Classic Art Week. Battesimo del fuoco a New York ad aprile

E’ solo di poche ore fa l’annuncio del raro ritratto di Francis Bacon che andrà in asta da Sotheby’s a maggio a NYC (leggi qui), e già la maison di Pinault ha rilanciato con la diffusione di maggiori informazioni sugli highlight della più attesa novità del 2016: la prima edizione della Classic Art Week di Christie’s ad aprile 2016. Sette aste per tantissimi lotti che spaziano dall’antichità fino al XX secolo.

Continua dunque la strategia di innovazione da Christie’s, forte del successo dei ventimila clienti che hanno visitato le sale della casa d’aste nel mese di maggio 2015 in oltre 10 giorni, quando la maison ha iniziato a organizzare aste cross-category. Con questa nuova settimana di vendite tematiche proporrà ai suoi clienti una full immersion nell’arte classica, con vendite che spaziano dalle arti decorative ai dipinti antichi. A inizio anno 2016, infatti, per la prima volta ha mancato l’appuntamento con gli Old Master (solamente rimandato ad aprile).

Arriverà anche un’altra rivoluzione: un’asta curata intitolata proprio “Revolution” che propone capolavori dal 18° al 20° secolo tra dipinti, disegni, stampe, fotografie e sculture.
Il filo rosso non è temporale, ma l’eccezionalità.

Come ha detto Jussi Pylkkänen (Global President, Christie’s) – che ha dichiarato di aver trovato molti riscontri positivi tra i collezionisti, i mercanti e i curatori dei musei- al Rockefeller Center si vedrà the very best in ogni campo!

Di seguito il calendario dettagliato:

Antichità | 12 aprile

Un catalogo dedicato alle antichità del mondo mediterraneo: arte greca, romana, egiziana e del Vicino Oriente. Dal Neolitico all’anno 1000 d.C. Marmi, pietre preziose, rilievi, un importante bronzo romano raffigurante Bacco, una figura di donna in legno egiziano e una venere di marmo romana….

AN IMPORTANT LARGE ROMAN INLAID BRONZE BACCHUS CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D. The youthful god depicted nude, standing with his weight on his left leg, the right relaxed and bent at the knee, his left arm lowered, perhaps once holding a kantharos, and his right arm raised, perhaps once holding a cluster of grapes, his fleshy torso with copper inlays for the nipples, his head turned to his right, with a smooth forehead and modeled angular brows merging with the bridge of his nose, the lidded convex eyes inlaid in silver and articulated, his long hair center parted and bound in a copper fillet incised with a scrolling vine, with separately-made wavy tresses falling along his neck and spreading onto his shoulders, atop the original, elaborate, tiered plinth together with a seated panther at his feet, its left forepaw raised, the upper tier of the plinth circular in form with a cyma reversa molding, the lower square, with incised petals on the upper surface, a foliate band on the outer edge, a dog-tooth molding below, the corners supported by down-turned felines, their tails looped, their heads raised 33 5/8 in. (63.3 cm.) high Estimate (Set Currency) $500,000 – $700,000 — AN IMPORTANT LARGE ROMAN INLAID BRONZE BACCHUS
CIRCA 2ND CENTURY A.D.
33 5/8 in. (63.3 cm.) high
Estimate $500,000 – $700,000

AN IMPORTANT EGYPTIAN WOOD FIGURE OF A LADY MIDDLE KINGDOM, EARLY 12TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1981-1802 B.C. Superbly sculpted, depicted standing with her feet together, the separately-made arms at her side and pinned in place with wood dowels, her long delicate fingers with white-painted nails, wearing a tightly-fitted sheath dress, revealing the form of her body beneath, with straps covering her breasts, ornamented with elaborate bracelets and anklets, her triangular face with inlaid eyes of white and black stone, presumably alabaster and obsidian, framed in copper, with a slender nose, a slightly-smiling mouth and a pointed chin, with a voluminous, striated, tripartite wig, painted black, on a deep integral plinth pinned in place into the rectangular base, the base painted red over white, with a black-painted hieroglyphic inscription, the Hetep-di nesu formula, partially preserved, reading "An invocation of bread and beer, oxen and fowl, for the Ka of ...hetep, justified" 10 ¾ in. (27.3 cm.) high Estimate (Set Currency) $500,000 – $700,000 — AN IMPORTANT EGYPTIAN WOOD FIGURE OF A LADY
MIDDLE KINGDOM, EARLY 12TH DYNASTY, CIRCA 1981-1802 B.C.
10 ¾ in. (27.3 cm.) high
Estimate $500,000 – $700,000

A ROMAN MARBLE VENUS CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D. Lifesized, the voluptuous goddess depicted nude, standing with her left leg slightly advanced, her torso leaning forward causing a crease across her abdomen, both arms lowered, with a diaphanous mantle draped diagonally across her legs and over the crook of her right arm, with folds cascading down her upper right thigh 35 ½ in. (90.2 cm.) high Estimate (Set Currency) $300,000 – $500,000 — A ROMAN MARBLE VENUS
CIRCA 1ST CENTURY B.C.-1ST CENTURY A.D.
35 ½ in. (90.2 cm.) high
Estimate $300,000 – $500,000

The Exceptional Sale | 13 aprile

Questo catalogo è una selezione del “meglio del meglio” delle arti decorative. Questa vendita include capolavori europei, americani e cinesi dai mobili alle sculture e oggetti d’arte, tutti di impeccabile provenienza. Tra i top lot un servizio da thè e caffè russo in oro, una coppia di pistole di inizio Ottocento e una scultura in marmo raffigurante Andromeda.

A RUSSIAN TWO-COLOR GOLD TEA AND COFFEE-SERVICE MARK OF IWAR WENFELDT BUCH, ST. PETERSBURG, 1799, ASSAY MASTER'S MARK OF ALEXANDER YASHINOV, 82 ZOLOTNIK (20½ kt.) STANDARD MARK, THE TEASPOONS AND SUGAR-TONGS UNMARKED Comprising vase-shaped teapot, coffee-pot, milk-jug, two-handled sugar-bowl and waste-bowl, each on circular domed base chased with beading and vertical leaves, the lower part of the body with foliage calyx and bead and foliage bands, the border with similar bands and green-gold laurel between plain ribs, the teapot and coffee-pot with acanthus leaf spouts, the bifurcated handles inset with bone and terminating in acanthus foliage, the waisted covers with foliage borders and acanthus bud finials, each marked on foot, an oval two-handled tray, the gallery in sections with plain pilasters at intervals, pierced with vertical slats and arcading and with beaded rim, the loop handles terminating in laurel foliage and engraved with bright-cut ornament between wriggle-work borders, marked under one handle, six teaspoons with wriggle-work stems partly chased with foliage and a pair of sugar-tongs, the similar stems pierced and chased with flower-heads, the pierced grips and join with patera (13) the coffee-pot 10 ½ in. (26.7 cm) high, the tray 25 ½ in. (64.7 cm) long total gross weight excluding the wood support to the tray 239 oz. (7,433 gr.)Estimate (Set Currency) $1,500,000 – $2,500,000 — A RUSSIAN TWO-COLOR GOLD TEA AND COFFEE-SERVICE
MARK OF IWAR WENFELDT BUCH, ST. PETERSBURG, 1799, ASSAY MASTER’S MARK OF ALEXANDER YASHINOV, 82 ZOLOTNIK (20½ kt.) STANDARD MARK, THE TEASPOONS AND SUGAR-TONGS UNMARKED
Estimate $1,500,000 – $2,500,000

A MAGNIFICENT & IMPORTANT CASED PAIR OF FRENCH SILVER-MOUNTED RIFLED FLINTLOCK PISTOLS BY NICOLAS-NOEL BOUTET, VERSAILLES, THE CASE DATED '1825' With blued and gilt swamped octagonal barrels each cut with multi-groove rifling and decorated with gold-inlaid bands and finely engraved panels of foliage and Empire-style ornament, engraved and gilt breeches each struck with three maker’s marks, engraved and gilt tangs decorated en suite, silver fore-sights, blued flat bevelled locks each with roller, gold-lined rainproof priming-pan and fine gold-encrusted ornament involving foliage, a dragon and a wolf, the lower edge of each lock respectively signed ‘N.N. BOUTET A VERSAILLES’ and ‘MANUFACTURE ROYALE A VERSAILLES’ in gold, each with set trigger mounted on an engraved iron trigger-plate, exquisite silver mounts cast and chased with Classical ornament against a stippled gilt ground, comprising trigger-guards each with trophy of arms finial and winged deity with laurel wreath, rear ramrod pipes each with Medusa mask, pommels each with Hercules mask, and side-plates each depicting the mythical fight between the Centaurs and Lapiths at the wedding feast of Peirithous, original silver-mounted ramrods, and each with gold escutcheon mounted behind the barrel tang bearing the name ‘BOLIVAR’, in silver-bound close-fitted veneered case lined in green velvet, the lid with tooled and gilt red Morocco lining signed ‘MANUFACTURE ROYALE / à / VERSAILLES / 1825 / N.N. BOUTET / Le Dépôt de La Manuf.re a Paris. Rue Des Filles St. Thomas No.23’, the exterior with silver escutcheon signed ‘N.N. BOUTET A VERSAILLES’ with accessories including silver-gilt-mounted powder-flask with sprung nozzle and case-hardened bullet-mould, Paris silver marks for circa 1809-1818 16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm.) overall, 10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) barrels; the case 17 ¾ in. (45 cm.) x 12 ¼ in. (31 cm.) Estimate (Set Currency) $1,500,000 – $2,500,000 — A MAGNIFICENT & IMPORTANT CASED PAIR OF FRENCH SILVER-MOUNTED RIFLED FLINTLOCK PISTOLS BY NICOLAS-NOEL BOUTET, VERSAILLES, THE CASE DATED ‘1825’
16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm.) overall, 10 5/8 in. (27 cm.) barrels; the case 17 ¾ in. (45 cm.) x 12 ¼ in. (31 cm.)
Estimate $1,500,000 – $2,500,000

A MARBLE FIGURE OF ANDROMEDA BY PIETRO PAOLO OLIVIERI (1551-1599), 1580s Depicted chained to rockwork and with a monkfish and crab opening a shellfish at her feet, signed on the base P . PAVLI . OLIVIERII . OPVS 63 in. (160 cm.) high Estimate (Set Currency) $500,000 – $800,000 — A MARBLE FIGURE OF ANDROMEDA
BY PIETRO PAOLO OLIVIERI (1551-1599), 1580s
63 in. (160 cm.) high
Estimate $500,000 – $800,000

European Sculpture and Works of Art | 13 aprile

Sculture e oggetti d’arte dal Medioevo al Neoclassicismo. Bronzi, terracotte, opere in marmo, legno e vetro.

A TERRACOTTA BUST OF MILO OF CROTON BY PIERRE PUGET (1620-1694), LATE 17TH CENTURY 15 in. (38.1 cm.) high; 17. 3/4 in. (45.1 cm.) wide Estimate $20,000 – $30,000 — A TERRACOTTA BUST OF MILO OF CROTON
BY PIERRE PUGET (1620-1694), LATE 17TH CENTURY
15 in. (38.1 cm.) high; 17. 3/4 in. (45.1 cm.) wide
Estimate
$20,000 – $30,000

Revolution | 13 aprile

“Revolution” è una nuova asta curata che propone capolavori dal 18° al 20° secolo con dipinti, disegni, stampe, fotografie e sculture. I lotti sono 45 e i nomi degli autori parlano da soli: Boilly, Daumier, David, Géricault, Goya, Ingres, Turner. Le figure storiche rappresentate dalle opere in catalogo includono Maria Antoinetta, Napoleone, Rousseau, George Washington e molti altri.

Louis-Léopold Boilly (Lille 1761-1845 Paris) The Private Tennis Court of the Comte d’Artois signed 'L. Boilly' (lower left) oil on canvas 15 1/8 x 18 3/8 in. (38.5 x 46.8 cm.) Estimate $400,000 – $600,000 — Louis-Léopold Boilly (Lille 1761-1845 Paris)
The Private Tennis Court of the Comte d’Artois
signed ‘L. Boilly’ (lower left)
oil on canvas
15 1/8 x 18 3/8 in. (38.5 x 46.8 cm.)
Estimate $400,000 – $600,000

Old Masters (Part I & II) | 14 aprile
Questo catalogo comprende molte opere fresche sul mercato. Tra i top lot El Greco, Daddi e Gandolfi.

Doménikos Theotokópoulos, called El Greco (Crete 1541-1614 Toledo) The Entombment of Christ oil on panel 11 x 7 5/8 in. (28 x 19.4 cm.) with the inventory number '18.' (lower right) Estimate $4,000,000 – $6,000,000 — Doménikos Theotokópoulos, called El Greco (Crete 1541-1614 Toledo)
The Entombment of Christ
oil on panel
11 x 7 5/8 in. (28 x 19.4 cm.)
with the inventory number ’18.’ (lower right)
Estimate
$4,000,000 – $6,000,000

Bernardo Daddi (active Florence c. 1318-1348) The Madonna and Child enthroned with saints tempera and gold on panel, in an engaged frame 30 1/8 x 20 ½ in. (76.5 x 52.1 cm.) Estimate Upon Request — Bernardo Daddi (active Florence c. 1318-1348)
The Madonna and Child enthroned with saints
tempera and gold on panel, in an engaged frame
30 1/8 x 20 ½ in. (76.5 x 52.1 cm.)
Estimate Upon Request

Gaetano Gandolfi (San Matteo della Decima 1734-1802 Bologna) The Birth of Venus oil on canvas 58 x 66 7/8 in. (147.3 x 169.7 cm.) Estimate $2,500,000 – $3,500,000 — Gaetano Gandolfi (San Matteo della Decima 1734-1802 Bologna)
The Birth of Venus
oil on canvas
58 x 66 7/8 in. (147.3 x 169.7 cm.)
Estimate
$2,500,000 – $3,500,000

An Inquiring Mind: American Collecting Of Japanese and Korean Art | 15 aprile
Chiude la settimana questo ultimo catalogo che include pergamene, calligrafie, xilografie, ceramiche, armature e spade di samurai e arte buddista e coreana.