An unmonted diamond. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013  

The pear-shaped diamond weighing approximately 10.21 carats. Estimate CHF860,000 – CHF1,150,000

Accompanied by report no. 5151255188 dated 12 February 2013 from the GIA Gemological Institute of America stating that the 10.21 carat diamond is D colour, Internally Flawless clarity, and a Diamond Type Classification letter stating that the diamond is Type IIa

Property of an American Private Collection

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva

An engraved Longquan celadon plate, China, Ming dynasty. Photo Nagel Auktionen

Short firing crack to rim otherwise good condition. D. 32 cm. Estimate 4 000 / 6 000 €

Provenance: Former old South German private collection 

Nagel Auktionen. 2013/05/08. http://www.auction.de/

An Art Deco ruby, emerald and diamond 'tutti-frutti' brooch, by Cartier. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Of shield-shape, set with brilliant and baguette-cut diamonds, decorated with carved rubies, cabochon rubies, fluted emerald beads and calibré-cut emeralds, 1920s, 3.4 cm. Signed Cartier, no. 3419517. Estimate CHF58,000 – CHF76,000

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva

An Iznik polychrome pottery dish, Turkey, Circa 1570-1580 - Sotheby's

of deep round form, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, green and relief red, outlined in black, with a leafy tuft issuing floral sprays, including two large carnations, tulips, hyacinths and prunus branches, the rim with breaking wave pattern, the reverse with alternating circular and floral motifs; 31cm. diam. Estimation: 6,000 - 8,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World. London | 24 avr. 2013 - www.sothebys.com

A ruby and diamond 'Trombino' ring, by Bulgari.  Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Centering upon a cabochon ruby, to the baguette-cut and pavé-set diamond surround and shoulders, mounted in platinum and gold, ring size 8¼, in dark blue leather Bulgari case. Signed Bulgari. Estimate CHF28,000 – CHF48,000

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva

A Pair of Iznik Polychrome Tiles, Turkey, circa 1580 - Sotheby's

Consisting of two square tiles mounted together, decorated in underglaze cobalt blue, turquoise, viridian green and relief red with trefoil motifs filled with a split-palmette design. Quantité: 2. Each: 24.5 by 24.5cm. Estimation: 3,000 - 5,000 GBP

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World. London | 24 avr. 2013 - www.sothebys.com

A set of ruby and diamond jewellery. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Comprising a necklace designed as a series of slightly graduated cabochon ruby and baguette-cut diamond clusters, with brilliant-cut diamond collet detail, to the detachable similar-set pendant, a bracelet, a pair of ear pendants and a ring en suite, mounted in gold, necklace 42.5 cm, bracelet 18.5 cm, earrings 5.8 cm, ring size 6¼. Estimate CHF95,000 – CHF140,000

Accompanied by report no. 67386 dated 26 March 2013 from the SSEF Swiss Gemmological Institute stating that the rubies are of Burmese origin, with no indications of heating (4)

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY OF TITLE

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva

Four Safavid square tiles with figures, Kubachi, Persia, late 16th Century - Sotheby's

comprising four fritware tiles, each of square form, the underglaze decoration painted in cobalt blue, green, turquoise, purple, ochre, relief red and outlined in black, each featuring a figure, including two women holding a floral stem and two men, one holding a flower and the other a pomegranate  Quantité: 4 - 19.2 by 19.1cm.; 19 by 18.4cm.; 16.9 by 16.7cm.; 16.6 by 16.5cm. Estimation: 8,000 - 10,000 GBP

NOTE: Four similar tiles, two depicting women and two men, are now in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, inv. nos. AD 27812-27814; AD 27816 and on display in the Islamic Art Gallery in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. They are attributedto Isfahan, between 1590-1630, helping to place the present group in a similar context. The theme of romanceappears frequently on art of the Safavid period, and comparisons can be drawn across various media, notably in thelinear qualities of the present figures with the repertoire of design originally associated with paintings in illustratedmanuscripts accompanying love stories and poems.

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World. London | 24 avr. 2013 - www.sothebys.com

An Art Deco ruby and diamond ring. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Designed as a cluster of carved rubies with diamond collet detail, to the baguette-cut and pavé-set diamond shoulders and sides, 1920s, ring size 6. Estimate CHF14,000 – CHF18,000

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva

A Large Qing famille-rose porcelain bowl made for the Persian market, China, dated 1212 AH/1797-8 AD - Sotheby's

of deep round form with slightly flaring edges, decorated with bright, polychrome colours, featuring birds and butterflies in a landscape with roses and bamboos, the cavetto and band near the rim with six panels each comprising similar imagery, set against a background of butterflies within floral scenery, the exterior with similar decoration, including a row of calligraphic cartouches; 41cm. diam. 17cm. height. Estimation: 6,000 - 8,000 GBP

NOTE: inscriptions
In the long cartouches three Persian couplet in praise of the patron ‘Abd al-Latif.‘He, whose name is as well-known as the Sun
Is ‘Abd al-Latif, deemed for the endless favours of God,
I talked to the bowl asking: Who gave you this clear disposition?
It said: The dust of the footsteps of the Khan of the time, ‘Abd al-Latif.
I said: how did you become conspicuous in the world?
It said from the well-known name of ‘Abd al-Latif’
In the small cartouches: Invocations to God:
O the Most Patient! O Gracious! O the Ever-Living! O the Self-Subsistent! O the All Forgiving! O the one who is Most
Ready to appreciate!’
In one of the two cartouches on the body:
‘For the banquet of the one who has an exalted seat, the lord ‘Abd al-Latif Khan, year 1212 (1797-8)’
‘In the other cartouche:
‘Under the supervision of Aqa Muhammad Husayn Shirazi’
If Muhammad Husayn is the scribe, he might be Muhammad Husayn Shirazi the nasta’liq calligrapher who was a poet
with the pen-name ‘Ali and could have also composed the poem on this bowl. He died in 1247 (1831-2).

Sotheby's. Arts of the Islamic World. London | 24 avr. 2013 - www.sothebys.com

An emerald and diamond ring, by Bulgari. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Set with two heart-shaped cabochon emeralds, centering upon a marquise-shaped diamond, to the brilliant-cut diamond surround, mounted in gold, ring size 6¼, in grey fabric Bulgari pouch. Signed Bulgari. Estimate CHF30,000 – CHF40,000

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva

Edouard Manet,  Olympia, 1863 Olio su tela, 130 x 190 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

VENICE- Manet. Return to Venice is the name of the exhibition the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia will  from 24th April to 18th August 2013 in the monumental rooms of the Doge’s Palace. It will includeabout 80 paintings, drawings and prints, and has been planned with the special collaboration of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, which possesses the largest number of masterpieces by this extraordinary painter.

The exhibition arises from a need to undertake a critical survey of the cultural models that inspired the young Manet when he embarked on a career as painter early in life. These models, which have hitherto referred almost exclusively to the influence of Spanish painting on his art, actually included much Italian Renaissance art, as the Venetian exhibition will show: alongside his masterpieces, there will also be a series of exceptional studies inspired by great 16th-century Venetian paintings, from Titian to Tintoretto and Lotto in particular. As is well-known, studies on Manet, the great precursor to Impressionism, for a long time concentrated on the idea of his direct descendance from the work of Velázquez and Goya, establishing Spanish art as the sole source of his modernism, and also the reason and stimulus for his flight from the “return” to academic tradition. But this so-called progressive approach takes no account of Manet’s passion for Italian Renaissance art, for which he nurtured a fascination and intense bond, one that the Venetian exhibition will highlight, with the aim of shedding light on his close links with Italy and Venice. His Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe and Olympia (1863) are clearly variations on Titian and are both splendid examples of Manet’s links with Italian art, but there are many more examples of the great artist’s profound understanding of the heritage of Venice, Florence and Rome that will be revealed in the exhibition. The exhibition layout, which guides the visitor past great masterpieces, such asLe fifre (1866), La lecture (1865-73), Le balcon (1869), Portrait de Mallarmé (ca. 1876) drawn from his entire artistic life, opens with a series of free interpretations of Old Masters, frescos and sculptures, which Manet saw during his first two journeys to Italy in 1853 and 1857. The influence of Venice immediately emerges, and is inseparable from the boldness with which the painter probed contemporary art and moved away from academic convention. Nor is Italy absent from those paintings by Manet most closely associated with Spain: his religious works draw as much from Titian and Andrea del Sarto as from El Greco and Velázquez. His tranquil Natures mortes betray not only a faithfulness to Dutch models but also a host of surprises harking not only to the tradition of Northern Europe, but also to a chromatic and compositional vigour typical of Italian art. When the painter definitively settled in the “modern” Paris, his painting did not abandon what he had learned in Italy, but is marked by its memory. The canvases of Lotto and Carpaccio, such as the Two Venetian ladies shown alongside Le Balcon, will stress this feature to visitors. After the Franco-Prussian war and the dramatic events of the Comune in Paris, travelled once more to Venice.

He was already a famous painter. 1874, the year of the 1st Exhibition of Impressionist Painters, was also that of his third voyage to Italy and of his return to Venice, the city beloved of Turner and Byron, which he immortalised in two small canvases showing the Grand Canal. In these pictures, we seem to sense the already very modern atmosphere of the late Guardi; in the small but masterly works, which served as a model for much Venetian painting towards the end of the 19th century, the air is so transparent as to make the blues and whites of his palette dance as never before. And in his famous Bal masquéà l’Opéra (now in Washington), which was rejected that same year by the jury of the Parisian Salon, appears the same dance of masked lovers and ambiguous playing with identity that he must have known through the work of the Venetian Pietro Longhi. The third Venetian visit reveals something of the late artist, who died aged just 51 (1883). The late Manet, divided between the glorification of à la page Parisians and the Republican turning point of 1879, brought painting to life and caused an uproar in the Salon.

Curated by Stéphane Guégan, with the scientific direction of Guy Cogeval and Gabriella Belli, the exhibition will be a major event: never has Manet’s work been presented in such a significant manner in Italy, and never has such a particular aspect of his art been tackled on a critical level. The project has been made possible thanks not only to the exceptional loans from the Musée d’Orsay, but also from many other international institutions, such as the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the Courtauld Institute of London, The Museum of Fine Arts of Boston, The National Gallery of Washington, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Musée des Beaux-arts in Dijon, the Musée de Grenoble, the Fine Arts Museum of Budapest and the Städel Museum of Frankfurt, which have all contributed to the event, together with numerous private collectors.

Tiziano, Venere di Urbino, 1538 Olio su tela, 119×165 cm Firenze, Galleria degli Uffizi

Edouard Manet,  Le Christ aux anges, s.d. Acquarello, china, guazzo, grafite, penna (disegno), 32,5 x 27 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay, conservato al Musée du Louvre© RMN-Grand Palais (musée d’Orsay) / Thierry Le Mage

Antonello da Messina, Cristo morto sostenuto da tre angeli, 1475 Olio su tavola, 117×85 cm Venezia, Museo Correr

Edouard Manet,  Le Balcon, s.d. Olio su tela, 170 x124,5 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

Vittore Carpaccio, Due dame Veneziane, 1495 circa Olio e tempera su tavola, 94×63 cm Venezia, Museo Correr

Edouard Manet, Stéphane Mallarmé, 1876 Olio su tela, 27,5×36 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

Edouard Manet,  La pêche, 1861-63 Olio su tela, trasferito dall’originale tela, 76.8 x 123.2 cm. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. Acquisizione, dono di Mr. e Mrs. Richard J. Bernhard, 1957. © 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource/Scala, Firenze

Marcantonio Raimondi (da Raffaello), Giudizio di Paride, 1517-1520 circa Bulino, 29,4×43,8 cm Venezia, Museo Correr

Edouard Manet, Déjeuner sur l’herbe, 1863-68 Olio su tela, 89,5 x 116,5 cm Londra, The Courtauld Gallery © The Samuel Courtauld Trust. The Courtauld Gallery, Londra

Francesco Guardi, Il Ridotto di Palazzo Dandolo a San Moisé, 1740-1750 circa Olio su tela, 108×208 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay Venezia, Ca’ Rezzonico, Museo del Settecento Veneziano

Edouard Manet,  Le fifre, 1866 Olio su tela, 160 x 97 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN / Hervé Lewandowski

Edouard Manet,  Lola de Valence, danseuse espagnole, 1862 Olio su tela, 123 x 92 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN-Grand Palais (Musée d’Orsay) / Gérard Blot

Edouard Manet, Combat de taureaux, circa 1865-66 Olio su tela, 90×100 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowsk

Edouard Manet, M. et Mme Auguste Manet, parents de l’artiste, 1860 Olio su tela, 111,5×91 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowsk

Edouard Manet, Berthe Morisot au bouquet de violettes, 1872 Olio su tela, 55 x 40 cm Parigi, Musée d’Orsay © RMN (Musée d’Orsay) / Hervé Lewandowski

A 5.30 carat fancy deep-blue diamond set within a mount pave-set with brilliant-cut diamonds and courses of baguette-cut diamonds that was sold at Bonhams auction house in London on April 24, 2013. An extremely rare blue diamond sold for 6.2 million GBP (9.5 million USD, 7.3 million euros) at a London auction on April 24, setting a new world record for price per carat. The fancy deep-blue diamond weighing 5.30 carats sold at Bonhams Fine Jewellery sale in central London for a record 1.8 million.

LONDON. An extremely rare fancy deep-blue diamond weighing 5.30 carats sold at Bonhams Fine Jewellery sale in London's New Bond Street today, April 24th for a record price of $1.8m per carat.

The previous world record price per carat for a blue diamond was $1.68m. This rare gem was bought by Graff Diamonds, the international diamond house headquartered in New Bond Street. London. Bidding came from round the world via 25 telephone lines as well as bidders in the packed saleroom.

The fancy deep-blue diamond is set in a 'Trombino' ring made by Bulgari, the renowned Italian jeweller favoured by Hollywood film stars, and the epitome of fashion and innovation during the 1960s. The ring was made circa 1965 and had been estimated to fetch £1,000,000 to £1,500,000 at the Bonhams auction.

Jean Ghika, Director of Bonhams Jewellery Department for Europe commented after the sale: "We are delighted with the price it has made. It was a sensational stone which charmed everyone who viewed it prior to the sale. Blue diamonds, especially those over 5.00 carats, are extremely rare to see on the market and continue to be highly sought-after. We are honoured to have handled the sale of such a unique gem."

Blue diamonds are very rarely seen on the market and fancy-coloured diamonds are among the most valuable and sought-after in the world. They have delighted royals and celebrities over the centuries, with the most famous blue 'Hope Diamond' bought by King Louis XIV of France in the late 17th Century. The stunning 45.52-carat diamond, originating from India was eventually stolen from the Crown Jewels by thieves in the French Revolution and then smuggled to London, finally coming to rest in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Bulgari ring features a cushion-shaped fancy deep-blue diamond, weighing 5.30 carats. It is set horizontally within a mount pavé-set with brilliant-cut diamonds and courses of baguette-cut diamonds.
The term "fancy" is used to describe a diamond of intense colour and the colour "fancy deep-blue" is one of the rarest. The extraordinary colour blue is derived from small atoms of boron mixing with the carbon atoms in a diamond, affecting the absorption of light passing through the stone and lending it a blue appearance. Blue diamonds are structurally very pure and account for less than one per cent of all diamonds mined.

Mark Rothko, "Untitled" [c.1950-52]

Antonio Corradini (1668-1752), Endymion, c. 1725. Lifesize, 53.25 x 142.25 x 53.3 cm, marble. 

NEW-YORK - In their sixth annual exhibition of Italian Old Masters at the New York gallery, Moretti Fine Art will unveil two rediscovered Venetian masterpieces at 24 East 80^th Street from 7 May to 7 June 2013:  a life-size marble Endymion by Antonio Corradini and The Victory of David over Goliath, a major painting by Sebastiano Ricci.  In a bold statement, reflecting the significance of these works, each will be displayed alone in a gallery – with no other works to distract visitors – and each will have its own publication. 

Few artists have enjoyed such acclaim in their lifetime as Antonio Corradini (1668-1752), whose best-loved works are veiled figures, a conceit that he invented.  Born eight years after the death of the supreme artist of the Italian Baroque, Gianlorenzo Bernini (1598-1680), he was one of the few Venetian sculptors to gain recognition throughout Europe.  His beguiling marbles were found in all the major courts from Rome and Naples to Vienna, Prague and Dresden, where he worked for Augustus the Strong, and in St Petersburg, where his statues decorated the gardens of Peter the Great.  Endymion, circa 1725, is a hitherto unknown masterpiece and one of Corradini’s most refined and important works, and may have been made for the Tsar’s Summer Garden.  Count Raguzinsky, who lived in Venice and conducted trade deals for Peter the Great, praised Corradini’s ‘most astonishing craftsmanship’ and called him ‘the glorious sculptor’. 

In Italy in the 1720s, the myth of Endymion was very much in fashion.  In 1721 the young poet Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782) had composed a serenatadedicated to the young hero, a text later set to music many times by Johann Christian Bach, and others.  In classical mythology Selene, the goddess of the Moon, was in love with the mortal Endymion.  She asked Zeus to put him into an eternal slumber, a sleep charged with eroticism.  

The discovery of this Endymion is highly important historically, and also in terms of art history.  Its existence is attested to by Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755), the great philosopher and one of the most learned and sensitive connoisseurs of his day.  An entry in his travel notes on a visit to Venice in 1728 reads ‘There is a sculptor now, in Venice, named Corradino, a Venetian who made an Adonis, which is one of the most beautiful works that you could see:  you would swear that the marble is made of flesh; one of his arms falls carelessly, as if supported by nothing’.  Research indicates that Montesquieu was probably referring to this sculpture.  Firstly, his description corresponds exactly, referring to the naturalistic softness which characterises its glossy, polished marble and the carelessly fallen arm – the first thing that the viewer notices.  Secondly, it is easy to confuse Endymion and Adonis as the iconography of the two youths is virtually identical:  both are hunters and therefore depicted with a bow and arrow and a dog in a natural setting.  Thirdly, there is no known figure of Adonis by Antonio Corradini.   

If the Endymion commissioned by Peter the Great remained in the artist’s studio in Venice, where in all probability it was seen by Montesquieu in 1728, it may be that the death of the Tsar in 1725 explains why the work was never sent to Russia.  While only a hypothesis, it is supported by a series of clues and coincidences.  For example, Antonio Canova (1757-1822), the supreme neoclassical sculptor, must have been familiar with the work as it undoubtedly influenced his Sleeping Endymion, executed between 1819 and 1822 for William Cavendish, sixth Duke of Devonshire.  Corradini’s Endymion, both seductive and transcendent, thus joins together two great stages in the history of European art, forming a bridge between Bernini and Canova.  Despite its fame and influence, its whereabouts were unknown until this recent discovery.

Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734), The Victory of David over Goliath. Oil on canvas, 106.5 x 87 cm 

The Victory of David over Goliath is a rediscovered masterpiece by Sebastiano Ricci (1659-1734), a leading protagonist of the Venetian Settecento, one of the greatest artistic Golden Ages of all time.  David was the second king of Israel.  A great warrior, musician and poet, he is described in the Bible as someone of complex character, capable of great cruelty and generosity, equipped with unscrupulous policies, while also recognising his own limits and errors.  David’s life is particularly important in Judaism as the Messiah will occupy his throne and restore the kingdom.  In Christianity, Joseph, the putative father of Jesus, is his descendent and in Islam, he is considered a prophet. 

The head of the giant Goliath, the most fearsome warrior of the Philistine army, is placed triumphantly in the foreground to the right of David, the shepherd-boy of Judah who had accepted and won the challenge made to the Jews by Goliath himself.  For David, a staff, a sling and five smooth stones were all that was needed for him to defeat Goliath, who was almost three metres tall, clad in a bronze helmet and armour with an enormous sword.  David approached the Philistine and, using his sling, he hurled the first stone, knocking out his adversary while the second stone smashed into the giant’s forehead, and he slumped to the ground.  The third stone shattered Goliath’s skull and, with his enemy’s own sword David cut off his head.  In this work, unpublished until now, the finely chiselled sword is placed diagonally to draw in the observer, emphasising the size of the object which proved useless against the intelligence, cunning, courage and faith of the young shepherd from Bethlehem. 

Born in Belluno, Ricci went to Venice at the age of fifteen but hastily departed in 1681, having impregnated two women, one of whom he tried to poison.  However, this was not his only brush with the law.  In Bologna Ricci fell in love with the daughter of the landscape painter Antonio, with whom he fled to Turin, abandoning his wife and daughter.  Ricci was denounced, arrested and sentenced to death for abduction and bigamy.  Only the intercession of the Duke of Parma saved him, the punishment being his banishment from the city of Turin.  Later, he was active in many Italian cities (Bologna, Rome, Florence), and also abroad (London, Paris, Vienna).  His English works have either been largely lost or damaged, although there remains the great fresco of the Resurrection in the Chapel of the Royal Hospital (Chelsea) and some great canvases on the staircase of Burlington House (now the Royal Academy).  He returned to settle permanently in Venice in 1717. 

These two newly-discovered masterpieces are accompanied by separate scholarly publications: the essays for the Corradini catalogue are written by the art historian Tomaso Montanari and Sergey Androsov, the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; whilst the Ricci catalogue is by Francesca Baldassari, one of the great international experts of the Italian seventeenth century.

 A fine sapphire and diamond ring, by Harry Winston. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Set with a cushion-shaped sapphire, weighing approximately 7.92 carats, in a brilliant-cut diamond surround, 1958, ring size 4¾, in navy blue leather Harry Winston case. With maker’s mark HW for Harry Winston. Estimate:  $388,394 – $453,127

Accompanied by report no. 12100105 dated 23 October 2012 from the Gübelin GemLab stating that the sapphire is of Kashmir origin, with no indications of heating

Report no. 65432 dated 15 October 2012 from the SSEF Swiss Gemmological Institute stating that the sapphire is of Kashmir origin, with no indications of heating

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva. www.christies.com

A rare pair of blue and white ‘Bajixiang’ moonflasks. Qianlong seal marks and period - Sotheby's

each of flattened form with gently domed sides rising from a spreading foot to a ribbed cylindrical neck, set with a pair of scroll handles, brilliantly painted in vivid tones of cobalt-blue with the ‘heaped and piled’ effect, the domed sides decorated with eight radiating lappet panels each enclosing the beribbonedbajixiang around a raised central boss with a double vajra, all encircled by a keyfret band, the foot and neck with lingzhi scrolls and the narrow sides with meandering lotus, all below a keyfret border at the rim, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark. Quantité: 2; 49.2cm., 19 3/8 in. Estimation: 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 GBP

NOTE: In their decoration these two impressive Qianlong mark and period moon flasks closely follow the motif found on the interior of an early fifteenth century basin, from the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, with eight petal panels radiating from a double vajra with each panel containing one of the eight auspicious Buddhist emblems (bajixiang). The Brundage basin was included in the exhibition Blue and White, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1985, cat. no. 28, where John Carswell mentions fourteenth century designs with auspicious objects in radiating lotus panels of varying numbers. Interestingly, on early Ming dynasty wares, such as the covered bowl from the T.Y. Chao collection and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1987, lot 231, the fish emblem follows the lotus emblem while the knot emblem follows the vase emblem in the order of the bajixiang. However, on Qingperiod wares, such as the present two flasks, the artist has reversed the order of the fish and the vase emblems, showing a degree of flexibility the Qing artisan enjoyed when copying earlier designs. The shape of these flasks is also based on Ming period vessels with a decorated convex side and a smooth flat unglazed back such as the piece, formerly sold in these rooms, 29th October 1957, lot 166, and now in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington D.C.,
illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 94. Fifteenth century blue and white porcelain flasks, in turn, took their form from earlier, 13th century, Mesopotamian bronze cooling vessels, such as the example from the Eumorfopoulos collection, sold in these rooms, 5th June 1940, lot 72, and now also in the Freer Art Gallery. Interestingly, early metal flasks were also copied and made in silver during the Qianlong period; see a silver moon flask sold in these rooms, 11thJune 1996, lot 139.

Similar Qianlong blue and white moon flasks may be found in a number of museums and private collections. For example, see one included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, vol. II, Tokyo, 1981, cat. no. 5; two published in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pls. 949 and 950, the latter unmarked ; one in the Nanjing Museum illustrated in Zhongguo lidai Jingdezhen ciqi, Beijing, 1998, p. 169; another, from the collection of Edward T. Chow, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 544; a further piece, from the collections of C.G. Sloan and Greenwald, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st December 2010, lot 2826; and one sold three times at auction, last in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2011, lot 3123.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 - www.sothebys.com

 A delicate antique natural pearl and diamond brooch. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

The base set with a natural button-shaped pearl, measuring approximately 13.2-13.4 x 8.5 mm, in an old-cut diamond surround, extending five diamond-set branches, each suspending a fringe of natural pearl drops of graduating sizes (one pearl drop deficient), mounted in silver and gold, Portugal, circa 1885, 13.0 cm, in original Leitao e Irmao case. Estimate:  $356,028 – $463,915

Accompanied by report no. 67340 dated 22 March 2013 from the SSEF Swiss Gemmological Institute stating that the fourteen pearls are natural saltwater pearls 

Notes: By family tradition, this brooch was formerly in the collection of Queen Amelia of Portugal (1865-1951).

Amelia d’Orleans, the first daughter to Philippe Comte de Paris and Marie Isabelle d’Orleans, married Carlos I of Portugal (reigned 1889-1908) in 1886. In the same year, Leitao e Irmao were commissioned to create jewels for Princess Amelia on the occasion of her wedding, and were later appointed as Royal Jewellers.

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva. www.christies.com

A blue and white vase, yuhuchunping, Qianlong seal mark and period - Sotheby's

elegantly potted, the pear-shaped body rising from a spreading foot to a waisted neck flaring at the rim, painted to the exterior with bamboo and plantain in a fenced garden above a lappet band, the neck encircled with stiff leaves, floral scroll and ruyi bands, the foot with demi florets, inscribed with a six-character seal mark; 28.5cm., 11 1/4 in. Estimation: 250,000 - 350,000 GBP

PROVENANCE: A Philadelphia Private Collection, circa 1940s-50s (by repute).
An Irish Private Collection.

NOTE: The landscape design seen on this magnificent vase originated in the early Ming dynasty when this combination ofmotifs became popular amongst the literati for its auspicious connotation. Bamboo represents longevity, endurance and loyalty as it remains green in winter and does not break easily in the wind; while the plantain tree is the symbol of education. Classical legends tell the tale of a scholar who wrote on plantain leaves as he was too poor to afford any paper. Rocks stand for durability and steadfastness, and are generally associated with reliability and friendship.
For the prototype of this vase see one attributed to the Yongle period, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 33; and another attributed to the Xuande period, also in the Palace Museum published in Yeh Peilan, Appraising Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Taipei, 1994, pl. 83. While in shape and decoration Qing examples are undoubtedly inspired by Ming dynasty pieces, the brushwork and painting style in these later examples are much more detailed and fine, with the cobalt blue also of brighter tone. The neck has also become wider and the body of more bulbous profile in the Qing period.

Compare a similar Qianlong vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, published in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue and White Wares of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Book II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 12; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 11, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 12; and a third example, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2010, lot 2773.

For earlier Qing examples see a yuhuchunping in the Palace Museum and illustrated in Ming chu qinghua ci, Beijing, 2002, p. 328, no. 175, where it is attributed to the Kangxi period; and another Kangxi vase sold at Christie’s New York, 16th September 2011, lot 1515. Similar vessels were also made during Yongzheng’s reign; see one published in Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci, vol. 2, Beijing, 2000, pp. 354-5, pl. 190; and another offered at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th November 2011, lot 2937.

Late 18th and 19th century versions of this vase include a Jiaqing mark and period piece sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th November 1997, lot 1471; a Daoguang example sold in these rooms, 6th June 1995, lot 235; a Xianfeng vase, from the Weishaupt collection, sold in our Amsterdam rooms, 30th October 1995, lot 4; and a Tongzhi vase included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1983, cat. no. 91, and sold at Christie’s Singapore, 30th March 1997, lot 245. However, the painting style and the spacing of the design on these later pieces is noticeably different from the Yongzheng and Qianlong versions. 

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. London | 15 mai 2013 - www.sothebys.com

 A superb sapphire and diamond flower necklace, by Bulgari. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2013

Designed as a series of graduated flowerheads, some with circular-cut sapphire petals and oval-shaped diamond pistils, some with pear-shaped diamond petals and circular-cut sapphire pistils, mounted in platinum, 1961, 39.0 cm, in black leather Bulgari pouch. Signed Bulgari. Estimate:  $312,873 – $409,972

Literature: Cf. A. Triossi and D. Mascetti, Bulgari, Leonardo Arte srl, 1996, Milan, page 79 for a similar necklace set with rubies.

Christie's. MAGNIFICENT JEWELS. 15 May 2013. Geneva. www.christies.com