Lot 185. Deux gardiens, Chine, Dynastie Wei du nord (385-535). Terre cuite. H. 35 cm. Estimation: €2,800 - €3,500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 190. Dame de cour, Chine, dynastie Tang (ca 8° siècle). Terre cuite. H. 35 cm. Estimation: €3,000 - €5,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 187. Disque Bi, Chine, Période Néolithique, ca 2000-1500 BCE. Néphrite /(jade) D. 21,5 cm. Estimation: €1,600 - €2,500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 188. Dague, Chine, Royaume de Dian, ca 4° siècle BCE – 1° siècle CE. Alliage cuivreux oxydé. L. 32 cm. Estimation: €1,500 - €2,500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 191. Kundika, Chine, Dynastie Tang (7°-10° siècle). Alliage cuivreux. H. 22 cm. Estimation: €900 - €1,500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 231. Kundika, Chine, ca 12°-13° siècle. Grès à couverte brune. H. 25,5 cm. Estimation: €900 - €1,500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

NEW YORK, NY.- Scholten Japanese Art is participating in Asia Week 2020 with an extraordinary offering of Japanese woodblock prints: The Baron J. Bachofen von Echt Collection of Golden Age Ukiyo-e. The collection is comprised of a highly selective group of twenty-two figural woodblock prints produced during a period considered the highpoint of the genre, known as the ‘golden age’ of ukiyo-e, reaching its peak in the last decade of the 18th century. The prints depict bijin-ga (lit. ‘beautiful person’), the influencers of their time—famous courtesans, waitresses, and beloved actors—with works by the most acclaimed ukiyo-e artists of the late 18th and early 19th century. There are works in this collection that are possibly unique, or one of only a handful of recorded examples, with connections to some of the most prominent early collectors and dealers of ukiyo-e. In many cases, these are the only examples still remaining outside of museum collections.

The term ukiyo (lit. ‘floating world’) references an older Buddhist concept regarding the impermanence of life, but during the prosperity of the Edo Period in Japan the term began to be used to encompass and embolden everyday indulgences because of that impermanence. One of the tangible records of those indulgences was the production of nishiki-e (lit. ‘brocade pictures’), the full-color prints that we recognize today as ukiyo-e—images of the floating world celebrating youth and beauty, which began in circa 1765. After the advent of full-color woodblock printing, the market for nishiki-e, accessible to everyday people, steadily grew, and the materials and methods used to create this art rapidly evolved. A significant change that came about in the 1770s was that the craftsmen involved with production developed techniques for full-color printing on larger sheets of paper, and, as a result, this led to the general adoption of the standard ‘oban’ (approximately 15 by 10 in) size by publishers. Larger paper was followed by an increase of the scale of the figures within compositions.

An excellent example of this is the earliest print in the group, a circa 1777 design by Kitao Shigemasa (ca. 1739-1820), Geisha and Maid Carrying a Shamisen Box (15 by 10 1/8 in., 38 by 25.7 cm). Shigemasa was primarily a designer of illustrated books, producing over 250 in his lifetime, many of which were erotic in nature. With a comparatively small output of single sheet designs, the scarcity of extant Shigemasa prints belies his talent and influence on the genre. He worked with over twenty publishers, often with the innovative Tsutaya Juzaburo (1750-1797), whose impact looms large in the ‘golden age’ and likewise, in the Bachofen Collection. In 1774, the first book published by Tsutaya, Thousands at a Glance (Hitome senbon), featured illustrations by Shigemasa. Approximately three years later Tsutaya published an untitled series depicting full-length images of geisha of which this is a part.

Kitao Shigemasa (1739-1820), Geisha and Maid Carrying a Shamisen Box, unsigned, with seal Hayashi Tadamasa, ca. 1777, oban tate-e 15 by 10 1/8 in., 38 by 25.7 cm. Sold. © Scholten Japanese Art.

One of the finest prints included in this show, Woman and Servant in Snow, ca. 1790 (14 1/2 by 9 7/8 in., 36.8 by 25.2 cm), is by an artist whose work is particularly rare to the market: Eishosai Choki (fl. ca. 1780-1809). Also published by Tsutaya Juzaburo, the print demonstrates one of the hallmarks of golden age prints- the introduction of lavish printing techniques such as mica ground printing. The print is from an untitled group of four portraits of beauties presented in a dramatic outdoor setting that are among the most reproduced and coveted works in all of the ukiyo-e genre. The designs are distinctive in the way that Choki positions the figure off to the side, only occupying roughly two-thirds of the composition. In this print we see a beauty pausing beneath an open umbrella which shields her from the fat flakes of falling snow, shimmering (or shivering) against a cold mica background. She leans on the back of her burly servant who is bending over, reaching beyond the frame of the composition to clean the clumps of heavy wet snow off of her geta. Although they are a study in contrasts, she is lovely and delicate, he is solid with rough whiskers on his face, Choki conveys a sense of quiet intimacy shared between the two.

Eishosai Choki (fl. ca. 1780-1809), Woman and Servant in Snow (Sechu sho shiki jo), light silver mica ground of falling snowflakes with applied layer of gofun snow on top of her umbrella and the servant's hat, this impression unsigned and without censor or publisher seals, published by Tsutaya Juzaburo, ca. 1790, oban tate-e 14 1/2 by 9 7/8 in., 36.8 by 25.2 cm. Sold. © Scholten Japanese Art.

 An example of a lavish printing is by Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829), Selection of Beauties from the Pleasure Quarters: Hanamurasaki of the Tamaya in Procession (14 7/8 by 9 3/4 in., 37.9 by 24.9 cm), which utilizes both an incredibly dramatic dark mica background as well as metallic printing on the hem of the sauntering courtesan, Hanamurasaki. This design was formerly in the esteemed collection of the French connoisseur, Henri Vever (1854-1942), and the subject of extensive research by the American collector, Louis V. Ledoux (1880-1948), who had a variant impression which he identified as a later state of the print. His research led him to conclude that there may have been four states of this scarce print, of which this (the Vever impression) is the earliest and (he thought) one of only three extant examples. Current research clarifies that this one is one of only two recorded impressions of the earliest version of the print. 

Hosoda Eishi (1756-1829), Selection of Beauties from the Pleasure Quarters: Hanamurasaki of the Tamaya in Procession (Dochu no zu, Tamaya Hanamurasaki), dark grey mica background, signed Eishi giga (drawn for pleasure) with publisher's seal Iwa (Iwatoya Kisaburo of Eirindo), Vever collector's seal 'HV', ca. 1794-95, oban tate-e 14 7/8 by 9 3/4 in., 37.9 by 24.9 cm. Sold. © Scholten Japanese Art.

Another development in print production was the issuance of multi-panel prints- most typically in the format of triptychs. One of the most stunning works in the show which shares the Vever Collection provenance is a triptych by a student of Eishi, Chokosai Eisho (fl. ca. 1795-1801) titled A Glimpse of the Ogiya: Hashidate, Nanakoshi and Hanabito (triptych 15 1/8 by 28 3/8 in., 38.5 by 72 cm). This breath-taking composition presents three beautiful women who are seated in a brothel reception room decorated with an elaborate painting of a peacock covering the background wall. The three women are identified from right to left as the well-known and high-ranking courtesans. Hashidate, Nanakoshi and Hanabito. The title places them at the Ogiya brothel located in the Yoshiwara. All three courtesans worked at the Ogiya and seem to be engrossed in a private conversation away from their customers. Perhaps they are sharing an amusing story related to the folded love letter which Hashidate is handing to Nanakoshi. There are few copies of this triptych extant and almost all are now in museum collections. 

Chokosai Eisho (fl. ca. 1795-1801),  A Glimpse of the Ogiya: Hashidate, Nanakoshi and Hanabito (Ogiya mise ryaku: Hashidate, Nanakoshi, Hanabito), each sheet signed Eisho ga, with publisher's seal To of Yamaguchiya Chusuke, and Vever collector's seal 'HV', ca. mid-1790s,oban tate-e 15 1/8 by 28 3/8 in., 38.5 by 72 cm. Sold. © Scholten Japanese Art.

The bijin-ga of ukiyo-e were represented by beautiful women and beautiful men, and kabuki actors enjoyed celebrity-worship that would surely resonate with that of today. The Bachofen Collection includes three prints depicting kabuki actors, including a powerful bust-portrait by Utagawa Kunimasa (1773-1810), Actor Ichikawa Yaozo III as a Bandit (14 7/8 by 10 in., 37.7 by 25.5 cm). This intense okubi-e portrait of Ichikawa Yaozo III (Suketakaya Takasuke II, 1747-1818) shows the actor in the role of a yamagatsu (lumberjack), who is actually a legendary warrior in disguise. The print was made at the time of Yaozo’s performance in a play that was staged at the Miyako-za theater in the 11th lunar month of 1796. The artist Kunimasa died at the young age of only 37 with approximately 125 recorded designs with few impressions extant. Of the four known examples of this print, this is the only one currently in private hands.

Lot 233. Vase à cinq tubes, Wuguan ping, Chine, dynastie Song (10°-13° siècle). Grès à couverte céladon. H. 15,2 cm. Estimation: €1,500 - €2,500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

On notera le beau décor incisé apparaissant sous la couverte.

Références pour la typologie: - Monique Crick & Gilles Béguin: «Céladon - Grès des Musées de la Province du Zhejiang – Chine». Editions Findakly, Paris 2005. pp.170 et 171.

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30

Lot 234. Bol incisé de motifs végétaux, Chine, Dynastie Song du Sud (1127-1279). Porcelaine de type Qingbai. D. 17,2 cm. Estimation: €300 - €500. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30

Lot 235. Bol à décor de pivoines, Chine, Dynastie Song (960-1279). Grès à décor mouléà glaçure céladon. D. 12,4 cm. Estimation: €1,200 - €1,600. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Provient très probablement des fours de Yaozhou. On notera la restauration à l’or de type kintsugi.

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30

Lot 236. Coupe à bord chantourné, Chine, Dynastie Qing (1644-1912). Grès à couverte céladon craquelée. D. 17,5 cm. Estimation: €1,500 - €2,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 237. Bol, Chine, Dynastie Song du Sud (1127-1279). Porcelaine de type Qingbai. D. 19 cm. Estimation: €400 - €800. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

On notera le beau traitement du décor intérieur incisé suivant le classique décor des jeunes garçons dans des rinceaux.

Références : - Monique Crick : «Céramiques chinoises d'exportation pour L'Asie du Sud-Est : Collection de l'Ambassadeur et Madame Charles Müller», 5 continents 2010, pp. 164 et 165.

Lot 238. Vase rouleau, Chine, Dynastie Ming (1368-1644). Grès à couverte céladon. H. 34,5 cm. Estimation: €1,500 - €2,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

La surface est recouverte d’un riche décor végétal visible sous la couverte.

Lot 239. Bol à décor de nuages, Chine, ca,14°-15° siècle. Grès à décor moulé sous couverte céladon. D. 17 cm. Estimation: €600 - €900. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30

Lot 240. Bol à bord chantourné, Chine, 14°-15° siècle. Grès à décor incisé sous couverte céladon. D. 17 cm. Estimation: €500 - €800. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Cornette de Saint-Cyr. ART PRÉCOLOMBIEN - ART D'ASIE. Mercredi 25 Mars 2020 14:30

Abe Motoshi, Ocean Current, 2010, madake bamboo, rattan, 9.50 x 11.50 x 11.50 in. © TAI Modern

NEW YORK, NY.- TAI Modern is returning to this year's Asia Week New York to exhibit important historic and contemporary works of Japanese bamboo art. As the world's premier gallery for contemporary Japanese bamboo art, TAI Modern embraces this opportunity to provide education and guidance to established collectors and first-time viewers alike.

"I am thrilled to be able to bring these works to Asia Week. The knowledgeable and enthusiastic collectors we see there are the perfect audience for our bamboo artists, both historic and contemporary," states Margo Thoma, Gallery Director. 

Unknown Artist, Gourd-shaped Flower Basket, 20th c., madake bamboo, wisteria root, 21.50 x 21.00 x 14.50 in. © TAI Modern.

Selected Works of Japanese Bamboo Art features works by bamboo's most notable artists, including members of the historic Hayakawa and Tanabe family lineages and contemporary masters such as Honma Hideaki and Ebana Misaki, one of the medium’s few female artists. This exhibition provides Asia Week visitors the opportunity to see a diverse selection of exceptional bamboo art. 

Alongside these works, TAI Modern presents Abe Motoshi’s first solo exhibition in the United States. This master artist is known for his numerous original plaiting techniques and devotion to the art form. A student of the legendary Shono Shounsai, Abe struggled at first. “I felt I was inferior. I hated myself for not being more artistic. It took me well over ten years to get over those feelings. I realized, after all, I can only be myself. Nothing more, nothing less.” Since then, Abe has stubbornly pursued his own style and personal vision of bamboo art. The baskets in this show, dating from 1979 to 2019, represent the full breadth of the artist’s career and creative expression.

Ebana Misaki, Luminous, 2018, madake bamboo, rattan, 14.50 x 9.50 x 7.50 in.© TAI Modern.

TAI Modern was established in 1979. In 2014, Margo Thoma became the owner and Director, and she and longtime Director of Japanese Art, Koichiro Okada, have continued TAI Modern’s mission to support and promote Japanese bamboo art as a living art form. Works by TAI Modern artists have been placed in some of the country's most prestigious institutions, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Art Institute of Chicago. 

These exhibitions are on view March 12-21 at COLNAGHI gallery, 38 E 70th Street.

Hayakawa Shokosai III, Teiryo Tsubogata, 1913, madake bamboo, rattan, 22.00 x 8.50 x 8.00 in. © TAI Modern.

Hayakawa Shokosai IV, Hanging Morikago with a Braid, early 1960s, madake bamboo, rattan, silk,16.75 x 17.50 x 17.50 in. © TAI Modern.

Honma Hideaki, Crossing B, 2019. Madake & nemagari bamboo, rattan, 18.25 x 17.75 x 6 in. © TAI Modern.

Tanabe Chikuunsai IV, Godai, 2019,bamboo root, hobichiku bamboo, rattan, 26.00 x 19.00 in. © TAI Modern.

Tani Bunchō, copy of Xu Yanghong's One Hundred Children, 1804.

AMSTERDAM.- The Rijksmuseum has acquired a pair of Asian scroll paintings of the very highest quality at the European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF). One is an 18th-century Chinese scroll painting showing one hundred children playing, making music, reading and writing, and the other is a 19th-century Japanese copy. The ‘one hundred children’ theme is well-known in Asian art – it symbolises fertility and the flourishing of the family. This acquisition was made possible by Rituals, sponsor of Asian art at the Rijksmuseum.

Taco Dibbits, director of the Rijksmuseum: What makes these twin paintings exceptional is that they illustrate the transfer of artistic knowledge from China to Japan in a manner that could scarcely be bettered.

The two works demonstrate the importance of copying to East Asian painting, while also testifying to the Chinese influence on the Japanese painting, as a source of inspiration. The Chinese original was made by the professional painter Xu Yanghong; the Japanese copy was made by Tani Buncho, one of the most famous masters of Japanese painting in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is most unusual for such a great Japanese master to draw inspiration from a relatively unknown Chinese artist.

Popular subject
‘One hundred children’ was a popular subject in both Chinese and Japanese art. The children are depicted at play, as well as reading, writing, drawing calligraphies and making music. This theme symbolises the desire of parents to have many children, and for their children to be successful in what they do. The two scrolls complement other works on the same theme in our collection. Together this pair represent a painting tradition in East Asia that is quite distinct from its European counterpart, and their acquisition marks a major enhancement of our collection of Japanese and Chinese painting.

Molkenboer
The Rijksmuseum has also been gifted a superb work that was purchased at TEFAF: an 1896 self-portrait by Antoon Hendricus Johannes Molkenboer (1872-1960). In his portrayal of himself as a confident young artist, Molkenboer breaks with the romantic tradition and heralds the arrival of Realists such as Charley Toorop and Dik Ket. Molkenboer studied in Amsterdam at the school for drawing teachers founded by his father, the Rijksnormaalschool voor Teekenonderwijzers. It was the forerunner of the Rijksmuseum’s own drawing school, the Teekenschool, and it was housed in one of the wings of the main building. Molkenboer’s self-portrait was donated to the museum by Helen and Lorenz van der Meij.

Antoon Henricus Johannes Molkenboer, Self-Portrait in the Studio, 1896. Gift of Helen and Lorenz van der Meij.

Temple
In addition, the Rijksmuseum has acquired a large aquatint by Francois-Philippe Charpentier (1734-1817) depicting the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem. This 1766 print is the only known copy. The aquatint etching technique, which Charpentier was the first to use, produces areas of tone rather than lines, resulting in a watercolour effect. This work was purchased with the support of the Waller Fund. The most superb works acquired over the past ten years thanks to the Waller Fund are currently on display in the Philips Wing of the Rijksmuseum. This print will soon be added to this exhibition.

François-Philippe Charpentier, Temple of Solomon, 1766. Purchased with the support of the Waller Fund.

Indispensable support
The Rijksmuseum connects people, art and history. It safeguards, manages, conserves, restores, researches, processes, compiles, presents and publishes on the national collection of the Netherlands. Gifts and bequests from private individuals, funding organisations, family trusts, foundations, the government and business are essential to these tasks. The Rijksmuseum is grateful for any form of support.

Statue of Prince Gudea with a Vase of Flowing Water (detail), Neo-Sumerian period, about 2120 BC, dolerite. Musée du Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Paris. Gift of Boisgelin, 1967 (de Clercq collection). Image © Scala/Art Resource, NY.

LOS ANGELES – The J. Paul Getty Museum presents the most important exhibition of Mesopotamian art ever assembled on the West Coast in Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins, on display March 18 – July 27, 2020 at the Getty Villa Museum. The works of art come from the collection of the Department of Near Eastern Antiquities at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, with select additional loans from the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Organized by the Getty Museum and the Musée du Louvre, Paris, the exhibition covers the three millennia of Mesopotamian history, from the appearance of the first cities in about 3300 BC to Alexander the Great’s conquest of Babylon in 331 BC. On view will be many of the most renowned masterpieces of Mesopotamian art, including the silver cult vase of the Sumerian king Enmetena, the cylinder seal of the royal scribe Ibni-sharrum, statues of Gudea and other kings of Babylonia, and a glazed brick lion from the Ishtar Gate in Babylon.

Statue of Prince Gudea with a Vase of Flowing Water, Neo-Sumerian period, about 2120 BC, dolerite. Musée du Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Paris. Gift of Boisgelin, 1967 (de Clercq collection). Image © Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN-GP / Raphaël Chipault / Art Resource, NY.

   “The ancient land of Mesopotamia, in modern-day Iraq, occupies a unique place in the history of human culture. It was there, around 3400-3000 BC, that the first major cities arose, boasting massive city walls, temples and palaces; the first known writing on clay tablets, used by priestly bureaucracies to record agricultural activities; sculptures of gods, worshippers, and rulers; and many other remarkable cultural and scientific achievements,” says Timothy Potts, Director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, who curated the exhibition. “It is a great privilege to be able to bring to the Getty Villa a selection of the most important works of Mesopotamian art and other ancient cultural treasures from the Musée du Louvre’s unrivalled collections.”

“In addition to being the first collection of Mesopotamia art to be shown in a museum setting as early as 1847, the Louvre’s collection is emblematic of Mesopotamian archeology because of its exceptional scale, quality and history,” says Ariane Thomas, co-curator of the exhibition and curator of the Mesopotamian collections, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, at the Musée du Louvre. “We are thrilled to share part of our collection of Mesopotamian masterpieces with the Getty Villa for this important exhibition. Visitors to the Getty can now explore this ancient world so close and yet so far from our own, through over 3000 years of Mesopotamia history.”

Statuette of a Human-Headed Bull, Neo-Sumerian period, 2150-2000 BC, chlorite. Musée du Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Paris. Géjou purchase, 1898. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Hervé Lewandowski.

Home to some of the world’s most ancient civilizations, with a history that spans several millennia, Mesopotamia—the land "between the rivers” in modern-day Iraq—was inhabited by the ancient Sumerians, Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians before being integrated into the empires of the Achaemenid Persian, Seleucid Greek, and Arsacid Parthian dynasties. Their many achievements include the creation of the earliest known writing (cuneiform), the formation of the first cities, the development of advanced astronomical and mathematical knowledge, and spectacular artistic and literary accomplishments.

Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins is part of the Getty global initiative Ancient Worlds Now, which seeks to raise awareness of the interwoven histories of the ancient world through a diverse program of ground-breaking scholarship, exhibitions, conservation, and pre- and post-graduate education.

The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections: First Cities, First Writings, and First Kings.

Vessel Fragment with Cows in a Barn, Late Uruk period, 3400–3100 B.C. Limestone. Object: H: 15 × W: 24.5 × D: 1.3 cm (5 7/8 × 9 5/8 × 1/2 in.) Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Franck Raux VEX.2020.1.8.

First Cities

Some of the first cities of Mesopotamia—notably Agade, Ur, Babylon, and Nineveh—became imperial capitals, renowned and feared throughout the ancient world. When Alexander the Great conquered Mesopotamia in 331 BC, Babylon was still regarded as the most spectacular of all cities.

The first settlements that developed into sizeable cities emerged in Sumer (southern Mesopotamia) in the late fourth millennium BC. The largest and most imposing of these early cities was Uruk (biblical Erech), which was the seat of the legendary Sumerian kings Enmerkar, Lugalbanda, and Gilgamesh, the last of whom was believed to have built Uruk’s mighty city wall of over five miles. Uruk and other Sumerian cities also boasted monumental temples and palaces decorated with statues of gods, kings, and worshippers, and were centers of innovation, learning, and artistic creation. The exhibition includes elements of architectural decoration, such as clay cone mosaics and bronze door decorations with scenes of military campaigns; as well as relief sculptures and plaques glorifying the king and the gods from palaces and domestic contexts. In later periods, Babylonian temples and ceremonial spaces were elaborately decorated with images of protective gods and demons, such as the glazed tile panel of a striding lion from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon which is featured in the exhibition.

Head of a God, Neo-Sumerian period, 2150–2000 B.C. Terracotta. Object: H: 10.8 × W: 6.4 × D: 5.7 cm (4 1/4 × 2 1/2 × 2 1/4 in.) Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Franck Raux VEX.2020.1.19.

First Writing

The earliest known writing emerged in Sumer around 3400 BC, originating as a system of pictographs that evolved by 2600 BC into the characteristic wedge-shaped script we call cuneiform. Over the next 2,000 years, the use of cuneiform scripts spread to neighboring areas of Iran, Armenia, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Cuneiform eventually died out in the late first century AD, overtaken by the simpler scripts of Aramaic and Greek. The hundreds of thousands of Mesopotamian texts discovered through archaeology include royal inscriptions, legal codes, treaties, and literature, as well as receipts, contracts, letters, incantations and other everyday records that reveal the intimate details of Mesopotamian social, religious, and economic life to an extent unmatched by any other ancient culture. The vast majority of cuneiform writing was inscribed on clay tablets, many examples of which are in the exhibition.

Another highlight of the exhibition is an important group of stone cylinder seals that were impressed on clay tablets to serve like a signature. The craftsmanship and artistry of seals became especially sophisticated from the Akkadian period (2340–2150 BC) onward, their scenes ranging from everyday activities (banqueting, plowing, making pottery) to mythology, worship, rituals, and warfare, making them the largest and most important surviving body of Mesopotamian iconography. Despite their diminutive scale, these intricately carved seals are among the greatest works of Mesopotamian art.

Wall Panel with a Striding Lion, Neo-Babylonian period, 605-562 BC, glazed brick. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Fletcher Fund, 1931 (31.13.1). Image: www.metmuseum.org.

First Kings

The third section of the exhibition examines the principal kingdoms and empires of Mesopotamia and the associated representations of their kings, conquests, court life, and royal families in art. According to Sumerian creation myths, kingship “descended from heaven,” and the gods determined the order in which cities and their rulers held sway. The ruler’s primary obligations were to lead in battle, to ensure the favor of the gods through temple building and regular offerings, to maintain the city walls and irrigation canals for agriculture, and to enact and enforce laws. Mesopotamian kings promulgated the earliest known law codes (most famously that of Hammurabi of Babylon), and political reforms motivated by a concern for social justice.

Enriched by tribute from conquered lands and active international trade, the cultures of Mesopotamia produced some of the greatest works of art that have come down to us from the ancient world: a magnificent silver cult-vessel from a Sumerian temple in Lagash, elaborately decorated with mythological scenes; royal statues of kings of Agade, Ur, Babylon, and Girsu; stone relief sculptures from the palaces of Assyria; and colorful glazed brick reliefs of lions, bulls and dragons from Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon.

Stele of King Melishipak II, Middle Babylonian period, 1186–1172 B.C. Black limestone. Object: H: 65 × W: 30 × D: 19 cm (25 9/16 × 11 13/16 × 7 1/2 in.), 100.2449 kg (25 9/16 × 11 13/16 × 7 1/2 in., 221 lb.), Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: René-Gabriel Ojéda VEX.2020.1.16.

For some 3,000 years, Mesopotamia remained the preeminent power of the Near East. In 539 BC Cyrus the Great captured Babylon and incorporated Mesopotamia into the Persian Empire, which in turn fell to the Macedonian king Alexander the Great in 331 BC. Periods of Greek and Parthian rule followed, and by about 100 AD native Mesopotamian culture had effectively come to an end.

 Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins is curated by Timothy Potts, director of the J. Paul Getty Museum, and Ariane Thomas, curator of the Mesopotamian collections, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, at the Musée du Louvre.

Exhibition organized by the Musée du Louvre, Paris, and the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles.

Land Grant Stele (“Caillou Michaux”), Post-Kassite period, 1100–1083 B.C. Serpentine Object: H: 40 × W: 22 × D: 14 cm (15 3/4 × 8 11/16 × 5 1/2 in.), 31.7518 kg (15 3/4 × 8 11/16 × 5 1/2 in., 70 lb.). Object (with socle): H: 54 cm (21 1/4 in.), Bibliothèque nationale de France. Image © BnF VEX.2020.1.1.

 Statue of Prince Gudea, Neo-Sumerian period, about 2120 B.C. Diorite. Object: H: 44 × W: 21.5 × D: 29.5 cm (17 5/16 × 8 7/16 × 11 5/8 in.), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1959 (59.2). Image: www.metmuseum.org.

Box Lid with Intertwined Snakes, Neo-Sumerian period, 2150–2000 B.C. Steatite. Object: H: 11.3 × W: 7.4 × D: 1.3 cm (4 7/16 × 2 15/16 × 1/2 in.) Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Franck Raux VEX.2020.1.7.

Head of a Man, Possibly a Ruler, Akkadian or Neo-Sumerian period, 2300–2000 B.C. Bronze. Object: H: 34.3 × W: 20 × D: 20 cm (13 1/2 × 7 7/8 × 7 7/8 in.) The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund, 1947 (47.100.80). Image: www.metmuseum.org.

Cult Vessel (“The Vase of Enmetena”), Early Dynastic period, about 2420 BC, silver (vase) and bronze (base). Musée du Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Paris. Sarzec expedition, 1888. Gift of Sultan Abdul Hamid II, 1896. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Hervé Lewandowski.

Statuette of a Woman Holding a Branch, Early Dynastic period, about 2450 B.C. Alabaster. Object: H: 19.3 × W: 10.4 × D: 10.2 cm (7 5/8 × 4 1/8 × 4 in.) Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © Musée du Louvre, dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Raphaël Chipault / Art Resource, NY VEX.2020.1.26.

Stele with a Libation before an Enthroned God; Neo-Sumerian or Isin-Larsa / Old Babylonian period, 2150–1600 B.C. Limestone with traces of pigment Object: H: 84.3 × W: 61.5 × D: 13.5 cm (33 3/16 × 24 3/16 × 5 5/16 in.), Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY VEX.2020.1.41.

Tablet with Proto-cuneiform Inscription, Late Uruk period, 3400–3100 B.C. Unfired clay. Object: H: 4.5 × W: 7.2 × D: 1.5 cm (1 3/4 × 2 13/16 × 9/16 in.) Musée du Louvre, Département des Antiquités orientales. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Franck Raux VEX.2020.1.50.

Wall-Painting Fragment with a Man’s Head, Neo-Assyrian period, 850-650 BC, painted clay. Musée du Louvre, Department of Near Eastern Antiquities, Paris. Thureau-Dangin expedition, 1929-31. Image © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Mathieu Rabeau.

Lot 247. Coupe sur pied, Chine, Culture de Longshan (2500 - 2000 BCE). Terre cuite noire. H. 17,5 cm. Estimation: €500 - €1,000. © Cornette de Saint-Cyr. 

Lot 118. Workshop of Gentile Bellini (Venice c. 1429-1507), Portrait of Sultan Mehmed II (1432-1481), with a young dignitary, circa 1429-1507. Oil on panel, 13 1/8 x 17 7/8 in. (33.4 x 45.4 cm.). Estimate GBP 400,000 - GBP 600,000 (USD 512,000 - USD 768,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2020.

Provenance: Christian von Mechel (1737–1817), Basel, from whom acquired in 1807.
Thence by descent.
Sold Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2015, lot 26, (Anon sale, Property from a European Private Collection) whence acquired by the present owner.

Literature: F. Babinger, 'Ein Weiteres Sultansbild von Gentile Bellini?', Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Klasse: Sitzungsberichte, CCXXXVII, no. 3, 1961, p. 11, pl. 7, as 'Gentile Bellini'.
F. Babinger, 'Un ritratto ignorato di Maometto II, opera di Gentile Bellini', Arte Veneta, XV, 1961, pp. 25–32, fig. 31, as 'Gentile Bellini'.
C. Marinesco, 'A propos de quleques portraits de Mohammed II et d'un dignitaire byzantin attribués à Gentile Bellini', Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France, 1962, pp. 126-34, as 'not Gentile Bellini'.
H.F. Collins, Gentile Bellini: a monograph and catalogue of works, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Pittsburgh, 1970, pp. vii, 79 and 138, no. 2, fig. 12, as 'copy after Gentile Bellini'.
F. Babinger, Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time, Princeton, 1978, p. 379, pl. XXIV, as 'Attributed to Gentile Bellini, a claim so far unsubstantiated'.
J. Raby, El Gran Turco: Mehmed the Conqueror as a Patron of the Arts and Christendom, Ph.D. dissertation, Oxford University, 1980, pp. 90–92, no. 73, illustrated, as 'bears all the hallmarks of Gentile's style'.
M. Andaloro, 'Costanzo da Ferrara: Gli anni a Constantinapoli alla corte di Maometto II', Storia dell'arte, XXXVIII/XL, 1980, pp. 198-9, as ‘Attributed to Costanzo da Ferrara’.
J. Meyer zur Capellen, Gentile Bellini, Stuttgart, 1985, pp. 68, 129–30, no. A10a, pl. 15, fig. 19, as ‘Gentile Bellini’.
J. Raby, 'Pride and Prejudice: Mehmed the Conqueror and the Italian Portrait Medal', Studies in the History of Art, XXI, 1987, pp. 173, 175 and 191, notes 10 and 19.
F. Heinemann, Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani, New York and Zurich, 1991, III, pp. 115-16 and 303, fig. 201, as ‘Gentile Bellini’.
O. Longo, 'Una 'soasa' per il Conquistatore: Gentile Bellini e Maometto II', Atti dell'Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere e arti, no. 153, 1995, p. 511, as ‘Gentile Bellini’.
L. Hawkins Collinge, 'Gentile Bellini', The Dictionary of Art, London, 1996, III, p. 656.
O. Pächt, Venetian Painting in the 15th Century: Jacopo, Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, and Andrea Mantegna, London, 2003, p. 143, fig. 133, as ‘Gentile Bellini’.
A. Chong, 'Gentile Bellini in Istanbul: Myths and Misunderstandings', Bellini and the East, exhibition catalogue, Boston, 2005, pp. 109 and 133, note 24, as 'not Bellini'.

Note: This remarkable painting is one of only three surviving contemporary, or near contemporary, depictions of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in oil and the last to remain in private hands. Furthermore, it is the only known portrait of the Sultan showing him with another figure. It documents the fascinating interaction between the East and West in the late-fifteenth century. 

Mehmed II is widely acknowledged as one of the most significant figures in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Feared and respected in the Christian West, the ‘Grand Turk’ (as he was nicknamed) conquered Constantinople, the last bastion of the Byzantine (and thus historically Roman) Empire in 1453. This triumph caused alarm throughout Europe, which only increased as Mehmed continued to forcefully expand his Empire into former Byzantine territories in Greece and the Balkans, conquering lands as far west as Moldavia and Wallachia on the Danube. Aside from his ambitious expansion of Ottoman lands, Mehmed was known for his adept political knowledge and administrative talents. The Sultan founded an organised, regularised system of government, centralising his power and establishing relations between the feudal military nobility, the judiciary and the court. Mehmed promoted religious tolerance and fostered a burgeoning interest among Ottoman court circles in Latin, science and art. Despite the numerous tales spread concerning his cruel treatment of prisoners of war and his ruthless military ambition, the Sultan came to be perceived, in the West at least, as a typical ‘Renaissance’ prince. 

A state of war was declared between the Ottoman Empire and Venetian Republic in July 1463, following raids by the Ottomans on several Venetian settlements along the Dalmatian coast and the capture of fortresses at Lepanto in 1462 and Argos in 1463. Venice, allied with Hungarian, Papal and Burgundian forces, initially made considerable advances into Ottoman lands between 1463 and 1466, capturing several key cities from their opponents. By the 1470s, however, the fortunes of the Venetians had begun to turn, with several decisive losses and the surrender of important cities. In 1479, the war was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Constantinople, which forced the Venetians to make major concessions, including the payment of a 100,000 ducat indemnity and the agreement to pay an annual tribute in return for maintaining trade rights and privileges in Ottoman territories. It was following the conclusion of this treaty that Mehmed requested that the Republic send a painter who knew ‘how to make portraits’, along with a sculptor and a bronze founder to visit his court. The choice of ‘Zentil belin optimo pintor’ (‘Gentile Bellini, an excellent painter’) for this purpose may have come on the recommendation of Giovanni Dario (1414-1494), an intimate friend of the artist and the diplomat who had negotiated peace talks in Istanbul - as Constantinople had been renamed following the Ottoman conquest. It is also possible that the Turkish ambassadorial embassy had seen Bellini’s ongoing works for the decoration of the Sala del Gran Consiglio of the Palazzo Ducale (destroyed 1577) and requested him specifically. The Bellini family had been established as Venice’s leading artistic family under Gentile’s father, Jacopo Bellini, and his younger brother, Giovanni, and were a dominant artistic force in the city. Gentile’s work at the Palazzo Ducale had essentially made him the official painter of the Republic. 

Bellini travelled to Istanbul on 3 September 1479. His new patron had already developed extensive interest in and taste for Greek and Italian culture. Following his conquest of Constantinople in 1453, Mehmed had actively sought to preserve parts of the city’s Byzantine heritage as the New Jerusalem and the New Rome. He amassed, for example, a significant number of Christian relics in his palace and transported many of the Imperial porphyry sarcophagi from the Church of the Holy Apostles to the Sarayburnu on the Bosporus, the site of his Topkapi Palace complex. He also saved much of the Byzantine Imperial regalia from destruction. Mehmed had a fascination for Greek literature and is known to have studied the works of Ptolemy, and to have owned numerous Greek manuscripts. His interest in Western, Latin culture is equally well documented. The Sultan was well informed in Italian humanist ideas, which he would likely have encountered from Italian expatriates in Ottoman territories. The influence of Cyriacus of Ancona (1391-1452), a famed humanist and writer, was especially notable and the young Sultan is believed to have had daily lessons from a ‘compagno’ of Cyriacus’ on ancient Roman and early Italian history (not as sometimes claimed from Cyriacus himself; see Raby, 1987, p. 172). 

Gentile Bellini’s time in Istanbul is, unfortunately, only documented anecdotally. The Sultan appears to have kept the painter and the two assistants who accompanied him busy with commissions. As recorded by Giacomo Filippo Foresti da Bergamo (1434-1520) in his 1491 Supplementum chronicarum, Mehmed requested Bellini to ‘paint a great many marvellous and extraordinary paintings of himself and almost countless other subjects’ and, following these successes, ‘required that he [Mehmed] himself be rendered in his own form. And when the emperor beheld the image so similar to himself, he admired the man’s powers and said that he surpassed all other painters who ever existed’ (quoted in Chong, 2005, p.108). Despite this wealth of patronage, the only known extant painting made during Bellini’s time at the Ottoman court is the portrait of the Sultan now in the National Gallery, London (fig. 1). The Sultan had probably been painted previously by the Venetian artist, later active in Naples, Costanzo da Ferrara (c. 1450-after 1520) who had travelled to Istanbul in circa 1474. Though no such painting survives, Ferrara did produce a bronze medal with the Sultan’s likeness in 1481, shortly after Mehmed’s death (fig. 2; New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art). Medal portraits were typically favoured by Italian rulers, something which surely inspired Mehmed’s interest in such objects, probably initially prompted by Pisanello’s medal of the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, which the Sultan would have seen in the Imperial Treasury after the fall of Constantinople (c. 1438-9; London, British Museum). Aside from Costanzo da Ferrara’s example, portrait medals depicting Mehmed are known to have been made, or designed, by a follower of Pisanello (c. 1460s-70s; Oxford, Ashmolean Museum), Gentile Bellini (c. 1480; London, Victoria and Albert Museum) and Bertoldo di Giovanni (c. 1480s; London, British Museum). While these show the Sultan in full-profile, Bellini’s portrait in the National Gallery, London, employed a more fashionable style, adopted from Netherlandish prototypes by painters like Rogier van der Weyden and Hans Memling, depicting the sitter in three-quarter-profile. In addition to the present work, the London portrait informed other images of the Sultan, including a watercolour of circa 1480 by a Turkish painter showing Mehmed II smelling a Rose (or the ‘Sinan’ Portrait), which closely copied the head, but expanded the composition to show the Sultan seated, a conventional trait of Ottoman royal portraiture (fig. 3; Istanbul, Topkapi Palace). 

Fig. 1. Gentile Bellini, Sultan Mehmed II, c. 1480 © The National Gallery, London / Bridgeman Images

Fig. 2. Costanzo da Ferrara, Medal of Mehmed II, 1481 © Robert Lehman Collection, 1975, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Fig. 3. Turkish school, Mehmed II smelling a rose (The Sinan Portrait), c. 1480, © Topkapı Palace Museum, Istanbul / Bridgeman Images

The depiction of Mehmed II in this double portrait relied closely on the National Gallery picture, though small changes were made to the fall of the sitter’s robes and the Sultan is given a slightly fuller face. The inclusion of a second figure, however, is unique amongst known European depictions of Mehmed. Despite numerous attempts at discovery, the young man’s identity remains unknown. An old label, formerly attached to the reverse of the panel, probably dating from the eighteenth century, recorded that the picture depicted a ‘Ritratti di Maometto / secondo é di suo figlio / di Gentile Bellino’ (‘Portrait of Mehmed II and his son by Gentile Bellini’; see Babinger, 1961, pl. IV, fig. 8). Mehmed II had three sons, but none can be convincingly identified with the sitter here. By 1479, the Sultan’s second son, Mustafa (c. 1450-1474), had been dead for several years and both his eldest son, the future Bayezid II (1447-1512), and youngest son, Prince Cem (1459-1495), were away from court, on official postings in Anatolia. Furthermore, Bayezid would have been thirty-two at the time Bellini painted his father’s likeness and therefore too old to be the young man depicted here. Ottoman court etiquette would have demanded that anyone placed in this privileged position of equality with the Sultan be either a relative or a close favourite. While this is possible, it is more likely that the double portrait was commissioned outside the Ottoman court where such strict decorum would have been easier to disregard. Indeed, though dressed in a turban, adorned with an aigrette (an indicator of high status), the young sitter’s sleeves are distinctive of the kind of gold-embroidered luxury velvets produced in Italy during the late-fifteenth century. His clean-shaven face too would have been very unusual in Islamic culture, but the norm in late-fifteenth century Europe. It is possible therefore that he might be European, possibly a Venetian merchant or diplomat who had connections with the Ottoman court and wished to commemorate his links with Istanbul.