lot 30. Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), Fleurs au pot bleu, signé'Staël' (en bas à gauche); signé, daté et inscrit 'Staël 1954 "FLEUR"' (au revers), huile sur toile, 81 x 60 cm. Peint en 1954. Estimate EUR 400,000 - EUR 600,000 (USD 439,749 - USD 659,624). © Christie's Image Ltd 2019

signed 'Staël' (lower left); signed, dated and inscribed 'Staël 1954 "FLEUR"' (on the reverse), oil on canvas 31 7/8 x 23 5/8 in. Painted in 1954

Provenance: Paul Rosenberg, New York (acquis en 1954).
John J. Mayers, Bronxville, New York (acquis en 1956).
Galerie Beyeler, Bâle (acquis en 1995).
Galerie A. Gattlen, Lausanne.
Collection privée, Suisse.
Vente, Sotheby's, Londres, 28 juin 1990, lot 23.
Vente, Sotheby's, Londres, 9 décembre 1999, lot 32; Collection privée, New York (acquis au cours de cette vente).
Vente, Christie's, Paris, 3 décembre 2012, lot 34.
Acquis au cours de cette vente par le propriétaire actuel.

Literature; J. Dubourg, F. de Staël, Nicolas de Staël: Catalogue Raisonné des Peintures, Paris, 1968, no. 801 (illustré, p. 329).
H. Joffre, "Nicolas de Staël, Rétrospective", in Hors Ligne, juin 1990, no. 48, pp. 65-67 (illustré en couleurs).
F. de Staël, Nicolas de Staël: Catalogue Raisonné de l'Oeuvre Peint et Lettres de Nicolas de Staël, Neuchâtel, 1997, no. 903 (illustré, p. 565).

Note: Peu de peintures de Nicolas de Staël se rattachent aussi fortement au réel que ses Fleurs au pot bleu : l’œil y voit deux marguerites, posées dans un vase azur contre une table ocre et un mur vert d’olive. Si l’artiste peint des fleurs sur le motif dès 1952, il n’embrasse ainsi avec aplomb la figuration qu’en 1954. Car, de ses premières natures mortes, Staël n’a gardé que le sujet : ses blocs maçonnés ont disparu, forme et couleur se pliant désormais entièrement au réel. Sa pâte épaisse s’est également fluidifiée, déposée en de légers aplats éthérés. Comme dans ses Fleurs au pot bleu, où se lit en transparence un premier passage de rouge.
La démarche de Staël est audacieuse, alors qu’il expose la même année à la Biennale de Venise, dans la salle des abstraits. Mais le peintre, en proie au doute, se jette corps et âme dans un éternel recommencement. Y participent sans nul doute ses voyages d’alors qui lui laissent le loisir d’observer et de se mesurer aux maîtres – Corot, Matisse ou Velázquez. Au lendemain d’une visite au Prado, il couche ainsi sur le papier son impression du peintre espagnol, dont l’œuvre paraît d’une troublante ressemblance avec Fleurs au pot bleu : « suprême aristocratie de cette pincelada qui, avec un minimum de matière, un minimum de brio, un maximum d’autorité, suscite un art déconcertant de simplicité et de présence » (cité in Nicolas de Staël, rétrospective de l’œuvre peint, catalogue d’exposition, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, 1991).

Few of Nicolas de Staël's paintings are as strongly rooted in realism as his Fleurs au pot bleu, with two daisies sitting in a blue vase set against an ochre table and olive green wall. While the artist painted flowers already in 1952, it was not until 1954 that he fully embraced figuration. Because, from his first still lifes, Staël kept only the subject. His monotone blocks disappeared, with shape and colour now tending entirely towards reality. His thick textures also thinned out, applied in lighter, ethereal flat tints. Like in his Fleurs au pot bleu, where an underlying coat of red can be glimpsed.
Staël's approach was bold, since he exhibited the same year at the Venice Biennale, in the abstract room. But the painter, plagued by doubt, plunged headlong into perpetual renewal. His travels of the time undoubtedly played a role, giving him the opportunity to observe and measure himself against the masters, such as Corot, Matisse or Velázquez. The day after a visit to the Prado, he jotted down his impressions of the latter Spanish painter, whose work seemed to bear a striking resemblance to Fleurs au pot bleu: "supreme aristocracy of this brushstroke which, with minimal material, minimal verve, but maximum authority, arouses a disturbing art of simplicity and presence" (quoted in Nicolas de Staël. Rétrospective de l’œuvre peint, exhibition catalogue, Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, 1991).

Christie's. Paris Avant-Garde, Paris, 17 October 2019

Lot 10. Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955), Composition, signé'Staël' (en bas à droite), huile sur toile, 55 x 46 cm. Peint en 1949. Estimate EUR 300,000 - EUR 500,000 (USD 329,812 - USD 549,687). © Christie's Image Ltd 2019

signed 'Staël' (lower right), oil on canvas, 21 5/8 x 18 1/8 in. Painted in 1949

Provenance: Galerie Jacques Dubourg, Paris.
Galerie Ariel, Paris.
Collection particulière, Copenhague (acquis en 1983).
Puis par descendance au propriétaire actuel.

Literature; P. Heron, The Changing forms of art, Londres, 1955, no. 13 (illustré).
J. Dubourg et F. de Staël, Catalogue raisonné des peintures de Nicolas de Staël, Paris, 1968, no. 188 (illustré, p. 120).
F. de Staël, Nicolas de Staël, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, Neuchâtel, 1997, no. 213 (illustré, p. 272).

Exhibited: Londres, Matthiesen Gallery, Nicolas de Staël, février-mars 1952, no. 9.

Note: A la fin des années 1940, alors qu’il peint Composition, Nicolas de Staël traverse une période d’intense invention. Il va alors abandonner les bâtonnets allongés et nerveux de ses précédentes toiles pour peindre des empâtements plus larges, statiques. Travaillant la matière à la truelle, en plans rectilignes, Staël se met à sculpter l’espace pictural en profondeur. Derrière le camaïeu lumineux de pâtes grises, qui couvre l’entière surface de Composition, se cache ainsi un maillage de couleurs franches – rouge, jaune ou vert – qui ouvrent l’horizon visuel, font oublier un instant la planéité de la toile.
La maturation de la pâte de Staël entraîne un regain d’intérêt critique et institutionnel. Rue Gauguet, peinte en 1949, rejoint l’année d’après les collections du Museum of Fine Arts de Boston ; c’est aussi en 1950 que Bernard Dorival, conservateur en chef au Centre Pompidou, fait acheter une toile par le musée. Composition elle-même porte en germes ce succès : elle figurera en 1952 dans la première exposition de l’artiste à Londres. C’est que Staël s’engage dès 1949 dans une abstraction unique, éloignée des querelles théoriques d’après-guerre. Comme l’explique alors Dorival : « Nicolas de Staël est abstrait. Mais, de tous les abstraits, c’est sans doute celui qui évite le mieux le danger du décoratif et atteint le plus à l’humanité» (Bernard Dorival in « Tal Coat, Singier, Nicolas de Staël », La Table Ronde, n°31, juillet 1950).

At the end of the 1950s, when he painted Composition, Nicolas de Staël was going through a period of intense creativity. He left behind the jerky, slender lines of his previous paintings to focus on larger, static paintings for which he used impasto technique. Working the material with a painting knife in rectilinear planes, Staël began to sculpt depth into the pictorial space. Behind the luminous shades of textured greys covering the entire surface of Composition hides a mesh of crisp colours – red, yellow, and green – that open up the visual horizon, making you briefly forget the flatness of the canvas.
The development of Staël's textures led to renewed critical and institutional interest. Rue Gauguet, painted in 1949, became part of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts' collection the following year. It is also in 1950 that Bernard Dorival, head curator at the Centre Pompidou, purchased a painting for the museum. Composition itself bears the seeds of this success. It was featured in the artist's first exhibition in London, in 1952. In 1949, Staël began a unique form of abstraction, far removed from the theoretical disputes of the post-war period. As Dorival then explained: "Nicolas de Staël is abstract. But, of all the forms of abstraction, his is surely the one that best avoids the danger of decorative art and most reaches humanity" (Bernard Dorival, ‘Tal Coat, Singier, Nicolas de Staël,’ La Table Ronde, no. 31, July 1950).

Christie's. Paris Avant-Garde, Paris, 17 October 2019

Lot 4. Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Mousquetaire. Buste, signé'Picasso' (en bas à droite); daté'25.5.67' (au revers) huile sur toile, 81 x 65 cm. Peint le 25 mai 1967. Estimate EUR 3,000,000 - EUR 5,000,000 (USD 3,298,120 - USD 5,496,866). © Christie's Image Ltd 2019

Lot 14. Pierre Soulages (Né en 1919), Peinture 263 x 181 cm, 29 décembre 2007, signé, daté et titré‘SOULAGES, "Peinture 264 x 181 cm, 29.12.2007" triptyque’ (au revers), acrylique sur toile; triptyque, 263 x 181 cm. Peint le 29 décembre 2007. Estimate EUR 1,500,000 - EUR 2,500,000 (USD 1,649,060 - USD 2,748,433). © Christie's Image Ltd 2019

Lot 11. Pierre Soulages (Né en 1919), Peinture 81 x 60 cm, 17 juillet 1955, signé'Soulages' (en bas à droite); signé et daté’17.7.55 SOULAGES’ (au revers), huile sur toile, 81 x 60 cm. Peint le 17 juillet 1955. Estimate EUR 600,000 - EUR 800,000 (USD 659,624 - USD 879,499). © Christie's Image Ltd 2019