Jan Sanders van Hemessen (Hemessen c. 1504-1556 Antwerp), Double portrait of a husband and wife, half-length, seated at a table, playing tables. Oil on panel, 43 ¾ x 50 3/8 in. Estimate: $4,000,000 - $6,000,000. Price realized: $10,036,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

NEW YORK, NY.- The top lot Classic Week was Jan Sander van Hemessen’s ‘Double portrait of a husband and wife, half-length, seated at a table, playing tables’, which sold for $10,036,000, earning a new world auction record for the artist and a new record for an early Netherlandish painting. Other top lots included Annibale Carracci’s ‘The Madonna and Child with Saint Lucy and the Young Saint John the Baptist’ which sold for $6,063,500, earning a new world auction record for the arist. Additionally, Lorenzo Monaco’s ‘The Prophet Isaiah’ realized $3,615,000, which earned a new world auction record for the artist.

Lot 26. Annibale Carracci (Bologna c. 1560-1609 Rome), The Madonna and Child with Saint Lucy and the Young Saint John the Baptist, oil on panel, 31 x 24 ¾ in. (78.8 x 62.7 cm). Estimate: $3,000,000 - $5,000,000. Price realized: $6,063,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Provenance: Sampieri collection, Bologna, possibly by the 1760s, from where acquired by
Gavin Hamilton (1723-1798).
Francis Basset (1757-1835), 1st Baron de Dunstanville and Basset, Tehidy, near Cambourne, Cornwall; Christie's, London, 8 May 1824, lot 41, as Ludovico Carracci (bought in), and by descent to his daughter,
Frances Basset (1751-1855), 2nd Baroness Basset, by descent to the son of her cousin,
John Francis Basset (1831-1869), by descent to
Arthur Francis Basset (b. 1873), Tehidy near Cambourne, Cornwall; Christie's, London, 9 January 1920, lot 88, as Ludovico Carracci (12 gns. to Everitt).
Anonymous sale; Phillips, London, 8 December 1987, lot 69, as Sisto Badalocchio, where acquired by the present owner.

Literature: (Possibly) M. Oretti, Marcello Oretti e il patrimonio artistico private bolognese: Bologna Biblioteca Comunale, MS. B.104, E. Calbi and D. Scaglietti Kelescian, eds., Bologna, 1984, p. 66, as Ludovico Carracci. 
(Possibly) Descrizione italiana e francese di tutto ciò che si contiene nella Galleria del Sig. Marchese Senatore Luigi Sampieri, Bologna, 1795, as Ludovico Carracci. 
(Possibly) G. Gatti, Descrizione delle più rare cose di bologna, e suoi subborghi, Bologna, 1803, p. 169, as Ludovico Carracci.
R. L. Feigen & Co., Seven Highly Important Pictures, New York, 1988, no. 3.
D. Benati, 'Dipinti sugli altari,' A. Benati and D. Benati, eds., La Parrocchia di Sassomolare, Quaderni del Circolo Culturale Castel d'Aiano, XIII, Castel d'Aiano, 1998, pp. 76-77.
D. Benati, 'L'oratorio di San Rocco: Il ruolo di Reggio nella prima attività di Annibale Carracci', Il seicento a Reggio: La storia, la città, gli artisti, P. Ceschi Lavagetto, ed., Reggio, 1999, p. 54.
D. Benati, D. DeGrazia and G. Feigenbaum, eds., The Drawings of Annibale Carracci, exhibition catalogue, Washington, D.C., 1999, p. 46.
D. Benati and C. Bernardini, I dipinti della Pinacoteca Civica di Budrio, Bologna, 2005, p. 192.
D. Benati and E. Riccòmini, eds., Annibale Carracci, exhibition catalogue, Milan, 2006, p. 186, no. 4.1 (cat. by A. Brogi).
A. Weston-Lewis, 'The Annibale Carracci Exhibition in Bologna and Rome', Burlington Magazine, CXLIX, 2007, p. 259.

Exhibited: New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection, 28 May-12 September 2010, no. 39.

Lot 10. Lorenzo Monaco (Florence 1370/75-c.1425/30), The Prophet Isaiah, inscribed 'ECCE VIGO COCIP' (center right, on the scroll), tempera and gold on panel, 7 ¾ in. diameter (19.7 cm. diameter). Estimate: $1,500,000 - $2,500,000 . Price realized: $3,615,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Provenance: Probably the Church of San Procolo, Florence, for the altar endowed by Antonio di Andrea del Pannocchia (died 1412/13), until the church was suppressed in 1778 (thought to be the original location of the Accademia Annunciation altarpiece to which this tondobelonged).
(Possibly) the Badia Fiorentina, Florence, by 1795 and before 1810 (where, according to a label on the reverse, the Annunciation altarpiece was found).
Alexis-François Artaud de Montor (1772-1849), Paris; (†) his sale, Schroth, Paris, 17 January 1851, lot 51.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 8 July 1987, lot 20, where acquired by the present owner. 

Literature: (Possibly) F. Bocchi and G. Cinelli, Le bellezze della città di Firenze, Florence, 1677, p. 389, as by an unknown artist (referencing the Annunciation altarpiece).
(Possibly) L. Lanzi, Storia pittorica della Italia dal risorgimento delle belle arti fin presso alla fine del XVIII secolo, Bassano, 1795-96, I, p. 19, as Giotto (referencing the Annuniciation altarpiece).
A.-F. Artaud de Montor, Peintres primitifs: Collection de tableaux rapportée d'Italie et publiée pa M. le chevalier Artaud de Montor, 3rd ed., Paris, 1843, no. 51, pl. 17, as Cimabue.
A. Schmarsow, 'Maîtres italiens à la galerie d'Altenburg,' Gazette des beaux-arts, ser. 2, no. 20, 1898, p. 502, as Antonio Veneziano.
O. Sirén, Don Lorenzo Monaco, Strasbourg, 1905, p. 44.
G. Pudelko, 'The Stylistic development of Lorenzo Monaco, I,' Burlington Magazine, LXXIII, 1938, p. 248, note 33.
W. and E. Paatz, Die Kirchen von Florenz, Frankfurt-am-Main, 1940-54, I, pp. 292, 315, no. 144, p. 316, no. 151; IV, pp. 694, 700, no. 31 (referencing the altarpiece).
M. Eisenburg, The Origins and Development of the Early Style of Lorenzo Monaco, PH.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1954, pp. 283-88, 310-11.
M. Eisenberg, 'Un frammento smarrito dell'Annunciazione di Lorenzo Monaco nell'Accademia de Firenze,' Bolletino d'arte, ser. 4, no. 41, 1956, pp. 333-35.
G. Previtali, La fortuna dei primitivi: Dal Vasari ai Neoclassici, Rome, 1964, p. 232.
M. Boskovits, Pittura fiorentina alla vigilia del Rinascimento, 1370-1400, Florence, 1975, p. 352.
M. Eisenberg, Lorenzo Monaco, Princeton, N.J., 1989, I, pp. 149-50, illustrated p. 150.
L. Kanter, Painting and Illumination in Early Renaissance Florence, 1300-1450, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1994, pp. 270-71, illustrated p. 271.
D. Gordon, The Fifteenth Century: Italian Paintings, National Gallery Catalogues, London, 2003, I, pp. 177, 186, note 64, fig. 20.
D. Parenti, in Lorenzo Monaco: A Bridge from Giotto's Heritage to the Renaissance, A. Tartuferi and D. Parenti, ed., exhibition catalogue, Florence, 2006, pp. 179-85, no. 27b, illustrated pp. 179 and 181.
D. Parenti, ‘Qualche approfondamento su Lorenzo Monaco e sulla Chiesa di San Procolo a Firenze,’ Intorno a Lorenzo Monaco: Nuovi studi sulla pittura tardogotica, D. Parenti and A. Tartuferi ed., Florence, 2007 pp. 20-31.
L. Kanter, Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection, New Haven, 2010, pp. 69-73, no. 20, illustrated.
S. Rossi, I pittori fiorentini del quattrocento e le loro botteghe : da Lorenzo Monaco a Paolo Uccello, Todi, 2012, p. 48.

Exhibited: New Haven, Yale University Art Gallery, Italian Paintings from the Richard L. Feigen Collection, 28 May-12 September 2010, no. 20.

Note: One of the leading painters in 15th century Florence, Lorenzo Monaco was born Piero di Giovanni and took the name Lorenzo Monaco, meaning 'Lorenzo the Monk', in 1390 when he joined the Camaldolese monastery of Santa Maria degli Angeli, Florence. He is known not only for his exquisite devotional paintings on panel but also for frescoes and illuminated manuscripts. The rhythmic, flowing lines that characterize his style lend his figures a sense of graceful movement, enhanced by a delicate and harmonious use of color.
This beautiful bust depicts the Prophet Isaiah, identifiable by the inscription on his scroll ECCE VI[R]GO CO[N]CIP[IET ET PARIET FILIUM](“Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son,” [Isaiah 7:14]). The tondo was recognized by Marvin Eisenberg in 1956 as one of the missing pinnacles from Lorenzo’s magnificent Annunciation altarpiece in the Galleria dell’Accademia, Florence (fig. 1, inv. no. 1890 n. 8458). The triptych's central scene is flanked by Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Anthony Abbot at left and Saints Proculus and Francis at right. The polyptych's exquisite figures are painted with remarkable grace, appearing almost to sway in front of the viewer, unrestricted by the gabled framing device that contains them. The throne is draped in cloth-of-gold shot with crimson which, combined with the gilt background, surrounds the Virgin in a celestial light. The Angel of the Annunciation hovers serenely on a series of clouds, yet the gold lines radiating from his legs and feet and the undulating drapery gives the impression of his being surrounded by swirling air. This sense of drama and movement justifies the pose of the Virgin who flinches, shrinking into her seat. 
The pinnacle surmounting the central panel remains intact, with a tondo of the Eternal Father looking down and right, toward the Virgin, his left hand raised in a blessing and holding in his right a gilded globe. The decorative upper sections of the two lateral panels as they appear today, however, are reconstructions; their original troisfoil pinnacles were sawn off just above the heads of the saints. It is within one of those two missing pinnacles that this Prophet Isaiah would have been placed. That this roundel belongs to the Accademia triptych is universally accepted by scholars, but the matter of reconstructing its original placement, whether above the left- or right-hand wing, is less easily resolved. Eisenberg initially proposed that the Prophet Isaiah would have surmounted the right-hand panel, an assertion contradicted by Daniela Parenti. Based on the direction of the prophet's gesturing hand and gaze, Parenti places him above the left-hand wing, looking inward, toward the scene of the Annunciation (loc. cit., p. 179). Though, as Laurence Kanter notes, Isaiah points to his scroll, rather than to the scene beneath, and, even if he were within the left pinnacle facing right, his gaze would not rest on the central figures (loc. cit., p. 70). The light source, illuminating the prophet’s hooded cloak from left, corresponds with that in the right-hand panel, in which Saints Proculus and Francis are similarly lit from left (ibid.). But even this correlation cannot be relied upon as conclusive, since the left-hand panel is lit inconsistently, with Saint Catherine illuminated from right and Saint Francis from the front and slightly left (ibid.). Until the missing third tondo resurfaces Isaiah’s original intended position remains conjectural.
The matter of reconstructing the altarpiece’s predella is similarly unresolved. As the basis of his proposed reconstruction, Osvald Sirén used the predella of an Annunciation executed late in Lorenzo’s career (circa1420-24), for the Bartolini-Salimbeni chapel in Santa Trinità, Florence (fig. 2; loc. cit.). Matching the scenes represented in the lower section of that polyptych, Sirén united the Nativity from the Lehman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (fig. 3); the Visitation and the Adoration of the Magi from the Courtauld Gallery, London; and the Flight into Egypt from the Lindenau-Museum, Altenburg. While these panels may indeed relate to one another, their relation to the Accademia Annunciationand to this Prophet Isaiah have since been rejected. Kanter subsequently proposed that the Funeral of an Unidentified Bishop Saint in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nice (fig. 4) may have belonged to the Accademia altarpiece. Kanter believes that the Funeral scene was likely painted by the young Fra Angelico, working in Lorenzo Monaco’s workshop (Kanter 2010, op. cit.). He argues that the unusual iconography implies the saint in question was not regularly depicted. The bishop Saint Proculus would fit just this description and his being the eponymous saint of the Florentine church which initially housed the Accademia Annunciation “may be more than a tantalizing coincidence” (ibid.). The mourners wear the habits of Camaldolese monks, a reformed Benedictine order, an illusion, Kanter suggests, to the fact that Saint Proculus’ remains were interred in a Benedictine monastery (ibid.). 
The first mention of this Prophet Isaiah as an object independent from the altarpiece came in 1843 when it was published in the catalogue of Alex-François Artaud de Montor (loc. cit.). The author had included an engraving of the work which, along with eight other paintings from his collection, he attributed to Cimabue. A pioneer in collecting Early Italian paintings, prior to the Leopoldine and Napoleonic suppressions, Artaud de Montor had amassed a collection of some 108 works by 1810, dating from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries (Kanter op. cit.). Publishing the painting in 1898, August Schmarsow proposed an attribution to Paolo Veneziano (loc. cit.) but it was Osvald Sirén in 1905 who, on the basis of that same catalogue engraving, recognized the prophet as the work of Lorenzo Monaco. Misreading the last letters of the prophet’s scroll as [S]CO CIP[RIANO], Georg Pudelko identified the subject as Saint Cyprianus (loc. cit.). He suggested it may have belonged to Lorenzo’s Coronation of the Virgin, painted for the Camaldolese monastery of San Benedetto fuori della Porta Pinti, Florence circa 1407-09 and now in the National Gallery, London (inv. no. NG1897). Pudelko’s theory was later disproved following Eisenburg’s reconstruction in 1954. 
While it is not known when the two lateral pinnacles were removed, we do know that by 1812 the altarpiece entered the Accademia without them. A label on its reverse reveals that, at the time of the Napoleonic suppression the altarpiece was housed in the Badia Fiorentina, a Benedictine abbey and church in the center of Florence. The triptych is plausibly the “Nunziata” (Annunciation) described in the Badia in 1795-96 by Luigi Lanzi (loc. cit.), who mistook it for an early work by Giotto and thought it to be “una delle sue prime opera” (“one of his first works”). When the monastery was suppressed, many of the artworks housed there were removed and the abbey complex itself was separated out into houses, offices and shops. It was two years later that the altarpiece entered the collection of the Galleria dell’Accademia. 
The question remains, however, as to where the altarpiece was located prior to the Badia. Walter and Elizabeth Paatz suggested the inclusion of Saint Proculus (the blond-haired warrior with a sword in the right-hand wing) might align it with an altarpiece mentioned by Francesco Bocchi and Giovanni Cellini in 1677 (loc. cit.). Bocchi and Cellini described “una Nunziata dipinta da incerto sul legno nel 1409” (“an Annunciation painted by an unknown on panel in 1409”) in the church of San Procolo, Florence. The inclusion of the church’s eponymous saint certainly gives weight to the Paatz’s argument and their hypothesis for the San Procolo provenance is widely accepted by scholars, with the exception of Eisenberg, whose doubts (based on the saint’s hagiography) have since been convincingly disproven by Kanter and Parenti. (Eisenberg 1989, op. cit.; Kanter 1994, op. cit.; Parenti 2007, op. cit.). 
The exact date of this Prophet Isaiah (and of the Annunciation altarpiece as a whole) remains the subject of scholarly debate. Paatz and Kanter date it to 1409 (Paatz and Kanter 1994, op. cit.), while Mirella Levi d’Ancona and Miklòs Boskovits placed it a little later between 1410 and 1415 (M. Levi d’Ancona, ‘Bartolomeo di Fruosino,’ Art Bulletin, 1961, 43, p. 93; Boskovitz, op. cit.). Luciano Bellosi and Eisenberg, meanwhile, had initially considered it to have been painted earlier, settled on a date between 1415 and 1420 (loc. cit.). Parenti tentatively hypothesizes that the original inscription as described in 1677 may have been misread as MCCCCVIIII (1409) rather than MCCCCXIIII (1414) (Parenti 2006 and 2007, op. cit.). If such an error did indeed occur – whether during the transcription or due to damage obscuring an accurate reading – then this dating would align the Annunciation altarpiece with Lorenzo’s Coronation of the Virgin altarpiece of 1413 for the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli.

The top lot of from the Estate of Lila and Herman Shickman was Juan van der Hamen y León’s ‘Peaches, pears, plums, peas and cherries in wicker baskets, figs, plums and cherries on pewter plates, a boquet of tulips, blue and yellow irises, roses and other flowers in a Venetian crystal vase with terracotta and glass vessels and stone fruit on a stone ledge’, which sold for $6,517,500, a new world auction record for the artist. The other top lot within the sale includes Willem Kalf’s ‘A chafing dish, two pilgrims’ canteens, a silver-gilt ewer, a plate and other tableware on a partially draped table’, which realized $ 2,775,000, earning a new world auction record for the artist.  

Lot 109. Juan van der Hamen y León (Madrid 1596-1632), Peaches, pears, plums, peas and cherries in wicker baskets, figs, plums and cherries on pewter plates, a bouquet of tulips, blue and yellow irises, roses and other flowers in a Venetian crystal vase with terracotta and glass vessels and stone fruit on a stone ledge, signed and dated 'Ju° vander hamen fat. 1629' (lower right), oil on canvas, 34 x 51 7/8 in. (86.4 x 131.8 cm.) Estimate USD 6,000,000 - USD 9,000,000. Price realised  USD 6,517,500, new world auction record for the artist. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Cf. my post: Juan van der Hamen y León, Peaches, pears, plums, peas and cherries in wicker baskets, figs, plums and cherries on pewter plat

Lot 107. Willem Kalf (Rotterdam 1619-1693 Amsterdam), A chafing dish, two pilgrims' canteens, a silver-gilt ewer, a plate and other tableware on a partially draped table, signed 'w. KALF.' (lower right, on the front edge of the table), oil on canvas, 39 ¾ x 31 ¾ in. (101 x 80.5 cm.) Estimate USD 2,000,000 - USD 4,000,000. Price realised  USD 2,775,000, new world auction record for the artist. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Cf. my post: Willem Kalf, A chafing dish, two pilgrims' canteens, a silver-gilt ewer, a plate and other tableware on a partially draped table

The top lot of the Old Masters Paintings and Sculpture sale was a pair of parcel-gilt polychrome wood altarpiece reliefs attributed to Hans Klocker And Workshop circa 1495-1500, which achieved $362,500. Top works of sculpture include Rudolf (Ridolfo) Schadow’s White Marble Figure Of The Sandal Binder, which sold for $200,000 and a bronze figure of Neptune attributed to Benedikt Wurzelbauer, circa 1600, which totaled $200,000 against an estimate of $40,000-60,000. A still-life by Cristoforo Munari was the top painting, selling for $162,000 over an estimate of $60,000- 80,000, and a large group of European quartz and glass cameos, largely 18th, 19th and 20th century, soared above its estimate of $5,000-8,000 to achieve $156,250.  

Lot 220. Attributed to Hans Klocker And Workshop (Active 1482-1500), South Tyrol, circa 1495-1500, A pair of parcel-gilt polychrome wood altarpiece reliefs depicting the Circumcision and the Adoration of the Magi, with a 'BUNDES DENKMALAMT / WIEN' sticker and stenciled in black '13'; the first: 30 x 31 ½ in. (76 x 80 cm.); the second: 29 ½ x 33 1/8 in. (75 x 84 cm.). Estimate USD 80,000 - USD 120,000. Price realised  USD 362,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Provenance: Sold, Christie’s, New York, June 1, 1994, lot 70.

Literature: C. T. Müller, Gotische Skulptur in Tirol, Innsbruck and Vienna, 1976, figs. 155-159. 
R. Kahsnitz, Carved Splendor: Late Gothic Altarpieces in Southern Germany, Austria, and South Tirol, Munich, 2005, pp. 208-221, no. 9.

Note: The present wood reliefs compare very closely to the figure of Christ on a donkey originally from the Church of the Assumption of Mary in Caldaro, South Tyrol, and today in the Museo Civico, Bolzano. In 1498, Hans Klocker was paid for the creation of the high altar of the same church, now dismembered, together with this Palmesel depicting Christ’s re-entry into Jerusalem. The head of Christ from the Palmesel, with its restrained gesture, sharp-edged and hard facial features echoes those of the present reliefs, particularly figures of two of the Magi facing Christ and the two flanking male figures in the Circumcision relief. 
Hans Klocker was first mentioned in a letter of recommendation from the Bishop of Brixen in 1482 as ‘our faithful master Hanns Klöckl, sculptor…highly renowned for the faithfulness and artistry of his work’. Contracts and receipts tell us that the retable at St Leonard in Passeier is his work, as is the high altar at Caldaro and the Franciscan altar at Bolzano, dated to 1500. His surviving output shows that Klocker was one of the finest sculptors working in wood at this period, with an extraordinarily precise and distinctive carving style. 
The relief of the Adoration of the Magi is based on an engraving of 1475 by Martin Schongauer. Klocker developed many of his figures after pattern engravings by Schongauer, as did countless other artists of his time.

Lot 292. Rudolf (Ridolfo) Schadow (1786-1822), Rome, 1814. A White Marble Figure Of The Sandal Binder (Sandalbinderin). Signed and dated RUD: SCHADOW FEC: ROMAE / ANNO 1814, 50 in. (127 cm.) high. Estimate USD 100,000 - USD 200,000. Price realised  USD 200,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Provenance: Private collection, New York, where acquired by the present owner, New York, in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

Literature: COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: D.C. Johnson, ‘Rudolf Schadows Sandalbinderin in Rom und Amerika,’ Forschungen und Berichte, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1983, XXIII, pp. 113-122.
G. Eckardt, Ridolfo Schadow: Ein Bildhauer in Rom zwischen Klassizismus und Romantik, Cologne, 2000, pp. 30-31 and 82-86.

Lot 265. Attributed to Benedikt Wurzelbauer (1548-1620), circa 1600, A bronze figure of Neptune. Formerly a fountain, with printed paper label to underside Julius Böhler Munich and inscribed in ink E/97/0007, 29 in. (73.7 cm.) high. Estimate USD 100,000 - USD 200,000. Price realised  USD 200,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Provenance: Private collection, Switzerland.
with Julius Böhler, Munich, 1998.

Literature: Apollo, CXLVII, 433, March 1998 (advertisement).
M. Schwartz, ed., European Sculpture from the Abbott Guggenheim Collection, New York, 2008, pp. 156-157, no. 82.

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: H. Weihrauch, Europäische Bronzestatuetten, 15-18. Jahrhundert, Brunswick, 1967, pp. 325-328, figs. 396 and 399.
J. Chipps-Smith, German sculpture of the later Renaissance, c. 1520-1580, Princeton, 1994, pp. 198-244.

Exhibited: Blumka Gallery, New York, Collecting Treasures of the Past, New York, 26 January-11 February 2000, no. 44.

Note: Grandson and nephew of Pankraz and Georg Labenwolf, Benedikt Wurzelbauer (1548-1620) is best known for his work on public fountains. As a bronze caster rather than a sculptor, his works can be very different from one another, since the designs were most probably supplied by various artists. The genius of Wurzelbauer was however his ability to develop a consistent style through his casting technique. By far his most prominent work is the Fountain of the Virtues (1583-1589), which is still today one of the landmarks of the city of Nuremberg. Cast and signed by Wurzelbauer, this fountain is an emblem of early public art and civic allegory of good government; and it is reminiscent in its attention to details and extensive decoration to the style of Wenzel Jamnitzer. 

Several versions of this Neptune bronze exist in museum collections, including the J. P. Getty Museum and the Huntington Art Gallery which both ascribe their cast to Wurzelbauer. In its many variations, this model exemplifies his combination of German Renaissance forms and Italian-inspired Mannerism which translate in Neptune’s slender musculature and undulating beard. Like the other versions, the present bronze was likely part of a domestic fountain. The intricate fineness of Neptune’s facial expression and the richness of the patina make it a particularly admirable example of German Renaissance sculpture.

Lot 254. Cristoforo Munari (Reggio Emilia 1667-1720 Pisa), Biscuits, porcelain and an earthenware pot on a silver charger with a glass of wine, books, a clock, jasmine blossoms and other vessels on a partially draped stone ledge, oil on canvas, 23 7/8 x 29 1/8 in. (60.6 x 74 cm). Estimate USD 60,000 - USD 80,000. Price realised  USD 162,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Provenance: with Ugo Allegri, Brescia, from whom acquired by the present owner.

Note: Described by the 18th-century Florentine biographer Francesco Maria Niccolo Gaburri as 'an excellent painter in the depiction of kitchens, instruments, rugs, vases, fruit and flowers', Cristoforo Munari was born in Reggio Emilia, where he was a protégé of Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena (reg. 1694-1737). In 1703 he moved to Rome 'where he served the Very Eminent Cardinal Imperiali and other princes and lords' (F.M.N. Gaburri, Vite de' pittori, Florence, c. 1730-40, p. 618) and settled in Florence some time after 1706, becoming part of the Medici court and working for, among others, Ferdinand, Cosimo III and Cardinal Francesco Maria de'Medici, for the latter of whom he decorated the Villa Lampeggi with trompe l'oeil still lifes. 
Munari produced the present refined still life in the early 18th century, while he was working in Florence. The artist presents the viewer with an abundance of delicacies and precious porcelain vessels arranged on a green stone table. An unseen source illuminates the display from the left, bathing it in a cool light that causes some of the objects to shine like jewels against the dark background. Munari delights in the juxtaposition of brittle and crunchy biscotti, which are split and ready to be enjoyed with honey, with the smooth and shiny Delft and Chinese porcelain. Completing this symphony of fragility are the crystal vessels in the background, delineated according to Munari’s typical practice only the flickering light that reflects along their contours. The artist likely considered this technique to be one of his hallmarks, as he chose to depict himself holding a similar glass with a long, fluted stem in his 1710 Self Portrait (Galleria degli Uffizi, Corridoio Vasariano) as well as in the circa 1710-15 Still life with musical instruments (The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston). Resting on a pile of leather bound books, the clock, with its tortoise shell ornamentation and gilt-bronze mounts, may have actually been part of the Medici collection, and adds further elegance and sophistication to the scene. 
We are grateful to Professor Francesca Baldassari for endorsing the attribution to Cristoforo Munari on the basis of firsthand inspection.

Lot 239. Largely 18th, 19th and 20th century, European, A large group of quartz and glass cameos. Estimate USD 5,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised  USD 156,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2019.

Some 19th century examples possibly by James Tassie; includes examples made from lava, glass, quartz, shell and coral; some examples Roman, from the 1-3rd century BC; also including several glass beads and one micromosaic.

Francois de Poortere, International Director, Head of Old Masters, comments, “We are thrilled with the strong results of all the Old Masters sales, which had 92% sell-through rate by value supported by competitive bidding from five continents. Several new world auction records were established, led by Jan Sanders van Hemessen’s Double portrait of a husband and wife, half-length, seated at a table, playing tables. The painting was sold from the collection of Frank Stella, realizing $10,036,000, and set a record for any early Netherlandish work of art at auction. Further records include Annibale Carracci’s The Madonna and Child with Saint Lucy and the Young Saint John the Baptist ($6,063,500) and Lorenzo Monaco’s The Prophet Isaiah ($3,615,000), both from the collection of Richard Feigen. The Estate of Lila and Herman Shickman also set new world auction records for still-lives by Juan van der Hamen y Leon ($6,517,500) and Willem Kalf ($2,775,000). Christie’s are honored to have been entrusted with works from the prestigious collections of Frank Stella, Richard Feigen and the Estate of Lila and Hermann Shickman, all of which ensured that today’s sales will remain memorable.”