Lot 690. The Tureen “Aux Écrevisses”. A Louis XV silver Pot-à-Oille, Cover, Liner, and Stand, Thomas Germain, Paris, 1740-42; The arms changed by his son François-Thomas Germain, c. 1764. Estimate: 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s will present their autumn series of furniture & decorative arts auction from 23–25 October 2019 in New York. Spanning three sales, this season’s offering is distinguished by an impressive selection of works from important private collections and spans more than 900 lots, with estimates ranging from $200 to $3 million.
All of the works on offer this October are on view in Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries.
STYLE: FURNITURE, SILVER, CERAMICS
Auction 24 & 25 October at 2PM & 10AM EDT
The October offering of silver, ceramics and furniture is led by an exceptional Louis XV Silver Pot-À-Oille, Cover, Liner, and Stand by royal silversmith, Thomas Germain (estimate $2/3 million). Remarkably rare, the present work is likely one of the last two known major works by Germain remaining in private hands. The other example, a Tureen from the royal Penthièvre-Orléans service, was sold at Sotheby’s New York in November 1998 for $10.3 million – an auction record for both any work of French decorative arts and three times the previous benchmark price for any silver object at that time.
Considered the finest goldsmith of 18th-century Europe, Thomas Germain (1673-1748) spent his early years in Rome, working on the ornaments of the church of Il Gésu and absorbing a range of stylistic influences. At almost 30, Germain returned to Paris and was received as a master in 1720; in 1723, he was appointed sculptor and goldsmith to the King, with the privilege of workshops in the Louvre Museum. Germain’s work was held in great esteem at the time, with patrons including Louis XV and the Royal Household, the Queen of Spain, the Kings of Naples and Denmark, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Portugal with several members of his Court.
The few other pieces preserved from Germain’s workshop largely reside in museum collections, including the Louvre Museum, The Getty in Los Angeles, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon.
Lot 690. The Tureen “Aux Écrevisses”. A Louis XV silver Pot-à-Oille, Cover, Liner, and Stand, Thomas Germain, Paris, 1740-42; The arms changed by his son François-Thomas Germain, c. 1764; 333 oz, 10,356 g, diameter of stand 17¾ in.; height overall 11¾in., 45 cm; 30 cm. Estimate: 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
The tureen on four cloven feet topped by foliage and outlined by matting headed by recessed masks with long braided beards, the front and back applied with armorial cartouches engraved with the Melo e Castro arms, topped by coronets and eagles flanked by spreading husk festoons on shaped matted panels, the reeded hoop handles mounted on shellwork cartouches, the rim of ribbon-bound reeding, the interior engraved with a scalloped band of reeding, engraved with later script initials B F below coronet
The liner with applied scroll grips backed by shells and engraved with the Melo e Castro arms
The cover chased with polished and matted radiating flutes, applied with four small crayfish alternating with four larger detachable crayfish fitted in recesses, the finial formed as four artichokes on a bed of spreading crinkled leaves, secured inside by an elaborate berry-form nut, the interior engraved with acanthus on reeded ground
The shaped circular stand with ribbon-tied reeded rim, lightly flat-chased with panels of key pattern on matted ground between four applied spread eagles within crossed sprays of foliage, the center engraved with the Melo e Castro arms within berried foliage sprays and with later script initials B F below coronet
Body of tureen: traces of maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, artichoke mark for large old work with new additions 1762-1768; Engraved DU -No 1; Small control mark on rim for circa 1900
Liner: maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, fox head discharge mark on rim 1738-44; Engraved DU-No 1; Small control mark on rim for circa 1900
Cover: maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, fox head discharge mark on rim 1738-44; Engraved DU No 1 on rim; Small control mark for circa 1900 twice on rim
Stand: maker’s mark of Thomas Germain, charge mark of Louis Robin 1738-44, date letter A for 29 November 1740 to 9 March 1742, artichoke mark for large old work with new additions 1762-68 in center of back and behind rim; Engraved with signature: FAIT.PAR.T.GERMAIN. ORFr. SCULPre.DU.ROY.AUX GALLERIES.DU. LOUVRE PARIS 1744 No 1 44m 4o 1s.
Provenance: Made by Thomas Germain 1740-44
Possibly for Jacques-Samuel Bernard, Comte de Coubert (1686-1753).
Reacquired by François-Thomas Germain before 1762-64, and sold to Martinho de Melo e Castro (1716-1795), Portuguese Representative to the peace talks in Paris ending the Seven Years War
Jerónimo de Almeida Brandão e Sousa, Barão da Folgosa (1801-1848)
His daughter, Júlia Sofia de Almeida Brandão e Sousa, Condessa de Geraz do Lima (1832-1891); sold in 1885 to
Tristão Guedes Correia de Queirós e Castelo-Branco, Marquês da Foz (1849-1917)
Sold by the above in Paris in 1889
Boni de Castellane (1867-1932) (fig. 6), presumably acquired after his 1895 marriage to Anna Gould (1875-1961)
Probably sold after their divorce in 1906
Durlacher Brothers, London, by 1909
Purchased in August 1909 by Joseph Duveen, London
Keller Collection, Paris, probably Charles Keller (1848-1925) of the silversmithing firm Keller Frères
Jacques Helft, Paris, 1925
Sold to a private collector, 1926
By descent in that family.
Exhibited: Lisbon, 1882: Exposição Retrospectiva de Arte Ornamental, Sala O, nr.576
Paris, 1926. Exposition d'orfèvrerie française civile du XVIe siècle au début du XVIIIe, Musée des Arts décoratifs, no. 34, p. 11, illus.
Literature: Catálogo da Exposição Retrospectiva de Arte Ornamental Portugueza e Hespanhola, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional, 1882, nr. 576, p.62.
Catálogo da exposição de obras de arte francesas existentes em Portugal, vol. I, Ourivesaria, Lisboa, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, 1934, p.80.
Bapst, Germain. Catalogue raisonné des pièces d'orfèvrerie française composant la collection du Marquis Da Foz. Paris: Lahure, 1889, pp. 19-20, pl. VI.
Dias, Carlos Malheiro, Cartas de Lisboa, (primeira serie), 1904, pp.106-107.
Fialho de Almeida, Os Gatos, Agosto 1889, p. 17
Foz, Marquês da, A Baixela Germain da Antiga Coroa Portuguesa, 1887, Lisbon, published 1925, pp.14-15.
Helft, Jacques. Treasure Hunt. London: Faber and Faber, 1957, pp. 38-39
Helft, Jacques. Les Grands Orfèvres. Paris: Hachette, 1965, p. 124
Lastic, Georges de, and Pierre Jacky. Desportes: Catalogue raisonné. Paris: Editions d'Art Monelle Hayot, 2010, pp. 200, 208 and 229
Nocq, Henry. Le Poinçon de Paris. Paris: H. Floury, 1926, p. 242, illus.
Nocq, Henry, and P. Alfassa and J. Guerin. Orfèvrerie civile française du XVIe au début du XIXe siècle. Paris, Albert Lévy, 1927, planche XXIV.
Perrin, Christiane. François-Thomas Germain: Orfèvre des Rois. Paris: Editions d'Art Monelle Hayot, 1993, p. 98, illus.
Vignon, Charlotte. Duveen Brothers and the Market for Decorative Arts, 1880-1940. New York: The Frick Collection, 2019, p. 175.
Note: Considered the finest goldsmith of 18th century Europe, Thomas Germain (1673-1748) spent his early years in Rome, working on the ornaments of the church of Il Gésu and absorbing a range of stylistic influences. At almost 30, Germain returned to Paris and was received as a master in 1720; in 1723 he was appointed Sculpteur-Orfèvre du Roi, sculptor and goldsmith to the King, with the privilege of workshops in the Galleries du Louvre. His work was held in great esteem at the time, with even Voltaire speaking of Germain’s “divine hand.” His patrons included Louis XV and the Royal Household, the Queen of Spain, the Kings of Naples and Denmark, the Emperor of Austria, and the King of Portugal with several members of his Court. Shortly after Germain’s death, the architect J.F. Blondel wrote, “to his professional talents which he had received from nature he added a profound knowledge of design, sculpture and architecture.”
Very little important 18th century silver survived the melts of 1759 and during the French Revolution. This piece, and another tureen sold by Sotheby’s in 1996 for $10.3 million, may be the last known major works by Thomas Germain in private hands. The handful of other pieces preserved from the workshop of the elder Germain are mostly in museum collections, including the Louvre, the Getty, the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Hermitage, and the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon.
Another highlight from the two-day sale is a stunning Royal Louis XIV Savonnerie Fragmentary Carpet (estimate $200/300,000). Commissioned by King Louis XIV in 1667, the present work is part of one of the most important and audacious artistic commissions of his reign: the decision to cover the entire Grande Galerie of the Louvre with a series of 93 carpets ordered from the Savonnerie factory, which was founded in 1615.
Following the death of his First Minister Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV assumed full control of the government, and one of his first projects was to transform the Louvre into the most magnificent royal palace in Europe, part of a dual policy of seeking the glorification of the French monarchy through the splendor of its official residences, and promoting French arts and industry.
In total all but one of the 93 projected carpets were woven between 1668 and 1688. The works remained in the possession of the Royal Garde-Meuble, some occasionally used in various royal residences and others offered as diplomatic gifts. In 1797, the Directoire government gave 27 Grande Galerie carpets to the supplier Raymond Bourdillon as payment for horse fodder, including the present lot, which apparently returned into government possession before definitively leaving the national collections at an unknown date. Numerous examples were reduced in size and/or cut down and re-assembled, while many others are still unrecorded and presumed lost. The French Mobilier National state collections still retain the largest surviving group of over 50 carpets, which were woven together and laid on the floor of the Hall of Mirrors during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, possibly the only instance of these carpets being used as they were originally intended.
Other surviving carpets or fragments are in the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Huntington Art Museum and Waddesdon Manor.
Lot 679. A Royal Louis XIV Savonnerie fragmentary carpet, commissioned by King Louis Xiv in 1667 for the Grande galerie du bord de l'eau in the Palais du Louvre, Paris; approximately 14 feet 4 inches by 11 feet 9 inches, 437 cm by 358.25 cm. Estimate: 200,000 - 300,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.
Note: This lot is a rare appearance on the market of a work from one of the most important and audacious artistic commissions of the reign of Louis XIV, the decision to cover the entire Grande Galerie of the Louvre with a series of 93 carpets ordered from the Savonnerie factory, founded in 1615. Following the death of his First Minister Cardinal Mazarin in 1661, Louis XIV assumed full control of the government, and one of his first projects was to transform the Louvre into the most magnificent royal palace in Europe, part of a dual policy of seeking the glorification of the French monarchy through the splendour of its official residences and promoting French arts and industry. It was in this spirit that the King's finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683) had founded the Gobelins factory in in Paris in 1662 in the aim of supplying the Royal Household with tapestries, furniture, pietre dure panels and precious metalwork produced locally rather than importing such luxury objects from abroad.
The most spectacular space of the late 17th-century Louvre was the long gallery linking the old royal apartments of the Cour Carrée with the Pavillon de Flore at the south end of the Tuileries Palace facing the gardens. Constructed during the reign of Henri IV in the first decade of the 17th century, it was referred to as the Galerie du bord de l'eau and extended along the Seine for a length of 442 metres at an internal width of nearly 9 metres, and today houses the Louvre's important collection of Italian paintings. The ceiling of its 46 bays were originally intended to be painted by the artist Nicolas Poussin in a scheme that had never been finished, and the carpets formed part of broader project to complete the gallery's overall decoration.
The Savonnerie factory was founded in 1615 by Pierre DuPont, who had studied the technique of manufacturing knotted-pile carpets in the Ottoman Empire, and in 1627 Louis XIII granted a royal monopoly to Dupont and his former apprentice Simon Lourdet, whose families ran rival workshops divided between the large ateliers on the ground floor of the Grande Galerie and in a former soap factory on the Quai de Chaillot on the western edge of Paris. Its products were reserved exclusively for the Crown and served in royal interiors and as diplomatic gifts. Prior to Louis XIV's commission the Savonnerie had never previously produced carpets of such a large scale, and special looms of exceptional width were constructed. Between 1664 and 1666 a group of thirteen carpets were ordered for the smaller adjacent Galerie d'Apollon as a sort of trial run, and these were delivered in 1667.
The Grande Galerie commission was examined in depth in Pierre Verlet's seminal study of the Savonnerie factory, later updated by Wolf Burchard. The broader scheme would have been supervised by Colbert in collaboration with the architect Louis Le Vau and the head of the Gobelins and premier peintre du roi Charles Le Brun, who is believed to have played a role in providing the designs. Payments for cartoons specifically provided for the project are recorded to the painters François Francart (1622-1672), Yvart Baudren (1611-1690), both in the orbit of Le Brun and both living and working at the Gobelins factory. The composition was uniform for the entire series, with a large central allegorical section flanked by rich arabesques and rinceaux a rich fond brun brown-black ground, and cartouches at either end depicting either classical bas-reliefs or more rarely landscapes, all within a classical reeded border and fleur-de-lis in the four corners. The full panoply of classic Louis XIV iconography was already in evidence, with extensive use of suns, crowns, interlaced L's, the arms of France and Navarre, globes, wreaths and trophies and allegorical figures based on Cesare Ripa's Iconologia - all intended as a reflection of the sumptuous painted and stucco decoration on the ceilings above. In total all but one of the 93 projected carpets were woven between 1668 and 1688, with sixty supplied by the Lourdet family and thirty-two by the Dupont's.
Verlet has identified the offered lot as number 43 in the series, woven by Dupont in 1677 and based on the theme of hunting, described under no. 184 in the 1697 inventory of the royal Garde-Meuble: un tapis fond burn, représentant une teste de dain et des rainceaux à chacun des quatre coins, sur lequel il y a un grand compartiment blanc et dans le milieu un autre plus petit compartiment à douze pans environné de raiseaux en festons, ayant un milieu un tournesol entouré de fleurs, aux costez dudit compartiment deux testes de cerf sur un fonds gris de lin avec instrumens de chasse, et aux deux bouts deux paisages [...]
In total all but one of the 93 projected carpets were woven between 1668 and 1688, with sixty supplied by the Lourdet family and thirty-two by the Dupont family. By the 1670s however, the King had abandoned the idea of making the Louvre his principal seat in favour of Versailles, and it seems unlikely the series was ever installed. The carpets remained in the possession of the Royal Garde-Meuble, some occasionally used in various royal residences and others offered as diplomatic gifts. During the torment of the Revolution several were sold to suppliers of basic goods and foodstuffs, and in 1797 the Directoire government gave 27 Grande Galerie carpets to the supplier Raymond Bourdillon as payment for horse fodder, including the present lot, which apparently returned into government possession before definitively leaving the national collections at an unknown date. Numerous examples were reduced in size and/or cut down and re-assembled, and many are still unrecorded and presumed lost. The French Mobilier National state collections still retain the largest surviving group of over fifty, and interestingly these were woven together and laid on the floor of the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles during the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, possibly the only instance of these carpets being used as they were originally intended. Other surviving carpets or fragments are in the Metropolitan Museum New York, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Huntington Art Museum and Waddesdon Manor.
A smaller fragment of this carpet assembled from two of the stag heads from the outer corners was sold Sotheby's Paris, 13 November 2018, lot 11. Another fragment depicting a landscape cartouche said to possibly form part of this carpet was sold Christie's New York, and though as Burchard argues, the archival description is too vague to definitively identify these panels as missing elements from carpet 43, and indeed the subjects a coastal scene with a castle, perhaps not the most appropriate landscape scene for a hunting theme. A fragmentary carpet of two allegorical bas-relief cartouches from the end sections of no. 50 in the series was sold Sotheby's London, 6 July 2016, lot 9 (GBP 341,000 with premium), and a large fragmentary carpet comprising the inner and outer panels of no.61, formerly in the Charles Deering collection, was sold Christie's New York, 24 May 2000, lot 315 (USD 1,326,000 with premium).
WEDGWOOD AND BEYOND: ENGLISH CERAMICS FROM THE STARR COLLECTION
Auction 23 October at 10AM EDT
Unarguably one of the best of its kind, the Starr Collection of English ceramics was formed over 50 years with great passion and attention to detail. Comprised of 256 lots, the October sale reflects the diverse production of the Wedgwood manufactory, this year celebrating its 260th anniversary. In particular, the group encompasses 18th century Wedgwood jasperwares, agatewares, black basalts and encaustic vases; as well as Chelsea porcelain; superb Minton pâte-sur-pâte designed by Marc Louis Emmanuel Solon; and over 20 pieces of reticulated Royal Worcester designed by George Owen.
Individual highlights from this superlative ensemble include: a Pair of Mintons Pâte-Sur-Pâte Peacock-Blue-Ground Vases, 'Brewing Mischief' and 'Explosion' circa 1883 (estimate $60/80,000); a Pair of Mintons Pâte-Sur-Pâte Blue-Ground 'Pompeian' Vases and Covers circa 1874 (estimate $50/70,000); and a Wedgwood Black and White 'Portland Vase' that was once in the collection of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia and is one of only 19 unnumbered ‘first editions’ of this particular vase (estimate $5/7,000).
Lot 224. A Pair of Mintons Pâte-Sur-Pâte Peacock-Blue-Ground Vases, 'Brewing Mischief' and 'Explosion' circa 1883. Heights 16 in. Estimate: $60,000 - $80,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
shape number 1937, decorated by Marc Louis Solon , each signed L. Solon in white slip, of baluster form with a waisted trumpet neck, applied at the shoulder with gilt, blue and platinum enriched rope-twist handles with Bacchus mask terminals, each decorated in white slip with a large cartouche of cherubs, one with seven cherubs stirring a steaming cauldron, the reverse with two emptying hearts into a basket; the other vase with the cherubs tossed in the air by an exploding cauldron, the reverse with two lighting a bomb, the shoulder and foot of each with a pale olive-green ground reserving fine blue and beige slip anthemion scrollwork and grotesques, crowned globe Mintons marks in gold.
Provenance: Likely purchased by London retailers Phillips in 1883
Sotheby Parke Bernet, Inc. New York, October 26, 1977, lot 109.
Literature: Bumpus, 1992, pp. 121-123, pls. 81-82
Bumpus, 1999 catalogue, p. 18, fig. 9, 'Explosion' vase illustrated
Tulman, Ars Ceramica, 2016, p. 49, fig. 14
Ars Ceramica, 2019, cover.
Lot 234. A Pair of Mintons Pâte-Sur-Pâte Blue-Ground 'Pompeian' Vases and Covers circa 1874. Height 15 1/2 in. Estimate: $50,000 - $70,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
shape number 1775, decorated by Marc Louis Solon, each signed in white slip L Solon, of squat generous form, affixed at the shoulder with two gilded high loop handles, lavishly decorated with eight pale-pink medallions reserving putti at various pursuits alternating with trophies, two with reserving Roman numerals 'DXI', and 'XII' respectively, tied with ribbons hanging from two-toned green leafy vines, the short neck, foot and cover enriched with red, ochre and pale-blue foliate scrollwork borders, impressed MINTONS marks.
Provenance: T. Goode & Co., South Audley Street, London, bearing labels
The Nyman Collection, Sotheby's Belgravia, May 14, 1981, lot 61
Minton Pâte-sur-Pâte Masterworks from a Distinguished Private Collection, Christie's New York, October 21, 2008, lot 3.
Literature: Williams, 1981, p. 30.
SELECTED MEISSEN AND OTHER CERAMICS FROM THE COLLECTION OF HENRY H. ARNHOLD
Auction 24 October at 10AM EDT
Building on a collection formed in Germany by his mother in the interwar period, the late Henry H. Arnhold assembled one of the greatest collections of Meissen porcelain, second only to that now found in the Dresden Porcelain Collection. The dedicated offering this October, which is being sold to benefit The Arnhold Foundation, presents a selection of early Meissen and European porcelains, as well as Chinese and Japanese porcelain wares relating to forms produced at the Meissen factory. Proceeds from
In particular, Mr. Arnhold collected Meissen pieces and the corresponding Japanese or Chinese prototype, such as a Chinese Blue and White Lobed 'Phoenix' Dish, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period, 1700-20 and a Meissen Blue and White Lobed 'Phoenix' Dish, circa 1745 (estimate $5/7,000).
Lot 408. A Chinese Blue and White Lobed 'Phoenix' Dish, Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period, 1700-20 and a Meissen Blue and White Lobed 'Phoenix' Dish, circa 1745. Diameter of larger: 10 5/8 in. Estimate $5,000 - $7,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
the Chinese dish supported by a short tapered foot, the lobed sides sweeping to an everted rim, boldly painted in the center with a soaring phoenix among scrolling peonies, the spirally-fluted rim painted with alternating panels of a monkey in a tree eating a peach and flowers issuing from rockwork, the Meissen example similarly decorated, crossed swords mark and dot mark in underglaze-blue , painter's mark Mö, impressed numeral 32.
Literature: Cassidy-Geiger, 2008, no. 225, figs. 225.1, pp. 490-91, illus.
Note: A smaller example of the same type is illustrated in Howard and Ayers, vol. I, cat. no. 18, where the authors note that the spirally-fluted lobed design on the present example imitates a European silver form and might have been transmitted to China by a Delftware model. The illustrated example, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Rafi Y. Mottahedeh, was sold in these rooms, January 30, 1985, lot 8. Another pair of the same size was sold in these rooms, January 25, 1989, lot 16, originally in the collection of Dr. M. Bonner Engelhardt.
The selection on offer also presents an impressive group of Commedia dell’Arte figures modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, including a Meissen Figure Group of ‘The Mockery of Age’, circa 1740-45 (estimate $60/80,000); a Meissen Figure Group of ‘The Indiscreet Harlequin’, circa 1740 (estimate $60/80,000 each); a Meissen Figure Group of Harlequin and Columbine, circa 1743 (estimate $40/60,000) and a Meissen Figure of ‘The Greeting Harlequin’, circa 1740-45 (estimate $20/30,000).
Lot 318. A rare Meissen Figure Group of ‘The Mockery of Age’, circa 1740-45. Height: 7 1/2 in. Estimate $60,000 - $80,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, with an elderly man seated holding a crutch and leaning to kiss a young lady at his side, a small dog seated in her lap, Harlequin poised at the rear to crown him with feathers, while another commedia dell'arte figure offers him a plate of celery, all on a shaped mound base applied with flowers and foliage, crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue, twice impressed numeral 25.
Provenance: The Collection of Sir Ernest Cassel, Brook House, London
Lady Louis Mountbatten, by descent
'The Brook House Collection' formed by the late Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Cassel, G.C.B., sold, Puttick & Simpson, May 25-27, 1932, lot 596
Collection of Monsieur Armand Esders, Paris, sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 19-20, 1941, lot 183
The Collection of Max Hoffman, Basel, sold Christie's London, November 21, 2005, lot 79
E. & H. Manners, London.
Exhibited: Musée Ariana, Geneva, April 29 1999 - September 27 1999, bearing label.
Lot 317. A rare Meissen Figure Commedia dell’Arte Group ‘The Indiscreet Harlequin’, circa 1740. Height: 6 1/2 in. Estimate $60,000 - $80,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, Beltrame, seated on his cloak on a small rockwork mound, embracing Columbine, seated in his lap, while Harlequin at his feet attempts to peer up Columbine's skirt, all on a shaped mound base applied with flowers and foliage.
Provenance: Angela Gräfin von Wallwitz, Munich, March 2006.
Literature: Siemen, 1995, pp. 1-39, fig. 18
von Wallwitz, 2006, pp. 70-75, pp. 84-9, cat. no. 13
Cassidy-Geiger, 2008, no. 51, p. 263, illus.
Lot 319. A rare Meissen Figure Group of Harlequin and Columbine, circa 1743. Height: 6 1/8 in. Estimate $40,000 - $60,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, with Harlequin seated beside Columbine, Harlequin wearing a mask and holding a sausage in his left hand, Columbine holding a slapstick in her right hand, on a mound base applied with flowering vines.
Provenance: Röbbig München, bearing label.
Lot 319. A rare Meissen Figure Group of of ‘The Greeting Harlequin’, circa 1740-45. Height: 6 1/8 in.. Estimate $20,000 - $30,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
modeled by Johann Joachim Kändler, seated on a tree-stump and bowing deeply with his left leg forward and holding a pale yellow hat, wearing a pale yellow, puce and blue jacket, tied with a belt holding a slapstick at his side, pale puce pantaloons and white shoes tied with yellow bows, his grimacing mustachioed face with three beauty spots, on a small mound base applied with trailing flowers, traces of crossed swords mark in underglaze-blue.
Provenance: The Collection of Sir Ernest Cassel, Brook House, London
Lady Louis Mountbatten, by descent
'The Brook House Collection' formed by the late Rt. Hon. Sir Ernest Cassel, G.C.B., sold, Puttick & Simpson, May 25-27, 1932, lot 596
Collection of Monsieur Armand Esders, Paris, sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, June 19-20, 1941, lot 183
Angela Gräfin von Wallwitz, Munich, March 2006.
Literature: Siemen, 1995, cat. no. 20
von Wallwitz, 2006, pp. 70-75, cat. no. 10
Cassidy-Geiger, 2008, no. 47, p. 259, illus.
The group is further distinguished by a significant assemblage of pieces that were formerly in the Royal Collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden, and feature the incised inventory numbers of the Palace: a Pair of Large Japanese Imari Tureens and Covers, and a Large Dish, Edo Period, 1690-1700, from the Royal Collection (estimate $30/50,000) and a Meissen Blue and White Saucer Dish, circa 1721-22 (estimate $4/6,000).
Lot 305. A rare and impressive pair of large Japanese Imari tureens and covers and a large dish, Edo period, 1690-1700. Diameter of dish 18⅞ in., 48 cm. Estimate $30,000 - $50,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
the tureens each sturdily potted, set on a straight foot rising to deep rounded sides, the exterior painted with four shaped panels each decorated in opulent gilding with pine, orchid, prunus and daylily, all reserved on an underglaze-blue ground with gilt floral scrolls, the domed covers each surmounted by a shishi-form knop, the large charger decorated in the center with a pair of cranes within a fenced garden with peonies and pine, all pieces with incised Japanese Palace inventory number N=365-+.
Lot 392. A Meissen Blue and White Saucer Dish, circa 1721-22. Diameter: 7 5/8 in. Estimate $4,000 - $6,000. Courtesy Sotheby's.
painted in underglaze-blue with a riverscape scene of four sailing vessels flanked by river banks and ducks in the foreground, the rim with a stylized diaper band, the underside with a café-au-lait ground, caduceus mark in underglaze-blue within concentric blue circles, incised Japanese Palace inventory number N:68-w.
Provenance: The Royal Collections of Saxony, Japanese Palace, Dresden (delivered in February 1722)
Rudolph Lepke Berlin, October 7-8, 1919, lot 221, or 222
Mrs. A. S. Fischer
Christie's London, February 15, 1960, lot 45
Hans Backer, London
Sotheby's London, October 21, 1980, lot 48
Hans and Marianne Krieger Collection, Grosshansdorf.
Literature: Pietsch, 1993, pp. 76-77, cat. no. 61
Cassidy-Geiger, 2008, no. 210, p. 470, illus.
