Lot 5034. A large inscribed Longquan celadon meiping, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 54 cm. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 HKD. Lot sold: 403,200 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford Authentication Ltd., P120h75.

Lot 5035. An archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and cover, hu, Warring States period (475-221 BC); h. 34 cm (h. with handle extended 41 cm), with two X-rays. Estimate: 80,000 - 100,000 HKD. Lot sold: 277,200 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Bonhams London, 16th May 2013, lot 419 (GBP 17,500).

Lot 5036. A 'Nogime temmoku' tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); d. 17.5 cm, with Japanese wood box. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 HKD. Lot sold: 27,720 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 5037. A sancai-glazed 'figural' jar, Tang dynasty (618-907); h. 29 cm. Estimate: 40,000 - 60,000 HKD. Lot sold: 201,600 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, 2012.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 5039. A set of four archaic bronze ritual 'dragon' bells, Warring States period (475-221 BC); 11, 13, 14 and 20 cm. Estimate: 100,000 - 150,000 HKD. Lot sold: 113,400 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Hartman Rare Art, New York, 2012.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 5040. A black-glazed russet-splashed jar, Song - Jin dynasty (960-1234); 21.3 cm , d. 29 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 HKD. Lot sold: 126,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 5041. A bronze ritual lamp, jiaodou, Six dynasties period (317-587); h. 18.5 cm. Estimate: 5,000 - 7,000 HKD. Lot sold: 88,200 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Note: Another archaic bronze ritual bronze ritual lamp from the same collection was sold in these rooms, 18th December 2020, lot 1058.

An inscribed archaic bronze ritual lamp, jiaodou, Six Dynasties period (317-587); h. 25.2 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 HKD. Lot sold: 163,800 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 18th December 2020, lot 1058. Photo: Sotheby's.

Cf. my post: An inscribed archaic bronze ritual lamp, jiaodou, Six Dynasties period (317-587) 

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 5042. A Longquan celadon carved 'floral' dish, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 27 cm. Estimate: 10,000 - 15,000 HKD. Lot sold: 239,400 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Provenance: Acquired in Japan between 1949 and 1952.
Estate of Dr and Mrs Richard Eckhardt.
Sotheby's New York, 11th September 2012, lot 143 (USD5,000).

Lot 5043. A gilt-bronze 'mythical beast' seal, Song dynasty (960-1279); 6.2 by 6.2 by 7.3 cm, with wood stand and Japanese wood box. Estimate: 20,000 - 30,000 HKD. Lot sold: 252,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 5044. A qingbai vase, Five dynasties-Northern Song dynasty (907-1127); 29.6 cm. Estimate: 5,000 - 7,000 HKD. Lot sold: 56,700 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art Online, including a Private Hong Kong Collection, Hong Kong, 2 July 2021

Lot 37. A Renaissance parcel gilt silver hunting beaker, Maker's mark only, attributed to Strasbourg, Emanuel Waltner, circa 1600. H 10.5 cm, weight 127 g. Estimate: €18,000 - €20,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

Tapering fluted beaker on a flat basal ring. The outer surface engraved with strap- and scrollwork amid fruit garlands. With a small engraved frieze below the smooth lip depicting riders hunting rabbits. With a small owner's stamp “V” on the underside.

Kunsthaus Lempertz KG. From Antiquity to Art Nouveau - The Bernard De Leye Collection, Köln, 15 July 2021

Lot 39. A silver gilt Renaissance tazza, Attributed to Augsburg, Tobias Kramer, first third 17th century. With later Dutch hallmarks. H 7.5, D 20.6, weight 368 g. Estimate: €18,000 - €20,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

Gadrooned gilded base with snakeskin engravings supporting a slender shaft. The interior of the bowl entirely gilded; the raised central node decorated with an impression of a coin with a dragon holding the Bourbon coat-of-arms inscribed “S:ANTHOINE: PARENT”. The rim with radial concave gadrooned motifs alternating with raised foliate garlands on a stamped ground. 

Literature: Cf. a stembowl by the silversmith Tobias Kramer, Augsburg, 1620-25, in the Museum August Kestner Hannover, inv. no. 1910.7.

Cf. another tazza by Tobias Kramer, Augsburg, circa 1597, in the British Museum, Mus. No. AF.3068.

Cf. cat. Welt im Umbruch. Augsburg zwischen Renaissance und Barock vol. II: Rathaus, Augsburg 1980, no. 715.

Cf. Seling, Die Augsburger Gold- und Silberschmiede 1529 - 1868 Meister Marken Werke, Munich 2007, no. 1277.

Cf. the stembowl made by Adriaen van Swieten of Leiden in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, inv. no. BK-NM-12135.

Cf. Frederiks, Dutch Silver, vol. I, Den Haag 1952, no. 26.

Cf. Catalogus van Goud en Zilverwerken. Benevens Zilveren, Loden en Bronzen Plaquetten, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 1952, no. 51.

Cf. B. Dubbe, De drinkschaal, in: Antiek, 1975/76, no. 10, p. 1002, illus. 27.

Cf. den Blaauwen (ed.), Nederlands zilver, Den Haag 1979, no. 2, for the dish from Zierikzee made in 1580 on a tall baluster form shaft and no. 9 for the dish made in Amsterdam 1603, also with a vase shaped shaft.

Note: Due to its later Dutch hallmarks, this splendidly decorated bowl was previously attributed to the Netherlands, and was presumed to have been made in Leiden, due to a similar object in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. However, in the collection of the August Kestner Museum in Hannover there is a second, almost identical object, with only the central coat-of-arms varied, with the marks of Tobias Kramer, from 1620 - 1625. Another tazza in the collection of the British Museum, with the enamelled coat of arms of Martin Scholl, the town clerk in Biel, also bears Kramer's marks in addition to several English and Continental control marks. In the catalogue of the 1980 exhibition, the marks were again discussed, as the bowl in England is dated 1597. In Tobias Kramer's case, Seling suggests a date of birth of around 1582, which would make the object a very early work. His master's examination did not occur until around 1613.

Seling found two more stembowls/credenzas by the master: one in the treasury of the cathedral of Wawel in Krakow (inv. no. 6044) and another in the Kremlin Museum in Moscow (inv. no. 11658). Tobias Kramer died in around 1634, but nevertheless left an important œuvre, which includes, among other things, a gilded clock in the shape of an elephant, which is today housed in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, and presumably also the present bowl.

Kunsthaus Lempertz KG. From Antiquity to Art Nouveau - The Bernard De Leye Collection, Köln, 15 July 2021

Lot 39. A small Nuremberg parcel gilt silver columbine cup, Marks of Heinrich Mack, 1612–26. H 7.5, D 20.6, weight 368 g. Estimate: €4,500 - €5,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

One half of a so-called “doppelscheuer” goblet. The lobed base supporting a slender baluster-form shaft with scroll appliqués. The outer surface of the cup embossed with scrolls and two rows of lobes.

Literature: Cf. a goblet by Mack in the Württembergisches Landesmuseum, illustrated in cat. GNM 2007, no. 423.

Lot 52. A Regensburg silver gilt tankard, Regensburg, marks of Hans Ludwig Federer, circa 1620. H 18.5 cm, weight 628 g. Estimate: €12,000 - €15,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

Slightly tapering vessel on a shallow base, with moulded rim and C-shaped handle. Embossed with animal depictions in oval landscape reserves amid scrollwork and cherub's heads. The domed lid with corresponding decoration, small baluster form finial and a female herm forming the thumb rest. Engraved on the underside with owner's monograms “A.S.F.G.Z.L.” and “A.M.C.C.D.L.W.”

Literature: Rosenberg mentions a dish by this maker in the Bayerisches Gewerbemuseum in Nuremberg, today in the holdings of the Germanisches Nationalmuseum.

Lot 51. An important amber altarpiece from the treasury of Einsiedeln Abbey, Gdansk, mid- to second half 17th century, traditionally attributed to Christoph Maucher. H 41, W 18.7, D 16.9 cm. Estimate: €280,000 - €300,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

Pale, dark and translucent amber, partially backed with gold foil and mounted on a wooden corpus, marbled paper, ivory. Comprised of two sections: An architectural pedestal and a figure of the Virgin and Child. Decorated on all four faces to resemble brickwork (made from oblong, flat, and faceted amber veneer pieces), the front and both sides with four arched windows surrounding a large, central window, the back with four windows arranged in the shape of a cross. The windows with raised mouldings and translucent amber panes revealing finely carved ivory reliefs beneath with a depiction of Christ as Salvator Mundi surrounded by Bartholomew, James the Great, Peter and John. The left side with the Virgin Mary surrounded by Saints Matthew, Simon, Andrew, and Jude. The right side with Saint Catherine surrounded by Saints Philipp, Paul, Thomas, and James the Less. The reverse with four miniature carvings of scenes from the New Testament: The Annunciation above and the Visitation below, the Adoration of the Magi on the left and the Adoration of the Shepherds on the right.

Provenance: In the treasury of Einsiedeln Abbey from 1690 to recent years.

Literature: Meinz, Ein norddeutscher Hausaltar mit Bernstein-Inkrustationen, in: Jahrbuch des Altonaer Museums, Hamburg 1964, p. 143 ff. Meinz, Die Bernsteinsammlung, in: Jahrbuch des Altonaer Museums, Hamburg 1970, p. 9 ff. Reineking v. Bock, Bernstein. Das Gold der Ostsee, Munich 1981. Theuerkauff, Nachmittelalterliche Elfenbeine, Staatliche Museen Preußischer Kulturbesitz Berlin 1986, p. 214 ff. Koeppe, Die Lemmmers-Danforth-Sammlung Wetzlar. Europäische Wohnkultur aus Renaissance und Barock, Heidelberg 1992, cat. no. GO33, p. 496 ff. Seipel (ed.), Bernstein für Thron und Altar. Das Gold des Meeres in fürstlichen Kunst- und Schatzkammern, KHM Vienna 2005. Werner/Laue, Bernstein Sigmar Polke Amber, New York-Munich 2006. Laue (ed.), Bernstein-Kostbarkeiten europäischer Kunstkammern, Munich 2006.

Note: This altarpiece is a magnificent and significant example of amber and ivory sculpture. Of square section and designed to resemble architecture, the piece is entirely encrusted with amber marquetry. Only the face and hands of the Virgin, the infant Jesus with the dove in His hands, and the figures in the window niches are carved in ivory. The contrast between the white of the ivory and the amber, shimmering in a myriad of honey coloured tones and backed with gold foil in places to enhance its effect, has an incomparably precious effect.

The altar is traditionally attributed to the amber carver Christoph Maucher. A native of Swabia, Maucher moved to Gdansk around 1670 and began carving in amber in 1685. He proudly signed his most important work, the Vienna Victory Monument "Apotheosis of Emperor Leopold I": "CHRISTOPH MAUCHER SCULPTOR". It is his only known signature and the sculpture is the one upon which all further attributions have been based. Sabine Haag describes his figures as follows: "Maucher's figural type - stocky, slightly squat figures with round faces, long noses and small mouths - bears unmistakably Dutch traits" (cat. Vienna 2005, no. 65). The fact that the Virgin depicted in this altarpiece appears so different may be due to the fact that the artist based her features upon the monastery's miraculous image of the Black Madonna.

The object has been housed in the treasury of the Benedictine monastery of Einsiedeln since 1690, as stated in the label on the underside of the piece. Einsiedeln Monastery is the most important pilgrimage site in Switzerland and is a stop on the way to Santiago de Compostela. Founded in 835 by the hermit Meinrad, the religious community flourished during the Middle Ages and expanded with numerous territorial possessions. The medieval monastic buildings, devastated by numerous fires, were replaced by buildings in the late Baroque style. The famous late Gothic miraculous image is a Black Madonna with the infant Jesus, who holds a bird in his hand like the figure in this altarpiece.

For the exhibition in the Old Ecclesiastical Treasury in Vienna, Wilfried Seipel collected numerous sculptures and devotional images made of amber. The central and most impressive exhibit was the seven-story amber altar, measuring almost two meters, belonging to the Vienna Treasury, which the Great Elector presented to his sister Luise Charlotte of Brandenburg as a wedding gift in 1645 and which King Frederick III then passed on to Emperor Leopold I in 1700. The Vienna altarpiece is the largest 17th century work of art and and devotional object in amber known to us today.

A statue of the Great Elector together with his wife Luise Henriette, carved in the round and placed together on a narrow oblong amber box as if on a pedestal, adorns the cover of the catalogue by Gisela Reineking von Bock. The object is now housed in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Kassel.

The emperor was so enamoured of the material's aesthetic qualities, colour and transparency that he also demanded amber objects made especially for him. One of the most beautiful goblets of the period, the "Chigi goblet" made from amber and with a double-headed eagle in ivory, is today one of the most valuable objects in the Lemmers-Danforth collection in Wetzlar (it was auctioned and sold by Lempertz Cologne in 1961). According to tradition, the goblet was a gift from Emperor Ferdinand III to Fabio Chigi. All these large and important amber objects were made for the Prussian-Brandenburg court, the Great Elector, or even for the Emperor himself, or were acquired by them for their own art collectors or as imperial gifts. This magnificent altar was undoubtedly also made for an important order, but today nothing is known about the commission, the donor or the recipient.

A similar figure of the Virgin on the Crescent can be found in Jasna Gora monastery in Czestochowa, bearing the date 1611 (inv. no. JGC-1/16). The Madonna and Child in the Georg Laue Collection (Munich 2006, no. 34) also appears to have been carved by the same hand, although the face is carved from opaque yellow amber instead of ivory. The body is worked in a similarly flat manner with long curly hair cascading down the figure's back, and the child also sits on the mother's right arm like a small adult. This and similar works, when not historically catalogued as "North German" or "Baltic", are attributed today to anonymous carvers active in Gdansk or Königsberg during the first half to the middle of the 17th century. Despite this, the fine quality of this piece and the very characteristic incorporation of ivory make it not implausible to suggest that Christoph Maucher was the creator of this magnificent work.

This lot contains materials which require a CITES licence for export outside of the EU contract countries. We would like to inform you that such licenses are usually not granted.

Kunsthaus Lempertz KG. From Antiquity to Art Nouveau - The Bernard De Leye Collection, Köln, 15 July 2021

Lot 53. A small silver equestrian statue Emperor Ferdinand III, Attributed to Augsburg, circa 1637. H 8.3 cm, H with plinth 13.8, W 8.3, D 12 cm, weight with plinth 328 g. Estimate: €60,000 - €80,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

Depicted in armour and on horseback with his head bare, holding the sceptre in his right hand and the reins in his left. The sword on the back left is attached via and hinge. The horse is depicting at a trot with a finely chased bridle and a braided tail, attached to the plinth on two feet. The plinth is in turn attached to the base via eight nails.

Literature: Cf. Pit, Catalogus van het goud- en zilverwerk in het Nederlandsch Museum voor Geschiedenis en Kunst te Amsterdam, Amsterdam 1902, p. 50, no. 118. Cf. Catalogus van goud en zilverwerken, benevens zilveren, loden en bronzen plaquetten, Rijksmuseum Amsterdam 1952, p. 55, no. 188. Cf. Schütte, Die Kostbarkeiten der Renaissance und des Barock: 'Pretiosa' und 'allerley Kunstsachen' aus den Kunst- und Raritätenkammern der Herzöge von Braunschweig-Lüneburg aus dem Hause Wolfenbüttel, Braunschweig 1997, p. 35 ff, no. 8, p. 254. Cf. The equestrian statue of Arch Duke Leopold V, attributed to Caspar Gras, made before 1630, in KHM Vienna, inv. Kunstkammer, 968. For more on Hans I. Clauß see Tebbe/Timann/Eser et alii, Nürnberger Goldschmiede 1541 - 1868, vol. I Meister-Werke-Marken, Nuremberg 2007, no. 123, p. 82 ff.

Note: Comparable equestrian statuettes can be found in the Grünes Gewölbe in Dresden, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, in Kassel, and in the treasury of Burg Eltz. The works are almost identical, except for the Kassel example which adorns the lid of an ostrich egg cup and in which the horse is depicted in mid jump. Apart from this one, all pieces depict the horses at a trot, with the rider wearing the same armour and holding the reins and sceptre. All horses have the same finely chased mane, and in all pieces the armour and bridle are gilded, while the head and body of the horse are left silver. The size and weight also vary only by centimetres. In another specimen kept in the Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum in Braunschweig, the horse's body is enamelled in naturalistic colours. The screw-top head is also common to all figures. Of all the statuettes mentioned, only the one presented here depicts Emperor Ferdinand III; the other pieces portray his father, Emperor Ferdinand II. (1578 – 1637), who was Holy Roman Emperor from 1619 until his death in 1637. His son, born in 1608, also reigned as Ferdinand III from 1637 until his death in 1657.

The removable screw-mounted head is the most astonishing design feature of all the statuettes. The screw thread is not a later addition, the objects were intentionally designed so that the head could be replaced. From this we can conclude that the small equestrian statuettes served as symbols of the Habsburg regency, but not to glorify individuals depicted.

Another interesting feature is the absence of hallmarks. Only the Kassel example with the prancing horse bears the hallmark of the Nuremberg goldsmith Hans I Clauß from 1630. His surviving works include a number of exceptionally splendid vessels, nautilus goblets, an ostrich egg goblet and a drinking vessel designed as a ship with wheels – all with rich sculptural decor. He obviously specialized in cast silver figures. Clauß passed his master's examination in 1627, during the reign of Ferdinand II. The last of his published nautilus goblets is dated 1645/ 51, which proves that he was still active during the reign of Ferdinand III. It is possible that these figures originate from his workshop.

Lot 54. A Zurich silver gilt goblet in the form of a stag, Marks of Hans Caspar Gyger, circa 1640. H 31.9 cm, weight 908 g. Estimate: €250,000 - €280,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

On a two-tiered oval base, the lower section with embossed swirls on dotted ground, the upper designed as a finely chased earth mound base. The shaft designed as a model of a leaping stag with front hooves raised. The entire body with finely engraved fur. The head of the stag can be removed to form a beaker

Literature: Cf. an identically formed stag goblet made by Gygers dated 1645 in the Historisches Museum Bern, illustrated in Wyss, Handwerkskunst in Gold und Silber, Bern 1996, p. 69, no. 11. The same museum houses a columbine cup made for the Gesellschaft zu Pfistern, illustrated ibid. p. 65, no. 7. For Augsburg examples cf. Seling 1980, no. 149, 455, 456, and a stag in the collection of the landgraves of Hesse-Kassel, illustrated in Bestandskatalog der Goldschmiedearbeiten des 15. - 18. Jahrhunderts, Kassel 2003, no. 85.

Lot 55. A carved ivory figure of the Venus Medici, circle of Leonhard Kern, 17th century. H 31.5 cm. Estimate: €250,000 - €280,000. Courtesy Kunsthaus Lempertz

Ivory statuette depicting a nude figure of Venus standing in contrapposto with her head raised and facing to one side and her hands held before herself to cover her nudity. With vertical hairline cracks and yellowing. Mounted on a wooden plinth with metal pins.

Note: The work closely follows the composition of the Hellenistic marble “Venus Medici” from the 3rd century BC that is housed in the Uffizi in Florence. In the 17th century, the figure was widely disseminated in the form of drawings and prints throughout the whole of Europe, for example in a drawing by Pieter van Lint (1609-1690) made in 1640 now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (inv. no. 64.197.8). This finely carved sculpture was most likely produced in Germany in the 17th century, and is generally attributed to the circle of Leonhard Kern.

This lot contains materials which require a CITES licence for export outside of the EU contract countries. We would like to inform you that such licenses are usually not granted.