The Fabius Frères collection at Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s announce, in association with the auction house PIASA, the sale of the Fabius Frères Gallery collection on the 26th and 27th October 2011 in Paris. The 400 sculptures, pieces of furniture, works of art, drawings and 19th century paintings, estimated to sell in the region of €10 million ($14,5 million), will be on view at the Galerie Charpentier for five days prior to the sale. The Fabius Frères Gallery is known worldwide for the exceptional quality, condition and provenance of the works of art in their collection. The Fabius Frères collection is undoubtedly the most important ensemble of 19th century sculpture ever to be offered at auction. It consists predominantly of works by the most original and significant sculptors of the period: Antoine–Louis Barye (1795–1875) and Jean–Baptiste Carpeaux (1827–75).

A Precious Empress Sissi Coffret à Bijoux on Sale

An important gilt-metal, rock crystal, amethyst, rose quartz, chacedony and cameo-mounted coffret a bijoux, on stand. Probably austrian, second half 19th century.

Decorated overall with various hardstones, including agate, bloodstone, tiger’s eye quartz and carnelian, surmounted by a double-hinged casket set with portrait cameos, resting upon a mirrored ‘lake’ mounted with gilt-metal boats, set within a profusely-mounted turreted surround centered with a recessed panel decorated with a sunburst and geometric pattern, on a later ebonized plinth and stand
14½ in. (36.8 cm.) high; 35½ in. (90.2 cm.) wide; 25 in. (63.5 cm.) deep, the coffret.

One Of The First Ever Motorbikes At Bonhams

c.1896 Hildebrand & Wolfmuller. Estimate: £40,000 - 60,000

Bonhams is privileged to announce the sale of an original circa 1896 Hildebrand & Wolfmüller motorcycle at the first of its two annual Stafford auctions. Manufactured in Munich, Germany, the Hildebrand & Wolfmüller is of the utmost historical significance as the first powered two-wheeler to enter series production, and is the first such vehicle to which the name ‘motorcycle’ (motorrad in German) was ever applied.

The Hildebrand brothers, Henry and Wilhelm, developed their motorcycle in partnership with Alois Wolfmüller and his mechanic, Hans Geisenhof. Their design was powered by a twin-cylinder, water-cooled, four-stroke engine displacing 1,488cc, which until relatively recent times was the largest power unit ever fitted to a motorcycle. Despite a maximum power output of only 2.5bhp at 240rpm, the H&W was capable of speeds approaching 30mph, an exciting prospect at a time when powered road transport of any sort was still a novelty.

A Superb Damascus Room at Christie’s

A polychrome painted and relief carved damascus room from Syria, 19th century.
The room presently arranged in two sections, one comprising original ceiling arranged around a large gilt moulded pendant centerpiece, niche alcove and two side shelving panels, the other section retaining the three original walls with five two-doored cupboards (including two contemporaneous but associated) and four shelving panels (two replacements), all of the surfaces ornately carved and decorated with gilt and polychrome stucco and paint with an array of arabesques, floral and architectural designs and fruit-baskets some arranged in cusped vignettes, mirrored panels surmounted by heavy gilt arabesques formed of raised rounded moulding adorn the upper walls and ceiling, the cornice with a series of inverted tughras giving the name of the Sufi Master ‘Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani, a further tughra but not inverted decorates the niche, sold with replacement ceiling, two later door frames and a series of panels including one probably conceived to fit opposite the niche.

A Crusader Hand-and-a-Half Sword at Christie’s

Crusader hand-and-a-hald sword. Mid-14th century. 45in. (114.3cm.) overall length

A crusader hand-and-a-hald sword. Germany or Italy, Mid-14th century. The double-edged blade very slightly tapering with a central gutter, triangular point, each side brass-inlaid with a running quadruped and a Maltese cross in two circles, each also with a string of five small cross motifs, one side engraved with an inscription in cursory naskh script, the crossguard loose on the hilt, with engraved cast bronze pommel, surface corrosion, minor pitting, most inlay missing. 45in. (114.3cm.) overall length .

A Roman marble torso of Aphrodite Going on Sale

Roman marble torso of Aphrodite, circa 1^st century A.D., formerly in a 19^th Century Swiss private collection (estimate: £180,000-220,000) – the goddess was adapted from the semi-draped ‘Arles’ Aphrodite of the 4^th century B.C. The depression on her left hip suggests the presence of a strut to hold her left arm which would have come across the front of her body – a similar pose to that of the Townley Aphrodite now on display in the British Museum, London. Included in the upcoming Antiquities sale by Christie’s, to be held on 29 April 2010.

Highlights from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody

Christie’s is honored to announce the sale of one of the greatest private American collections of Modern Art to come to auction: The Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody.  Remarkable for its extraordinary depth and quality, the collection boasts a wealth of master works by the towering figures of the Modernist movement, including Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Braque, Edouard Vuillard, Marino Marini, and Henry Moore.  The total value of the works to be offered is expected to exceed $150 million, making it one of the most valuable single-owner collections ever offered at auction.

• Highlights from the Collection of Mrs. Sidney F. Brody include:

PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust Signed ‘Picasso’ (upper right) oil on canvas 63 3/4 x 51 in. (162 x 130 cm.) Completed on 8 March 1932. Estimate upon request

The centerpiece of the Brody collection is Picasso’s spell-binding Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust. This large-scale portrait of Picasso’s mistress, Marie-Thérèse Walter, is inarguably one of the finest of Picasso’s celebrated 1932 paintings.  Painted in rich blues, pinks and vibrant greens, with accents of red and orange, this deeply sensual and thematically complex work can be read above all as a declaration of love from the artist to his young muse.  Marie-Thérèse’s sleeping form, seemingly suspended in swaths of black, dominates the lower half of the canvas. Above, her sculpted head rests upon a pedestal, and the barely perceptible outline of another face emerges from behind the philodendrons. The painting was completed on 8 March 1932, during one of most intensely creative periods of Picasso’s career.  He had celebrated his 50^th birthday the prior Fall, and was preparing for a retrospective exhibition to be held in June 1932 at Galerie Georges Petit in Paris. The Brodys acquired the work direct from Picasso’s dealers in the 1950s and made it the focal point of their expanding collection.  This remarkable painting has only been exhibited once in the United States, when the Brodys generously loaned it to the 1961 exhibition Bonne Fête Monsieur Picasso, a retrospective staged in honor of Picasso’s 80^th birthday that was sponsored by the UCLA Art Council. The upcoming sale preview marks the first time in 50 years the work will be publicly displayed. Expected to sell for more than $80 million.

Recently Discovered Work by W. Bouguereau at Auction

William Bouguereau, L’Amour et Psyché, 1899, est. $1.8/2.2 million

This spring, Sotheby’s will bring to the market a superb work by iconic French Academic painter William Bouguereau. ‘L’Amour et Psyché’, dated 1899, is estimated at $1.8/2.2 million and will be featured in the 23 April sale of 19th Century European Art. Sold from a Distinguished Private Collection, the painting has been off the market for almost half a century. Its last known public exhibition was at the Paris Exposition Universelle in 1900.

Iconic Warhol Self Portrait at Sotheby’s

Andy Warhol, Self Portrait, 1986, 108 x 108 in, Est. $10/15 million

An iconic and rare Self Portrait by Andy Warhol, executed in 1986 just prior to his unexpected death the following year, will be offered by Sotheby’s on the evening of 12 May 2010 in a sale of Contemporary Art. The painting is from Warhol’s final series of Self Portraits – widely acknowledged as the most important of his career. The monumental canvas, measuring 108 x 108 in., is one of only a handful executed by the artist and one of only two that are known to be privately held. Estimated to sell for $10/15 million, the painting will be shown in Hong Kong and London prior to its exhibition and sale in New York.

Sotheby’s To Offer a Restituted Painting by Corot

Jeune femme à la fontaine by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (est. £800,000-1,200,000)

On Wednesday, June 2, 2010,  Sotheby’s London will offer for sale one of the finest figure paintings by Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot (1796-1875) ever to have appeared on the market. Estimated at £800,000-1,200,000, “Jeune femme à la fontaine” enjoyed an exceptional early provenance before it was requisitioned during the Nazi period. It has now been restituted to the heirs of its erstwhile owners and will be one of the centrepieces of Sotheby’s forthcoming sale of 19th Century Paintings.

Jeune femme à la fontaine’s journey through history provides a story that is as compelling as those behind the restituted works by Gustav Klimt and Hendrick Goltzius recently sold at Sotheby’s. The first owner was Ernst Hoschedé (d. 1891), an important early patron of Claude Monet, from whom he commissioned decorative panels for his residence just south of Paris, the Château de Rottembourg in Montgeron. Following financial difficulties, the Hoschedé family moved into a house in Vétheuil with Monet, his wife Camille and his children. Hoschedé’s wife, Alice, eventually married Monet following their respective spouses’ deaths.

The second owner was Charles Alluaud (1861-1949), scion of the family that had directed the porcelain factory in Limoges since the eighteenth century. During his childhood, he and his brother, Eugène, had received painting instruction from Corot himself and it is likely that this relationship led to Alluaud’s acquisition of the present work.