Decade 1770-1779
See also : Louis XIV to XVI George I to III Russia 1700-1900 Birth of USA 18th century painting Ancient French painting Orientalism Cats Oceania US painting before 1940 Ancient drawing Furniture 18th century furniture Ancient French furniture Clocks Old clocks European ceramics Silverware Arms Ancient arms Firearms II Early US coins Silver coins Political writing Autograph Qianlong
1765-1770 A Bureau Table made in Newport
2013 SOLD 2.2 M$ including premium
The most prestigious and most original colonial American furniture has been made by a Quaker family in Newport where they were installed since 1707. The son of one of the founders, John Townsend, is the best known. Last year, in January, I discussed two furniture signed by him, sold $ 3.6 million including premium and 3.45 million including premium respectively by Sotheby's and Christie's.
You can still find colonial treasures in the United States. A small mahogany furniture, 82 cm high and 93 cm wide, had never been appraised. The signature in graphite by John Townsend has been discovered under one of the drawers.
Identified as a bureau table, it is typical of the 'block and shell' Newport style. It is divided into three parts including two side columns of block drawers, and adorned with radiant shells in its upper part.
This furniture has several qualities. It seems clear that John Townsend did only sign his best pieces and the design of this one is not the most common. The fact that the signature is handwritten and the detailed study of the ornaments enable to date it to the best time of the cabinetmaker, between 1765 and 1770. It is in very good condition. The brass imported from Birmingham in England has retained much of its original organic coating.
It is estimated $ 700K, for sale by Christie's in New York on January 25. The price that such colonial furniture can reach is often difficult to predict. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The best colonial American pieces of furniture often exceed their estimates. This was the case, of course, for this one: $ 2.2 million including premium.
You can still find colonial treasures in the United States. A small mahogany furniture, 82 cm high and 93 cm wide, had never been appraised. The signature in graphite by John Townsend has been discovered under one of the drawers.
Identified as a bureau table, it is typical of the 'block and shell' Newport style. It is divided into three parts including two side columns of block drawers, and adorned with radiant shells in its upper part.
This furniture has several qualities. It seems clear that John Townsend did only sign his best pieces and the design of this one is not the most common. The fact that the signature is handwritten and the detailed study of the ornaments enable to date it to the best time of the cabinetmaker, between 1765 and 1770. It is in very good condition. The brass imported from Birmingham in England has retained much of its original organic coating.
It is estimated $ 700K, for sale by Christie's in New York on January 25. The price that such colonial furniture can reach is often difficult to predict. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The best colonial American pieces of furniture often exceed their estimates. This was the case, of course, for this one: $ 2.2 million including premium.
1770 The Girls get up
2006 SOLD 2.7 M£ including premium by Sotheby's
2014 UNSOLD
PRE 2014 SALE DISCUSSION
Jean-Honoré Fragonard looks for fame, and specializes in the boudoir painting so much appreciated in the licentious court of Louis XV. In 1769, his marriage with the miniaturist Marie-Anne Gérard changes his vision of life and art.
For his new customers enjoying the risqué, Fragonard shows how love leads girls from innocence to motherhood. He treats this highly Rousseauist theme in remaining voluntarily at the border between genre and eroticism, not restraining to show the shirts wide open on bare flesh.
These future women are playing with small dogs. They still know nothing about love. The brushwork is fast, without preliminary drawing, providing the impression of spontaneity and freshness intended by the artist.
An oil on canvas painted circa 1770, 74 x 59 cm, shows two girls at get-up time in full light. One of them is standing and tries to dance her dog. The pet is observed by the other girl, still in bed with her own dog. In the shadow on the left, a mirror reflects the first girl.
This painting was sold for £ 2.7 million including premium by Sotheby's on July 5, 2006, having been earlier sold 8.2 million FF by Etude Tajan on December 12, 1995. Expecting another gain, it is estimated $ 6M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 30. Here is the link to the catalog .
POST 2014 SALE COMMENT
The expected gain in relation to the 2006 sale was not realistic. Unsold
Jean-Honoré Fragonard looks for fame, and specializes in the boudoir painting so much appreciated in the licentious court of Louis XV. In 1769, his marriage with the miniaturist Marie-Anne Gérard changes his vision of life and art.
For his new customers enjoying the risqué, Fragonard shows how love leads girls from innocence to motherhood. He treats this highly Rousseauist theme in remaining voluntarily at the border between genre and eroticism, not restraining to show the shirts wide open on bare flesh.
These future women are playing with small dogs. They still know nothing about love. The brushwork is fast, without preliminary drawing, providing the impression of spontaneity and freshness intended by the artist.
An oil on canvas painted circa 1770, 74 x 59 cm, shows two girls at get-up time in full light. One of them is standing and tries to dance her dog. The pet is observed by the other girl, still in bed with her own dog. In the shadow on the left, a mirror reflects the first girl.
This painting was sold for £ 2.7 million including premium by Sotheby's on July 5, 2006, having been earlier sold 8.2 million FF by Etude Tajan on December 12, 1995. Expecting another gain, it is estimated $ 6M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on January 30. Here is the link to the catalog .
POST 2014 SALE COMMENT
The expected gain in relation to the 2006 sale was not realistic. Unsold
1770 Blue Portraits by Thomas Gainsborough
2016 SOLD for $ 3.25M including premium
Landscape paintings are selling badly. Thomas Gainsborough becomes a portraitist and moves to Bath in search of a clientele of wealthy tourists. Patrons appreciate altogether the realistic achievement and the speedy execution without preliminary drawing by this gifted artist who does not make them waste their time.
The Royal Academy of Arts is founded in 1768. The first exhibition made in the following year marks the triumph of its first president, Joshua Reynolds, who expresses his theories in popular lectures. Gainsborough, who is a founding member of the Academy, disagrees. The opposition between the theoretical approach of Reynolds and the spontaneity of Gainsborough exacerbates their fertile rivalry.
Reynolds does not like the cold colors. Gainsborough is seeking their merit by studying the best portraitist who has worked in England, Van Dyck. The blue captures the attention of the viewer and can be used in large areas to show a silk garment. His Blue boy, oil on canvas 178 x 112 cm painted circa 1770, is a famous challenge by Gainsborough to Reynolds.
On January 27 in New York, Sotheby's sells the Blue page by Gainsborough, lot 62 estimated $ 3M. The discussions to identify whether this oil on canvas 166 x 113 cm is a sketch or a following to the Blue boy are inconclusive.
Gainsborough painted the Blue page for his private use with the same model as the Blue boy, perhaps his nephew and assistant who was sixteen years old. The difficulty of identifying the background of the scene can be interpreted as a test for the balance of colors but the less static attitude of the boy who goes away after achieving his session appears instead as a conclusion.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
The Royal Academy of Arts is founded in 1768. The first exhibition made in the following year marks the triumph of its first president, Joshua Reynolds, who expresses his theories in popular lectures. Gainsborough, who is a founding member of the Academy, disagrees. The opposition between the theoretical approach of Reynolds and the spontaneity of Gainsborough exacerbates their fertile rivalry.
Reynolds does not like the cold colors. Gainsborough is seeking their merit by studying the best portraitist who has worked in England, Van Dyck. The blue captures the attention of the viewer and can be used in large areas to show a silk garment. His Blue boy, oil on canvas 178 x 112 cm painted circa 1770, is a famous challenge by Gainsborough to Reynolds.
On January 27 in New York, Sotheby's sells the Blue page by Gainsborough, lot 62 estimated $ 3M. The discussions to identify whether this oil on canvas 166 x 113 cm is a sketch or a following to the Blue boy are inconclusive.
Gainsborough painted the Blue page for his private use with the same model as the Blue boy, perhaps his nephew and assistant who was sixteen years old. The difficulty of identifying the background of the scene can be interpreted as a test for the balance of colors but the less static attitude of the boy who goes away after achieving his session appears instead as a conclusion.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's.
1770 Catherine of Russia promotes the French Taste
2013 SOLD 1.78 M€ including premium
In 1770, the Empress Catherine desires a full service of silverware. It must be gorgeous and she decides to have it done in Paris. The silversmiths Roettiers father and son realize about 3000 pieces in a remarkably short time, 18 months.
Catherine was so happy with the result that she offered the service to her favorite, Count Orloff, and then took the whole back for her shortly after his death. Known afterwards as the Orloff service, this is a great example of the neoclassical style that took over the rococo with more power in the shape and better simplicity in the decoration.
Many pieces have disappeared, probably melted, and what remained was dispersed by the Soviet government. The arrival on the market of heavy pieces from the Orloff service is always an event.
On 19 April 2002, Christie's sold for $ 930K including premium a pair of high vase-shaped coolers. The total weight of this lot was 9468 g.
Two lots of pieces from the Orloff service are sold by Christie's in Paris on November 8.
The tureen with cover and stand made in 1770 by the younger Roettiers is estimated € 1.5 million, for a total weight of 11960 g. Here is the link to the catalog.
A suite of four candlesticks made in 1771 also by the son is estimated € 500K, for a total weight of 7460 g. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result is consistent with the expectation for these two prestigious lots: € 1.78 million including premium for the tureen and € 600K including premium for the suite of candlesticks.
Catherine was so happy with the result that she offered the service to her favorite, Count Orloff, and then took the whole back for her shortly after his death. Known afterwards as the Orloff service, this is a great example of the neoclassical style that took over the rococo with more power in the shape and better simplicity in the decoration.
Many pieces have disappeared, probably melted, and what remained was dispersed by the Soviet government. The arrival on the market of heavy pieces from the Orloff service is always an event.
On 19 April 2002, Christie's sold for $ 930K including premium a pair of high vase-shaped coolers. The total weight of this lot was 9468 g.
Two lots of pieces from the Orloff service are sold by Christie's in Paris on November 8.
The tureen with cover and stand made in 1770 by the younger Roettiers is estimated € 1.5 million, for a total weight of 11960 g. Here is the link to the catalog.
A suite of four candlesticks made in 1771 also by the son is estimated € 500K, for a total weight of 7460 g. Here is the link to the catalog.
POST SALE COMMENT
The result is consistent with the expectation for these two prestigious lots: € 1.78 million including premium for the tureen and € 600K including premium for the suite of candlesticks.
1773 Calligraphy Scrolls by the Qianlong Emperor
2014 SOLD for RMB yuan 116M including premium by Poly
Link to press release (not illustrated)
ca 1774 Régulateur de Parquet by Berthoud
1999 SOLD for £ 1.93M including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1775 Gainsborough, the Master of the English Portrait
2011 SOLD 6.5 M£ including premium
Chance may sometimes play a part in the auctions. Two portraits by Thomas Gainsborough will meet on July 5 at Christie's in London. The young woman and the colonel are not presented in pendants: these people had no particular reason to be aware of one another, and the artworks come from separate collections.
Each of these oils on canvas is a full-length portrait, standing, life size or so. The Lady sitted circa 1775. The painting measures 226 x 147 cm. The Colonel is typical of the art of the master around 1780. Its format, 227 x 152 cm, is almost identical.
Both models look towards the artist. The masquerade dress of the young woman and the military uniform are illustrated with great realism, like the faces of the sitters.
Estimates give the advantage to the Lady, with £ 4M. Colonel expects £ 3.5 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Honor to the Lady, sold £ 6.5 million including premium.
In June 2002 at Sotheby's, the Colonel was worth £ 2.4 million hammer. The expected added value was too high. Unsold.
Each of these oils on canvas is a full-length portrait, standing, life size or so. The Lady sitted circa 1775. The painting measures 226 x 147 cm. The Colonel is typical of the art of the master around 1780. Its format, 227 x 152 cm, is almost identical.
Both models look towards the artist. The masquerade dress of the young woman and the military uniform are illustrated with great realism, like the faces of the sitters.
Estimates give the advantage to the Lady, with £ 4M. Colonel expects £ 3.5 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
Honor to the Lady, sold £ 6.5 million including premium.
In June 2002 at Sotheby's, the Colonel was worth £ 2.4 million hammer. The expected added value was too high. Unsold.
1775-1776 pair of Lafayette-Washington saddle pistols
2002 SOLD 2 M$ including premium by Christie's
Illustrated at Nr 3 in a Top 5 review shared by Paul Fraser.
1776 Portrait of Omai by Joshua Reynolds
2001 SOLD 10.3 M£ including premium by Sotheby's
Shared by Wikimedia :
1776 Exotic Tygers
2014 SOLD 7.7 M£ including premium
Famous for his paintings of horses with or without riders, George Stubbs was primarily an anatomist in the great period of curiosity of the mid-eighteenth century. He published in 1766 The Anatomy of the Horse, illustrated with drawings.
Images of horses were welcomed by the English aristocracy. Stubbs was a gifted painter. He was the only artist capable of applying the theme of the animal as a specialty of major art.
In London, menageries are in the trend. Visitors dream of the distant lands from where the wild beasts have come. As early as 1762 Stubbs painted a lion attacking a horse. Lions and those other big cats designated at that time under the generic term of tygers soon occupy the top place in his art.
On July 9 in London, Sotheby's sells Tygers at play, oil on canvas 102 x 127 cm estimated £ 4M.
Two leopard kittens play with great vivacity in an imaginary exotic landscape certainly inspired by the passion of the contemporaries for Cook's discoveries. These friendly animals respond positively to the postulate of Rousseau on natural goodness at birth.
This undated painting was exhibited for the first time in 1776. Carefully preserved with discretion for almost two centuries by a British aristocratic family, it remains in a very exciting condition.
POST SALE COMMENT
This great example of animal orientalism was sold for £ 7.7M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's:
Images of horses were welcomed by the English aristocracy. Stubbs was a gifted painter. He was the only artist capable of applying the theme of the animal as a specialty of major art.
In London, menageries are in the trend. Visitors dream of the distant lands from where the wild beasts have come. As early as 1762 Stubbs painted a lion attacking a horse. Lions and those other big cats designated at that time under the generic term of tygers soon occupy the top place in his art.
On July 9 in London, Sotheby's sells Tygers at play, oil on canvas 102 x 127 cm estimated £ 4M.
Two leopard kittens play with great vivacity in an imaginary exotic landscape certainly inspired by the passion of the contemporaries for Cook's discoveries. These friendly animals respond positively to the postulate of Rousseau on natural goodness at birth.
This undated painting was exhibited for the first time in 1776. Carefully preserved with discretion for almost two centuries by a British aristocratic family, it remains in a very exciting condition.
POST SALE COMMENT
This great example of animal orientalism was sold for £ 7.7M including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Sotheby's:
1776 Dunlap Broadside of the US Declaration of Independence
2000 SOLD for $ 8.1M including premium by Sotheby's
1776 An English Commission for Vernet
2011 SOLD 7 M$ including premium
Joseph Vernet had spent his youth in Rome, like many French artists of his time. He was distinguished by his skill for maritime scenes.
When he returned to France, King Louis XV commissioned him a series of monumental paintings showing life in the ports of France. He worked to it during ten years, from 1753 to 1762, and realized fourteen large size paintings, 263 x 165 cm.
The compositions are similar to those of his contemporary of Venice, Francesco Guardi. The ports are realistic and recognizable. In the foreground, on the waterfront, a crowd of small figures brings the atmosphere of the time.
The English aristocrats were lovers of art and tourism. In 1774, one of them ordered to the artist a pair of paintings of a similar size as those of the royal commission. One of them is estimated $ 1.5 million, for sale at Sotheby's in New York on January 27.
Dated 1776, it shows a quiet sea shore at sunset. Small characters are unloading some merchandise from a tall ship that can be seen offshore. Buildings on the left are certainly part of a port facility. It is not located and is probably a work of imagination, as many of the unofficial paintings by Vernet.
Vernet's art is a realistic witnessing of his time, much interesting and also unexpected as it comes between the mythological imagination of le Lorrain (Claude Gellée) and the sentimental excesses of the Romantics.
POST SALE COMMENT
It is a very good day for the lovers of marine views by Vernet.
As I understood it, the painting described in my article could be compared to the most famous masterpieces of Vernet. It was sold $ 7M including premium.
A marine of smaller dimensions, 57 x 74 cm, was sold for $ 2.4 million including premium.
When he returned to France, King Louis XV commissioned him a series of monumental paintings showing life in the ports of France. He worked to it during ten years, from 1753 to 1762, and realized fourteen large size paintings, 263 x 165 cm.
The compositions are similar to those of his contemporary of Venice, Francesco Guardi. The ports are realistic and recognizable. In the foreground, on the waterfront, a crowd of small figures brings the atmosphere of the time.
The English aristocrats were lovers of art and tourism. In 1774, one of them ordered to the artist a pair of paintings of a similar size as those of the royal commission. One of them is estimated $ 1.5 million, for sale at Sotheby's in New York on January 27.
Dated 1776, it shows a quiet sea shore at sunset. Small characters are unloading some merchandise from a tall ship that can be seen offshore. Buildings on the left are certainly part of a port facility. It is not located and is probably a work of imagination, as many of the unofficial paintings by Vernet.
Vernet's art is a realistic witnessing of his time, much interesting and also unexpected as it comes between the mythological imagination of le Lorrain (Claude Gellée) and the sentimental excesses of the Romantics.
POST SALE COMMENT
It is a very good day for the lovers of marine views by Vernet.
As I understood it, the painting described in my article could be compared to the most famous masterpieces of Vernet. It was sold $ 7M including premium.
A marine of smaller dimensions, 57 x 74 cm, was sold for $ 2.4 million including premium.
1776 The Emeralds of Catherine the Great
2010 SOLD 1.65 M$ including premium
Catherine II did much for the reputation of luxury of the Imperial court of Russia, and she particularly enjoyed the jewelry.
In November 2008, Christie's presented in Geneva a necklace assembled for an English aristocrat with Colombian emeralds which had once belonged to the Empress, for a total weight of one hundred carats. This lot estimated 1.8 MCHF had not been sold.
On April 22, the same auction house presents in New York a jewel more prestigious, more beautiful, from certain provenance ... and less expensive: it is estimated $ 1 million. It is a brooch centered by an hexagonal Colombian emerald weighing over 60 carats, in a sumptuous surrounding of old cut diamonds. Here is its image in the press release shared by Diamonds.net.
At the wedding of his son and future successor Paul in 1776, Catherine gave the brooch to the bride, Sophie Dorothea. I already had the opportunity to observe the fundamental role of gifts exchanged by the Russian Imperial family for the make and circulation of art objects. Thank you Catherine!
POST SALE COMMENT
The brooch of Catherine of Russia was sold $ 1.65 million including premium. It was shown before the sale in the lower section of the page shared by The Epoch Time.
Another historic jewel of the sale, visible at the top of the same page, was a white diamond weighing nearly 40 carats which belonged to the short-lived Emperor of Mexico Maximilian I. It was sold $ 1.76 million including premium.
In November 2008, Christie's presented in Geneva a necklace assembled for an English aristocrat with Colombian emeralds which had once belonged to the Empress, for a total weight of one hundred carats. This lot estimated 1.8 MCHF had not been sold.
On April 22, the same auction house presents in New York a jewel more prestigious, more beautiful, from certain provenance ... and less expensive: it is estimated $ 1 million. It is a brooch centered by an hexagonal Colombian emerald weighing over 60 carats, in a sumptuous surrounding of old cut diamonds. Here is its image in the press release shared by Diamonds.net.
At the wedding of his son and future successor Paul in 1776, Catherine gave the brooch to the bride, Sophie Dorothea. I already had the opportunity to observe the fundamental role of gifts exchanged by the Russian Imperial family for the make and circulation of art objects. Thank you Catherine!
POST SALE COMMENT
The brooch of Catherine of Russia was sold $ 1.65 million including premium. It was shown before the sale in the lower section of the page shared by The Epoch Time.
Another historic jewel of the sale, visible at the top of the same page, was a white diamond weighing nearly 40 carats which belonged to the short-lived Emperor of Mexico Maximilian I. It was sold $ 1.76 million including premium.
1776 Silver, Brass and Pewter
2015 SOLD for $ 1.53M including premium
At the time of the independence of the United States in 1776, the Congress attempted to get the financial independence by circulating paper money in a new unit, the dollar. This system was difficult to use for small amounts, and first tests were made for a one dollar coin.
This early US metal coinage remained confidential and was limited to the year 1776, but a significant quantity has been achieved, probably to test the capability of mass production. Heritage estimate that about 1,000 of them survive.
Some variations exist, because the dies were made by craft and wore out quickly, but also because a few engravers were involved. The operators also had to correct misspellings. Three metals were used: silver, brass and pewter. The majority of them are in pewter, abundant in North America at that time. This surprising diversity is certainly due to the still experimental nature of the project.
The earliest variant, described under code 1-A by Newman, was soon abandoned because its dotted rings were too difficult to perform repeatedly.
The sale by Heritage in Orlando on January 7 and 8 includes no less than fifteen of these Continental Dollars. Two are in silver, three in brass and the other ten in pewter.
The Newman 1-A brass coin is graded MS63 by NGC (lot 5834, January 8). It is the best from three 1-A known in brass. The Newman 1-A in pewter is the only known specimen of the original sub-variant in this material, identified by Heritage during the preparation of the auction (lot 4004, January 7).
The two silver coins are a Newman 1-C graded XF40 by NGC, the best from two known silver 1-C (lot 5838, January 8) and a Newman 3-D graded MS62 by NGC (lot 5842, January 8). Only one other silver 3-D is known. Graded MS63 by NGC, it was sold for $ 1.4 million including premium by Heritage on May 16, 2014.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Both silver dollars : $ 1.53M each
Brass dollar : $ 376K
Pewter dollar : $ 118K
This early US metal coinage remained confidential and was limited to the year 1776, but a significant quantity has been achieved, probably to test the capability of mass production. Heritage estimate that about 1,000 of them survive.
Some variations exist, because the dies were made by craft and wore out quickly, but also because a few engravers were involved. The operators also had to correct misspellings. Three metals were used: silver, brass and pewter. The majority of them are in pewter, abundant in North America at that time. This surprising diversity is certainly due to the still experimental nature of the project.
The earliest variant, described under code 1-A by Newman, was soon abandoned because its dotted rings were too difficult to perform repeatedly.
The sale by Heritage in Orlando on January 7 and 8 includes no less than fifteen of these Continental Dollars. Two are in silver, three in brass and the other ten in pewter.
The Newman 1-A brass coin is graded MS63 by NGC (lot 5834, January 8). It is the best from three 1-A known in brass. The Newman 1-A in pewter is the only known specimen of the original sub-variant in this material, identified by Heritage during the preparation of the auction (lot 4004, January 7).
The two silver coins are a Newman 1-C graded XF40 by NGC, the best from two known silver 1-C (lot 5838, January 8) and a Newman 3-D graded MS62 by NGC (lot 5842, January 8). Only one other silver 3-D is known. Graded MS63 by NGC, it was sold for $ 1.4 million including premium by Heritage on May 16, 2014.
RESULTS INCLUDING PREMIUM :
Both silver dollars : $ 1.53M each
Brass dollar : $ 376K
Pewter dollar : $ 118K
1777 Poetry of a Sunset Sky
2010 SOLD 2.4 M£ including premium
John Robert Cozens devoted much of his short career in watercolors and landscapes. Away from the types of his time, he wanted to express emotion and mood rather than topography, and was the most gifted of the immediate predecessors of Turner.
Sotheby's sale on July 14 in London includes a watercolor, 43 x 62 cm, estimated £ 500 K, showing the hill of Castel Gandolfo reflected in the lake of Albano. The work is dominated by a bright sunset sky preparing a storm, while the details of the landscape are barely sketched.
Cozens has twice traveled to Italy, from 1776-1779 and in 1782-1783. Wikipedia publishes the image of our watercolor by dating it circa 1777. Sotheby's, more cautious, is not as accurate.
It is unclear what Cozens made between his second return from Italy and 1794, the year Dr. Monro began to take him over for incurable dementia. Monro hosted a circle of artists whose most famous member was Thomas Girtin, and which had a direct influence on Turner.
POST SALE COMMENT
The market for ancient art is sensitive to the importance of works in the history of art. The price reached by this outstanding watercolor is remarkable: £ 2.4 million including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
Sotheby's sale on July 14 in London includes a watercolor, 43 x 62 cm, estimated £ 500 K, showing the hill of Castel Gandolfo reflected in the lake of Albano. The work is dominated by a bright sunset sky preparing a storm, while the details of the landscape are barely sketched.
Cozens has twice traveled to Italy, from 1776-1779 and in 1782-1783. Wikipedia publishes the image of our watercolor by dating it circa 1777. Sotheby's, more cautious, is not as accurate.
It is unclear what Cozens made between his second return from Italy and 1794, the year Dr. Monro began to take him over for incurable dementia. Monro hosted a circle of artists whose most famous member was Thomas Girtin, and which had a direct influence on Turner.
POST SALE COMMENT
The market for ancient art is sensitive to the importance of works in the history of art. The price reached by this outstanding watercolor is remarkable: £ 2.4 million including premium.
The image is shared by Wikimedia :
1778 Royal commode by Jean-Henri Riesener for Louis XVI
1999 SOLD 7 M£ including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
1778-1780 The Exquisite Porcelaine de France
2011 SOLD 1.35 M€ including premium
The French luxury furniture maintained a high standard throughout the eighteenth century, and reached around 1770 the pinnacle of elegance. To appeal to wealthy clients, the marchands-merciers commuted between cabinetmakers and decorators. Arbiters of taste, they knew how to select the best.
The plaques in Sèvres porcelain generate a luminous appearance to small pieces of furniture designed to please to the ladies. Dating from late-Louis XV, a wonderful desk stamped by Joseph (Baumhauer), 76 x 114 x 58 cm, was sold € 6.9 million including premium by Artcurial in Paris on December 13, 2005.
On April 6 in Paris, Sotheby's sells a secrétaire en cabinet with open sides, 121 x 96 x 33 cm. It is decorated with five plaques of Sèvres porcelain, including two very large floral pictures in celestial blue oval enclosures.
Although this piece is stamped by Weisweiler, the catalog is prudent. Realized towards 1778-1780, at the beginning of the brilliant career of this master cabinetmaker, it could also have been made by Carlin, which would be just as well. On the side of the marchands-merciers, the privileged relationship of Poirier and Daguerre (who were cousins and partners) with Sèvres is established.
This cabinet is sufficiently exquisite to ensure that this uncertainty on the maker will have no effect on its price, estimated € 1.5 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
€ 1.35 million including premium for this secrétaire, not meeting its estimate.
I invite you to play the video shared on the web by Sotheby's :
The plaques in Sèvres porcelain generate a luminous appearance to small pieces of furniture designed to please to the ladies. Dating from late-Louis XV, a wonderful desk stamped by Joseph (Baumhauer), 76 x 114 x 58 cm, was sold € 6.9 million including premium by Artcurial in Paris on December 13, 2005.
On April 6 in Paris, Sotheby's sells a secrétaire en cabinet with open sides, 121 x 96 x 33 cm. It is decorated with five plaques of Sèvres porcelain, including two very large floral pictures in celestial blue oval enclosures.
Although this piece is stamped by Weisweiler, the catalog is prudent. Realized towards 1778-1780, at the beginning of the brilliant career of this master cabinetmaker, it could also have been made by Carlin, which would be just as well. On the side of the marchands-merciers, the privileged relationship of Poirier and Daguerre (who were cousins and partners) with Sèvres is established.
This cabinet is sufficiently exquisite to ensure that this uncertainty on the maker will have no effect on its price, estimated € 1.5 M.
POST SALE COMMENT
€ 1.35 million including premium for this secrétaire, not meeting its estimate.
I invite you to play the video shared on the web by Sotheby's :
1779 George Washington at Princeton by Charles Willson Peale
2006 SOLD 21.3 M$ including premium by Christie's
Link to catalogue.
Please watch the 2015 'Game changer' featured post by Christie's, including video.
Please watch the 2015 'Game changer' featured post by Christie's, including video.
