Decade 1700-1709
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Early Qing Imperial seal Silverware Stradivarius Ancient England
See also : Early Qing Imperial seal Silverware Stradivarius Ancient England
Mughal Pashmina Carpet
2013 SOLD for £ 4.8M by Christie's
Mughal carpets are considered as the masterpieces from the textiles of India. One of them had remained during a century in the Vanderbilt family where it was highlighted by prolonged exposure in places of honor of the mansions.
Measuring 388 x 411 cm, it has a classic repetitive decor with a star lattice and anticipates the millefleurs fashion of the 18th century. The drawing of the edge is a later design. It was woven about 300 years ago in North India, but its appeal is largely due to the fact that it is not oldest, once will not hurt !
Indeed, the great ancient silk woven Mughal carpets are most often significantly degraded. The Vanderbilt specimen is woven in cotton, in ivory color for the warp and blue for the weft. The upper layer or pile with the decorative pattern is in pashmina which is a wool from Kashmir. This magnificent piece of textile in very good condition keeps both its suppleness and its strength.
It was sold for £ 4.8M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M by Christie's on October 8, 2013, lot 50. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Measuring 388 x 411 cm, it has a classic repetitive decor with a star lattice and anticipates the millefleurs fashion of the 18th century. The drawing of the edge is a later design. It was woven about 300 years ago in North India, but its appeal is largely due to the fact that it is not oldest, once will not hurt !
Indeed, the great ancient silk woven Mughal carpets are most often significantly degraded. The Vanderbilt specimen is woven in cotton, in ivory color for the warp and blue for the weft. The upper layer or pile with the decorative pattern is in pashmina which is a wool from Kashmir. This magnificent piece of textile in very good condition keeps both its suppleness and its strength.
It was sold for £ 4.8M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M by Christie's on October 8, 2013, lot 50. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
1700 Pair of Cabinets by Boulle
2012 SOLD for € 2.85M by Europ Auction (declared fraudulent in 2014)
Cabinets of curiosities aroused vocations for specialized collections. It was however required that the storage of medals, insects or shellfish was made easy.
The classical tall armoire was not appropriate. Boulle, always inclined to create furniture adapted to practical needs, develops around 1700 a model of low cabinets with many thin drawers.
The collection hobby is the prerogative of an elite of rich courtiers. Made in pairs and inlaid in partie and contre-partie, these small pieces of furniture are among the most lavishly decorated works of the master.
One of these pairs, 102 cm high, was sold for € 2.85M from a lower estimate of € 1.5 M by Europ Auction on September 26, 2012. It is dated from Louis XIV reign without further accuracy. The sale was declared fraudulent in 2014 by the Conseil des Ventes.
Each cabinet has twelve drawers in three columns, each column being hidden behind a panel. The panel on front side opens in a luxurious surrounding of bronzes. It is decorated with a vase of flowers in inlaid copper, tin and tortoiseshell. The other two panels, one on each lateral side of the cabinet, are decorated with simulated drawers, a very nice proof of the humor of their creator.
This shape of furniture has been successful throughout the eighteenth century, especially with Etienne Levasseur who was the best successor to the Boulle family. A pair of cabinets stamped by Levasseur circa 1785 was sold CHF 1.5M by the same auction house on June 23, 2010.
The classical tall armoire was not appropriate. Boulle, always inclined to create furniture adapted to practical needs, develops around 1700 a model of low cabinets with many thin drawers.
The collection hobby is the prerogative of an elite of rich courtiers. Made in pairs and inlaid in partie and contre-partie, these small pieces of furniture are among the most lavishly decorated works of the master.
One of these pairs, 102 cm high, was sold for € 2.85M from a lower estimate of € 1.5 M by Europ Auction on September 26, 2012. It is dated from Louis XIV reign without further accuracy. The sale was declared fraudulent in 2014 by the Conseil des Ventes.
Each cabinet has twelve drawers in three columns, each column being hidden behind a panel. The panel on front side opens in a luxurious surrounding of bronzes. It is decorated with a vase of flowers in inlaid copper, tin and tortoiseshell. The other two panels, one on each lateral side of the cabinet, are decorated with simulated drawers, a very nice proof of the humor of their creator.
This shape of furniture has been successful throughout the eighteenth century, especially with Etienne Levasseur who was the best successor to the Boulle family. A pair of cabinets stamped by Levasseur circa 1785 was sold CHF 1.5M by the same auction house on June 23, 2010.
1700-1710 CK Silver Punch Bowl
2010 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Sotheby's
In North America, the Anglo-Dutch War terminated Nieuw Nederland in 1674, but wealthy Dutch merchants remained influential in New York City and Albany. Abraham de Peyster was mayor of New York City from 1691 to 1694. His brother and then his brother-in-law were mayors from 1698 to 1700.
Cornelius Kierstede belonged to the same community. He was a silversmith in New York City from 1698 to 1722 except for a brief stay in Albany from 1704 to 1706. He ended his career in New Haven. He specialized in chased silver tankards, mugs and bowls.
The Dutch are crazy about brandewijn, an eau de vie of wine drunk with water. Their New York community maintains this tradition. At family celebrations, the guests serve themselves with a silver spoon in a bowl containing the delicious liquid and raisins.
A New York-style bowl with six embossed silver panels surfaced in 2009 in England in the descent of a Loyalist officer of the Revolutionary War.
This piece made between 1700 and 1710 is marked CK for Kierstede. Measuring 32 cm in diameter and 44 cm overall with handles, it weighs 2,065 g and is the largest known piece of colonial silverware from before 1750.
Its first owner was necessarily one of the richest Dutch merchants in New York City or Albany. Several pieces marked by Kierstede belonged to the de Peyster family. Abraham is the best candidate : in 1634 his will listed nearly 50 kg of silverware including a large punch bowl which may be the recently found piece.
This bowl was sold by Sotheby's on January 22, 2010 for $ 5.9M from a lower estimate of $ 400K, lot 443.
Cornelius Kierstede belonged to the same community. He was a silversmith in New York City from 1698 to 1722 except for a brief stay in Albany from 1704 to 1706. He ended his career in New Haven. He specialized in chased silver tankards, mugs and bowls.
The Dutch are crazy about brandewijn, an eau de vie of wine drunk with water. Their New York community maintains this tradition. At family celebrations, the guests serve themselves with a silver spoon in a bowl containing the delicious liquid and raisins.
A New York-style bowl with six embossed silver panels surfaced in 2009 in England in the descent of a Loyalist officer of the Revolutionary War.
This piece made between 1700 and 1710 is marked CK for Kierstede. Measuring 32 cm in diameter and 44 cm overall with handles, it weighs 2,065 g and is the largest known piece of colonial silverware from before 1750.
Its first owner was necessarily one of the richest Dutch merchants in New York City or Albany. Several pieces marked by Kierstede belonged to the de Peyster family. Abraham is the best candidate : in 1634 his will listed nearly 50 kg of silverware including a large punch bowl which may be the recently found piece.
This bowl was sold by Sotheby's on January 22, 2010 for $ 5.9M from a lower estimate of $ 400K, lot 443.
BADA SHANREN
1
1703 Album
2017 SOLD for $ 3.13M by Sotheby's
Bada Shanren often assembles his works in albums in which at least one image is dated.
An album of twelve leaves 29 x 20 cm made in 1703 by Bada Shanren bringing together flowers, birds, fish and fruit was sold for $ 3.13M by Sotheby's on March 16, 2017, lot 844.
An album of twelve leaves 29 x 20 cm made in 1703 by Bada Shanren bringing together flowers, birds, fish and fruit was sold for $ 3.13M by Sotheby's on March 16, 2017, lot 844.
2
1705 Bamboos, Rocks and Mandarin Ducks
2010 SOLD for RMB 120M by Xiling Yinshe
Bamboos, rocks and mandarin ducks, hanging scroll in ink on paper 122 x 65 cm by Bada Shanren, was sold for RMB 120M from a lower estimate of RMB 35M by Xiling Yinshe on December 13, 2010, lot 1807. It is dated of the spring of Yiyou matching 1705 CE, the year of the artist's death aged 79. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
The composition is made of two fully separated registers in a bold diagonal. The sharp line is limited to three flowers on the protruding rock, and a tight pair of swimming ducks just over the shore. The rest of it is made in pre-expressionist wide black brushstrokes and dark gray wash. No limit was established between water and sky.
The composition is made of two fully separated registers in a bold diagonal. The sharp line is limited to three flowers on the protruding rock, and a tight pair of swimming ducks just over the shore. The rest of it is made in pre-expressionist wide black brushstrokes and dark gray wash. No limit was established between water and sky.
Violin by STRADIVARI
1
1705 Baron von der Leyen Violin
2012 SOLD for $ 2.6 M by Tarisio
After 1698, Stradivari switched from the Long Strad violin to a slightly shorter model.
The Lady Tennant violin, whose stradivarius label is dated 1699, is an early example of the new style which opens the Golden Age of the master. The length of its back is 354 mm, to be compared for example with the 355 mm of the Hammer made in 1707. It was sold for $ 2.03M by Christie's on April 22, 2005, lot 245.
On April 26, 2012, Tarisio sold for $ 2.6M a Stradivarius violin, little known and well preserved, manufactured around 1705, the Baron von der Leyen. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The Lady Tennant violin, whose stradivarius label is dated 1699, is an early example of the new style which opens the Golden Age of the master. The length of its back is 354 mm, to be compared for example with the 355 mm of the Hammer made in 1707. It was sold for $ 2.03M by Christie's on April 22, 2005, lot 245.
On April 26, 2012, Tarisio sold for $ 2.6M a Stradivarius violin, little known and well preserved, manufactured around 1705, the Baron von der Leyen. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
2
1707 Hammer Violin
2006 SOLD for $ 3.5M by Christie's
The Hammer is a violin from the first decade of the Golden Age of Stradivari. Its stradivarius label is dated 1707.
It was sold for $ 3.5M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on May 16, 2006, lot 199.
It was sold for $ 3.5M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on May 16, 2006, lot 199.
3
1708 Empress Caterina Violin
2023 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Tarisio
Visiting Russia in 1898, Alfred Hill from the London based firm of violin experts and dealers W. E. Hill and Sons catalogued the collection of Prince Yusupov, a late Marshal of the Imperial Court. So surfaced 16 previously unknown instruments by Stradivari.
One of them was a violin bearing its original label, "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis, Faciebat Anno 1708". Alfred established that it had been procured in the mid 18th century by the Russian ambassador to Venice for the use of the reigning empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
The instrument passed in 1763 to the new reigning empress Catherine (the Great) who had overthrown Elizabeth's successor Peter III, her husband. From Catherine it went to colonel Gribovsky, a secretary of state who was a keen amateur violinist and operated an orchestra of serfs.
Hill brought that imperial stradivarius to his firm which sold it to Mrs Stothert, a brilliant violinist who parted of it for acquiring a later stradivarius, the 1714 Dolphin of later Heifetz fame.
Known as the Empress Caterina, the 1708 stradivarius was sold for $ 5.9M by Tarisio on June 8, 2023, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
One of them was a violin bearing its original label, "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis, Faciebat Anno 1708". Alfred established that it had been procured in the mid 18th century by the Russian ambassador to Venice for the use of the reigning empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
The instrument passed in 1763 to the new reigning empress Catherine (the Great) who had overthrown Elizabeth's successor Peter III, her husband. From Catherine it went to colonel Gribovsky, a secretary of state who was a keen amateur violinist and operated an orchestra of serfs.
Hill brought that imperial stradivarius to his firm which sold it to Mrs Stothert, a brilliant violinist who parted of it for acquiring a later stradivarius, the 1714 Dolphin of later Heifetz fame.
Known as the Empress Caterina, the 1708 stradivarius was sold for $ 5.9M by Tarisio on June 8, 2023, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1705-1706 Cooler by Rollos
2010 SOLD for £ 2.5M by Sotheby's
The piece is enormous, all in silver : oval, 1.30 m overall in its greatest diameter including the handles in the shape of half lions, 80.8 kg. Manufactured in 1705-1706 in London by Philip Rollos, it is a cooler, where the bottles could be placed within mountains of ice.
This silverware had been created on an initiative by Queen Anne. Seeking to ensure the standing of her ambassadors, she allocated to them a weight of silver with which they could have made an object enabling them to dazzle in society.
The ambassador in Berlin, from the Wentworth family, exceeded his quota and had to share the expenses. In any other country than England, this enormous bucket would risk a thousand times to be melted during the three centuries of its existence.
Still in the family of its first owner, it was sold for £ 2.5M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M by Sotheby's on July 6, 2010. A photograph in the catalog shows some fifteen bottles of champagne prepared for an immediate use. The catalog names it a "cistern"!
This silverware had been created on an initiative by Queen Anne. Seeking to ensure the standing of her ambassadors, she allocated to them a weight of silver with which they could have made an object enabling them to dazzle in society.
The ambassador in Berlin, from the Wentworth family, exceeded his quota and had to share the expenses. In any other country than England, this enormous bucket would risk a thousand times to be melted during the three centuries of its existence.
Still in the family of its first owner, it was sold for £ 2.5M from a lower estimate of £ 1.5M by Sotheby's on July 6, 2010. A photograph in the catalog shows some fifteen bottles of champagne prepared for an immediate use. The catalog names it a "cistern"!
Kangxi Seal
1
Jingtian Qinmin Sandalwood Seal
2016 SOLD for HK$ 93M by Sotheby's
The Kangxi emperor had a very high opinion of his political responsibilities. He was the only intercessor between the heaven and the people. His Qing dynasty was of Manchu origin and he had to maintain his authority against the ethnic Chinese. He succeeded marvelously since his reign combined with those of his son and his grandson assured peace and prosperity in an unprecedented effectiveness during more than hundred years.
Seals were used to improve the documents with the deep thinking of the emperor himself, so constituting a method to express and spread the imperial mottos. A politically important mark was the Jingtian Qinmin blessing : revere heaven and serve thy people. The emperor is not a despot. If he forgets his duty, he must be overthrown. Kangxi reigned during 61 years, from 1661 to 1722 CE.
Kangxi's Jingtian Qinmin seal was made for the use of the Qianqinggong, the Palace of Ultimate Purity within the Forbidden City. This is a monoxyle piece of sandalwood (tanxiangmu) 10 cm square surmounted by the a beast for a total height of 11 cm, a big size for any seal.
The bulky beast is imaginary, between pig and dog. It is quietly recumbent on the whole seal top and the nice caramel brown color of the wood makes it a sort of friendly pet, confirming that this emperor was more sympathetic than his successors.
This unique piece was sold for HK $ 93M by Sotheby's on April 6, 2016, lot 3101, and passed in the same auction room on April 22, 2021, lot 3602.
It is not sure if the Jingtian Qinmin was ever used by Kangxi for stamping a document. Its high importance was assessed posthumously. A replica of the inscription was made in jade in the very first year of the reign of Yongzheng with an entirely different finial. When Qianlong established the Kangxi Baosou displaying all the marks used by his grandfather, it appeared in the first position.
Seals were used to improve the documents with the deep thinking of the emperor himself, so constituting a method to express and spread the imperial mottos. A politically important mark was the Jingtian Qinmin blessing : revere heaven and serve thy people. The emperor is not a despot. If he forgets his duty, he must be overthrown. Kangxi reigned during 61 years, from 1661 to 1722 CE.
Kangxi's Jingtian Qinmin seal was made for the use of the Qianqinggong, the Palace of Ultimate Purity within the Forbidden City. This is a monoxyle piece of sandalwood (tanxiangmu) 10 cm square surmounted by the a beast for a total height of 11 cm, a big size for any seal.
The bulky beast is imaginary, between pig and dog. It is quietly recumbent on the whole seal top and the nice caramel brown color of the wood makes it a sort of friendly pet, confirming that this emperor was more sympathetic than his successors.
This unique piece was sold for HK $ 93M by Sotheby's on April 6, 2016, lot 3101, and passed in the same auction room on April 22, 2021, lot 3602.
It is not sure if the Jingtian Qinmin was ever used by Kangxi for stamping a document. Its high importance was assessed posthumously. A replica of the inscription was made in jade in the very first year of the reign of Yongzheng with an entirely different finial. When Qianlong established the Kangxi Baosou displaying all the marks used by his grandfather, it appeared in the first position.
2
Steatite Seal
2008 SOLD for € 5.6M by Hervé Chassaing
An imperial Kangxi seal of large size (14 x 10 x 10 cm) in steatite was sold for € 5.6M from a lowr estimate of € 500K by Hervé Chassaing on June 14, 2008. It is accompanied by its lacquered box.
The owner did not know the quality and value of this lot, and there is a gap of ownership traceability since 1946..
The owner did not know the quality and value of this lot, and there is a gap of ownership traceability since 1946..
