Ballyedmond – This pair of sapphire and diamond cufflinks made £16,250 (with an estimate of £3,000-4,000)
Paul Cezanne – Baigneuses, La Montagne Sainte-Victoire au fond (It is estimated at £4-6 million) UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Paul Cezanne’s Baigneuses La Montagne Sainte-Victoire au fond is an exquisite small work that units two key motifs, bathers and the Montagne Sainte Victoire. Measuring just five by eight inches it is the dover lot of Sotheby’s inaugural Actual Size sale in London on June 21. It is estimated at £4-6 million. At the turn of the century Cezanne’s revolutionary works began the process of the fragmentation of reality in art and opened the door to modernism. He used the classical subject of bathers as a compositional tool for a completely new and free aesthetic. The use of translucent watercolour renders the human figure almost weightless and the nudes are fully embraced by nature. Adding to the rarity the composition includes a view of Montagne Saine-Victoire. In a small scale the artist captures the most important subjects and ideas that formed his artistic legacy. On June 21 to coincide with the flagship sales in London Sotheby’s will stage a “small” sale. This brings together a range of works from the 20th and 21st centuries. This first of a kind sale will include painting, sculpture and works on paper with one common characteristic – each will be no bigger than the size of the catalogue page on which it is illustrated.