Message du blogueur

La capacité de stockage accordée par WordPress étant atteinte, en attendant de pouvoir « mapper » mon nom de domaine sur ce site (ce qui n’est absolument pas évident, car je ne comprends rien à tout ce charabia informatique…), je suis revenu à mon ancien blog: http://www.alaintruong.com/

A très bientôt, dès que j’aurais trouvé une âme charitable pour m’aider!

Aquamarine rings

Étiquettes

Alexandra Mor, aquamarine ring, Cannes aquamarine ring, Chopard, De Grisogono, Fabergé, lavish aquamarine and white gold cocktail ring, Limelight Blue Lagoon cocktail inspiration ring, Melody of Colours collection, Ode to Enchanted Light aquamarine ring, Peau d'Âne collection, Piaget, Red Carpet Collection, Rococo collection, Sarah Ho collection, Van Cleef & Arpels, William & Son

The Limelight Blue Lagoon cocktail inspiration ring from Piaget is set in white gold with a cushion-cut aquamarine, brilliant-cut fire opals and brilliant-cut diamonds.

The lavish aquamarine and white gold cocktail ring from the Rococo collection by Fabergé features a sky blue, faceted, oval-cut aquamarine.

The Cannes aquamarine ring from Chopard‘s Red Carpet collection features a pear-shaped aquamarine, diamonds and sapphires.

de GRISOGONO aquamarine ring with diamonds, from the Melody of Colours collection.

Van Cleef & Arpels white gold Peau d’Âne collection aquamarine ring surrounded by diamonds, sapphires and tourmalines.

This beautiful aquamarine cocktail ring is from the Sarah Ho collection for luxury lifestyle boutique William & Son, and features a large, faceted, oval cabochon-cut aquamarine.

The Ode to Enchanted Light aquamarine ring from Alexandra Mor is set with an extraordinary 27.24ct Asscher-cut intense bright blue-green aquamarine.

Alexandra Mor‘s one-of-a-kind Ode to Enchanted Light aquamarine ring.

(Source: TheJewelleryEditor)

A large and unusual underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722)

Étiquettes

Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs, Collection of Julia and John Curtis, Fang Shi Mopu, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period, underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated, Woodblock illustration

A large and unusual underglaze-blue and copper-red-decorated dish, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1662-1722). Estimate $25,000 – $35,000 Photo Christie’s Image Ltd 2015

The dish is decorated in the interior with an overall design drawn in a penciled style with leaping carp and Buddhist emblems on a ground of undulating waves. The reverse is painted with four further Buddhist emblems above the channeled foot. 13 ¾ in. (34.9 cm.) diam. Lot 3581 – Price Realized $125,000

Provenance: Frides Lameris, Amsterdam, 1988.
Collection of Julia and John Curtis.

Like four other large dishes in the Curtis Collection, lots 3580, 3583, 3589, 3591, this unusual dish is finished with a channeled foot, although the present dish bears a Kangxi mark. This type of foot appears to have been used by the potters at Jingdezhen for a short period of time around 1670, and disappears in the second half of the Kangxi period.

The decoration on this dish, with a large-scale ground pattern extending across the entire surface, is very unusual. It is possible that, like narrative scenes of the period, patterns and ground designs were also inspired by printed illustrations. (fig. 1)

Fig. 1: Woodblock illustration to Fang Shi Mopu (Catalogue of Fang’s Ink Cake Designs), by Fang Yulu, active 1570-1619.

For a related dish decorated in underglaze blue and copper-red with five carp on a similar wave ground, of slightly different shape than the present example, in Umezawa Kinenkan, Tokyo, see Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, p. 148, pl. 144.

CHRISTIE’S. AN ERA OF INSPIRATION: 17TH-CENTURY CHINESE PORCELAINS FROM THE COLLECTION OF JULIA AND JOHN CURTIS, 16 March 2015,New York, Rockefeller Plaza

A selection of Tahitian Black pearls

Étiquettes

Boodles, Chanel, Chauri Pearl String Necklace, Cutting Edge Pearl Earrings, Flora Bhattachary, Lief Tahitian pearl earrings, Luna Rose aubergine Tahitian Pearl Ring, multi-coloured Tahitian Pearl necklace, Perles de Nuit high jewellery necklace, Rococo Pearl and Diamond Ring, Rococo Pearl Necklace, Rose gold diamond and Tahitian pearl ear cuff, Tahitian pearls, Winterson, YOKO London

Flora Bhattachary Chauri Pearl String Necklace featuring peacock Tahitian pearls.

Flora Bhattachary Jyamiti Ring in gold with a peacock Tahitian pearl and hand-carved amethyst.

Rococo Pearl Necklace from Boodles featuring Tahitian cultured pearls of 10.5mm-11.5mm, and decorative diamond-set Rococo motifs, set in white gold.

Cutting Edge Pearl Earrings from Boodles featuring a cultured Tahitian pearl, set with round brilliant-cut diamonds, in white gold.

Rococo Pearl and Diamond Ring from Boodles with 10mm Tahitian pearl, 0.49ct of round brilliant-cut diamonds, in white gold.

Chanel Perles de Nuit high jewellery necklace in white gold set with 914 brilliant-cut diamonds, featuring 47 Tahitian cultured pearls of 15mm-18.2mm diameter.

Winterson Lief Tahitian pearl earrings in yellow gold with amethysts.

Winterson Luna Rose aubergine Tahitian Pearl Ring with pink sapphire in yellow gold.

Winterson multi-coloured Tahitian Pearl necklace with white gold clasp and 10.8mm-14mm pearls.

Rose gold diamond and Tahitian pearl ear cuff from YOKO London.

Rose gold ring with diamonds and Tahitian pearls from YOKO London.

Rose gold earrings featuring diamonds and 12mm-13mm Tahitian pearls from YOKO London.

YOKO London rose gold earrings featuring diamonds and 14mm-15mm Tahitian pearls.

(Source thejewelleryeditor)

Leonardo da Vinci painting, about to be sold for $135 million, seized at Swiss bank

Étiquettes

Carlo Pedretti, Isabella d'Este, Leonardo da Vinci

A leading Italian da Vinci expert, Carlo Pedretti, has said he believes the work to be the completed oil version of the Mona Lisa artist’s sketch of Isabella d’Este, which now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

ROME (AFP).- A hugely valuable painting believed to be the work of Leonardo da Vinci has been seized from a Swiss bank on the orders of Italian police who suspect it was moved out of the country illegally.

Italian prosecutors said Tuesday that the painting, a portrait of Renaissance noblewoman Isabella d’Este, had been seized from a vault in Lugano, near the Italian border.

At the time of its seizure on Monday, negotiations were under way to sell the painting — which reportedly belongs to a wealthy Italian family based in Switzerland — for 120 million euros (over $135 million), the prosecutors said in a statement.

The painting was found to be in Switzerland in 2013 after Italian authorities were alerted that a local lawyer had been given a mandate to sell it for a minimum of 95 million euros.

A leading Italian da Vinci expert, Carlo Pedretti, has said he believes the work to be the completed oil version of the Mona Lisa artist’s sketch of d’Este, which now hangs in the Louvre in Paris.

Other experts have cast doubt on whether the painting is 100 percent the work of Leonardo, suggesting it could have simply been done in his style on the basis of the Louvre sketch, or started by the master and completed at a later date by one or more of his students.

Italy holds one of the world’s largest concentrations of artistic heritage and is often the target of art traffickers.

Italian police in January seized over 5,000 ancient artefacts in a record 45-million-euro haul after dismantling a Swiss-Italian trafficking ring. © 1994-2015 Agence France-Presse

A set of six Meissen deep Armorial plates and a very rare Meissen armorial tureen and cover from the Münnich Service, circa 1738

Étiquettes

'Sulkowski-Ozier', Andreas Schieffer, Armorial, Augustus III of Poland and Saxony, circa 1738, Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, deep Armorial plate, Dreher's mark, indianische Blumen, J. J. Kändler, Johann Gottfried Eckoldt, Münnich Service, Meissen, Russian Order of St Andrew, tureen and cover

A set of six Meissen deep Armorial plates from the Münnich Service, circa 1738. Estimation 25,000 — 40,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby’s

painted with the arms within the Collar and Badge of the Russian Order of St Andrew above the motto Obsequio et candour, flanked by martial trophies hung with swags, and small scattered sprigs of indianische Blumen, the rim moulded with ‘Sulkowski-Ozier‘ basketwork, crossed swords marks in underglaze-blue, Dreher’s mark E for Johann Gottfried Eckoldt to the inside of footrim. Quantité: 6 – 23cm., 9 in. diam.

A very rare Meissen armorial tureen and cover from the Münnich Service, circa 1738. Estimation 25,000 — 40,000 GBP. Photo Sotheby’s

probably modelled by J. J. Kändler, of oval form, modelled with reed handles issuing from bearded male masks, painted with the arms within the Collar and Badge of the Russian Order of St. Andrew above the motto Obsequio et candour, flanked by martial trophies hung with swags, and small scattered sprigs of indianische Blumen, the rim moulded with ‘Sulkowski-Ozier‘ basketwork, impressed .97, incised Dreher’s mark of a cross and four dots for Andreas Schieffer, one handle lacking. Quantité: 2 – 32cm.,12 5/8 in. diam., 33.4cm, 13 1/8 in. high

PROPERTY OF A GERMAN LADY OF TITLE

Provenance: Given by Augustus III of Poland and Saxony to Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich in 1740;
Thence by family descent to the present owner

Notes: Johann Gottfried Eckoldt (1707 or 1708-1769) was employed at Meissen from 1731 and is listed among the Weißdreher in 1739 and 1740, see Rainer Rückert, Alchemistische Symbolzeichen als Meissner Masse-, Former-, Bossirer- und Drehermarken um vierten Jahrzehnt des 1. Jahrhunderts, Keramos, 151, 1996, p. 79.

Count Burkhard Christoph von Münnich (9th May 1683 – 16th October 1767) began service under Augustus the Strong in 1716 and became General Inspector of Polish troops and Commander of the Royal Guard. After service in the French and Polish-Saxon armies, Münnich entered the service of Peter the Great of Russia in 1721, and was promoted to Lieutenant General in 1722. In 1728 he was given the title of count (Graf) and was appointed commander in chief of the Russian Army by Peter II. In 1734 during the War of the Polish succession, commanding 15,000 troops, Münnich took part in the siege of Gdańsk, where a claimant to the Polish throne, Stanisław Leszczyński I, had been hiding. In the same year Münnich was awarded the order of St. Andrew.

“An individual biography can be a portrait of an age, and the figure of Münnich, a Saxon, working in Russian service probably represents the best embodiment of Russia’s new Europeanized cultural landscape » (Lydia Liackhova, In a Porcelain Mirror: Reflections of Russia from Peter I to Empress Elizabeth, Fragile Diplomacy,  2007, pp. 70-71). See also the detailed discussion of the service by Anette Loesch , Ulrich Pietsch, Meissen for the Czars, 2004, pp. 50-51.

A plate from this service was sold in these rooms on 12^th June 2008, Russian Works of Art, lot 722; another was sold on 2nd December 2003, lot 29. A square shaped dish and a plate from the service were in the Hoffmeister collection, illustrated by Dieter Hoffmeister in the collection catalogue Meissener Porzellan Des 18. Jahrhunderts, Band II, 1999, no. 346 and 347, subsequently offered for sale at Bonhams London, The Hoffmeister collection Part 1, 25th June 2009, lot 77 and Part 3, 24th November 2010, lot 70. For a discussion of the arms and family and two pieces from the service, see Dieter Hoffmeister, op. cit. pp. 604-606.

A tureen and cover of similar form, formerly in the Mannheimer Collection, is in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (published by A. L. den Blaauwen, 2000, cat. no 85). Den Blaauwen, op.cit. refers to Kändler possibly working on a variant of the model in 1733, namely a tureen with a basketwork border.

Sotheby’s. Of Royal and Noble Descent Londres, 24 févr. 2015, 10:30 AM

Artist books, works on paper by Werner Pfeiffer featured in exhibition at Toledo Museum of Art

Étiquettes

Werner Pfeiffer

Werner Pfeiffer (German-American, born 1937), Slight Shift. Dimensional print: intaglio, collage, embossment, 1979. Framed: 22 x 22 x 2 in. Photo courtesy of the artist. ©Werner Pfeiffer.

TOLEDO, OH.- The possibilities of paper are explored in a new exhibition that opened Feb. 6 at the Toledo Museum of Art. Nearly 200 one-of-a-kind and limited edition artist books, dimensional prints, collages and experimental works are being shown in Drawn, Cut & Layered: The Art of Werner Pfeiffer. Some of the works are being seen publically for the first time.

“What really stands out is how diversely creative and productive Werner Pfeiffer is,” said Toledo Museum of Art Director Brian Kennedy. “Because of the caliber of his creativity, we felt he deserved a major exhibition.”

Werner Pfeiffer (German-American, born 1937), Untitled. Collage, 2003. Photo courtesy of the artist. ©Werner Pfeiffer.

Pfeiffer has used paper as both a canvas and a structural material for the past 50 years. As a sculptor, printmaker and painter, he is fascinated with machines and machine-like constructions. His drawings are schematic and his complex books have intricate moving parts.

Those influences and a fascination with puzzles, metaphors and word play have inspired works that are thought-provoking in themselves, said exhibition curator Thomas Loeffler. “When people see these works all together we hope they will be inspired to take the time to be creative themselves,” Loeffler said.

Werner Pfeiffer (German-American, born 1937), Black Center. Dimensional print: intaglio, collage, embossment, 1979. Photo courtesy of the artist. ©Werner Pfeiffer.

Among works in the show are Hocus Pocus, an homage to Dada, an artistic movement born out of negative reaction to the horrors of World War I; Zig Zag, a book in which Pfeiffer investigates the nature of paper, creating a double accordion fold to show that “paper is not only a surface but has architectural structure”; and The Banana Drawings, a series of drawings with seven basic images that reoccur in different configurations, in a combination of drawing and silkscreen prints.

Also on view is Liber Mobile, in which the alphabet becomes a visual element. The piece was inspired by the writings of Marshall McLuhan (who famously pointed out that “the medium is the message” in the 1960s). The letterforms simulate interpretive content, suggesting legibility, but the artwork is simply an interaction of form and color.

Werner Pfeiffer (German-American, born 1937), Return to Title Page from Abracadabra. Artist’s book, 2007. Photo courtesy of the artist. ©Werner Pfeiffer.

While influenced by his contemporaries, Pfeiffer’s earliest memories of life in Germany during and after World War II have impacted his work the most. “There was no paper; there were no books. Censorship was everywhere. Since childhood I’ve always been sensitive to what is being done to books and with books,” the 77-year-old artist has said.

Liv Ballard, Spinning Orb earrings & Cosmos gold cuff

Étiquettes

Cosmos gold cuff, Liv Ballard, Spinning Orb earrings

Liv Ballard Spinning Orb earrings in gold with yellow and white pavé diamonds.

Liv Ballard Cosmos gold cuff with pavé diamonds.

Liv Ballard

A major American painting formerly owned by Andy Warhol acquired by the Barber Institute of Fine Arts

Étiquettes

Andy Warhol, George Bellows

Purchased outright for the gallery by the Henry Barber Trust on the advice of Director Nicola Kalinsky, the painting comes from a private US collection via art dealer Collisart. It was owned by Pop artist Andy Warhol from 1985 until his death in 1987.

‘Nude: Miss Bentham’, by the early 20th-century painter George Bellows, has gone on display in the gallery at the University of Birmingham this week.

The Barber Institute becomes only the second UK public collection to own a work by this key modern artist, best known for his association with the groundbreaking New York-based Ashcan painters – following the National Gallery’s acquisition exactly a year ago of Bellows’s Men of the Docks.

Purchased outright for the gallery by the Henry Barber Trust on the advice of Director Nicola Kalinsky, the painting comes from a private US collection via art dealer Collisart.It was owned by Pop artist Andy Warhol from 1985 until his death in 1987.

Ms Kalinsky said: ‘This is a thrilling departure for the Barber Institute and our first major purchase for some years. It fits in extremely well with the strengths of our gallery as a historical collection, but it takes us into new areas too. The painting is very American and very much of its time, strengthening and expanding our representation of early 20th-century art.’

The acquisition – which is also the Barber’s first nude – signals the complex role America was to take in the development of modern art in the twentieth century. The full-length oil depicts a model named by Bellows as Miss Bentham, painted in a realistic but highly dramatic style against a dark background. It was executed and exhibited in 1906, the year Bellows began exhibiting as a professional artist.

Nicola Kalinsky added: ‘This acquisition is so important for the Barber as it’s only our second painting by an American – and our Whistler – which was purchased in 1939 – was painted in London and sits within a very different tradition. In many ways, Bellows is the archetypal American artist, and he is considered the key American painter of the first decade of the 20th century. His work is very well known in the States, but he is too little known across the Atlantic.

‘Bellows’s vision is not avante garde in the manner of his European contemporaries – you can see that he is obviously aware of the great painters of the past, such as Velazquez and Manet, and he would have considered himself very much part of that tradition of painterly realism. However, he is an artist who looked forward as well as back, and for him and the rest of the Ashcan painters, their subject matter is radical and modern. Bellows painted slum kids, boxing matches, building sites – the nitty-gritty side of urban life rather than the genteel middle classes at leisure as favoured by many of preceding generation.’

The new acquisition has been displayed in a specially rehung section of the Blue Gallery alongside some of the Barber’s most significant and visually arresting paintings from the late 19th century, and which feature the human figure and scenes from modern life. These include Eduard Manet’s Portrait of Carolus Duran of 1876, Edgar Degas’s Jockeys before the Race, 1879 and Auguste Renoir’s Young Woman, Seated, c 1876.

Hugh Carslake, Chairman of the Henry Barber Trust, said: ‘This is a very exciting acquisition for the Barber collection. Our founder, Lady Barber, stated that the quality of the works in our collection should be “of exceptional and outstanding merit” and emulate that of the works in the National Gallery and the Wallace Collection, so this is a particularly apposite addition.’

Nude: Miss Bentham will be the centrepiece of a picture-in-focus exhibition at the Barber Institute, planned for autumn 2016, which will feature major loans from Britain and the United States.

Sotheby’s 2015 Masters Week Sales total an impressive $79 million in New York

Étiquettes

'Dutch harbor in a calm with small vessels inshore and beached among fishermen, 'Frozen River at Sunset', 'Madonna and Child before a pink granite ledge, 'Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints Anthony Abbot, 'Mary Magdalene', 'Nude soldiers gesticulating with their weapons', 'Saint Michael the Archangel', 'The 'Fountain of Liberty', 'The Pantheon, 'Two drapery studies for the figure of Tatius', a kaag at anchor, A portrait of Mme. de Maintenon with the natural children of Louis XIV, a states yacht and men o'war offshore: a "penschilderij"', a view of the interior towards the Piazza della Rotonda', Aert van der Neer, Allegory of Music, an extensive mountainous landscape beyond', and a bishop saint, Antoine Coypel, Artists sketching at Tivoli', Bacchante with Grapes Carried by Two Bacchantes and a Bacchant, Catherine of Alexandria, circa 1500, Clodion, Dinant, Giovanni della Robbia, Giovanni Paolo Panini, Hubert Robert, Jacopo di Cione, Jacques-Louis David, Lorenzo Veneziano, Pasqualino Veneto, South Netherlandish, Spindle chandelier with the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Sigismund of Burgundy, The Lamentation, Vittore Carpaccio, Willem van de Velde the Elder, with eight angels', with the Madonna and Saints Joseph of Arimathea and John the Evangelist'

Willem van de Velde the Elder (Leiden 1611 – 1693 London), ‘Dutch harbor in a calm with small vessels inshore and beached among fishermen, a kaag at anchor, a states yacht and men o’war offshore:  a « penschilderij« ‘, signed lower center W.V.Velde;pen, ink and oil on panel; 18 7/8  by 25 1/2 inches; 47.9 by 65 cm. Estimate 2,000,000 — 3,000,000 USD. Lot sold: 5,429,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s annual Masters Week sales in New York have achieved the impressive total of $79,255,816. The auctions included Master Paintings: Part I, Selected Renaissance and Mannerist Works of Art Assembled by Fabrizio Moretti, Master Paintings & Sculpture: Part II, and Old Master Drawings. Auction records were set for artists across the category including Giovanni Paolo Panini, Vittore Carpaccio, Antoine Coypel, Willem van de Velde, Lorenzo Veneziano and Clodion. A total of 15 lots sold for more than $1 million.

Christopher Apostle, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings commented, “We are thrilled with these results, which show incredible depth and vibrancy in this market driven overwhelmingly by private buyers. The recipe for success in this field is fresh material, estimated correctly and presented thoughtfully; and with $2.9 million for the earliest work in the sale, a small gold ground of the Crucifixion from circa 1285, $5.2 million and $2.7 million for rediscoveries by Constable and El Greco respectively, and record prices for Van de Velde and Panini, among others, there is clearly a tremendous appetite for Old Masters across the category.”

“It may be tempting for many to compare Old Masters to other categories of the art market,” said George Wachter, Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department Worldwide. “The truth is that names like El Greco, Brueghel, van Dyck and Constable have stood the test – and taste – of time for over 200 years. In a market driven by ever better-informed buyers, many of whom are increasingly collecting across categories, the universal appeal and timeless beauty of these masterpieces have never had a more global and stronger resonance.”

Master Paintings: Part I brought a total of $57,142,500 with 72% sold by lot and 97% of sold lots bringing prices at or above their estimates. Twelve lots sold for more than $1 million, including Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, a preparatory work for one of John Constable’s most celebrated masterpieces, now in the Tate, which soared to $5.2 million after an extended battle, well in excess of expectations (est. $2/3 million). The top selling lot was Willem van de Velde the Elder, one of the greatest examples of a penschilderij (pen and ink painting) remaining in private hands, which brought $5.4 million, above the high estimate and a new record for the artist at auction. Auction records were also set for Giovanni Paolo Panini, Vittore Carpaccio and Antoine Coypel. Works from the collection of J.E. Safra were among the top selling lots, including Frozen River at Sunset by Dutch artist Aert van der Neer, which achieved $4.7 million, and Giovanni Paolo Panini’s Rome, The Pantheon, a view of the interior towards the Piazza della Rotonda, which sold for $5.3 million.

Giovanni Paolo Panini (Piacenza 1691 – 1765 Rome), ‘The Pantheon, a view of the interior towards the Piazza della Rotonda’, signed with initials and dated at the foot of the column lower right: I.P.P. 1732, oil on canvas, 46 7/8 by 38 3/4  in.; 119 by 98.4 cm. Estimate  3,000,000 — 5,000,000 USD. Lot sold: 5,317,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Aert van der Neer (Amsterdam circa 1603/4 – 1677), ‘Frozen River at Sunset’, signed with the double monogram by the fencepost left of center: AV  DN, oil on oak panel, 18 1/4  by 27 5/8  in.; 46.2 by 70.2 cm.  Estimate  4,000,000 — 6,000,000 USD. Lot sold: 4,757,000  USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Vittore Carpaccio (Venice 1450-1522), ‘The Lamentation, with the Madonna and Saints Joseph of Arimathea and John the Evangelist’, oil on panel; 17 by 14 in.; 43 by 38 cm. Estimation 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 USD. Lot sold: 2,853,000  USD. Photo Sotheby’s.

Antoine Coypel (Paris 1661 – 1722), Allegory of Music (A portrait of Mme. de Maintenon with the natural children of Louis XIV), oil on canvas, 38 5/8  by 59 7/8  inches; 98 by 152 cm. Estimation 1,500,000 — 2,000,000 USD. Lot sold: 1,565,000 USD. Photo Sotheby’s.

The morning sale was followed by Selected Renaissance and Mannerist Works of Art Assembled by Fabrizio Moretti, a group of early Italian works assembled by the dealer and scholar Fabrizio Moretti. The auction totaled $6,466,000, with all but two lots finding buyers. The top lot of the sale was a pair of painted gold ground panels by Venetian master Lorenzo Veneziano depicting St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Sigismund of Burgundy, which fetched $1.3 million, above its pre-sale estimate of $600/800,000 and a new record for the artist at auction. Jacopo Di Cione’s spectacular panel Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints and Angels bought $965,000. Top prices also included works by Giovanni della Robbia and Pasqualino di Niccolò, called Pasqualino Veneto.

Lorenzo Veneziano, ‘St. Catherine of Alexandria and St. Sigismund of Burgundy’, inscribed on either side of the figures’ heads: CATA / RINA and SIGIS / MONDO respectively; a pair, both tempera on panel, gold ground, with arched tops. Saint Catherine: 38 7/8  by 12 7/8  in.; 99 by 33 cm.; Saint Sigismund: 38 1/2  by 13 3/4  in.; 98 by 35 cm. Estimate 600,000-800,000 USD. Lot sold: 1,325,000  USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Jacopo di Cione (Documented in Florence 1365 – 1398, ‘Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints Anthony Abbot, Mary Magdalene, Catherine of Alexandria, and a bishop saint, with eight angels’, tempera on panel, with an arched top, gold ground, in an engaged frame; overall: 29 3/4  by 14 1/4  in.; 75.5 by 36 cm. painted surface: 18 by 10 3/4  in.; 45.5 by 26 cm. Estimate 600,000-800,000 USD. Lot sold: 965,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Giovanni della Robbia (1469-1529), Italian, Florence, circa 1500-1510, ‘Saint Michael the Archangel‘, glazed terracotta, height 22 in.; 56 cm. Estimate 70,000 — 90,000 USD. Lot sold: 413,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Pasqualino di Niccolò, called Pasqualino Veneto (Active in Venice 1495 – 1504), ‘Madonna and Child before a pink granite ledge, an extensive mountainous landscape beyond‘, signed on the ledge, lower center: PASVALINVS V P (NV in ligature), oil on panel, 20 3/8  by 16 3/4  in.; 51.8 by 42.6 cm. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 USD. Lot sold: 281,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Mr. Apostle continued, “We were particularly pleased by the success of our collaboration with Fabrizio Moretti. With a total above the high estimate and nearly 94% of all lots sold, the enthusiasm for Renaissance and Mannerist works was felt acutely this afternoon. We were delighted to have been able to help raise funds for causes dear to Fabrizio’s heart – The Fabrizio Moretti Foundation, which works to give those with certain disabilities access to the therapeutic benefits of horses, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where funds will be dedicated to the study and conservation of Italian Old Master Paintings.”

Master Paintings & Sculpture: Part II totaled $10,299,376. The sale was led by a terracotta sculpture by Claude Michel, called Clodion, entitled Bacchante With Grapes Carried By Two Bacchantes And A Bacchant, which sold for $2.9 million, over seven times the previous record at auction. This is the top price for a sculpture sold at any auction house this week. Other highlights include a South Netherlandish brass chandelier, which fetched $341,000 (est. $40/60,000) and a pair of paintings by Hubert Robert, which achieved $365,000 (est. $150/200,000).

Claude Michel, called Clodion (1738-1814), French, dated 1800, ‘Bacchante with Grapes Carried by Two Bacchantes and a Bacchant’, 25 in.; 63.5 cm. , height of base 3 1/2 in.; 8 cm. Estimate: 600,000 — 1,000,000 USD. Lot sold: 2,853,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

South Netherlandish, Dinant, circa 1500, Spindle chandelier with the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception, most of the arms of the tiers numbered with their corresponding channels for placement on the central stem, copper alloy, with a central iron rod, 40 7/8  by 32 5/8 in.; 104 by 83 cm. Estimate: 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold: 341,000  USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Hubert Robert (Paris 1733 – 1801), ‘The ‘Fountain of Liberty’; ‘Artists sketching at Tivoli‘. The first signed at the base of the fountain: H. ROBERT / S^t-L. The second signed bottom center: H. ROBERT. S^t-L.; a pair, both oil on canvas; each: 22 by 18 1/4  in.; 56 by 43 cm. Estimate: 150,000 — 200,000 USD. Lot sold: 365,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Covering all aspects of Western European drawing from the 15th to the mid-19th century, the Old Master Drawings sale kicked off Masters Week on 28 January 2015, totalling $5,347,940. Sale highlights included works by Francesco Guardi, Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo and Giovanni Francesco Barbieri. Federico Barocci’s Study Of The Head Of A Young Lady Looking Down sold for $221,000 (est. $50/70,000). The top lot, a Jacques-Louis David study for The Intervention of the Sabine Women, soared to $401,000, over six times its high estimate of $60,000. Setting a record for a work on paper by the artist at auction, Henry Fuseli’s study for The Three Witches Appear before Macbeth and Banquo fetched $281,000 (est. $60/80,000)

Jacques-Louis David (Paris 1748 – 1825 Brussels), Recto: ‘Nude soldiers gesticulating with their weapons’ Verso: ‘Two drapery studies for the figure of Tatius‘. Recto: Black chalk, pen and black ink and gray wash, on two joined sheets of paper – Verso: black chalk; bears inscription in pen and brown ink, low. Estimate: 40,000 — 60,000 USD. Lot sold: 401,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby’s.

Gregory Rubinstein, Head of Sotheby’s Old Master Drawings Department, commented: “We are delighted with the results of the sale, which were among our strongest, both in total and sell-through rate, in recent years. Looking at our top ten lots, it’s clear that there is a robust appetite for classic drawings of quality across the category. Among the auction records set today was a new benchmark for Henry Fuseli, whose scene from Act I of Macbeth brought more than three times the high estimate. We were particularly encouraged to see competition across price points as well as a remarkable depth in the bidding coming from American private collectors.”

The next Master Paintings sale will take place this spring in New York on 22 April 2015, with the sale of The Weldon Collection, a remarkable assemblage of Dutch and Flemish paintings collected by the late Henry and June “Jimmy” Weldon over a period of several decades. The sale will offer works by Balthasar Van der Ast, Rachel Ruysch and Ambrosius Bosschaert, among others.