ZURICH.- Among the highlights of the Old Master Paintings auction on 23 March is Bernardo Strozzi’s large-format portrait of Paolo Gregorio Raggi, governor of Corsica in 1547. The portrait was painted posthumously, sometime before 1638, and was commissioned by the Raggis, an important Genovese family, for their portrait gallery of distinguished family members, including cardinals and senators. Strozzi, who was active in Genoa and later In Venice, was one of the leading figures of the Baroque period in Italy, known for his painting style of energetic brushstrokes, intense colours and the expressive rendering of his subjects – all clearly present in the painting offered here.

Lot 3020. Bernardo Strozzi (Genoa 1581 - 1644 Venice), Portrait of Paolo Gregorio Raggi, Governor of Corsica. Oil on canvas. Inscribed centre right: PAULs. GREGs. RACs. GUBERNr. CORSICAE., 135 x 111 cm. Estimate CHF 180 000 / 250 000 (€ 150 000 / 208 330). Sold for CHF 180 000. © Koller Auctions  

Provenance: - Raggi collection, Genoa, commissioned from the artist. 
- Probably Burstein collection. 
- Roland collection, Browse, Delbanco, 1950-51.
- Collection of David Koester, New York, 1955.
- Collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr., 1956.
- Christies's, London, 11.7.1975, Lot 159.
- European private collection. 

Exhibitions: - Works by Holbein and other Masters of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 9.12.1950-7.3.1951, No. 409.
- Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler jr., Portland, 1956, No. 31.
- Inaugural Exhibition, Chrysler Art Museum, Provincetown, 1958, No 62. 
- Genoese Masters - Cambiaso to Magnasco 1550-1750, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, 19.10-1.12.1962; John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, 5.1-17.2.1963; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, 19.3-5.5.1963, No. 55.
- Genoese Painters Cambiaso to Magnasco, Finch College Museum of Art, New York, 15.10.1964-1.2.1965, No. 25.
- Bernardo Strozzi. Paintings & Drawings, University Art Gallery, State University of New York, Binghampton, 8.10-5.11.1967, No. 20.
- Genova nell'età barocca, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Galleria di Palazzo Reale, Genua, 2.5-26.7.1992, No. 159. 
- L'Età di Rubens: dimore, committenti e collezionisti genovesi, Palazzo Ducale, Genua, 20.3.-11.7.2004, No. 81.

Literature: - Zampetti, Pietro: Inediti di Bernardo Strozzi, in: Emporium, Rivista mensile illustrata d'arte e di cultura, CIX, Jan 1949, p. 23 (with ill.).
- Exh. Cat. Works by Holbein and other Masters of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Royal Academy of Arts, 9.12.1950-7.3.1951, London 1950, Cat No. 409, p. 153.
- Exh. Cat. Paintings from the Collection of Walter P. Chrysler jr., Portland 1956, Cat No. 31, p. 29.
- Exh. Cat. Inaugural Exhibition, Chrysler Art Museum of Provicetown, Provicetown 1958, Cat No. 62, pp. 32-33, fig 62, p. 102. 
- Exh. Cat. Kat. Genoese Masters - Cambiaso to Magnasco 1550-1750, Dayton Art Institute, Dayton 1962 / Sarasota 1963 / Hartford 1963, Cat No. 55.
- Exh. Cat. Genoese Painters Cambiaso to Magnasco, Finch College Museum of Art, New York 1964-1965, Cat No. 25.
- Mortari, Luisa: Bernardo Strozzi, Rom 1966, No. 269, pp. 155-156 (with ill.). 
- Exh. Cat. Genova nell'età barocca, Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Spinola, Galleria di Palazzo Reale, Genua 1992, Kat. Nr. 159, S. 262. 
- Exh. Cat. Bernardo Strozzi. Paintings & Drawings, University Art Gallery, State University of New York at Binghampton, New York 1967, Nr. 20, S. 52.
- Galassi, Maria Clelia: I Lombardi e i loro "amici" genovesi: pittori e collezionisti fra Genova e Milano, 1610-1630, in: Exh. Cat. Dipinti Lombardi del primo Seicento nelle civiche collezioni genovesi, Genua 1992, No. 159, pp. 262-263.
- Galassi, Maria Clelia: Documenti figurativi per un soggiorno romano di Bernardo Strozzi, in: Bollettino dei Musei Civici Genovesi, 40-42, Genoa 1992, pp. 46-47.
- Gavazza, Ezia / Nepi Sciré, Giovanna / Rotondi Terminiello, Giovanna: Bernardo Strozzi. Genova 1581/82 - Venezia 1644, Milan 1995, Nr. 39, p. 174 (with ill.).
- Loire, Stephane: Genoa. Bernardo Strozzi, in: The Burlington Magazine, July 1995, fig. 8, pp. 477-479. 
- Mortari, Luisa: Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1995, No. 19, p. 214. 
- Exh. Cat. L'Età di Rubens: dimore, committenti e collezionisti genovesi, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa 2004, Cat No. 81, p. 346. 
- Manzitti, Camillo: Bernardo Strozzi, Turin 2013, No. 334, p. 222 (with ill.).

Clara Peeters, the first recorded female still-life painter, is the author of a museum-quality still life with cat, fishes, oysters and crustaceans, to be offered for CHF 100,000 – 150,000. Dating from the 1620s, this is the last still life by the artist with this subject still on the market. Two others are located in museums (the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC, and the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Antwerp). 

Lot 3050. Clara Peeters (circa 1590 Antwerp circa 1659), Still life with cat, fish, oysters and crayfish. Oil on panel. Signed lower left: Clara. P. 34 x 48 cm. Estimate CHF 100 000 - 150 000 (€ 83 330 / 125 000). Sold for CHF 110 000. © Koller Auctions 

Provenance: - Collection of H. B. Leipzig.
- Hecht auction, 27.2.1928, Lot 118.
- Art dealers D. A. Hoogendijk & Co., Amsterdam, 1932.
- Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 6.5.1996, Lot 9.
- Sotheby's, London, 24.4.2008, Lot 31.
- Private collection. 
- Sotheby's, New York, 26.1.2011, Lot 292.
- European private collection.

Literature: Hibbs Decoteau, Pamela: Clara Peeters 1594-ca.1640 And the Development of Still-Life painting in Northern Europe, Lingen 1992, p. 181, fig. 26, p. 39.

The painting is registered at RKD, The Hague as by the hand of Clara Peeters.

Clara Peeters (1594.1657), Still life with fish and cat, 1620s. Oil on panel, 13 1/2 x 18 1/2 in. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC.

Clara Peeters (1594.1657), Stilleven met vis, 17th century, collectie van het KMSK Antwerpen, Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp.

Among the other works featured in the Old Masters auction is a depiction of the infant Jesus and St John the Baptist embracing, by the workshop of Antwerp painter Joos van Cleve. The motif originated with Leonardo da Vinci, and was very popular in the Netherlands during the 16th century. The painting offered here, from a German private collection, demonstrates a certain virtuosity in its rendering of flesh tones and rich draperies. It will be offered with an estimate of CHF 30,000 – 40,000. A large (62.5 x 86.5 cm) and characteristic landscape by one of the most important Netherlandish painters of the second half of the 17th century, Meindert Hobbema, will be offered for CHF 100,000 – 150,000. From a Swiss private collection, this work is particularly interesting due to its dramatic lighting effects and impressively vigorous brushstrokes. 

Lot 3006. Workshop of Joos van Cleve (circa 1485 Antwerp 1540), Christ and John as children, embracing one another. Oil on panel. 28 x 39.5 cm. Estimate CHF 30 000 - 40 000 (€ 25 000 / 33 330). © Koller Auctions 

Provenance: Private collection, Germany.

Our thanks to Dr. John Hand and Dr. Micha Leeflang for their help in cataloguing this work on the basis of a photograph. 

Lot 3037. Meindert Hobbema (1638 Amsterdam 1709), Woodland landscape with river, with a house, passers-by and an angler. Circa 1663. Oil on panel. Signed lower right: M. Hobbema. 62.5 x 86.5 cm. Estimate CHF 100 000 - 150 000 (€ 83 330 / 125 000). Sold for CHF 135 000. © Koller Auctions 

 Provenance: - Probably the collection of General Dormer, Rousham, Oxfordshire, circa 1730.
- Probably via inheritance to the collection of Captain Cottrell-Dormer.
- Christie's, London, 29.6.1889, Lot 155.
- Martin Colnaghi, art dealer, London, acquired at the above auction. 
- Probably collection of Mrs Joseph, London, 1912.
- Probably collection of Mrs E. J. Hanna, New York, 1919. 
- Gallery A. J. Sulley & Co., London.
- Christie's, London, 1.6.1934, Lot 33. 
- Scott & Fowles, art dealer, New York, circa 1945.
- Galerie Knoedler, New York, before 1946.
- Collection of Sir Harold Wernher, Luton Hoo, from 1946 documented until 1995.
- Sotheby's, London, 24.-25.5.1995, Lot 69. 
- Galerie Salomon Lilian, Amsterdam. 
- Swiss private collection, acquired at the above auction. 

Exhibited: - Old Dutch and Flemish Masters, Kleycamp Gallery, The Hague, 1928-1929, No. 24.
- Exhibition of selected Dutch and Flemish 17th Century, E. J. van Wisselingh & Co, Amsterdam, No. 5.
- Loan Exhibition of the Collection of Sir Harold Wernher, G. C. V. O., Wildenstein, London, 1946, No. 27. 
- Paintings from the Wernher Collection, Luton Hoo Bedfordshire, Guildhall Art Gallery, London, 1953, No. 19.
- Loan Exhibition of paintings from the Wernher Collection, Hove Museum, Brighton, 1953-1954, No. 18.

Literature: - Groot, Hofstede de: Beschreibendes und kritisches Verzeichnis der Werke der hervorragendsten holländischen Maler des XVII. Jahrhunderts, vol. 4, 1911., No. 84, p. 399.
- Broulhiet, Georges: Meindert Hobbema (1638-1709), Paris 1938, No. 465, p. 439, ill. p. 334.
- Trevelyan, Raleigh: Grand Dukes and Diamnods - the Wernhers of Luton Hoo, 1991, p. 407.

Dr. Christopher Wright, who examined the painting on the occasion of the London auction in 1995, and has assigned it for the Catalogue Raisonné which is being prepared, has confirmed the authorship and date as circa 1663. Furthermore, the painting is registered at the RKD, The Hague, as by the hand Meindert Hobbema under number 288139.

In the 19th Century Paintings auction, a painting entitled “Secret Study” by German artist Eduard Grützner will be offered. This humoristic scene of three monks sipping beers while admiring a drawing of a naked woman was created in 1892, and is estimated at CHF 40 000 – 60 000. Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé’s “Forest landscape at sunset” from 1915 was recently rediscovered in a German private collection. Estimated at CHF 50 000 – 60 000, this was one of the most sought-after subjects by the artist during his lifetime. 

The Fine Furniture & Decorative Arts auction on 22 March features splendid French creations from the 18th and 19th centuries, an unusually high number of which are signed by celebrated ébénistes and menuisiers , such as an Empire set of seating furniture stamped Jacob DR. Meslee. Made in 1805/10, the large group of furniture belonged to the celebrated Marshal-General under Napoleon and later Prime Minister, Jean-de-Dieu Soult (CHF 28,000 – 48,000). A highly important Meissen porcelain candlestick by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner, with painted decoration by Johann Gregorius Höroldt, is only one of two known of this model (CHF 40,000 – 70,000). The other example is in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.

Lot 1315. Suite of furniture formerly in the Collection Maréchal Soult, Empire, signed JACOB D.R. MESLEE (the collaboration between François Honoré Jacob-Desmalter and Georges Jacob between1803 and 1813), Paris ca. 1810. Estimate CHF 30 000 - 60 000 (€ 25 000 - 50 000). © Koller Auctions 

Comprising 6 fauteuils "en gondole", 2 chairs "en gondole", 1 large canapé and 1pair of small canapés, so-called "têtes à tête". Wood, finely carved with foliage and decorative frieze, painted beige and parcel-gilt. Pink silk cover. Requires some restoration. The banquettes entirely upholstered with green and blue velour. Plinth "en faux marbre", some chips.The chairs and fauteuils in part with old label "Monsieur Maréchal Soult, Salon & Boudoir". Fauteuils 60x42x40x86 cm. Chairs 40x40x48x86 cm. Canapé 230x59x44x98 cm and 98x58x44x98 cm.  

Provenance: - formerly in the Collection Jean de Soult, Maréchal d'Empire, Duc de Dalmatie.
- Marquise de Mornay de Montchevreuil, née Soult de Dalmatie (1804-1862).
- Marquis de Mornay de Montchevreuil (1831-1893).
- Marquise de la Cour de Balleroy, née Mornay de Montchevreuil (1872-1936).
- Princesse Joseph de Broglie-Revel, née de la Cour de Balleroy (1901-1976).
- S.A.R. la princesse Michel de Bourbon de Parme, née Princesse de Broglie-Revel (1928-2014).
- by inheritance, in a private collection, Suisse romande.

The rediscovered suite of furniture on offer remained in the same family since its original delivery. This is the first time it is on offer at an auction.

The delivery of this suite of furniture is confirmed by sources which can be consulted for reference in the Archives Nationales de France in Paris (No. 402 AP 27);
"Mémoire pour Son Excellence Monseigneur Le Maréchal Soult, Duc de Dalmatie pour les fournitures suivantes faites pour l'hôtel de S.E.
Par Jacob-Desmalter & Cie, fabr., rue meslée, nr. 57
1811 Janvier 12
Salon Boudoir
Un divan de 7pds de derrière, le dossier carré pour être recouvert par l'étoffe; les acotoires en bronze dont le bout de devant terminé par une boule qui est ajusté sur une console terminée en double balustre, le tout en bronze doré au mat et bruni, ces consoles ajustées sur un socle régnant au pourtour qui est aprété, reparé, rechampi en blanc et doré; siège et manchettes pour être garnies - 360/350
Deux Têtes à tête de 3 pds de derrière ajustés et ornés comme le divan - 560/500
Six fauteuils en gondole, dossier cintré en plan et en élévation, le cintre avec fond plat dans lequel sont sculptés en relief des culots sortant les uns des autres, ce cintre ajusté sur une console dont le haut est orné d'un petit chapiteau à feuille sculptée de relief en forme d'abondance et le bas s'ajustant sur la pièce de côté; sur cette console sont ajustés les accotoirs en bronze pareils à ceux du divan; les pieds de devant de forme étrusque; dossier, siège et manchettes pour être garnie. Le tout apprêté, doré et rechampi en blanc - 1320/1200
Deux chaises ajustées et ornées comme les fauteuils, le cintre et les consoles ornés de même, rechampies et dorées - 280/420".

A special thanks to Mr. J.D. Augarde for his research on the suite of furniture on offer.

Lot 1073. Extremely rare Meissen porcelain candlestick, Meissen, ca. 1727. Model by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner (1706 - after 1737), probably painted by Gregorius Höroldt (1696-1775). Without mark. Estimate CHF 40 000 - 70 000 (€ 33 330 - 58 330). © Koller Auctions 

Exhibition label from 1979 on the base. H 22 cm. D base 12.5 cm. One of the small palmette leaves on top of the base is missing.

Provenance: - in a German private collection since the 1960s.

Exhibition: Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum Mainz - "Keramik aus Privatbesitz", Ausstellung der Gesellschaft der Keramikfreunde E.V. 'KERAMOS' in collaboration with the Mittelrheinisches Landesmuseum (Pavilion), 10 May - 4 June 1979, No. 108. 

Illustration: - Mitteilungsblatt der Keramikfreunde der Schweiz (KFS) No. 61, 1963 (cover photograph).
- Sotheby's London, Continental Ceramics, 26 November 1985, Lot No. 290.

The only known comparable item has been in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam since 1976 (Inv. No. BK-1976-50).

This candlestick is worthy of a museum collection – there is only one other, nearly identical model in existence, which has been in the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam since 1976. In the catalogue of the museum collection of Meissen porcelain, reference is made to the candlestick offered here, located in a German private collection since the 1960s (Abraham L. den Blaauwen, Meissen Porcelain in the Rijksmuseum, 2000, cat. no. 51, pp. 102, 103).
Johann Gottlieb Kirchner (born in Merseburg in 1706) came to Meissen as a modeller on April 29, 1727 from Dresden, where he most likely lived with his much older brother Johann Christian Kirchner, who assisted the court sculptor Balthasar Permoser (1651-1732) with the decoration of the Zwinger in Dresden. In the same year that the candlestick was created, Kirchner designed and modelled a Temple of Venus with niches in the style of the nymph bath in the Zwinger, in which he placed figures corresponding to the figural type of the candlestick shaft (Rijksmuseum catalogue, 2000, cat. no. 50). In the catalogue text for the Temple of Venus, Den Blaauwen points to the parallels to Permoser‘s sculptures from circa 1705 that he created for the garden of a merchant in Leipzig (op. cit., p. 101).
The combination of figurative sculpture with Höroldt chinoiserie can be found in various works by Kirchner, including the Temple of Venus, the pedestal base of which is painted with equally fine Höroldt chinoiserie as on the candlestick and on a goblet also held in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (op. cit. p. 100, cat. no. 50 and 49); additional comparisons include Kirchner's clock case from the Königlichen Sammlungen in Dresden (inv. no. P97) and in the Arnhold Collection (Cassidy-Geiger, The Arnhold Collection of Meissen Porcelain 1710-50, 2008, cat. no. 33), and a further clock case from 1727, a cooperation between George Fritzsche and Kirchner. (Rijksmuseum, cat. no. 48).
In October 1727, Kirchner had worked on "eine gewisse Façon Tisch Leuchter mit Zierrathen"; models in clay were further formed by Georg Fritzsche, the "most skilled and best moulder and embosser" according to Kirchner. (Zimmermann, Kirchner. Der Vorläufer Kaendlers an der Meissner Manufaktur, Berlin, 1929, p. 5; Walcha, Das Charakterbild Kirchners im Spiegel der Meissner Archivalien, Mitteilungsblatt KFS 53/54 1961, p. 24). It is highly probable that these notes by Kirchner refer to precisely this candlestick, with its central female supporting figure stylistically similar to the Kirchner‘s figure type for the Temple of Venus from that same year (op. cit. cat. no. 50).
Works by Johann Gottlieb Kirchner are rare. He is compared to the factory’s other two famous artists: J. J. Kaendler (active 1731-1775) and J. G. Höroldt (active 1720-1765). Kirchner was active for only a short time at the factory: first from 1727 to 1728, and after a two-year break (he was dismissed due to his ‘disorderly life-style‘), again from 1730 to 1733, then once more in 1737 as a model master. Among his most prominent works are the large animal figures for the long gallery in the Japanese Palace in Dresden. Kirchner's style was ground-breaking for his successor Kaendler, who was initially his subordinate, and also for subsequent European porcelain sculpture. Writing about Kaendler in March 1732, the official Commission wrote that he was exceeded by Kirchner "in his inventions and otherwise" (R. Rückert, Biographische Daten der Meissener Manufakturisten des 18. Jahrhunderts, 1990, pp. 113, 114).