Lot 219. Vase bouteille, Grès de Bát Tràng émaillé, Vietnam. 19° siècle; H. 15 cm. Estimation: €200 - €300. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
On notera le décor de grue traité en bleu sous couverte.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Alberto Giacometti, André du Bouchet. Illustration retenue pour le frontispice pour André du Bouchet, Dans la chaleur vacante, Paris, 1961. Probable illustration créée (mais non retenue) pour André du Bouchet, Le Moteur.
The 2020 exhibition season of the max museum of Chiasso (Switzerland) will open in the sign of Alberto Giacometti (1901-1966), one of the most important artists of the twentieth century.
An exhibition, curated by Jean Soldini and Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini, is scheduled from March 31 to September 13, 2020, which presents, for the first time, the entire graphic body of the Swiss artist : over four hundred sheets and numerous works of art will be exhibited artist, from the main international institutions that preserve the works of Alberto Giacometti and from important private collectors.
Alberto Giacometti ,Tête d'homme II. Illustration retenue pour Derrière le Miroir, Paris, n ° 127, Mai / Juin 1961 1961. Lithograph, 26 x 19.6 cm, lEberhard W. Kornfeld Collection, Bern.
The creative environment of the artist and man will also be restored by the suggestive photographs taken by his friend Ernst Scheidegger who, since 1943, has documented Giacometti's artistic activity and private life with images and videos.
The review will document Giacometti's extraordinary mastery of the various graphic techniques, from woodcut to burin engraving, from etching to drypoint. Although he is known above all as a sculptor and painter, Giacometti nevertheless made many engravings, the expression of a profound artistic research.
Alberto Giacometti, Buste d'homme I, 1963, éditée en 1964. Lithographie, 59 x 45 cm, Carlos Gross Collection.
Giacometti, in fact, saw in the drawing and in its transposition on the matrix, the aesthetic and conceptual foundation on which to build his pictorial and plastic works. As the artist himself could say, "whatever it is, sculpture or painting, it is only the drawing that counts".
Each of the four sections into which the exhibition is divided, will offer a particularly significant painting, drawing or sculpture to understand the relationship between the different means of expression.
Alberto Giacometti ,Tête d'homme III, 1963, published in 1964. Lithographie, 65 x 48 cm, Carlos Gross Collection.
Alberto Giacometti was born in 1901 in Val Bregaglia, in Italian-speaking Switzerland. He was the son of the painter Giovanni Giacometti. After attending the art school in Geneva and some study trips to Italy, he chose Paris as his reference city without ever forgetting Stampa, the place of family affections where he always kept an atelier in addition to the most well-known one in Rue Hippolyte-Maindron, near Montparnasse. Enrolls in the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière who attended between 1922 and 1925. In the meantime, he came into contact with the neo-numeric, African, pre-Columbian art, with the work of Costantin Brancusi, Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, André Masson. His interest in Egyptian art continued, which had already struck him in 1920 at the Archaeological Museum of Florence. It undergoes the charm of Cubism and then joins the surrealist movement with its free erotic-poetic associations. In 1930 he exhibited with Jean Arp and Joan Mirò in the Pierre Loeb gallery in Paris. He knows intellectuals like Louis Aragon, Georges Bataille, Michel Leiris. Giacometti then returns to give prominence to the human figure; in the works of this period he develops a very original research, which has its pivot in the appearance that is the core as he himself affirms. The existing is manifested to him with a violence that finds its clearest expression in the human being, determining an unprecedented relationship with space and time. Next and independent from leading figures such as Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett, Giacometti will continue his research incessantly, even in the last years of his life. In 1962 he obtained the Grand Prix of Sculpture at the Venice Biennale and three years after the Grand Prix des Arts in Paris. Also in 1965, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will dedicate an anthological exhibition to him. Giacometti will continue his research incessantly, even in the last years of his life. In 1962 he obtained the Grand Prix of Sculpture at the Venice Biennale and three years after the Grand Prix des Arts in Paris. Also in 1965, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will dedicate an anthological exhibition to him. Giacometti will continue his research incessantly, even in the last years of his life. In 1962 he obtained the Grand Prix of Sculpture at the Venice Biennale and three years after the Grand Prix des Arts in Paris. Also in 1965, the Museum of Modern Art in New York will dedicate an anthological exhibition to him.
Alberto Giacometti died in Chur (Switzerland) in 1966.
Alberto Giacometti, Homme debout et soleil I, 1963, published in 1964. Lithographie, 35 x 46.7, Carlos Gross Collection.
The exhibition is organized in collaboration with the Fondation Giacometti in Paris, the Alberto Giacometti-Stiftung in Zurich, the Fondation Marguerite et Aimé Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence (France), the Graubünden Museum of Art in Chur ( Switzerland), the Ciäsa Granda Museum in Bregaglia (Switzerland), the Marguerite Arp Foundation in Locarno (Switzerland), the Civic Collection of Prints "Achille Bertarelli" in Milan, the Galerie Kornfeld in Bern (Switzerland), the Alberto Giacometti Museum in Sent (Switzerland).
Bilingual catalog (Italian-English) Albert Skira (Milan-Geneva).
Alberto Giacometti, Lucas Lichtenhan, 1917-1918, Gravure sur bois, 19 x 13.8 cm, Eberhard W. Kornfeld Collection, Bern.
Alberto Giacometti, Le Serpent II. Illustration non retenue pour André Breton, L'Air de l'eau, Paris, 1934 1933-1934 Grain 16.4 x 13.5 cm, Eberhard W. Kornfeld Collection, Bern.
Alberto Giacometti, Triple portrait de Pierre Loeb II. Illustration non retenue pour Pierre Loeb, Regards sur la peinture, Paris, 1950 1949-1950. Etching 11.9 x 8.3 cm, Eberhard W. Kornfeld Collection, Bern.
Alberto Giacometti, Sculptures in the atelier I (right) Annette in the atelier I (left). Illustration retenue pour la première de couverture de Derrière le Miroir, Paris, n ° 39-40, Juin-Juillet 1951 1951. Lithograph 38 x 25.3 cm (right) 37.5 x 27.7.
Alberto Giacometti, Planche d'essai avec tête et figues, 1954-1955. Etching, 26.4 x 22.5 cm, Eberhard W. Kornfeld Collection, Bern.
Alberto Giacometti, Femme nue debout III, 1961. Lithograph, 48.5 x 10.5 cm, Eberhard W. Kornfeld Collection, Bern.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Alberto Giacometti. Photograph by Ernst Scheidegger © 2020 Stiftung Ernst Scheidegger-Archiv, Zurich.
Lot 1301. A white-glazed pottery compressed pear-shaped jar, Sui-Tang dynasty, 6th-7th century; 4¼ in. (11cm.) high. Estimate 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised 30,000 USD. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
The squat, globular body below a stepped neck and widely-flaring rim, all covered in a finely-crackled, lustrous glaze stopping short of the flat foot.
Provenance: British Rail Pension Fund; Sotheby's London, 12 December 1989, lot 63.
Note: See Mayuyama, Chugoku Bunbutsu Kenbun, Tokyo, 1948, pl. 87, for a similar vase in the Shaanxi Province Museum, Xian, from the tomb of Li Jingxun (A.D.608) at Liangjiazhuang, Western Suburbs of Xian.
Compare, also, the figure of a lady carrying a similar vase, included in the O.C.S. Exhibition of the Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, London, 1955, no.44, pl.6, together with another vase of this form, no.215, both from the Swedish Royal Collections.
See, also, the bronze prototype of this form illustrated by W.P. Yetts, The Eumorfopoulos Collection, London, 1929, vol. I, pl. XLIV, no. A 58.
Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 16 - 17 September 2010
Lot 580. A 'sancai'-glazed pottery figure of a Bactrian camel, Tang dynasty (618-907); height 22 1/4 in., 56.5 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 USD. Lot sold 32,500 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
boldly modeled standing foursquare, the head poised high as if to bray, with open mouth, small ears and short mane, a tasseled saddle rug around two curved humps, splashed in amber and green glaze tearing over the milky ivory-white ground, the base and back hooves unglazed.
Provenance: Sotheby's London, 10th December 1991, lot 101.
Sotheby's. Harmony of Form, Serenity of Color: A Private Collection of 'Song' Ceramics, New York, 23 march 2011
Lot 583. A 'sancai'-glazed pottery figure of a Fereghan horse, Tang dynasty (618-907); height 18 1/4 in., 46.4 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 USD. Lot sold 56,250 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
standing foursquare on a base, the head tilted with a combed and cropped straw glaze mane falling to one side with parted fringe, pricked ears and large unglazed eyes , strapped in a bridle with amber and green floret trappings on the forehead, nose and flanking the jaw continuing around the neck and resting on the rump, finished with a pleated unglazed red painted saddle resting on a mottled amber, green and straw glaze rug on the back.
Provenance: Sotheby's London, 11th December 1990, lot 192.
Sotheby's. Harmony of Form, Serenity of Color: A Private Collection of 'Song' Ceramics, New York, 23 march 2011
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Self-portrait in a cap, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, 1630. Etching and drypoint on laid paper, 5.2 x 4.7 cm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
OXFORD.- Young Rembrandt is the first major exhibition in the UK to examine the early years of one of the greatest artists of all time. Looking at Rembrandt’s first decade at work, from 1624–34, the show charts a career on a truly meteoric path. How was it that in his earliest known work, The Spectacles Seller (1624-25), we find a crude, garishly coloured painting by an artist struggling with his medium; but a mere 6 years later he had completed an acknowledged masterpiece - Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem (1630)? The exhibition is the largest collection of works devoted to the young Rembrandt to date, featuring 31 paintings by Rembrandt, 13 by his most important contemporaries, and a further 90 drawings and prints from international and private collections. It also features the newly discovered Let the Little Children Come to Me (1627–8) on display for the first time in public.
The exhibition is co-curated by Professor Christopher Brown CBE, Director-Emeritus of the Ashmolean and world-renowned expert on Dutch painting and Rembrandt. He says: ‘The first decade of Rembrandt’s career is central to any understanding of his work as a whole. In his early paintings, prints and drawings we find a young artist exploring his own style, grappling with technical difficulties and making mistakes. But his progress is remarkable and the works in this exhibition demonstrate an amazing development from year to year. We can see exactly how he became the pre-eminent painter of Amsterdam and the universally adored artist he remains 350 years after his death.’
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606–69) was born in Leiden, the second largest city in the Dutch Republic, 30 miles south-west of Amsterdam. He was the ninth child of a successful miller. His parents had academic aspirations for their youngest son and he was enrolled at the Latin School so that he could go on to study at the University of Leiden. But Rembrandt had little scholarly inclination of his own and by 1622 he had begun an apprenticeship with the city’s only history painter, Jacob van Swanenburg (1571–1638). By the time he was working on his first known paintings, the ‘Five Senses’ series, Rembrandt was already 18. Jan Lievens (1607–74), his contemporary, began his apprenticeship at 8 and was catching the eye of connoisseurs by the age of 12. It would be reasonable to expect a more sophisticated style from Rembrandt’s first painting of 1624 - he would have received some basic artistic training at university too - but in The Spectacles Seller (Allegory of Sight) we find a bright palette, clumsy drawing and a poor rendition of the space. Rembrandt was no prodigy.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), The Spectacles Seller (Allegory of Sight), c. 1624. Oil on panel, 38.5 x 34.5 cm, Museum de Lakenhal, Leiden.
In 1624–5 he was apprenticed for 6 months to Pieter Lastman (1583–1633), an innovative painter working in Amsterdam. Afterwards we find Rembrandt tackling larger projects and gaining technical skill. In 1625 Rembrandt established his own studio in Leiden, a less crowded market for a young artist, where he had the opportunity to work with his childhood friend, Lievens. The pair drew and painted each other, used the same models and tackled the same subjects. The exhibition compares their versions of Samson and Delilah (c. 1628) showing their different interpretations and approach.
Jan Lievens (1607–74), Samson and Delilah, c. 1625–6. Oil on canvas, 128.5 x 109.5 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Samson and Delilah, 1628. Oil on panel, 61.4 x 50 cm, Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.
Around the same time, we start to see the first images of the artist himself. In his History Painting (1626) a young Rembrandt peeks out from behind the main characters, recognisable from his curly hair and rounded nose. Despite his mistakes – the frieze-like scene and unconvincing perspective – by placing himself in history paintings Rembrandt expresses a powerful sense of his own gifts. Soon after Rembrandt starts to experiment with a more muted palette and effects of chiaroscuro. It was also at this time that Rembrandt made his first independent self-portraits including the experimental Rembrandt Laughing (1628) which returns to the UK for the first time since it was sold from a private collection in Oxfordshire in 2007 and acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles in 2013.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Rembrandt Laughing, c. 1628. Oil on copper, 22.2 x 17.1 cm, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.
The exhibition offers a chance to look over Rembrandt’s shoulder and closely examine his efforts to improve. Particularly revealing are his experiments with prints. His first etching, The Circumcision (1625), is a complex work, ambitious for a young artist, and it shows a lack of perspective and a crowded composition. On his earliest surviving etchings we find flaws and scratches, the result of his inexperience in preparing the printing plates. Many of his printed self-portraits were informal exercises in capturing facial expressions, made directly on small copperplates while observing himself in a mirror pulling faces. This experimentation is key to his originality: his characteristic style made his prints look like drawings with their restless lines and atmospheric shading.
By the late 1620s, Rembrandt and Lievens were engaged in a charged creative competition which came to the attention of a leading connoisseur. Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687) was the influential secretary to Frederick Henry, the Prince of Orange, and a renowned patron of the arts. He visited Leiden in 1628–29 and recorded his thoughts on the young artists: ‘still beardless and, going by their faces, more boys than men.’ But he was enormously impressed, writing of Rembrandt that he could achieve ‘on a modest scale a result which one would seek in vain in the largest pieces of others.’ Rembrandt’s most ambitious work to date, Judas Repentant Returning the Pieces of Silver (1629), caught his eye and he marvelled that the artist ‘could put so much into one human figure and depict it all.’ His early studies of the human face and interest in psychology were yielding results. It was partly thanks to Huygens that distinguished collectors first found their way to Rembrandt’s studio. Charles I’s special envoy purchased An Old Woman called ‘The Artist’s Mother’ (1627–29) and Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1629-31) which he presented to the king on his return to England.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), An Old Woman Called ‘The Artist’s Mother’, c. 1627–9. Oil on panel, 61.3 x 47.4 cm. The Royal Collection, H M Queen Elizabeth II.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Rembrandt’s Father, 1628–9. Pen, brown ink and brown wash, 19 x 24 cm, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Self-Portrait, 1629. Oil on oak panel, 15.5 x 12.7 cm,Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.
By 1630 both Rembrandt and Lievens were increasingly recognised by Leiden’s intellectual elite and had commissions from the Royal Court at The Hague. Yet at this high point both artists chose to leave Leiden: Rembrandt for Amsterdam in 1631 and Lievens for London in 1632. The immediate reason for the move, if not a growing rivalry, was a business opportunity with the art dealer Hendrick van Uylenburgh: Rembrandt would do the painting while Van Uylenburgh would find commissions. The dealer’s excellent contacts paid off and Rembrandt soon emerged as a strong competitor in the market for portraits. Evidence of his increased self-confidence can be seen in A Man in Oriental Dress (‘The Noble Slav’) (1632), a large-scale work and a breath-taking exercise in painting with rich, complex textures and a penetrating portrait of resolute, still vigorous old age.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, 1630. Oil on panel, 58 x 46 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Nude woman seated on a mound, c. 1631. Etching on laid paper,17.7 x 16 cm, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), A Man in Oriental Dress (‘The Noble Slav’), 1632. Oil on canvas, 152.7 x 111.1 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Rembrandt worked out of Van Uylenburgh’s house but maintained his lucrative studio in Leiden with assistants and students including Gerrit Dou (1613–75) still finishing works there. The newly discovered Let the Little Children Come to Me (1627–8) was probably begun by Rembrandt in 1627 and finished after his departure for Amsterdam. He continued to sign his name ‘RL’ (Rembrandus Leidensis) signalling a wish to be identified with his home town. But it was a matter of only months before the artist would settle in Amsterdam permanently. At some point in 1632 Rembrandt met Saskia van Uylenburgh, the dealer’s cousin. They were officially betrothed in 1633, and married on 22 June the following year.
Rembrandt and others, Let the Little Children Come to Me, c. 1627–8 and later. Oil on canvas, 83 x 103 cm. Courtesy of Jan Six Fine Art, Amsterdam.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Bearded Old Man, 1632. Oil on panel, 66.9 x 50.7 cm, Fogg Museum, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA.
By 1634 Rembrandt’s was busy with important portrait commissions in which he honed his ability for representing human character and emotion. The exhibition culminates with his astonishing Portrait of an 83-Year Old Woman (possibly Aechje Claesdr.) (1634). There is no doubt that he found the sitter an intensely interesting subject on whom he exercised the same probing, sympathetic eye that we find in his depictions of old men. It is one of the finest examples of his early works in Amsterdam and one of the first where he signs his name simply, ‘Rembrandt’.
Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–69), Portrait of an 83-Year-Old Woman (possibly Aechje Claesdr.), 1634. Oil on panel, 71.1 x 55.9 cm, National Gallery, London.
Dr Xa Sturgis, Director of the Ashmolean, says: ‘It is hugely exciting that the Ashmolean is hosting the largest ever exhibition, and the first in this country, to focus on Rembrandt’s early years. Our partnership with Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden (Oxford’s twin city) draws on the strengths of our respective collections: the Ashmolean’s outstanding group of prints and drawings; and two of Rembrandt’s earliest paintings from Lakenhal.
‘The show offers a unique opportunity to follow Rembrandt step by step as he develops from an inventive and ambitious teenager to the supremely accomplished and successful artist he became over the first ten years of his career. It is not a straightforward trajectory but it is a thrillingly revealing one that allows us to see the making of one of the world’s great artists.'
Lot 94. Ding, Chine, Dynastie Han, 2°s BCE - 2°s CE. Alliage cuivreux. H. 17 cm. Estimation: €600 - €900. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Tripode classique à deux poignées, surmonté de son couvercle à trois prises.
Provenance : Collection de M. et Mme L. (Paris) constituée dans les années 1970-2000.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 95. Fang Hu, Chine, Dynastie Han, 2°s BCE - 2°s CE. Alliage cuivreux. H. 21 cm. Estimation: €400 - €800. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Modèle classique de Hu de section carrée orné sur deux de ses faces de prises en forme d’anneaux maintenues par des masques de taotie.
Provenance : Collection de M. et Mme L. (Paris) constituée dans les années 1970-2000.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 96. Ding, Chine, Dynastie Han, 2°s BCE - 2°s CE. Alliage cuivreux. H. 13 cm. Estimation: €600 - €900. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Tripode classique à deux poignées, surmonté de son couvercle à trois prises en forme d’animaux stylisés, les pieds sont modelés en forme d’ours.
Provenance : Collection de M. et Mme L. (Paris) constituée dans les années 1970-2000.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 183. Miroir à décor d’arcs continus, Chine, Dynastie des Han Orientaux (25–220 CE). Alliage cuivreux. D. 22 cm. Estimation: €1,300 - €1,800. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
La prise hémisphérique émerge au centre d’un trèfle à quatre feuilles et de cercles. Ancienne fracture restaurée.
Provenance : Ancienne collection Francine Rheims. Cet objet est accompagné d’un certificat établi par Jean-Claude Moreau-Gobard en date du 30 mai 1971.
Références : Donald H. Graham Jr: «Bronze Mirrors, from ancient China, the Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection» Hong-Kong 1994. P.157, fig.49
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 184. Miroir de type TLV, Chine, Dynastie des Han Orientaux (25–220 CE). Alliage cuivreux à teneur en argent. D. 10,5 cm. Estimation: €500- €1,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
La prise hémisphérique émerge au centre d’un carré entouré d’animaux mythiques tels que félins, cervidés et volatiles disposés entre les motifs TLV.
Provenance : Collection française constituée dans les années 1950-1970.
Références : Donald H. Graham Jr: « Bronze Mirrors, from ancient China, the Donald H. Graham Jr. Collection » Hong-Kong 1994. P.147, fig.44.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 193. Vase Hu, Chine, Dynastie des Han Orientaux (25-220 CE). Alliage cuivreux. H. 36 cm. Estimation: €5,000- €7,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Beau modèle classique orné de rois bandeaux circulaires de deux gorges horizontales et de deux prises en forme d’anneaux maintenues par deux très beaux masques de taotie. On notera la belle oxydation qui recouvre la surfaceBeau modèle classique orné de rois bandeaux circulaires de deux gorges horizontales et de deux prises en forme d’anneaux maintenues par deux très beaux masques de taotie. On notera la belle oxydation qui recouvre la surface.
Provenance : Collection privée française (1975-2015).
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 193. Boite couverte, Zhi, Chine, Dynastie des Han Occidentaux, 2°-1° siècle BCE. Laque. H. 10,2 cm. Estimation: €3,000 - €5,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Belle boite classique à décor peint et gravé de motifs géométriques et animaux fantastiques sur fond brun. Petits accidents visibles. Les objets en laque gravés de cette période sont considérés comme faisant partie des plus anciens laques secs incisés chinois.
Provenance : - Galerie Christian Deydier, Oriental Bronzes Ltd, Londres 1991
- Collection privée Française 1998-2019.
Publication : - Christian Deydier: «The Art of Warring States and Han periods», 1991, Oriental Bronzes Ltd, London, Cat.n° 15.
Références: Pour un zhi très proche, cf : J.C.Y. Watt & B.B Ford : « East Asian Lacquer, the Florence and Herbert Irving collection», Metropolitan Museum, New York, 1991, p.6, n°1.
Circular Box with Geometric Design, Eastern Han dynasty (25–200). Black lacquer with painted and incised decoration. H. 4 in. (10.2 cm); Diam. 3 5/8 in. (9.2 cm). Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving, 2015, 2015.500.1.82a, b. © 2000–2020 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 124. Tête de cheval, Chine, dynastie Han (206 BCE - 220 CE). Terre cuite. H. 21 cm. Estimation: €100 - €200. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Provenance : Collection de M. et Mme L. (Paris) constituée dans les années 1970-2000.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 130. Tête de cheval, Chine, dynastie Han (206 BCE - 220 CE). Terre cuite. H. 17 cm. Estimation: €100 - €200. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Provenance : Collection de M. et Mme L. (Paris) constituée dans les années 1970-2000.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Lot 130. Deux têtes de chevaux, Chine, dynastie Han (206 BCE - 220 CE). Terre cuite. H. 17 cm. Estimation: €200 - €400. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Provenance : Collection de M. et Mme L. (Paris) constituée dans les années 1970-2000.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.
Cy Twombly, Duino, 1967. Oil-based house paint and wax crayon on canvas, 70 x 58 in., 177.8 x 147.3 cm© Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Rob McKeever. Courtesy Gagosian.
NEW YORK, NY.- Gagosian is presenting Duino Elegies, a group exhibition that traces the resonance of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetry through artworks spanning the past 150 years.
In 1912, Rilke was invited to stay at Duino Castle—a fortress just north of Trieste, Italy—by the Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis. There, while standing atop a cliff overlooking the Adriatic Sea, he claimed to hear the following line: “Who, if I cried out, would hear me among the angelic orders?” Rilke eventually used these words to open the Duino Elegies, a 1923 collection of ten intensely religious metaphysical poems. Concerned with the interplay of suffering and beauty in human existence, the Elegies also project a hopeful vision of a more peaceful world.
Two decades earlier, Rilke had moved to Paris to write a monograph on Auguste Rodin, initiating a complex but lasting friendship between the two men. Rilke venerated the sculptor’s ability to translate poetic sentiments into figuration, as exemplified by Rodin’s large bronze La Muse tragique (1896). Originally conceived seven years prior for the Monument to Victor Hugo—in which the muse, perched above the French literary giant, whispers inspiration to him—La Muse tragique is presented here as a single figure, evoking a heightened pathos befitting its subject’s symbolic identity.
In the 1960s, a young Anselm Kiefer picked up a copy of Rilke’s Rodin monograph, his first encounter with both of their work. Rilke’s evocative prose allowed Kiefer to fully appreciate the work of the French sculptor, whose naturalistic touch and tendency toward the monumental would make him one of Kiefer’s most enduring sources of inspiration. In two intimate 1974 artist’s books and a suite of sensuous watercolors, Kiefer presents meditative and spiritual scenes that show his longstanding fascination with both sculptor and poet.
Medardo Rosso, Bambino Ebreo, c. 1920–25. Wax on plaster, 9 5/16 x 7 1/16 x 5 11/16 in., 23.7 x 17.9 x 14.4 cm, Private collection. Photo: Sergie Domingie. Courtesy Gagosian
First conceived in 1893, Medardo Rosso’s Bambino Ebreo (Jewish Boy) emerged as one of the artist’s most beloved late-career motifs. In a continuing endeavor to represent complex emotion in the young child’s features, Rosso re-created and recast the somber portrait bust several times for numerous exhibitions and personal gifts. On view is a 1920–25 version of Bambino Ebreo made in plaster with a wax surface. Rosso employed wax—normally a preparatory medium—as a finish, harnessing its deathly connotations of impermanence and decay as well as its approximation of the warmth and tenderness of human flesh—an impulse akin to Rilke’s own meditations on humankind’s fleeting moments of contact with transient, sublime beauty.
Reminiscing on his formative education, Cy Twombly wrote: “It was impossible to come out of Black Mountain College and not love Rilke.” Forging a direct, powerful connection to the Elegies, Twombly’s painting Duino (1967) marries the artist’s geometric investigations with his consistent interest in literature. To create this “blackboard painting”—one of a group of works named for their evocation of the schoolroom wall—Twombly scrawled, effaced, and reinscribed the name of Rilke’s titular castle in white wax crayon on a dark gray oil paint ground, positing the act of writing as an artistic gesture in itself.
For this exhibition, Edmund de Waal has produced a new work in dialogue with Twombly’s painting, using the medium of ceramics to improvise on the earlier artist’s trademark handwritten canvases. The diptych elegie (2020) is made from kaolin clay brushed over a pair of wood panels; on top of these chalky surfaces, de Waal scribbles literary snippets in graphite and oil stick, partially smearing and overwriting them to simulate the mutability of observation. With its looping, penciled-in script and pale ground, de Waal’s graphic sculpture appears as an aesthetic inverse and creative tribute to Twombly’s Duino.
The exhibition includes works by Balthus, Paul Cézanne, Edmund de Waal, Anselm Kiefer, Auguste Rodin, Medardo Rosso, and Cy Twombly, among others.
Edmund de Waal, elegie, 2000. Kaolin, graphite, gold, oil stick, oak and ash, 33 1/16 x 46 7/8 x 1 3/4 in., 84 x 119 x 4.5 cm © Edmund de Waal. Photo: Mike Bruce. Courtesy Gagosian.
Lot 3007. Zao Wou-Ki (Zho Wuji, French / Chinese, 1920-2013), 22.03.50 (Paysage rouge), signed in Chinese; signed 'Zao' (lower right); dated '22 Mars 50 '(on the reverse), oil on canvas laid on board, 46 x 38 cm. (18 1/8 x 15 in.) Painted in 1950. Estimate HKD 6,000,000 - HKD 8,000,000. Price Realized HKD 8,440,000 © Christie's Image Ltd 2016.
Provenance: Galerie de France, Paris, France
Private Collection
Lin & Keng Gallery, Taipei, Taiwan
Private Collection, Asia.
This work is accompanied with a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist on 19 January 1996.
This work is referenced in the archive of the Foundation Zao Wou-Ki and will be included in the artist's forthcoming catalogue raisonné prepared by Françoise Marquet and Yann Hendgen (Information provided by Foundation Zao Wou-Ki).
Literature: Lin & Keng Gallery Inc., Zao Wou-Ki (exh.cat.), Taipei, Taiwan, 1999 (illustrated, p.9)
Lin & Keng Gallery Inc., Zao Wou-Ki (exh.cat.), Taipei, Taiwan, 2005 (illustrated, p.21).
Exhibited: Taipei, Taiwan, Lin & Keng Gallery, Zao Wou-Ki, 1999.
Note: By contrast with the figurative landscapes Zao Wou-ki painted during his time at the Hangzhou Academy of Arts (Fig.1), those produced after his move to Paris in 1948 began to show a simpler and more refined use of color, with a more poetic and mature compositional sense (Fig. 2). In 22.03.50 (PAYSAGE ROUGE), dating from 1950, red, black, and green make up his principal color palette, along with traces of blue and white streaks where pigment has been scratched from the canvas, creating an overall feeling of depth and pure elegance. The composition is spacious and open. Its human figures, buildings, and forests have undergone simplification; echoing the sculpture of Giacometti, they exude the simple and primitive air of symbolic motifs cut with a chisel (Fig. 3).
In 22.03.50 (PAYSAGE ROUGE), Zao Wou-ki's black and green oil pigments mimic the effect of overlapping washes of heavy and light ink. Even given his simplicity in depicting this scene, we can still clearly distinguish the foreground and deep distance. Paysage exudes an appeal not unlike the cloudy, misty mountain landscapes of Mi Fu, and in particular, the three peaks towering high above the landscape recall Mi Fu's famous Mountains and Pines in Spring (Fig. 4). The rich red that serves as the base color for the mountain and forest scenery evokes a line from the Mu Fi poem: 'Light ink and autumn mountains, I paint the distant sky / the red light of sunset still shines, and mists are tinged with violet.' With a painterly vocabulary strongly influenced by traditional Chinese landscape painting, Zao Wou-ki here provides a fresh new interpretation of the conception of nature.
Zao Wou-ki once said he would prefer to abandon the word 'landscape' in favor of the word 'nature' to describe the subject of his paintings. In part this reflected his desire to distance himself from the restrictions of Chinese academic painting, and in part, reflects his search for 'the qi of life' found in the Chinese poetry and painting tradition. In his younger years he puzzled over these questions: How to convey in oils the breadth of the universe glimpsed in the landscapes of the Song Dynasty? How could he depict the deep meaning of the flow of the air, the drifting clouds and mist, and the wind and rain? And even more, how could he blaze a distinctive new artistic path? A close look at 22.03.50 (PAYSAGE ROUGE) reveals a clear distinction between Zao Wou-ki and post-war European art, as he still maintains a tenuous relationship with the Chinese academic painting style. But in color, brushwork, and spatial structure Paysage is highly experimental, as Zao Wou-ki was at this time striving to break through all the limitations that confined his art. It was precisely this attitude that enabled him to ascend the heights and ultimately become one of the era's Chinese masters of abstract art.
From the 1940s to the early 50s, landscape scenes (paysage) were a principal theme of Zao Wou-ki's painting. In them he gave special emphasis to lines and to brushstrokes, which he applied directly and without revision, thus making the creation of his paintings virtually a process of 'writing' (Figs. 5, 6). Zao's handling of branches in his forests has a unique, individual feel; his lines are organic, giving little regard to technique and seeming to appear instead as purely a response to his thought. They communicate a finely formed sense of motion, a feeling both lively and lifelike. This unsophisticated, appealingly ungainly, yet still soulful style, conceals a strong foundation in calligraphy. It is in fact deeply informed by the aesthetics of the Song Dynasty's Shang Yi style of calligraphy (Fig. 7), a style particularly concerned with self-expression. Zao's exploration of the language of line, as evidenced here, would lead him gradually toward an even purer form of abstract expression.
22.03.50 (PAYSAGE ROUGE) is especially distinctive in seeming to borrow Mi Fu's style of landscape composition, and in it, Zao Wou-ki daringly attempts to produce the special charm and strength of an ink work by building up layers of oils. His vermilion base color suggests the textures of lacquerware; at the same time, the thickness of his oils allows him, at some points, to replace line with streaks scored into the canvas. Possibly inspired by the etching of copper-plate prints, such lines also possess the distinctive rough beauty of carved Chinese-character inscriptions. A work such as 22.03.50 (PAYSAGE ROUGE) displays Zao Wou-ki's ability to translate his art from one particular medium or aesthetic to another, and from the spiritual to the physical, and has great significance as a bridge between important periods in his work.
Christie's. 30 YEARS: THE SALE, 30 May 2016, Convention Hall
The 33rd edition of TEFAF Maastricht drew 10,000 international visitors over Early Access Day (March 5) and Preview Day (March 6), with attendance continuing into this week. The 282 exhibitors from 22 countries saw sales achieved across all sections of the fair, with works of art going to both private and institutional collectors. The fair will run until Sunday March 15 at the MECC, Maastricht.
In the face of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, three exhibitors dropped out (Wildenstein & Co, Fergus McCaffrey and Galerie Monbrison). Travel restrictions (Italy, for one, has 60 million people in lockdown) and virus concerns have also prevented many collectors and museum representatives from attending in person, making certain sales activity move online.
Stephen Ongpin, of Stephen Ongpin Fine Art in TEFAF Works on Paper said, “Whilst the numbers of visitors are certainly going to be down, TEFAF Maastricht continues to be an essential destination fair for collectors."
Sales were reported from the first moments of the fair. In TEFAF Antiques, J. Kugel (Stand 200) sold to an important museum the centrepiece of their stand, The Orpheus Cup, 1641 – 1642. Crafted in enamelled gold and rubies, the cup is an extraordinary achievement by four distinct hands - Jan Vermeyen, court jeweller to Emperor Rudolf II; Johann Wilhelm Baur, painter of Emperor Ferdinand III; Hans Georg Baur, court goldsmith of Emperor Ferdinand III; and an anonymous Viennese painter on enamel. The work was almost certainly commissioned by Emperor Ferdinand III.
The Orpheus Cup, 1641 – 1642. by four distinct hands - Jan Vermeyen, court jeweller to Emperor Rudolf II; Johann Wilhelm Baur, painter of Emperor Ferdinand III; Hans Georg Baur, court goldsmith of Emperor Ferdinand III; and an anonymous Viennese painter on enamel. From the collection of Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild. Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © J. Kugel.
Selling to a private collector for around €12 million to €15 million ($13.5 million–$16.9 million), likely the highest sale price at the fair so far, was Vincent van Gogh's Paysanne devant une chaumière (Peasant Woman in front of a Farmhouse) (1885). London-based Dickinson offered the work which had once been bought for £4 at a farm sale in 1967 and shortly thereafter for £45 at a London junk shop
Vincent van Gogh, Peasant Woman in front of a Farmhouse, 1885. Sold to a private collector for around €12 million to €15 million ($13.5 million–$16.9 million). Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Dickinson.
Shibunkaku (Stand 166) also reported sales to institutions – the gallery sold two handscrolls, one Chinese from the Qing dynasty, One Hundred Children, by Xu Yanghong, from the collection of Watanabe Gentai (1748 – 1822), and the other Japanese version from 1804, Copy of Xu Yanghong’s One Hundred Children, both to the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.
Sales continued in TEFAF Paintings – new exhibitor Nicolás Cortés Gallery (Stand 369) sold seven works during opening day, including the wings of an altarpiece, depicting Saint Jerome and Saint Clare, which had an asking price of €3 million. The wings of an altarpiece were acquired by a private foundation in the Low countries.
Anthonis Mor, Wings of an Altarpiece: Male donor with Saint Jerome and Female donor with Saint Clare. (Exterior: vanitas scenes). Oil on panel, 208.5 x 77.5 cm (82 x 30.5 in.). Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Nicolás Cortés Gallery (Stand 369)
UK based Tomasso Brothers Fine Art (Stand 304) reported good sales during the opening days, with a bronze of Young Lucius Verus (130 – 169 AD), from the first quarter of the 16th century, selling for in the region of €950,000, and a 17th century, Italian Bust of a Moor, selling for in the region of €375,000.
TEFAF Modern Art included 4 new exhibitors this year, including Lisson Gallery (Stand 441) who sold Dialogue, 2019, acrylic on canvas, by Lee Ufan (b.1936), for US$500,000; Morning Song, 2020, oil on linen, by Stanley Whitney (b.1946) for US$200,000; and Untitled, 1987, glass microspheres in acrylic on canvas, by Mary Corse (b.1945) for US$550,000.
“We have sent a very positive signal to the art world. The two first opening days had a fantastic atmosphere and although we were missing some overseas clients, we were overwhelmed by the quality of the visitors especially the European, they were in a very good mood and buying,” said Georg Laue, exhibitor and Chairman of Antiques for TEFAF.
Further sales included:
- TEFAF Ancient Art – Charles Ede (Stand 426). Greek bi-lingual kylix, c.530 BC, to a private collector for £96,000.
- TEFAF Antiques - Symbolic & Chase (Stand 247). A number of sales were reported during the opening days, including a carved ruby, emerald and diamond elephant brooch, 1938, by René Boivin (1864 - 1917); a pair of micro mosaic, green turquoise, and diamond ear clips by Vamgard; and an extraordinary JAR necklace set with 103-carat diamond centre.
René Boivin (1864 - 1917), An Art Déco ruby, emerald and diamond elephant brooch, 1939. Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Symbolic & Chase (Stand 247).
- TEFAF Design – Galerie Maria Wettergren (Stand 624). Several significant sales reported including Rondo, 2005 – 2008, crafted from wood, iron wire and paper pulp, by Gjertrud Hals (b.1948); and Light Object, 2018, cypress and LED, by Ane Lykke.
Gjertrud Hals (b.1948), Rondo, 2005 – 2008. Mixed media; found objects, branches, plants, metal wire and papier mâché. Diameter 200 cm (78.7 in.). Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Galerie Maria Wettergren (Stand 624)
- TEFAF Paintings - Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art (Stand 334) sold 10 works by Giovanni Battista Camuccini (1819 - 1904) during the opening days, all depicting countryside views around Rome. The paintings went to various buyers, including an American museum who bought two of the 10. The gallery also sold four other paintings: Capri, Monte Solaro at Sunset by Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach, two unpublished oils by Anton Sminck Pitloo and a very intense portrait on paper by Ernest Nepo.
Giovanni Battista Camuccini, "Ariccia. La Porta Napoletana con Palazzo Chigi," ca. 1840-45. Oil on canvas. Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art (Stand 334.
- TEFAF Showcase – Caretto & Occhinegro (Stand 5). The preaching of Jesus on Lake Tiberias, 1631, oil on panel, by Frans Francken II (1581 – 1642)
Frans Francken II (1581-Antwerp-1642) The preaching of Jesus on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1631. Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Caretto & Occhinegro (Stand 5)
- TEFAF Showcase – TAFETA (Stand 3). Baga Nimba (Wood-Chrome), 2019, by Niyi Olagunju (b.1981), priced at £30,000; and Tribal Marks Series III #52, 2019, charcoal and pastel drawing by Babajide Olatunji (b.1989), priced at £12,500.
Babajide Olatunji (b.1989), Tribal Marks Series III #52, 2019, charcoal and pastel on paper, 06 × 152 cm (41.7 x 59.9 in.). Sold for £12,500 at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © TAFETA (Stand 3)
- TEFAF Tribal Art – Bernard De Grunne (Stand 619). Banda Statue, from the Mobaye Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, c.1820 - 1880.
Banda Statue, from the Mobaye Region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, c.1820 - 1880. Wood. Height 57 cm (22.4 in.). Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Bernard De Grunne (Stand 619)
- TEFAF Works on Paper – Galleri K (Stand 718). James Bond Island Triptych, 2007, C-print face-mounted to Plexiglas in artists frame, by Andreas Gursky (b.1955), and Alice CERN, 2019, Inkjet print, by Thomas Struth (b.1954).
Andreas Gursky (b.1955), James Bond Island Triptych, 2007, C-print face-mounted to Plexiglas in artists frame, three works, each 306,7 x 222,9 cm, ed of 6. Sold at TEFAF Maastricht 2020. © Galleri K (Stand 718).
Lot 221. Vase Hu, Terre cuite vernissée, Chine, Dynastie des Han Orientaux (25-220 CE). H. 32 cm. Estimation: €800 - €1,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr.
Modèle classique présentant un décor moulé de fausses prises circulaires maintenues par des masques de taotie sous une couverte verte translucide créant des effets de coulures.
Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30.