Lot 20. A rare gemset jade hilted dagger, Mughal India, 17th century. Estimate £80,000 – £120,000 ($113,760 - $170,640). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The slightly recurved watered-steel double-edged blade damascened with gold foliage on one side at the forte, the pale green jade hilt with swelling grip, and pronounced pommel, knuckle-guard with pierced and carved leaf and bud-shaped finial, inlaid overall with engraved gold flowers set with emerald and ruby leaves, the flowerheads formed from pavé set emeralds and rubies, the grip with two gold bands set with rubies, in original leather covered wooden scabbard retaining some of its original polychrome painted decoration en suite with the hilt, the original pale green jade locket jewelled en suite with the hilt, one stone missing; 14in. (35.7cm.) long

Property from the collection of Dr. Herbert J. Kayden and Dr. Gabrielle Reem

In medicine, art, philanthropy, and science, Dr. Herbert J. Kayden and his wife, Dr. Gabrielle Reem Kayden, embraced innovative thinking. Remembered by countless patients, students, and artists, they supported scientific research and artistic endeavors with equal curiosity and passion. Their collection of fine art, assembled with scholarship and connoisseurship over many decades, serves as a tangible expression of their commitment to learning and to their personal engagement with the art and ideas of their time. 

Drs. Kayden and Reem's passion for learning and discovery manifested itself in the world class art collection they built beginning in the 1950s. They sought a complement to the innovative thinking they pursued in science by collecting works of signature 20th century modernists, both European and American, and contemporary artists. 

In its richness and quality, their collection embodies two lives spent in the pursuit of knowledge and beauty. In their own words, “There is no question that if you’re taken up with art, the art world, and artists, that it can be enormously gratifying and satisfying; it’s an opportunity to step into a different world and if you are lucky enough to have the door open, you ought to seize it, and take it and enjoy it and revel in it.” 

Note: Due to the fragility of the material, jade daggers with knuckle guards are rare and few survive intact to this day. Michael Spink and Robert Skelton have distinguished two separate groups of jade daggers with knuckle guards. The first one is “quite distinct and earlier in date …. These have a bifurcated palmette at the top of the hilt and a rounded moulding in the centre of the grip and can be dated to the Deccan during the 17th century". The second type "has vase-shaped grips, knuckle bows and triple flower buds” (Amin Jaffar, Beyond Extravagance, New York, 2013, pp.186-187). Our example is a fine variation of the second group. The vase-shaped grip, knuckle bow and pommel are all features common to the second category, although the shape of the upper section of our hilt is quite unusual. The shape of the hilt is very similar to an example now in the al-Sabah collection (279 INV. LNS 728 HS ab; G. Curatola,Art from the Islamic Civilization, Milan, 2011, p.299). Both pieces are dated to the second half of the 17th century and are decorated with floral motifs inlaid with gold and set with rubies, emeralds and diamonds. The main technical difference between these two daggers is the way the stones are inlaid. While the dagger in the al-Sabah collection presents each stone separately set in the kundan technique, in our case a number of the stones are set directly next to others without the gold borders. Similar technique is found only on a few contemporaneous jade pieces, most of extremely high quality. A pen box now in the Victoria & Albert Museum (Inv.No 02549(IS); http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O15498/pen-box-and/) has a floral arrangement very similar to the one on our dagger, with rubies and emeralds composing a floral scroll and some of the gems continuously set. The V pen-box is dated to the 17th century and a similar date thus seems likely for our dagger. A notable feature of our dagger is that it retains its original sheath, with painted lacquer decoration and original gem-set jade locket. The pattern on the lacquer of the sheath clearly recalls the floral decoration on the handle. Sheaths contemporaneous to their arms are quite rare - they are often replaced by velvet ones. Very few examples of original lacquer sheaths survive. One other example is now in the Al-Sabah collection (LNS 1004 M; S. Stronge, Made for Mughal Emperors, London, 2010, p.221, pl.183).

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 21. A Mughal carved celadon jade hilt, North India, 17th century. Estimate £6,000 – £8,000 ($8,532 - $11,376). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Of typical pistol-grip form with a rounded pommel carved in relief with scrolling vine issuing cusped palmettes and serrated foliage, the curved forte with carved floral sprays, the knuckle guard with an elegant pine-cone terminal and fluted shaft, small white inclusions to the forte; 5½in. (14cm.)

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 34. A gemset and enamelled gold sword (tulwar) hilt, made for the Raja of Nabha State, North India, second half 19th century. Estimate £40,000 – £60,000($56,880 - $85,320). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Of typical form with upper suspension loop with seed-pearl skirt, the ground of blue enamel decorated with diamonds and rubies in gold mounts forming rosettes and floral sprays, the hand guard with tiger head finial, the interior withGurmukhi and Latin inscription, with original similarly decorated locket with cusped terminal decorated with green ground bird and flower design, minor losses to the enamel; 11in. (28cm.) long

Engraved: On the inside of the hand guard in Gurmukhi and Latin characters: Nabha State

Note: This elegant hilt has an inscription on the inside of the knuckle-guard linking it to the Nabha, one of the Phulkian princely states of the Punjab during the British Raj. Probably produced during the reign of Hira Singh Nabha (1871-1911) or his predecessor the hilt was possibly made as a ceremonial gift. 

Under Hira Singh, the state of Nabha benefited from a period of prosperity and development which saw the building of infrastructures and a strong collaboration with the East India Company and the British Empire. Given the inscription, which is written in both Gurmukhi and Latin, it is probable that the hilt was produced as a ceremonial gift for a foreign visitor. 

The use of a very varied palette of enamels against a strong light blue ground, distinguishes this tulwar from contemporaneous examples. This blue is often found in 17th century pieces, for instance a tulwar published in Mark Zebrowski, Gold, Silver & Bronze from Mughal India, London 1997, pl.83, p.91. Pandans dated to the 17th century also use the same colour, either accompanied by gilt relief or with the addition darker blue enamel ( for instanceapandan in Victoria and Albert Museum (inv.no.754-1889) or in the Jagdish and Kamla Mittal Museum of Indian art, Hyderabad (inv.no.761293); both published in Mark Zebrowski, op.cit., pl. 80 and 81, p.91). Whilst our hilt continues this tradition, the artist has successfully combined the sky-blue with a more varied palette of bright green, red and white on the inner side of the knuckle guard, the cusped terminal and the locket. This variation in colour would suggest a later date for our hilt. 

Lot 35. A gemset dagger (kard), North India, 19th century. Estimate £5,000 – £7,000 ($7,110 - $9,954). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

The single-edged watered-steel blade tapering to a fine point, the gold-overlaid hilt of typical form heavily encrusted with rubies alternated with diagonal bands of emeralds, in associated cloth-covered wooden sheath with gilt-copper chappe; 12in. (30.3cm.) long

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 36. An enamelled and gemset necklace, North India, second half 19th century. Estimate £4,000 – £6,000($5,688 - $8,532). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Comprising a chain of drop-shaped diamonds and rubies joined at the middle with a band of inset green paste, the centre with a diamond inset lattice from which is suspended a cusped palmette-shaped pendant set with diamonds and a central ruby, a skirt of man-made green beads below, the reverse enamelled in green, red and white floral design, metal-thread string at either end; 9½in. (24.1cm.) long excluding string

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 128. A 56.06 carats Tajikistani spinel, pearl and diamond necklace. Estimate £100,000 - 150,000 (€130,000 - 190,000). Unsold. Photo Bonhams.

The octagonal mixed-cut red spinel, weighing 56.06 carats, with an old brilliant-cut diamond surmount, on a row of graduated pearls, diamonds approximately 1.30 carats total, necklace length 50.5cm

Accompanied by a report from SSEF stating that the spinel is of Tajikistani origin, with no indications of any treatment. Report number 83139, dated 7 December 2015.

Note: "There is also.. an other kynde of Rubies which wee caule Spinelle". Richard Eden, the 16th century alchemist, in 1555.

Until 1783, red and pink spinels were mistaken for rubies because they are chemically similar. Even after fine pink gems were known to be spinels they were still referred to as "balas" or "balais" rubies. The term "balas" derives from an ancient word for Badakhshan, a province north of Afghanistan on the border with Tajikistan, where important spinel specimens were anciently mined. These Kuh-i-Lal ('red mountain') mines were the world's main source of large spinels from the 1st century AD. Marco Polo (c1254–1324) described how "fine and valuable balas rubies" were dug only for the King, who owned the entire supply, which he sent to other kings as tributes or as "friendly presents". 

Mughal emperors and their ancestors, the Timurids, valued large Kuh-i-Lal spinels for their beauty and as protective talismans, regarding them as "glorious" and "good". The gems were polished rather than cut and were often inscribed with the names of rulers and monarchs as a way of commemoration. The Carew Spinel, in the collection of the V&A in London, is inscribed with the names of Emperors Jahangir, Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb. Spectacular Mughal spinels which entered Persian, Russian and European royal treasuries include the "Black Prince's Ruby": a large uncut red spinel, it was given to the Black Prince by Pedro the Cruel in 1367, worn by Henry V in his helmet at the Battle of Agincourt and is now set in the Imperial State Crown in the British Crown Jewels. The 361-carat "Timur Ruby", also in the British Crown Jewels, was owned by Sultan Sahib Qiran and Ranjit Singh, the "Lion of the Punjab". A huge polished spinel decorates the Imperial Crown of Russia, made for the coronation of Catherine the Great in 1762.  

In the 19th century, important spinels were cut according to European ideals. It is likely that the impressive spinel in this necklace was fashioned from a huge polished crystal gem because it still retains a drill-hole, presumably from which it was once simply threaded onto a rope or cord in traditional manner. 

Other large spinels of similar cut mounted in 19th century jewellery include:
- the "ruby" jewels of Queen Therese in the Munich Treasury, a mixture of rubies and spinels mounted in 1830 from the collection of Elector Max III Joseph. 
- the "Bagration" jewels, now in the collection of the Duke of Westminster, which are Russian-made 19th century diamond and spinel jewels formerly owned by Catherine Bagration, a Russian princess. 
- the Hope Spinel, a 50 carat spinel, mounted in a diamond brooch setting, sold at Bonhams London in September 2015. 

Bonhams. AUCTION 23401: FINE JEWELLERY, 12:00 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET

Lot 129. A 7.13 carats Kashmir 'Royal Blue' sapphire and diamond cluster ring. Sold for £506,500 (€643,640) inc. premium. Photo Bonhams.

The cabochon sapphire, weighing 7.13 carats, within a surround of old brilliant-cut diamonds, diamonds approximately 2.50 carats total, ring size N½

Accompanied by a report from SSEF stating that the sapphire is of Kashmir origin, with no indications of heating. The report states that the colour of this sapphire may also be called 'royal blue' based on SSEF reference standards. Report number 83631, dated 21 January 2016.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23401: FINE JEWELLERY, 12:00 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET

Lot 130. A pair of natural pearl and diamond pendent earrings. Sold for £146,500 (€186,166) inc. premium. Photo Bonhams.

Each drop-shaped natural pearl, measuring 19.37 x 12.31mm and 18.00 x 12.13mm, with brilliant and single-cut diamond cap, suspended by two baguette-cut diamond connectors from a brilliant-cut diamond surmount, diamonds approximately 3.20 carats total, earring length 4.4cm

Accompanied by a report from SSEF stating that the pearls were found to be natural, saltwater. Report number 83981, dated 8 February 2016.

Accompanied by a report from GCS stating that the pearls were found to be natural, saltwater. Report number 5776-4379, dated 20 January 2016.

Bonhams. AUCTION 23401: FINE JEWELLERY, 12:00 BST - LONDON, NEW BOND STREET

Lot 166. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1585. Estimate £25,000 - £35,000 ($35,550 - $49,770). Price Realized £47,500 ($67,545). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With sloping rim on short foot, the white ground painted in cobalt-blue, bole-red, green and black with a central cypress tree flanked by two large swaying saz leaves, floral sprays issuing carnations, tulips, flower buds and leaves weave around them, with wave-and-rock border, the exterior with alternating roundel and trefoil motifs, rim and foot drilled for hanging, minor chipping to rim, intact, very good glaze surface; 12 3/8in. (31.5cm.) diam.

Note: Cypress trees appear in Ottoman wall-painting of the 15th century. The first use of the motif in Iznik is in the Baba Nakkas phase of the 1520s, but it only gained in popularity with the adoption of relief red in the 1560s (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik. The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, see nos.427-434 for examples of the design). It was then frequently used through the second half of the 16th century. Most of the Iznik dishes that use a cypress tree as part of their decoration do so with it as the centrepiece for a symmetrical design. Our dish is unusual for the whimsical way that the two saz leaves swirl in the same direction, breaking any normal sense of symmetry. 

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 167. A rare figural rimless Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1570. Estimate £70,000 – £100,000 ($99,540 - $142,200). Unsold. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With gently curving sides and no rim, the white interior painted in cobalt-blue, turquoise, bole-red, green and black with an energetically drawn turbaned rider contemplating a fast flowing stream filled with green fish amidst fanciful flowers and birds, the thin border with white clouds reserved against blue, the exterior with alternating blue motifs, rim chips, the largest with fired replacement and small hairline crack, foot drilled in two places, old owner's stickers to base, excellent condition and glaze surface; 11¾in. (30cm.) diam.

Provenance: Fernand Adda, Alexandria, sold Palais Galliera, Paris, 3 December 1965, lot 893 
Eskenazi, Milan 
Private Italian Collection, sold Christie's, London, 17 June 1999, lot 1

Literature: Bernard Rackham, Islamic Pottery and Italian Majolica, London, 1959, no.196A, pp.142-3, pl.226

Note: Iznik vessels of the 16th century depicting the human figure are very rare indeed. Only one other dish, in a private collection and formerly in the J. Acheroff Collection, can clearly be dated to the 16th century. It uses as its main design two human figures (Arthur Lane, Later Islamic Pottery, London, 1957, pl.43A, dated "about 1560-80"). Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby date it later, to 1590-1600, but still within the 16th century (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby,Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pl.609). 

Unlike the static nature of the Acheroff dish, the artist who painted the present example fills it with a vitality which is very unusual in the attempt to convey movement. The head of the horse is very fluently drawn, and the bird hovering over the horse's head is masterly. There is no apparent iconographic source for the design; it comes straight from the imagination. 

Lot 168. A large Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1590. Estimate £8,000 - £12,000 ($11,376 - $17,064). Price Realized £10,000 ($14,220). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With sloping rim on short foot, the white ground painted in cobalt-blue, red, green and black with a central roundel filled with elegant rumi motif on green ground, the cavetto with a band of alternating blue and red cusped motifs, the border with wave-and-rock pattern, the exterior with alternating green rosettes and blue stylised floral sprays, foot drilled, repaired breaks, small areas of restoration; 14in. (35.5cm.) diam.

Provenance: Anon sale, in these Rooms, 25th April 1995, lot 296

Note: Interlaced roundels of white arabesques forming a six-pointed interlace design against dark ground was a feature in some of the earliest blue and white Iznik ceramics (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik. The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, pl.303 for example). Indeed it was also a feature of contemporaneous Ottoman design in other media. The design on this dish is a development of that. The pattern has gained a density but retained the flow more successfully than many others. A dish of similar date and design is in the Ömer Koç collection (Hülya Bilgi, The Ömer Koç Iznik Collection, Istanbul, 2015, no.212, p.458). 

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 170. A figural Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, first half 17th century. Estimate £4,000 - £6,000 ($5,688 - $8,532). Price Realized £8,750 ($12,443). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With sloping rim on short foot, the white ground painted in cobalt-blue, bole-red, green and black with a central kneeling figure with a huqqa to his side, the pipe running through his hands, hyacinth and tulip sprays surround, the rim with alternating rosettes and floral sprays between black bands, some chips and staining to rim, the exterior with alternating green and blue motifs, foot drilled; 10½in. (26.7cm.) diam.

Provenance: With Spink & Son LTD, London, 6th February 1980, from whom purchased by the present owner

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 172. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1600. Estimate £8,000 - £12,000 ($11,376 - $17,064). Price Realized £21,250 ($30,218). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With sloping rim on short foot, the white ground painted in cobalt-blue, bole-red, green and black with a central roundel filled with four crouching or sitting animals reserved against green ground, surrounded by a ring of red palmettes, the rim with a band of wave-and-rock motif between simple black bands, the exterior with alternating small green and blue motifs, foot drilled, old collector's label to underside, hair crack, intact; 12 1/8in. (30.8cm.) diam.

Note: For a discussion on the representation of animals on Iznik vessels, together with suggestions on its links with Balkan metalwork and its imagery as the garden of paradise see Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik, the Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.256 and M. Wenzel, 'Early Ottoman silver and Iznik pottery design', Apollo, vol. CXXX, no.331, September 1989. An animal design dish surrounded by a band of red palmettes very closely related to those found on our dish was sold in these Rooms, 26 April 2012, lot 274.

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 179. A fine rimless Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1575. Estimate £60,000 - £80,000 ($85,320 - $113,760). Price Realized £86,500 ($123,003). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

On short foot, the white interior finely decorated in cobalt-blue, strong bole-red, green and black with a central cypress tree framed by two scrolling saz leaves, the interstices filled with elegant large rosettes, carnations and tulips, the border with cusping reserved against cobalt-blue ground, the exterior with alternating rosettes and paired tulips, foot drilled, old collector's labels to base, small repair to rim; 11¾in.(29.8cm.) diam.

Provenance: Collection Manzi, Paris, 20th March 1919, lot 216
Collection Joseph Soustiel (active between 1950’s-1990)

Note: The strong tall cypress tree which elegantly divides the design of our dish into two symmetrical halves is a feature which Julian Raby associates with the development of the bole-red glaze in the 1560s, (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby,Iznik, The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, p.235). There are a few other dishes which like our own employ the cypress tree motif to emphasise the symmetry of the floral design, notably a dish in the Freer Gallery, dated to circa 1570-75, which also has very similar fleshy curved saz leaves (inv.66.25; Atasoy and Raby, op.cit., no.433, p.235). Our dish is also exceptional for the fact that it does not have an extended rim like most of the dishes from this period. The top of the cavetto has a delicate design of linked cusped half palmettes which is echoed by a slightly later rimless dish in collection of the Musée National de la Renaissance at Chateau d’Ecouen (inv. DS 2332; Frédéric Hitzel and Mireille Jacotin, Iznik. L’Aventure d’Une Collection, Paris, 2005, no.235, p.184).

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 190. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1580. Estimate £10,000 - £15,000 ($11,376 - $17,064). Price Realized £42,500 ($60,435). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With sloping rim on short foot, the white ground painted in cobalt-blue, bole-red and green with a central floral spray composed of swaying branches of carnations flanked by hyacinths and tulips on short stems, the rim with a band of alternating red flowerheads and paired blue tulips, the exterior with alternating blue flowerheads and paired tulips, restoration to rim, foot drilled; 12in. (30.5cm.) diam.

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 377. An Iznik pottery dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1580. Estimate £7,000 - £10,000 ($10,038 - $14,340). Price Realized £7,500 ($10,665). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Of circular form on short ring foot, with sloping rim, the finely painted decoration with a bouquet of carnations and blue serrated leaves encompassing tulips, the rim with paired tulips alternating with rosettes, the reverse with stylised floral buds, drilled at top, old collection labels to front and reverse, areas of restoration; 12 ¼in. (31.3cm.) diam.

Christie's. ARTS & TEXTILES OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 22 April 2016, London, South Kensington

Lot 381. An Iznik pottery rimless dish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1580. Estimate £6,000 - £8,000 ($8,604 - $11,472). Price Realized £8,750 ($12,443). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

Of circular form on short ring foot, the symetrical floral composition comprising carnations, roses and tulips on white ground, the border with a red and white interlace, the reverse with stylised floral buds, the foot drilled twice, areas of restoration; 30.3cm. diam.

Christie's. ARTS & TEXTILES OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 22 April 2016, London, South Kensington

Lot 193. An unusual Iznik potterydish, Ottoman Turkey, circa 1590. Estimate £50,000 - £70,000 ($71,100 - $99,540). Price Realized £98,500 ($140,067). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016

With sloping rim on short foot, the white ground decorated in cobalt-blue, turquoise, bole-red and black with central cusped medallion containing a floral spray and bordered by small palmettes, the medallion framed with sprigs of turquoise flowerheads all on a striking ground of dense scrolls, the border with wave-and-rock motif, the exterior with alternating roundels and lozenges, repaired breaks, foot drilled, old collector's label to the underside; 12¼in. (31.1cm.) diam.

Provenance: Collection Joseph Soustiel (active between 1950’s-1990)

Note: This striking dish is unusual for the ground of kaleidoscopic tight black scrolls upon which the design is set. In the 1570s and 80s it became popular in Iznik to enliven the background of vessels. The most common means of doing this was the fish-scale motif, seen for instance on the jug sold in these Rooms, 25 April 2013, lot 227. Another device however were scrolls such as these, familiar from contemporaneous wave-and-rock borders. Our dish relates very closely to one in the Victoria and Albert Museum. It similarly uses the bed of black scrolls, although there they are confined within a central roundel and therefore the overall effect is not quite as dramatic as ours. The V&A dish also has a very similar border of scrolls punctuated by s-motifs with palmette terminals. It also uses the same strong turquoise, although there combined with a green. The V&A dish is dated by Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby to circa 1590 (Nurhan Atasoy and Julian Raby, Iznik. The Pottery of Ottoman Turkey, London, 1989, no.499, pp.248-49).

Another Iznik dish which employed similar aesthetic was originally part of the R.W.M. Walker Collection, sold in these Rooms, 25-26 July 1945, lot 98 - later published by Bernard Rackham, Islamic Pottery and Italian Maiolica, London, 1959, no.186, pl.84, p.44. There it was dated to the early 17th century, though it has later been re-attributed to circa 1570-80 (Atasoy and Raby, Iznik. op.cit., no.722). On both dishes the potters play with the balance of white space (on ours a central cusped medallion, on the Rackham dish a large rosette) against the busy background of scrolls, to great effect.

Christie's. ART OF THE ISLAMIC & INDIAN WORLDS, 21 April 2016, London, King Street

Lot 151. Rare coupe de corporation de cordonnier en cuir montée en métal doré, Allemagne, vers 1565. Estimation 60,000 — 80,000 €. Photo Sotheby's

gravée 1567 sur le bord, la prise en forme de dauphin accompagné d'un grelot. Long. 18 cm, haut. 9,7 cm

A RARE GERMAN SHOEMAKER'S GUILD CUP WITH GILT-METAL MOUNTS, DATED 1567, engraved 1567 on the border, the finial with dolphin and bell. 

Provenance: Collection de Ferdinand Edouard, baron von Stumm (1843-1925), diplomate et propriétaire de la sociétéGebrüder Stumm AG. Parmi les 500 lots de sa collection d'art vendue à Berlin en 1932, figuraient de nombreuses peintures espagnoles dont un Goya, aujourd'hui à la Washington National Gallery. Une douzaine de pièces de sa collection d'orfèvrerie espagnole sont aujourd'hui au Victoria and Albert Museum, à Londres. 
Collection de Friedrich, baron von Stumm, Christie's Genève, 19 mai 1997, lot 185
Galerie Payer, Zürich, 1997
Collection privée européenne, 1997

Literature: Only a very few examples of shoes with silver-gilt mounts have survived. Two are in the Fowler collection, one in the Neresheimer collection. Another, very similar to that one, was made in Nurnberg circa 1580 by Melchior Mager, formerly in the Joseph Brummer collection then in the Kramarsky collection. A fifth example is in the Morgan collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

Note: On ne connait que très peu d'exemples de ces coupes rarissimes. 

Une figure dans la collection Rudolf-August Oetker, exposée à la Grünes Gewolbe de Dresde en 2011-2012. Une autre avait été répertoriée dans celle de Francis E. Fowler à Los Angelès, une troisième dans celle d'August Neresheimer à Zürich, une quatrième dans celle de Joseph Brummer à New York et enfin une cinquième dans la collection J. Pierpont Morgan, aujourd'hui au Metropolitan museum de New York.

Sotheby's. Importante Orfèvrerie, Boîtes en or et Objets de vitrine, Paris, 03 May 2016, 10:30 AM

Lot 225. Hanap en forme de chouette en argent et vermeil, apparemment non poinçonné, probablement Belgique ou Allemagne vers 1580, peut-être Cassel. Estimation 25,000 — 35,000 €. Photo Sotheby's.

reposant sur les deux pattes et la queue, la tête amovible, gravé sous chacune des pattes d'une marque. Haut. 14 cm, 309 g.

Littérature:  Cette chouette est illustrée dans l'ouvrage de la Fondation du Roi Baudouin, Chouette au poinçon d'Anvers, 2003, p. 29. Elle est attribuée à Kassel vers 1550. Elle est aussi illustrée dans l'ouvrage de Vincent Laloux, L'oeil du Hibou, le Bestiaire des Orfèvres, p. 128 où il est mentionné qu'elle a fait partie de la collection Claude d'Allemagne. Elle fut également reproduite dans Laurence Buffet-Challié, Un bestiaire en argent,Plaisir de France, novembre 1968 et enfin dans Magie de l'Orfèvrerie, 2000, p. 168.

A SILVER PARCEL-GILT CORPORATION CUP SHAPED AS AN OWL, APPARENTLY UNMARKED, PROBABLY BELGIUM OR GERMANY CIRCA 1580, POSSIBLY CASSEL

Sotheby's. Importante Orfèvrerie, Boîtes en or et Objets de vitrine, Paris, 03 May 2016, 10:30 AM