08 novembre 2009
Edito : 'Fashion Follows The Sun' with AJ Abualrub by Carlotta Manaigo for Hercules
17th century German silver-gilt cups @ Christie's
A German silver-gilt cup formed as a rearing horse. Mark of Erhard Ellers, Torgau, circa 1670
Realistically modelled, with detachable head, the base cast and chased with foliage and rock-work, marked on base and on cover bezel - 8¼ in. (21 cm.) high - 16 oz. (497 gr.) Est. £20,000 - £30,000 ($33,220 - $49,830)
Notes: The tradition of offering a guest a "Willkommen Pokale", or welcome cup, of wine was long established in Europe and culminated, in the 16th and 17th centuries, with the production of charming cups in the form of animals with detachable heads. These cups would have taken a form relevant to their owners, for example modelled as a heraldic beast or the symbol of a guild. Cups in the form of a horses, such as the present example, were sometimes intended to be used as prizes for competitions.
We are grateful to Professor Dr. Ernst-Ludwig Richter for the identification of the maker's mark.
A German parcel-gilt silver cup and cover. Mark of Matthaus Blank, Augsburg, 1622-1626
Cylindrical, the lower body lobed, below fluted panels with matted decoration, on spreading foot with openwork beaded buttress stem, the detachable cover with flat spreading rim pierced with hearts, with foliage finial, marked on foot and on cover - 15 in. (38 cm.) high - 15 oz. (471 gr.) Est. £20,000 - £30,000 ($33,220 - $49,830)
A German parcel-gilt silver cup and cover. Mark of Matthaus Blank, Augsburg, 1622-1626.
Cylindrical, the lower body lobed and below fluted panels, all part matted, on spreading base with baluster stem, the detachable cover with foliage and flower finial, marked on base and on cover - 11 7/8 in. (30 cm.) high - 11 oz. (342 gr.) Est. £15,000 - £25,000 ($24,915 - $41,525)
Christie's. Centuries of Style: Silver, European Ceramics, Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes. 17 November 2009. London, King Street www.christies.com
Le beau mec du jour : Adam by Rick Day
photo Rick Day
Important Ming blue and white porcelains sold @ Sotheby's London
A rare blue and white jar for the Portuguese market. Ming dynasty, circa 1610-30. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the straight-sided octagonal body rising from a tall spreading knopped stem to a short flaring neck and everted rim, applied and painted in rich cobalt-blue tones to the shoulder with four cherub heads above a leafy pendent garland, divided by four images related to the Denial of St. Peter, all above lotus-lappet, floret and lotus scroll bands, the neck with a floral band - 13.2cm., 5 1/4 in. Est. 60,000—80,000 GBP. Sold 73,250 GBP
NOTE: Jars of this form take their shape from European metal prototypes. The mixture of the Western decorative cherub-head motif with Chinese-style flower sprays reveal the Ming potters' ability to adopt foreign designs to their repertoire to meet the stylistic requirements of international markets. A closely related example was included in the exhibition Caminhos da Porcelana. Dinastias Ming e Qing, Fundacao, Lisbon, 1998, cat. no. 14; another was sold in these rooms, 30th June 1964, lot 45; and a third example was sold at Christie's London, 4th June 1973, lot 116.
Compare also a six-lobed jar of similar form, adorned with three cherub heads above leafy sprays and divided by floral sprays, in the British Museum, London, published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 12:61; one sold in these rooms, 12th July 2006, lot 77; and another sold at Christie's London, 11th July 2006, lot 174.
The Christian motifs on the present piece suggest that this jar was made for the Portuguese Jesuits (see ibid., p. 376).
A rare blue and white 'lianzi' bowl. Xuande mark and period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
of deep rounded form with steep sides rising from a narrow circular base, the interior painted in underglaze blue with a band of interlinked lappets and trefoils surrounding a narrow band of foliate motifs within double line borders and a central medallion of similar lappets, with a band of diaper below the rim, the exterior painted with a wide band of upright lotus petals between bands of key-fret below the rim and at the foot - 16cm., 6 1/4 in. Est. 50,000—70,000 GBP Sold 51,650 GBP
PROVENANCE: Formerly in a Swedish Private Collection.
NOTE: A bowl of this elegant shape and design, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 157, together with a smaller example, cat. no. 160. Compare also a Xuande bowl of this size and design, in the Beijing Arts and Crafts Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 12, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 66. For three closely related bowls, see one formerly in the R.H.R. Palmer Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 17th January 1989, lot 571, and again in these rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 27, from the Toguri Collection; another, from the George Eumorfopoulos Collection, sold in these rooms, 29th May 1940, lot 222; and a third example, from the Norton Collection, also sold in these rooms, 26th March 1963, lot 51.
A blue and white dragon censer and cover. Ming dynasty, Wanli mark and period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the body of rectangular form with four graduated square in-curved legs, the body applied with two animal mask handles, painted with twelve lively five-claw dragons amongst clouds and flames, the stepped cover with bands of ruyi scrolls and trigrams, below a pierced dragon finial - 16.2cm., 6 3/8 in. Est. 20,000—30,000 GBP - Sold 39,650 GBP
PROVENANCE: A Japanese Private Collection.
A large blue and white 'lotus pond' jar. Ming dynasty, Wanli period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
of hexagonal form, with dragon head handles on a raised openwork stand, each facet painted with a crane amongst clouds below a trigram and lingzhi, within an octofoil panel, below a band of lingzhi - 14cm., 5 1/2 in. Est. 12,000—18,000 GBP Sold 34,850 GBP
PROVENANCE: Christie's London, 8th December, 1975, lot 133.
NOTE: For a similar example see Laurence C.S. Tam, Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1980, pl. 87; and a related vessel included in the exhibition, Ming Blue and White: Jiajing to Chongzhen Including Dated Examples, London, 2004, no. 23.
A blue and white 'three friends' bowl. Wanli period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the rounded sides rising from a short straight foot to a straight rim, painted with intertwined branches of pine, prunus and bamboo in two tones of blue, between a band of key-fret at the rim and a band of lappets at the foot, the base with apocryphal Xuande mark - 13.2cm., 5 1/4 in. Est. 10,000—15,000 GBP Sold 27,500 GBP
A large blue and white 'lotus pond' jar. Ming dynasty, Wanli period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the ovoid body rising from a recessed base to a short waisted neck, painted around the exterior in rich cobalt-blue tones with ducks swimming amongst lotus, all below a ruyi collar and floral sprigs at the neck - 38.5cm., 15 1/8 in. Est. 20,000—30,000 GBP Sold 25,000 GBP
PROVENANCE: A European private collection
NOTE: Compare a slightly larger jar of this form and painted decoration, in the Idemitsu Museum of Art, illustrated in The Idemitsu Museum of Art 15th Anniversary Catalogue, Tokyo, 1981, cat. no. 845; another closely related example sold in these rooms, 15th December 1987, lot 152; and a third jar sold at Christie's London, 21st March 1988, lot 32.
The form of this jar can also be found decorated in polychrome enamels; for example see a Wanli jar painted with the 'Hundred Deer' motif, in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, col. pl. 26; and another wucai jar decorated with dense stylized clouds published in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, fig. 219.
A large blue and white 'lotus' bowl. Wanli mark and period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the deep curved sides rising from a short straight foot to an everted rim, painted to the interior in rich cobalt-blue tones with a lotus medallion encircled by a leafy undulating lotus scroll and key-fret band at the rim, the exterior similarly decorated with a classic scroll band at the rim - 21cm., 8 1/4 in. Est. 6,000—8,000 GBP Sold 20,000 GBP
A large blue and white 'lotus' jar. Ming dynasty, 16th century. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the robustly potted ovoid body rising from a flat base to a short tapering neck, painted around the exterior in rich dark cobalt blue tones with large lotus flower heads borne on leafy scrolling stems, all between a lotus-lappet band at the base and a pendent jewelled collar encircling the neck - 35.5cm., 14in. Est. 7,000—9,000 GBP Sold 8,750 GBP
A blue and white 'deer and crane' dish. Jiajing mark and period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the deep rounded sides rising from a short tapering wedge-shaped foot, freely painted to the interior with a medallion enclosing a deer in a landscape, encircled in the well by cranes in flight divided by ruyi-head cloud scrolls, the exterior with six ruyi medallions - 30cm., 11 3/4 in. Est. 4,000—6,000 GBP Sold 4,750 GBP
A blue and white bowl. Ming dynasty, Wanli period. photo courtesy Sotheby's
the rounded sides, rising to a slightly flared rim, the interior painted with Wang Xizhia with a goose and attendant in a fenced garden, with a lingzhi fungus painted to the counter-sunk base - 14.4cm., 5 5/8 in. Est. 2,000—3,000 GBP Sold 2,250 GBP
Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 04 Nov 09. London www.sothebys.com
Edito : Indulgence, Opulence & Constance Jablonski in Harper's Bazaar Russia
photo Joshua Jordan - styled by Natalia Alaverdian - fashion : Burberry Prorsum, Lanvin, D&G, Betsey Johnson, Vivienne Westwood
'Rubens & Van Dyck' @ Nationalmuseum
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Självporträtt / Self-portrait. c.1620-21.Olja på duk, 119,7 x 87,9 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Jules Bache Collection, 1949 © The Metropolitan Museum of Art
STOCKHOLM.- In a one-off exchange this fall, two of Sweden’s largest and most famous baroque paintings have been taken to Munich to star in a major exhibition of works by Peter Paul Rubens, the 17th-century Flemish master. In return, Nationalmuseum will receive 20 spectacular paintings from Munich next spring. These will go on show alongside other works in Nationalmuseum’s "Rubens & Van Dyck" exhibition, opening February 25, 2010.
Mythological and biblical scenes. Still lifes of Flemish kitchens. Personal portraits, dramatic hunting scenes. The motifs in 17th-century Flemish painting are vivid and colorful. After several years’ research and inventory of its Flemish art collection, Nationalmuseum can now present an exhibition, a guide book for the general public and a detailed catalogue.
In addition to the extensive collection owned by the Swedish state, the exhibition will be enhanced with loans from museums across the globe, including world-class works by Titian and Rubens from the Prado in Madrid. Good negotiating skills and offers to loan works in exchange proved the key to success. The two key works by Rubens had only been loaned out twice before their present sojourn in Munich. They will be back in Stockholm in time for the February opening.
The spring exhibition, "Rubens & Van Dyck", focuses on Antwerp as the 16th-century’s principal artistic centre north of the Alps. Artists flocked to the city, and art trading flourished. Paintings were exported by the boatload to fashionable collectors across Europe. As a result of this high demand, artists chose to specialize, and close working relationships developed among them. As a master, Rubens collaborated with Jan Brueghel, Frans Snyders and Anthonis van Dyck on various details in his paintings. His pupils, who did the rough work, later became masters in their own right, with their own distinctive style and career.
The exhibition compares works by Rubens and Van Dyck, highlighting the relationship between them and the unparalleled influence of these two masters on Flemish painting in their day.
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Backanal på Andros / The Andrians.Olja på duk, 200 x 215 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Anthonis van Dyck, Den helige Hieronymus / St Jerome. Olja på duk. 167 x 154 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Den Helige Hieronymus / St Jerome. c. 1618-20. Olja på duk, 165 x 130 cm. Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam; on loan from Foundation Willem van der Vorm © Foundation Willem van der Vorm
Frans Snyders (1579-1657) Visthusbord med tjänare / Pantry Scene with Servant. 1615/20. Olja på duk, 135 x 201 cm. Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek
Titian (1488-1576) Adam och Eva / Adam and Eve. 1550.Olja på duk, 240 x 186 cm. Museo Nacionál del Prado, Madrid © Museo Nacionál del Prado, Madrid
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Adam och Eva / Adam and Eve. 1628-1629. Olja på duk, 237 x 184 cm. Museo Nacionál del Prado, Madrid © Museo Nacionál del Prado, Madrid
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Familjeporträtt / Portrait of a Family. c. 1619. Olja på duk , 113,5 x 93,5. The State Hermitage Museum © The State Hermitage Museum
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Isabella Brant. Olja på duk, 153 x 120 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Andrew W. Mellon Collection 1937 k © National Gallery of Art, Washington
Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) Den heligen familjen / The Holy Family. Olja på trä. 122 x 92 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Vilan under flykten till Egypten / Rest on the Flight into Egypt. c 1627/32. Olja på duk, 134,7 x 114,8 cm Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Ung man med svart barett / Young Man with a Black Cap.1615. Olja på ek, 44,1 x 35,3 cm Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Bildhuggaren Jörg Petel / Portrait of the Sculptor Georg Petel. 1627/28. Olja på duk, 73,3 x 57,2 cm Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek
Frans Snyders (1579-1657) Räven på besök hos hägern / Sable of the Fox and the Heron. Olja på duk, 121 x 238 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Jacob Fopsen van Es (1596-1666) Frukoststycke med ost och pokaler / Breakfast Piece with Cheese and Goblets. Olja på trä, 50 x 84 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Dvärgen Robin / Robin, the Dwarf of Earl of Arundel. 1620. Svart, röd och vit krita, penna och brunt bläck på ljusgrått papper (från Held), 40,8 x 25,8 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Jacob Jordaens (1593-1678) Kung Kandaules av Lydien visar sitt gemål för Gyges / King Candaules of Lydia Showing his Wife to Gyges. Olja på duk. 193 x 157 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Peter Paul Rubens, Susanna och gubbarna / Susanna and the Elders. 1614. Olja på trä 64 x 46 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Anthonis van Dyck (1599-1641) Porträtt av Maria Louisa de Tassis / Portrait of Maria Louisa de Tassis. c.1629. Olja på duk, 129 x 93 cm. Sammlungen des Fürsten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz - Wien © Sammlungen des Fürsten von und zu Liechtenstein, Vaduz - Wien
Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) Europa och tjuren / The Rape of Europa. 1628. Olja på duk, 181 x 200 cm. Museo Nacionál del Prado, Madrid © Museo Nacionál del Prado, Madrid
Thomas Willeboirts Bosschaert (1613-1654) Amor triumferande bland konstens och krigets emblem / Amor Triumphant among Emblems of Art, Science and War. c. 1645-50. Olja på duk, 169 x 242 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Otto van Veen (1556-1629) Allegori över ungdomens frestelser / Allegory of the Temptations of youth. Olja på trä, 146 x 212 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Frans Snyders (1579-1657) Stilleben med villebråd / Still life of Dead Game. 1630-1650. Olja på duk, 111 x 180 cm. Nationalmuseum © Nationalmuseum
Le beau danseur du jour : Alan Lambie
"Botticelli" @ The Städel Museum
Sandro Botticelli, Idealized Portrait of a Lady (Simonetta Vespucci), 1480. Mixed technique on poplar, 82 × 54 cm. Inv. No. 936. Städel Museum
FRANKFURT.- The Städel Museum will show the first monographic exhibition on Sandro Botticelli (1444/45–1510) in the German-speaking world from 13 November 2009 to 28 February 2010. Taking the artist’s monumental Idealized Portrait of a Lady, one of the Städel Museum collection’s highlights, as its starting point, the exhibition presents numerous works from all productive periods of this great master of the Renaissance in Italy about 500 years after his day of death (17 May 1510). The exhibition opens with portraits and allegorical paintings that illustrate the degree of sophistication with which Botticelli drew on this highly developed genre and enriched it with new impulses. While the second chapter centers on his famous mythological representations of goddesses and heroines of virtue, the third part is dedicated to his abundant religious oeuvre. With a total of more than forty works by Botticelli and his workshop, the show presents a comprehensive selection of his work surviving worldwide. Forty further exhibits, among them works by such contemporaries as Andrea del Verrocchio, Filippino Lippi, and Antonio del Pollaiuolo, will allow to understand Botticelli’s precious creations in the historical context of their genesis. The presentation is supported by outstanding loans from the most important collections of paintings in Europe and the United States. These include the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, the Louvre in Paris, the National Gallery London, the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, and the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden, as well as the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the National Gallery of Art in Washington.
Sandro Botticelli’s painting has become a landmark of Italian Renaissance. The delicate beauty, elegant grace, and unique charm of his frequently melancholic figures make his work the epitome of Florentine painting in the Golden Age of Medici rule under Lorenzo the Magnificent. Initially trained as a goldsmith and then apprenticed to Fra Filippo Lippi, Sandro Botticelli soon ranked among the most successful painters in Florence in the second half of the quattrocento next to Verrocchio, Ghirlandaio, and the Pollaiuolo brothers. From 1470 on, he received prestigious public commissions and established himself as a painter of large altarpieces. Throughout his life, Botticelli was in the ruling Medici family’s and their supporters’ good graces. Fulfilling their wishes for innovative decorative paintings, the master could not only rely on his personal knowledge of Florentine traditions and of ancient art, but also on definite suggestions and concepts from the circle of humanists gathered around Lorenzo de’ Medici. Held in equally high esteem as both a panel and a fresco painter, Botticelli enjoyed a high standing beyond his native Florence and was thus one of the artists summoned to decorate the walls of the Sistine Chapel in Rome by Pope Sixtus IV in 1481. It was particularly his much-discussed late work that brought out the characteristic features of his original style in an extreme manner. Guided by the art of drawing – the exhibition includes an outstanding selection of preparatory sketches – Botticelli followed his penchant for presenting his figures with sharp contours, strong movements, and abundant gestures, grounding his compositions on textures of lines and surfaces rather than on spaces and volumes. In this respect, his painting had already stood out against his competitors’ works and current theoretical demands in his early years. This is one of the reasons why art-historical research, which has devoted a vast number of major monographs and work studies to Botticelli since the beginnings of the twentieth century, still assigns a special position to the artist without fail.
The starting point and center of the cross-genre exhibition is provided by a main work from the collection of the Städel Museum not only very well known in Frankfurt: the master’s idealized portrait of a young lady, who is probably to be identified with Simonetta Vespucci, the beloved jousting tournament lady of Lorenzo’s brother Giuliano de’ Medici. This portrait is less aimed at a true-to-life likeness of the subject than at the ideal of a woman characterized by perfect beauty and equally perfect virtuousness, an ideal also reflected in the poetry of that time. Such an ideal defines itself not least through its rapport with antiquity: thus, the beautiful female wears a piece of jewelry round her neck which is obviously based on an ancient cameo showing Apollo and Marsyas, which will also be on display in the exhibition. In the Städel Museum, Botticelli’s famous portrait of Giuliano from the National Gallery of Art in Washington will offer itself for comparison with his beloved Simonetta’s likeness. Both paintings make up the center of the first part of the presentation, which is devoted to Botticelli’s art of portraiture and, drawing on prominent examples, illustrates the interplay between social norm and artistic form as well as the different genre conventions of the male and the female portrait.
The second chapter of the exhibition deals with Botticelli’s mythological pictures, which number among the artist’s most original creations. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence, which safeguards the most comprehensive and significant collection of works by the artist in the world, supports the exhibition in Frankfurt with one of its most popular works among others loans: the famous Pallas and the Centaur, one of Botticelli’s monumental mythological paintings, to be seen in the context of Medicean self-presentation. Together with Botticelli’s Primavera, it once adorned the walls of a bedchamber in a Florentine palace owned by the family of bankers. We see Pallas taming the wild centaur indulging in his passions through her wisdom and virtue. The control and cultivation of emotions was a central issue in ancient philosophy and – combined with Christian thought – of the Renaissance, too; among the painters of the time, Botticelli offered himself as a congenial interpreter for such subjects. The political dimension and the reference to the patron family are symbolically present in the form of two intertwined diamond rings on Pallas’s gown, which were an emblem of the Medici family. Another great female figure featuring in the Florentine artist’s oeuvre is the goddess Venus. His life-size Venus from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin is a repetition of the central figure of (the unloanable) Birth of Venus in the Uffizi Gallery, which he isolated from the context of the scene and set off against a black background. This work is one of the first monumental nudes of postancient painting.
The third and last section of the exhibition is devoted to Botticelli’s religious pictures. Next to his portraits and mythological works, Botticelli has owed his continuing fame to his Madonnas. According to theological thinking, Mary stands out as the ideal woman among the saints: she is the most virtuous and the most beautiful female, the bride of the Song of Songs. Besides many other works spanning from Botticelli’s earliest works still revealing the influence of his teacher Fra Filippo Lippi to examples of his late style, the exhibition in Frankfurt shows one of the artist’s most beautiful Madonnas: The Virgin Adoring the Sleeping Christ Child. The Madonna’s physiognomy of this painting from the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, whose brilliant colorfulness has only been uncovered through restorative measures some years ago, is rendered in the vein of the same female model which the painter developed for his idealized portraits and pictures of ancient goddesses. This chapter also includes a number of narrative pictures, such as a removed Annunciation fresco once to be found in the vestibule of the hospital of San Martino alla Scala in Florence and preserved in the Uffizi Gallery today. Not only the enormous size of the fresco (243 x 550 cm), but also its qualities as a painting testify to Botticelli’s extraordinary importance in this medium. Four panels depicting scenes from the life of St. Zenobius, an early bishop and patron of Florence, offer a further highlight, with which the exhibition ends. Usually scattered to museums in London, Dresden, and New York, they have been brought together for the first time in Frankfurt again. Ranking not only among his most significant late works, but also among his very last, the panels are to be considered as Botticelli’s legacy as an artist.
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), “Annunciation (Detail)”, 1481, Fresco, 243 x 550 cm. Uffizi, Florence. Photo: Uffizi, Florence
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), “Minerva and the Centaur”, 1480-1482, canvas, 207 x 148 cm. Florence, Uffizi. Photo: Uffizi
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), “Portrait of Giuliano de’ Medici”, wood, 75,5 x 52,5 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Photo: National Gallery of Art, Washington
07 novembre 2009
Le beau brun du jour : Rodiney Santiago by Andreas Delrosi
photo Andreas Delrosi
Rare cloisonné enamels sold @ Bonhams
A rare cloisonné and champlevé enamel figure of Guanyin, 18th century. © 2002-2009 Bonhams 1793 Ltd
The tall and graceful figure dynamically posed slightly turned to the left, with the hands held in front, the left hand held in harina mudra and the right holding onto to the left hand, the gilt face with a serene expression below the high chignon covered with a cowl, the robes falling in folds around the body and swaying in the wind, tied at the waist with a ribbon, enamelled with archistic dragons, the hems variously enamelled with foliate scrolls, geometric designs and demi-flowerheads, adorned with beaded necklaces on the chest and bracelets on the arms, wood stand. 43.8cm (17¼in) high. (2). Sold for £305,600
Provenance: an English private collection; according to the family probably, acquired in the late 19th/ early 20th century, and thence by descent.
Early examples of cloisonné enamel figures seem to date from the 17th century and are particularly rare. The heavy gilt wiring, the demi-flowerheads and chilong dragon decoration on the robes, all point in dating to the Kangxi period. Such early examples are rare as is the particular modelling of the present lot as Guanyin. This particular figure of Guanyin has been exquisitely modelled, the face with a graceful serene expression, the robes naturally cast swaying in the wind.
Compare a cloisonné and champlevé enamel figure of a European, attributed to the 17th century, illustrated by G.G.Avitable, Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland: Chinesische und japanische Cloisonné-und Champlevé-Arbeiten von 1400 bis 1900, Frankfurt am Main, 1981, Catalogue no.98. See also a pair of cloisonné enamel kneeling boys, attributed to the Kangxi period, similarly enamelled with archaistic dragons on their robes, sold at Sotheby's New York, 18 September 2007, lot 156.
A rare cloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze seal, Qianlong. © 2002-2009 Bonhams 1793 Ltd
The rectangular seal with a a loop handle terminating in ruyi-heads, decorated with various floral sprays including lotus, orchid and peony, the handle with an S-scroll, all reserved on a turquoise ground, the seal face reads: Mo yan jing yi ren sheng yi le, which may be translated as 'The Spirit of the Inkstone is One of Life's Pleasures'. 5cm (2in) long. Sold for £21,600
Provenance: Emile Guimet, Paris, inventory no. E.G.1403. The seal has been confirmed as part of the Emile Guimet Collection by his descendant.
As illustrated, one of the handle sides was formerly painted with the inventory mark for the Emile Guimet collection - E G 1403. The mark was unfortunately rubbed off when the seal was cleaned by a previous owner.
A rare pair of cloisonné enamel 'bird and tortoise' candlesticks, Qianlong. © 2002-2009 Bonhams 1793 Ltd
Each bird modelled with outstretched white enamel wings, the feathers well detailed in gilt wire, the head lowered supporting the drip pans, standing with gilt clawed feet atop the green, turqouise and blue enamelled tortoise embracing paired red enamelled serpents, all within a saucer raised on gilt ruyi-head supports, the centre decorated with waves encircled by waves crashing against islands, the rim and base with lotus scrolls, the exterior walls with upright petals. 24.4cm (9⅝in) high. (2). Sold for £20,400
Notes: Similar cloisonné enamel bird and tortoise candlesticks are in important public and private collections. For a single example from the Qing Court Collection at the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pl.151; for a pair from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Chen Hsia-Sheng, Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1999, pl.55. For a similar example from a private collection, see Zhang Xin, ed., Colorful, Elegant, and Exquisite: A Special Exhibition of Imperial Enamel Ware from Mr. Robert Chang's Collection, Suzhou, 2007, p.72; and another, formerly in the Kitson Collection, is illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, London, 1970, pl.74B. See also a similar pair sold at William Doyle, New York, on 17 March 2009, lot 287.
All examples, though illustrating an identical concept of design, conveying the wish for 'peace under heaven', show certain variations in their modelling and detail of decoration. Compare the variations in the shape of the saucers, drip pans and tortoises and the enamelled detailing of the waves, lotus scrolls, lappets and feathers. The present lot, though sharing all characteristics with the noted examples, is particularly rare for its variation of form of the bird with its closed pointed beak and upright spread wings.
The creative playfulness and fascination during the Qianlong period with imitating forms of materials extended to the creation of similar objects in different materials. The present lot is an example of this, with similar candlesticks also found carved from jade such as lot 260, carved from spinach green jade and a pair from the Lady Lever Art Gallery Collection, illustrated in S.C.Nott, Chinese Jade Throughout the Ages, Vermont, 1973, pl.XCI.
The tortoise (gui), one of the four revered ancient animals, symbolises the North and is often depicted with a snake, as in the present example. Tortoises represent the creation of all beings and also symbolise longevity, since they were believed to live for ten thousand years. A bird standing at the head of a tortoise relates to the wish for success in the Imperial Jinshi examinations and by implication, a successful career leading to status, wealth and power; see P.B.Welch, Chinese Art: A Guide to Motifs and Visual Imagery, Vermont, 2008, p.106.
A large cloisonné enamel and gilt-bronze rectangular censer and a cover, 16th/17th century. © 2002-2009 Bonhams 1793 Ltd
Cast in the manner of an archaic vessel, the sides decorated in early style on each face with yellow, green and dark blue taotie on a turquoise ground divided by vertical flanges, the tall curling legs with daisy meander, the domed repoussé cover with two dragons pierced through the sheet metal dividing open-winged phoenix beside the high loop handles. Overall 38.5cm (15in) high. (2). Sold for £14,400
Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 5 Nov 2009. New Bond Street www.bonhams.com