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This late 17th century Italian table top in the manner of Cosimo Fanzago comes up at Sotheby’s Stone III sale online in London from January 3-19. It is estimated at £50,000-70,000. Exquisite works of art, objects and pieces furniture made of, or incorporating, marbles, hardstones and micromosaics feature in an auction which explores the incredibly rich use of these materials in European Decorative Arts, with an emphasis on their rarity, colour and craftmanship.
The practice of painting on mirrors developed in China after 1715 when the Jesuit missionary Father Giuseppe Castiglione arrived in Beijing. He found favour with the Emperors Yongzheng and Qianlong and was entrusted with the decoration of the Imperial Garden in Beijing. He learned to paint in oil on glass, a technique that was already practiced in Europe but which was unknown in China in 1715. Chinese artists, already expert in painting and calligraphy, took up the practice, tracing the outlines of their designs on the back of the plate and, using a special steel implement, scraping away the mirror backing to reveal glass that could then be painted. Glass paintings were made almost entirely for export, fuelled by the mania in Europe for all things Chinese.
This c1760 mirror in a beautifully drawn giltwood frame following the designs of London’s pre-eminent cabinet-makers such as John Linnell or Thomas Chippendale represents the ingenuity and collaboration between Chinese and British artists of the mid-18th century. From the collection of Pierre Durand it comes up at Christie’s in New York on January 27 with an estimate of $100,000-$200,000. The late philanthropist and collector co-founded The Chinese Porcelain Company. The sale offers a glimpse into a life well lived with objects and art and features the contents of his New York apartment which artistically combined walls of gallery-hung Old Master Drawings with contemporary glass by Yoichi Ohira, and contrasted Chinese paintings by Liu Dan with fine French and English decorative arts.
This Chinese cinnabar vase is lot 56 at Matthews annual holiday auction online on December 30. It will feature 896 lots of jewellery, silver, art and collectibles. The catalogue is online and the vase is estimated at €50-€80. The sale will be followed on January 2 with a timed online vintage costume and jewellery auction.
Eruption by Cian McLoughlin sold for £52,950 at Sotheby’s in London in November in what has been a very good year for Irish art and artists, established and up and coming. The top estimate was £18,000. McLoughlin features in in Ireland’s National Collection and is participating in the blockbuster Grayson Perry Art Club and Exhibition at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery until next September. Based on Perry’s tv series this is a show made by the public, established artists, and celebrities as powerful and very personal responses to the pandemic. Collectively, they form a lasting artistic record of these unprecedented times.
This oil on canvas portrait by the Irish artist Charles Jervas comes up at Sotheby’s online Royal and Noble sale in London which ends on January 20 with an estimate of £4,000-6,000. The sitter is said to be Catherine, Lady Paisley, wife of James Hamilton, Lord Paisley. Born in Co. Offaly Jervas succeeded Sir Godfrey Kneller as principal painter in ordinary to King George I in 1723 and was a popular artist often referred to in works by literary figures of the period. His portraits of his friends Jonathan Swift and Alexander Pope are in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Bidding for the Royal and Noble sale opens on January 3.
This action packed watercolour by Alfred Jacob Miller comes up at Christie’s in New York next month during Americana week. The auction house will introduce a 19th century American Art sale, a curated sale of 69 lots, which takes place on January 19. The week consists of a series of three live and one online auction, starting with 19th century American Art. This will be followed on January 20 by the collection of Peter and Barbara Goodman, Important Americana on January 20-21 and an online sale of Chinese Export Art from January 11-February 2. The watercolour illustrated above is estimated at $80,000-$120,000.
Sales at Christie’s totalled $7.1 billion in 2021, the highest total for five years. The highest value work sold at auction this year, Picasso’s Femme Assise pres d’une fenetre (Marie-Therese), sold at Christie’s in New York last May for $103.4 million. The auction house achieved $150 million for NFT’s and it was a record year for private sales. Results were +54% versus 2020 and +22% versus 2019. Live and online sales accounted for $5.4 billion and private sales came to $1.7 billion.
Guillaume Cerutti, Christie’s Chief Executive Officer, commented: “We are pleased with our 2021 achievements. Beyond our auction and private sales results -which are exceptional, Christie’s has also made a breakthrough in new sales formats and categories, NFTS in particular. They have allowed us to showcase works by new emerging and under-represented artists, and to reach out to a new audience of younger clients. We have also made great progress in other priorities, with important investments in Asia and with our commitments to becoming carbon net zero by 2030, and to building and sustaining a more equitable and diverse profile for our company. Growth, innovation and responsibility remain at the forefront of our objectives for 2022.”
This painting by Alex Katz (b 1927) is from his exhibition at Thaddeus Ropac Seoul Fort Hill which runs until February 5. Founded in 1983 Thaddeus Ropac has galleries in London, Paris, Salzburg and an expanded team in Asia. The second exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac Seoul centres around the major theme of flower paintings by American artist and includes previously unseen works from his flower series as well as new portraits, whose subjects are depicted in botanical settings. It is the first exhibition in Asia entirely dedicated to the genre, following Katz’s major exhibitions at the Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul (2018), Daegu Art Museum, Daegu (2019) and Fosun Foundation, Shanghai (2020). Katz depicts the flowers in the carefully composed strokes and planes of flat colour that are characteristic of his unique style developed during the 1950s in New York – when Abstract Expressionist painters dominated. Painted larger than life, the flowers exude a quiet but powerful beauty, fully immersing the viewer. Viewers can explore the exhibition online.
Only 16 complete Ming Dragon Carpets are known to exist. At Christie’s Exceptional Sale in Paris last month one of the sold for €6,881,000 nearly double its low estimate. It depicts two five-clawed dragons chasing a flaming pearl with scrolling clouds above and rolling waves beneath. Like all Ming carpets, this example was once a dark imperial red which has now faded to a golden yellow.
Bought by an American couple on their honeymoon in 1920 the carpet would originally have been placed beneath the emperor’s throne in Beijing’s Forbidden City. ‘It is in amazing condition,’ said Christie’s specialist Louise Broadhurst. ‘It’s rare to find one that hasn’t been cut in some way.’
Provenance always adds a level of excitement to sales. In Ireland, where so many records like bills of sale have been lost, the early history of a work is often elusive. It can be impossible to say with certainty who made this or that piece. An Italian Mannerist painting of The Baptism of Christ which came up at Sheppards sale of contents from Seafield House, Donabate, Dublin did offer some interesting provenance. It was once in the collection of Cork Lord Mayor Augustine Roche and came up at his dispersal by Marshs in 1916. The three day sale was originally scheduled for April of that year and it had to be postponed until July because of the Easter Rising. The painting sold for a hammer price of €1,300 at Sheppards.
