14th Century
See also : China Yuan Chinese art Song to Yuan porcelain Religious texts Judaica Chinese calligraphy Buddhism Mountains in China Horse Cats
ZHAO MENGFU
1
1302 Huang Ting Jing
2023 SOLD for RMB 180M by Poly
Active after the fall of the Southern Song in 1279 CE, Zhao Mengfu is a prince-artist who belongs to the fallen dynasty. Poet, jurist, painter and calligrapher, he combines the strict clarity of regular calligraphy with the expressiveness of semi-cursive calligraphy. His allegiance to the Yuan was severely criticized in period.
His calligraphy writing gradually evolves to take example from the two supreme masters of the Jin era, Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, who had established the perfect synthesis of the various styles 950 years earlier. Zhao's writing is considered one of the best models of regular script.
A handscroll in ink on paper was signed and dated in the 6th year of the second period of the Chenzong emperor, 1302 CE. It is made in four parts from introduction to postscript. The height is 27.5 to 32 cm and the overall length is 450 cm.
It is a copy of the Huang Ting Jing as calligraphed by Wang Xizhi and amended by the small regular style of Tang period calligrapher Zhong Shaojing. This Taoist text deals with achieving health preservation and immortality by rinsing the body, breathing, fasting and chanting sutras. The brushwork is meticulous, sharp and fast.
The artist added an emotional comment on this piece 19 years later, 80 days before his death.
It was sold for RMB 180M by Poly on July 5, 2023, lot 817 illustrated in the post sale report shared by The Value.
His calligraphy writing gradually evolves to take example from the two supreme masters of the Jin era, Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi, who had established the perfect synthesis of the various styles 950 years earlier. Zhao's writing is considered one of the best models of regular script.
A handscroll in ink on paper was signed and dated in the 6th year of the second period of the Chenzong emperor, 1302 CE. It is made in four parts from introduction to postscript. The height is 27.5 to 32 cm and the overall length is 450 cm.
It is a copy of the Huang Ting Jing as calligraphed by Wang Xizhi and amended by the small regular style of Tang period calligrapher Zhong Shaojing. This Taoist text deals with achieving health preservation and immortality by rinsing the body, breathing, fasting and chanting sutras. The brushwork is meticulous, sharp and fast.
The artist added an emotional comment on this piece 19 years later, 80 days before his death.
It was sold for RMB 180M by Poly on July 5, 2023, lot 817 illustrated in the post sale report shared by The Value.
2
1290-1322 Letters
2019 SOLD for RMB 270M by China Guardian
On November 19, 2019, China Guardian sold a lot of two autograph letters by Zhao Mengfu for RMB 270M. This set is illustrated in the press release shared after the sale by the auction house.
In one of the two letters, Zhao acknowledges the ambivalence of his political position and the embarrassment it arouses among his friends. Of course, he shows himself in his best light and considers that his attitude is courageous. He seems to have really wanted to reconcile the interests of the fallen Song and of their Mongol successors. This letter has for terminus post quem the political conversion of Zhao, around 1290 CE, and for terminus ante quem his death in 1322.
The second letter of this lot describes his support and sympathy for his friends in that time of economic difficulty and his feeling of loneliness during his stay in the capital city.
In one of the two letters, Zhao acknowledges the ambivalence of his political position and the embarrassment it arouses among his friends. Of course, he shows himself in his best light and considers that his attitude is courageous. He seems to have really wanted to reconcile the interests of the fallen Song and of their Mongol successors. This letter has for terminus post quem the political conversion of Zhao, around 1290 CE, and for terminus ante quem his death in 1322.
The second letter of this lot describes his support and sympathy for his friends in that time of economic difficulty and his feeling of loneliness during his stay in the capital city.
3
Heart Sutra
2017 SOLD for RMB 190M by Poly
Zhao Mengfu is a Buddhist. The Heart Sutra is perfect for serving as a model for two reasons. It is the shortest of the Sutras and its most classic version fits in five or six sheets. It is especially appreciated in China because its oldest known version is in Chinese language.
Several pieces calligraphed by Zhao are known. After a long career, he dies in 1322 CE at the age of 68, and these works cannot be dated with precision. An ancient legend shows the artist copying a Heart Sutra to exchange it with a monk for tea.
A Heart Sutra by Zhao Mengfu was sold for RMB 190M by Poly on December 17, 2017, lot 3535. This piece is a five-sheet 28.6 x 12 cm album, with no drawing added. The five sheets are illustrated twice in the post-sale article by The Value.
Several pieces calligraphed by Zhao are known. After a long career, he dies in 1322 CE at the age of 68, and these works cannot be dated with precision. An ancient legend shows the artist copying a Heart Sutra to exchange it with a monk for tea.
A Heart Sutra by Zhao Mengfu was sold for RMB 190M by Poly on December 17, 2017, lot 3535. This piece is a five-sheet 28.6 x 12 cm album, with no drawing added. The five sheets are illustrated twice in the post-sale article by The Value.
Yuan - The Good Life of the Ancient Princes
2016 SOLD for RMB 303M yuan including premium
2020 SOLD for HK$ 307M including premium
PRE 2020 SALE DISCUSSION
On November 29, 2009, Christie's sold for HK $ 46.6M including premium a painting by Ren Renfa titled Five Drunken Kings Return on Horses, lot 815.
Before Christie's sale, I had discussed this unusual and nice picture as follows :
"It is a hand scroll 2.10 m long and 35 cm high painted in ink and colors. There are nine characters overall. The kings are riding in vacillating attitudes and four grooms attend to assure that their honorable masters will not fall.
"The artist was named Ren Renfa and lived under the Yuan dynasty 700 years ago. He was following a tradition dating back to the Tang dynasty for pictures of horses of great beauty.
"The irreverent nature of the theme is a proof of wittiness rare in art history suggesting an artistic freedom at the time of the Mongolian rule."
Although his work is not uncommon, Ren Renfa was probably not a professional artist : he made his career as an imperial official in charge of the regulation of rivers.
This item was sold for RMB 303M including premium by Poly on December 4, 2016, lot 4050. It had been reported by ChinaDaily as the highest paid Chinese artwork at auction that year. The Poly catalogue had provided detailed informations.
It is in a very good contrast in spite of its age and has been carefully analyzed. The paper is conformant to the Song patterns and is earlier than the Ming. The scroll includes ancient colophons as well as the seals of three Qing emperors.
According to the opinion of a Ming scholar official, the drunken characters are the five sons of a Tang emperor. The leading prince riding a magnificent black horse is the future emperor Xuanzong whose love of pleasures will much later trigger a civil war against his dynasty.
The procession of drunken princes by Ren displays revealing similarities in its composition with an elegant promenade of women painted two centuries earlier by the Song artist Li Longmian and preserved at the Taiwan Museum.
The scroll of the Drunken Princes is now estimated HK$ 80M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 8, lot 2575. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
On November 29, 2009, Christie's sold for HK $ 46.6M including premium a painting by Ren Renfa titled Five Drunken Kings Return on Horses, lot 815.
Before Christie's sale, I had discussed this unusual and nice picture as follows :
"It is a hand scroll 2.10 m long and 35 cm high painted in ink and colors. There are nine characters overall. The kings are riding in vacillating attitudes and four grooms attend to assure that their honorable masters will not fall.
"The artist was named Ren Renfa and lived under the Yuan dynasty 700 years ago. He was following a tradition dating back to the Tang dynasty for pictures of horses of great beauty.
"The irreverent nature of the theme is a proof of wittiness rare in art history suggesting an artistic freedom at the time of the Mongolian rule."
Although his work is not uncommon, Ren Renfa was probably not a professional artist : he made his career as an imperial official in charge of the regulation of rivers.
This item was sold for RMB 303M including premium by Poly on December 4, 2016, lot 4050. It had been reported by ChinaDaily as the highest paid Chinese artwork at auction that year. The Poly catalogue had provided detailed informations.
It is in a very good contrast in spite of its age and has been carefully analyzed. The paper is conformant to the Song patterns and is earlier than the Ming. The scroll includes ancient colophons as well as the seals of three Qing emperors.
According to the opinion of a Ming scholar official, the drunken characters are the five sons of a Tang emperor. The leading prince riding a magnificent black horse is the future emperor Xuanzong whose love of pleasures will much later trigger a civil war against his dynasty.
The procession of drunken princes by Ren displays revealing similarities in its composition with an elegant promenade of women painted two centuries earlier by the Song artist Li Longmian and preserved at the Taiwan Museum.
The scroll of the Drunken Princes is now estimated HK$ 80M for sale by Sotheby's in Hong Kong on October 8, lot 2575. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
WANG MENG
Intro
The Chinese culture comes from a very strong literary tradition mixed with mysticism. In the 11th century CE, Mi Fu opened the way to the themes of the literate landscape, and for several centuries the graphic arts were often devoted to these ancient stories.
A maternal grandson of Zhao Mengfu, Wang Meng is one of the four great literati masters of the Yuan dynasty. He incorporated the techniques of Tang and Song dynasties. He survived the Yuan but was accused to support a rebellion against the Ming emperor and died in jail.
In the theme of the immensity of nature contemplated by the sage, Wang practiced two opposite styles in a single artwork. The human dwellings and occupationals are rendered in a sharp drawing of very thin brushstroke. The lush surrounding of trees and mountains provides the feeling of infinity in a very dense texture. The bare rocks escape the realism for providing an unbalanced emotion.
A maternal grandson of Zhao Mengfu, Wang Meng is one of the four great literati masters of the Yuan dynasty. He incorporated the techniques of Tang and Song dynasties. He survived the Yuan but was accused to support a rebellion against the Ming emperor and died in jail.
In the theme of the immensity of nature contemplated by the sage, Wang practiced two opposite styles in a single artwork. The human dwellings and occupationals are rendered in a sharp drawing of very thin brushstroke. The lush surrounding of trees and mountains provides the feeling of infinity in a very dense texture. The bare rocks escape the realism for providing an unbalanced emotion.
1
Qiu Mountain
2010 SOLD for RMB 137M by Poly
Qiu is a sacred mountain with a Buddhist temple. In his quest for expressing another reality and atmosphere, Wang Meng realized a mountain view in his signature style of varying the texture as necessary. He mingles curly brush lines and dense dots.
This hanging scroll in color on paper 135 x 35 cm does not add a narration to the view of towering mountains over a pleasant valley. It was sold for RMB 137M from a lower estimate of RMB 28M by Poly on June 3, 2010, lot 2881.
This piece bears the seals of Wang Meng and of Wang Shuming that identified him in his early career. The Qiu location is identified by the artist.
This hanging scroll in color on paper 135 x 35 cm does not add a narration to the view of towering mountains over a pleasant valley. It was sold for RMB 137M from a lower estimate of RMB 28M by Poly on June 3, 2010, lot 2881.
This piece bears the seals of Wang Meng and of Wang Shuming that identified him in his early career. The Qiu location is identified by the artist.
2
1350 Ge Zhichuan Relocating
2011 SOLD for RMB 400M by Poly
On June 4, 2011, Poly sold for RMB 400M a hanging scroll painted in ink and wash circa 1350 CE by Wang Meng on the theme of the migration of Ge Hong to the sacred mountains. The provenance of this artwork has been established over six centuries. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Ge Hong, also named Ge Zhichuan, lived 1,000 years before Wang in the Eastern Jin dynasty. Nicknamed the Little Immortal Old Man, he was an alchemist, a doctor and above all a Taoist master. He was going to study the secrets of immortality in the Luofu mountains. He stayed there for eight years. The image by Wang shows Ge and his suite passing through a valley under a very rocky landscape. Seven poems have been added.
Ge Hong, also named Ge Zhichuan, lived 1,000 years before Wang in the Eastern Jin dynasty. Nicknamed the Little Immortal Old Man, he was an alchemist, a doctor and above all a Taoist master. He was going to study the secrets of immortality in the Luofu mountains. He stayed there for eight years. The image by Wang shows Ge and his suite passing through a valley under a very rocky landscape. Seven poems have been added.
3
for reference
1360 Ge Zhichuan Relocating
Palace Museum, Beijing
The Palace Museum in Beijing has a 139 x 58 cm scroll by the same artist on the same theme, dated around 1360, with another landscape in an oblique perspective.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The image is shared by Wikimedia.
4
Di Yan Tu
2023 SOLD for RMB 290M by China Guardian
In the theme of the smallness of man within the lush forest in front of majestic bare mountains, the Di Yan Tu hanging scroll by Wang Meng had been highly praised by the Qianlong emperor. It was recorded in the Qing catalogue Shiqu Baoji and is a rare example with the seven imperial appreciation seals, beside eight usual Qianlong seals. It has a five character poem inscribed by that emperor in running script and an inscription from the 11th year of Qianlong, 1746 CE.
The narrative input in thin lines is centered by a thatched cottage facing a stream, shaded by miscellaneous trees, while a small bridge is leading to the other side. Behind it, layers of steep mountains constitute an ideal world for the literati. A very young boy is operating an inkstone beside the stream. Inside the house with the pavilion open, a lonely seated man with a pointed beard is listening to the wonderful sound of the flowing water and watching the beautiful scenery including the clouds and the splashing of the waterfall.
The scenery and character details in this painting may be a portrayal of the aging artist in his secluded life after he abandoned his official position at the end of the Yuan dynasty.
This ink and color on paper 65 x 34 cm had been made by the artist for a friend. It was sold for RMB 290M by China Guardian on November 30, 2023, lot 2195. It is illustrated including many details in the post sale article shared by The Value.
The narrative input in thin lines is centered by a thatched cottage facing a stream, shaded by miscellaneous trees, while a small bridge is leading to the other side. Behind it, layers of steep mountains constitute an ideal world for the literati. A very young boy is operating an inkstone beside the stream. Inside the house with the pavilion open, a lonely seated man with a pointed beard is listening to the wonderful sound of the flowing water and watching the beautiful scenery including the clouds and the splashing of the waterfall.
The scenery and character details in this painting may be a portrayal of the aging artist in his secluded life after he abandoned his official position at the end of the Yuan dynasty.
This ink and color on paper 65 x 34 cm had been made by the artist for a friend. It was sold for RMB 290M by China Guardian on November 30, 2023, lot 2195. It is illustrated including many details in the post sale article shared by The Value.
5
Zhilan
2019 SOLD for RMB 146M by Poly
Zhilan is a legendary Buddhist hermit monk who lived in a forest in Baoshi mountains. He was famous for his culture and chanted praises night and day.
His story is revived by Wang Meng with a poem by Yu He in a 25 cm wide handscroll. The picture is 103 cm long with 230 cm overall for the inscription and postscript.
The scenery is centered with the thatched pavilion in thin lines inhabited by the monk. The yard adjacent to a river downstream some waterfalls includes Buddhist devotion statues. Giant orchids and mushrooms provide an idea of fragrance. Steep mountains and cliffs with trees of various colors are blocking out the horizon. Tiny characters chat.
This piece entered the imperial collection in the late 14th century, from which it was taken out by Pu Yi in 1923. It was entered by Qianlong in the shiqu baoji. It was sold for RMB 146M by Poly on December 3, 2019, lot 3541. It is illustrated by ChinaDaily in the 2019 year ender review.
His story is revived by Wang Meng with a poem by Yu He in a 25 cm wide handscroll. The picture is 103 cm long with 230 cm overall for the inscription and postscript.
The scenery is centered with the thatched pavilion in thin lines inhabited by the monk. The yard adjacent to a river downstream some waterfalls includes Buddhist devotion statues. Giant orchids and mushrooms provide an idea of fragrance. Steep mountains and cliffs with trees of various colors are blocking out the horizon. Tiny characters chat.
This piece entered the imperial collection in the late 14th century, from which it was taken out by Pu Yi in 1923. It was entered by Qianlong in the shiqu baoji. It was sold for RMB 146M by Poly on December 3, 2019, lot 3541. It is illustrated by ChinaDaily in the 2019 year ender review.
1350 Yuan Guan Jar
2005 SOLD for £ 15.7M by Christie's
After decades of fierce conquests, the Mongols invaded China. Now named Yuan, their dynasty succeeded the Song. After the perfection in material, robustness and geometry under the Song, the Chinese porcelain got a new artistic development with the Yuan.
The Yuan sought to establish a synthesis of Mongolian and Chinese traditions, but they were foreigners. They strengthened their position by facilitating maritime and land communication with other Asian countries, reviving the Silk Road. At that time the Chinese ceramics, especially those from Jingdezhen, are the only ones that are hygienic enough to bring no health risk to the user.
The Jingdezhen kilns were already operational under the Tang and Song but their activity is much developed by the Yuan, experiencing a sustainable development towards the end of this dynasty, from around 1350 CE.
The painting under glaze and the cobalt blue are both imports made by the Yuan from the Muslim world for the porcelains of Jingdezhen. The white porcelain was painted on the moulded body with blue figures, and then glazed and fired. The excellent quality of the cobalt imported from Iran enabled a color gradation up to the deep blue, inviting to exquisite figurative motifs.
The globular guan shape, previously used in terracotta, was much appreciated for the top end Yuan porcelain jars.
Very fond of warlike feats, the Yuan Mongols enjoyed the zaju, a form of drama invented by their predecessors the Song. The zaju was a multidisciplinary staged show with recitations, songs, dance and mime. The Yuan zajus narrated the epic legends of the Han or the Tang.
Two forms of porcelain wares were favourable to illustrate the zaju : the guan jar used for the wine and the meiping vase for arranging plum blossom branches. The cobalt drawing filled a circular scene all around the body.
On July 12, 2005, Christie's sold for £ 15.7M a Yuan guan jar 33 cm high illustrated in an intense blue from the finest cobalt, lot 88. It is similar in its construction with seven other surviving jars probably from the same workshop in Jingdezhen ca 1350. All but one have a band of breaking waves on the short straight neck. It is similar in its skillful painting with a vase inscribed to the equivalent of 1351 CE.
Its hectic story, not otherwise known in the porcelains, had occurred when the presumably invincible state of Yan attempted to conquer the state of Qi, a theme that indeed appealed the Mongol conquerors of China. The cart of the Qi emissary is pulled by two felines. This figure was directly inspired from a woodblock print made in the 1320s.
The image is titled Guigu on a banner, referring to the home city of a strategist of the action.
From the same series as the jar sold for £ 15.7M by Christie's in 2005, a 27.3 cm high cobalt blue guan jar was sold for HK $ 47M by Christie's on November 28, 2005, lot 1403. It is inscribed within the picture with the three characters Jin Xiang Ting meaning Pavilion of fragrant brocades.
Painted in deep and vibrant cobalt blue, it displays two pairs of standing figures in court attire in a garden beside a lone pavilion. It is representing the zaju of a troubled romance in the reign of the Xuanzong emperor of the Tang.
A Yuan jar decorated with fish was sold for HK $ 40M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2022, lot 6. Its baluster guan shape is 31 cm high and 34 cm in its larger diameter.
It is painted in cobalt blue of four fishes in different species, modeled from Song paintings. The naturalism of swimming fish was then considered as an artistic feat on which some artists were specializing. The association of fish and water is a Daoist symbol of spiritual freedom.
The magnificent underglaze blue hues from light to deep assess a perfect mastery of the recently imported cobalt by the Jingdezhen potters. This one has the same band of breaking waves on its short straight neck as the zaju jars.
A fish jar with the same design is kept at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. The theme was re-used a century later for the Xuande emperor of the Ming.
The Yuan sought to establish a synthesis of Mongolian and Chinese traditions, but they were foreigners. They strengthened their position by facilitating maritime and land communication with other Asian countries, reviving the Silk Road. At that time the Chinese ceramics, especially those from Jingdezhen, are the only ones that are hygienic enough to bring no health risk to the user.
The Jingdezhen kilns were already operational under the Tang and Song but their activity is much developed by the Yuan, experiencing a sustainable development towards the end of this dynasty, from around 1350 CE.
The painting under glaze and the cobalt blue are both imports made by the Yuan from the Muslim world for the porcelains of Jingdezhen. The white porcelain was painted on the moulded body with blue figures, and then glazed and fired. The excellent quality of the cobalt imported from Iran enabled a color gradation up to the deep blue, inviting to exquisite figurative motifs.
The globular guan shape, previously used in terracotta, was much appreciated for the top end Yuan porcelain jars.
Very fond of warlike feats, the Yuan Mongols enjoyed the zaju, a form of drama invented by their predecessors the Song. The zaju was a multidisciplinary staged show with recitations, songs, dance and mime. The Yuan zajus narrated the epic legends of the Han or the Tang.
Two forms of porcelain wares were favourable to illustrate the zaju : the guan jar used for the wine and the meiping vase for arranging plum blossom branches. The cobalt drawing filled a circular scene all around the body.
On July 12, 2005, Christie's sold for £ 15.7M a Yuan guan jar 33 cm high illustrated in an intense blue from the finest cobalt, lot 88. It is similar in its construction with seven other surviving jars probably from the same workshop in Jingdezhen ca 1350. All but one have a band of breaking waves on the short straight neck. It is similar in its skillful painting with a vase inscribed to the equivalent of 1351 CE.
Its hectic story, not otherwise known in the porcelains, had occurred when the presumably invincible state of Yan attempted to conquer the state of Qi, a theme that indeed appealed the Mongol conquerors of China. The cart of the Qi emissary is pulled by two felines. This figure was directly inspired from a woodblock print made in the 1320s.
The image is titled Guigu on a banner, referring to the home city of a strategist of the action.
From the same series as the jar sold for £ 15.7M by Christie's in 2005, a 27.3 cm high cobalt blue guan jar was sold for HK $ 47M by Christie's on November 28, 2005, lot 1403. It is inscribed within the picture with the three characters Jin Xiang Ting meaning Pavilion of fragrant brocades.
Painted in deep and vibrant cobalt blue, it displays two pairs of standing figures in court attire in a garden beside a lone pavilion. It is representing the zaju of a troubled romance in the reign of the Xuanzong emperor of the Tang.
A Yuan jar decorated with fish was sold for HK $ 40M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2022, lot 6. Its baluster guan shape is 31 cm high and 34 cm in its larger diameter.
It is painted in cobalt blue of four fishes in different species, modeled from Song paintings. The naturalism of swimming fish was then considered as an artistic feat on which some artists were specializing. The association of fish and water is a Daoist symbol of spiritual freedom.
The magnificent underglaze blue hues from light to deep assess a perfect mastery of the recently imported cobalt by the Jingdezhen potters. This one has the same band of breaking waves on its short straight neck as the zaju jars.
A fish jar with the same design is kept at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. The theme was re-used a century later for the Xuande emperor of the Ming.
1366 Two Lions at the Feet of the King
2017 SOLD for £ 9.4M including premium
In the long line of the kings of France the succession of Jean II in 1364 during the Hundred Years War is one of the most disputed. The 26 year old dauphin had been régent while his father was a prisoner and he was clever. Having won this ruthless dynastic competition, he will be Charles V le Sage.
The divine authority claimed by the legitimate heir is not sufficient to preserve and protect his power. Upon his accession Charles V multiplies the symbols of his superiority and of his prosperity. The lion is his emblem.
To maintain the chain of legitimacy they must also rehabilitate the ineffective Jean II. In the very first year of his reign Charles V decides to build the funerary monuments of Jean and of Jean's parents in the traditional necropolis of the Capétiens at Saint-Denis. He adds the commission for his own tomb, which is a considerable innovation for the time.
The contractor of the four monuments is the best sculptor of that period, known from a royal document as Andreu Bauneveu, André Beauneveu in modern French. The king is powerful and must be honored as a priority : his gisant (recumbent) is the best of the four with a beautiful polishing of the white marble. Beauneveu worked until 1366 on that site.
The royal monuments of Saint-Denis were dismantled in 1793. The outstanding pieces were recovered by the archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir, founder at the request of the government in 1791 of the Musée des Monuments Français for collecting artworks confiscated to the clergy by the Révolution. During the Restauration in 1816 King Louis XVIII obliged Lenoir to relocate to Saint-Denis what remained from the monuments of the necropolis including the gisant of Charles V by Beauneveu.
The monument of Charles V included a group of two addorsed lions which was placed at the feet of the king. This group was only known from one sketch drawing made by an antiquarian scholar. It has just been rediscovered in the descendance of an English collector who had acquired it in 1802, certainly bought to Lenoir whose financial backing was low at that time.
This group of lions is a marble of the same quality as its gisant and certainly executed by the same artist. The fixing points of this statue match exactly the distance of the associated points on the feet of the gisant.
The Beauneveu lions, 45 x 29 x 12 cm, will be sold as lot 10 by Christie's in London on July 6. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The divine authority claimed by the legitimate heir is not sufficient to preserve and protect his power. Upon his accession Charles V multiplies the symbols of his superiority and of his prosperity. The lion is his emblem.
To maintain the chain of legitimacy they must also rehabilitate the ineffective Jean II. In the very first year of his reign Charles V decides to build the funerary monuments of Jean and of Jean's parents in the traditional necropolis of the Capétiens at Saint-Denis. He adds the commission for his own tomb, which is a considerable innovation for the time.
The contractor of the four monuments is the best sculptor of that period, known from a royal document as Andreu Bauneveu, André Beauneveu in modern French. The king is powerful and must be honored as a priority : his gisant (recumbent) is the best of the four with a beautiful polishing of the white marble. Beauneveu worked until 1366 on that site.
The royal monuments of Saint-Denis were dismantled in 1793. The outstanding pieces were recovered by the archaeologist Alexandre Lenoir, founder at the request of the government in 1791 of the Musée des Monuments Français for collecting artworks confiscated to the clergy by the Révolution. During the Restauration in 1816 King Louis XVIII obliged Lenoir to relocate to Saint-Denis what remained from the monuments of the necropolis including the gisant of Charles V by Beauneveu.
The monument of Charles V included a group of two addorsed lions which was placed at the feet of the king. This group was only known from one sketch drawing made by an antiquarian scholar. It has just been rediscovered in the descendance of an English collector who had acquired it in 1802, certainly bought to Lenoir whose financial backing was low at that time.
This group of lions is a marble of the same quality as its gisant and certainly executed by the same artist. The fixing points of this statue match exactly the distance of the associated points on the feet of the gisant.
The Beauneveu lions, 45 x 29 x 12 cm, will be sold as lot 10 by Christie's in London on July 6. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Medieval re-discovery: Marble lions from the tomb of King Charles V of France lead our July Exceptional Sale https://t.co/koBGpTxseZ pic.twitter.com/Pjb4ckDSrf
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) February 21, 2017