Musical Instrument
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Stradivarius Guitar Violin II Chinese instrument Archaic China Northern Song
Chronology : 1-1000 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729
See also : Stradivarius Guitar Violin II Chinese instrument Archaic China Northern Song
Chronology : 1-1000 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729
756 Tang Guqin
2011 SOLD for RMB 115M by China Guardian
The qin is the traditional Chinese plucked string instrument. The antique variants are now designated as guqin.
The guqin is the first of the four treasures of the scholar, ahead of Chinese go, calligraphy and ink painting. It was known since ancient times and the Chinese tradition likes to assign it with a pre-dynastic origin. Confucius is quoted among the sages who improved the instrument.
The classical seven-string guqin provides a music of great subtlety facilitated by the dots of harmony distributed on the surface. The wooden back is also an invitation to the inscription of poems.
The Imperial guqin are of great rarity. One of them named Da Sheng Yi Yin (legacy of the Great Sage) was sold for RMB 115M by China Guardian on May 22, 2011, lot 3570.
Lacquered in black and brown, it wears a poem and a seal and its harmonics match the months of the Chinese calendar.
Its date possibly refers to the first year of the Suzong emperor of the Tang matching 756 CE, although four other interpretations are also proposed. It probably refers to a historical event instead of the manufacture date of the instrument.
It is piano shaped 120 cm long, in Fuxi style. Its color is chestnut with black strings below th seven emblems. Such qin with rounded neck and larger curvature are classified as palace instruments of the Tang.
The guqin is the first of the four treasures of the scholar, ahead of Chinese go, calligraphy and ink painting. It was known since ancient times and the Chinese tradition likes to assign it with a pre-dynastic origin. Confucius is quoted among the sages who improved the instrument.
The classical seven-string guqin provides a music of great subtlety facilitated by the dots of harmony distributed on the surface. The wooden back is also an invitation to the inscription of poems.
The Imperial guqin are of great rarity. One of them named Da Sheng Yi Yin (legacy of the Great Sage) was sold for RMB 115M by China Guardian on May 22, 2011, lot 3570.
Lacquered in black and brown, it wears a poem and a seal and its harmonics match the months of the Chinese calendar.
Its date possibly refers to the first year of the Suzong emperor of the Tang matching 756 CE, although four other interpretations are also proposed. It probably refers to a historical event instead of the manufacture date of the instrument.
It is piano shaped 120 cm long, in Fuxi style. Its color is chestnut with black strings below th seven emblems. Such qin with rounded neck and larger curvature are classified as palace instruments of the Tang.
1120 Song Huizong Guqin
2010 SOLD for RMB 137M by Poly
The Huizong emperor, whose political incompetence led to the downfall of the Northern Song, was arguably the most important art lover of all time. At the beginning of Xuanhe, the sixth and final era of his reign, he had a catalog prepared of his collection, listing 6,391 paintings by 231 artists.
The esthete emperor was also a music lover. A self-portrait shows him playing the guqin, the zither with seven plucked strings used since the time of Confucius, 1600 years earlier.
An imperial guqin dated to the second year of Xuanhe, 1120 CE, has remained in a superb condition which has preserved its original sound. Some restorations under the Qing did not alter its sound box. According to the tradition for the most prestigious instruments, its name echoes its sound : Song Shi Jian Yi, stones amidst pine trees.
This classically shaped luxuriously lacquered instrument measures 126 cm overall, 21 cm shoulder wide and 4.7 cm thick.
After having been owned since 1953 by Fan Boyan, a famous guqin player in Shanghai, it was sold on December 5, 2010 by Poly for RMB 137M from a lower estimate of RMB 20M, lot 5681. It is illustrated in the post sale report by People's Daily.
The esthete emperor was also a music lover. A self-portrait shows him playing the guqin, the zither with seven plucked strings used since the time of Confucius, 1600 years earlier.
An imperial guqin dated to the second year of Xuanhe, 1120 CE, has remained in a superb condition which has preserved its original sound. Some restorations under the Qing did not alter its sound box. According to the tradition for the most prestigious instruments, its name echoes its sound : Song Shi Jian Yi, stones amidst pine trees.
This classically shaped luxuriously lacquered instrument measures 126 cm overall, 21 cm shoulder wide and 4.7 cm thick.
After having been owned since 1953 by Fan Boyan, a famous guqin player in Shanghai, it was sold on December 5, 2010 by Poly for RMB 137M from a lower estimate of RMB 20M, lot 5681. It is illustrated in the post sale report by People's Daily.
Yu Shu Tang Guqin
2010 SOLD for RMB 58M by Suzhou Wumen
On November 15, 2010, Suzhou Wumen, an auction house located in the suburbs of Shanghai, sold a guqin for RMB 58M. It is illustrated in the post sale report shared by People's Daily.
This 128 cm long undated instrument is of the Jiaoye type, in English banana leaf, so named for its wavy edges. It has lost its bottom. It is painted in black and red and is inscribed Yu Shu Tang.
Built at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Yu Shu Tang was an official residence in the city of Qufu which served to receive emperors and imperial envoys visiting the Confucian temple. Qufu was the hometown of Confucius, who is the most ancient witness to the use of the guqin.
The construction of this instrument is very luxurious, and there is no doubt that it was played in the Yu Shu Tang. Experts believe that it later belonged to the Qianlong emperor.
This 128 cm long undated instrument is of the Jiaoye type, in English banana leaf, so named for its wavy edges. It has lost its bottom. It is painted in black and red and is inscribed Yu Shu Tang.
Built at the end of the Ming Dynasty, Yu Shu Tang was an official residence in the city of Qufu which served to receive emperors and imperial envoys visiting the Confucian temple. Qufu was the hometown of Confucius, who is the most ancient witness to the use of the guqin.
The construction of this instrument is very luxurious, and there is no doubt that it was played in the Yu Shu Tang. Experts believe that it later belonged to the Qianlong emperor.
Stradivarius Violin
1
1708 The Empress Caterina
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.
2
1714 The Da Vinci
2022 SOLD for $ 15.3M by Tarisio
In the 1690s and 1700s the so called Long Strad violins mark the experiments by Antonio Stradivari to increase the power of the sound. They are 5 mm longer than the classic size.
The know how acquired in that period led the master to design in 1709 other changes that still increased the sound while coming back to the classic size. Flatness and arching reached an unprecedented perfection. In that so called Golden Age that lasted until the mid 1720s, the stradivarius went to be the all time finest violins.
An example was the Soil of 1714, so named from an owner from around 1900. Its "cathedral" sound was so powerful that it did not match the requests of Menuhin, who owned it from 1950 and transferred it to Perlman in 1986.
The Da Vinci is also dated 1714 in its Stradivari label. Its back is made of a single maple piece, rarer than a two piece back for a stradivarius violin of the Golden Age. The varnish is of a bright and golden amber color polychromatic when varying the light.
It first surfaced in 1881 in a deceased estate sale. Its French name Le Léonard de Vinci is a tribute to genius granted in the 1920s by the French dealer Albert Caressa who also nicknamed Michelangelo and Titian two stradivarius from the same period.
It was purchased in 1923 by the recently emigrated Russian born virtuoso Toscha Seidel after a meticulous quest of the perfect violin. That new ownership made a front page of the New York Times in 1924.
Seidel used it extensively in concert and then in radio hosting and studio recording including for the soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz, Intermezzo and Melody for Three.
The da Vinci ex Seidel was sold for $ 15.3M by Tarisio on June 9, 2022, lot 136. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The know how acquired in that period led the master to design in 1709 other changes that still increased the sound while coming back to the classic size. Flatness and arching reached an unprecedented perfection. In that so called Golden Age that lasted until the mid 1720s, the stradivarius went to be the all time finest violins.
An example was the Soil of 1714, so named from an owner from around 1900. Its "cathedral" sound was so powerful that it did not match the requests of Menuhin, who owned it from 1950 and transferred it to Perlman in 1986.
The Da Vinci is also dated 1714 in its Stradivari label. Its back is made of a single maple piece, rarer than a two piece back for a stradivarius violin of the Golden Age. The varnish is of a bright and golden amber color polychromatic when varying the light.
It first surfaced in 1881 in a deceased estate sale. Its French name Le Léonard de Vinci is a tribute to genius granted in the 1920s by the French dealer Albert Caressa who also nicknamed Michelangelo and Titian two stradivarius from the same period.
It was purchased in 1923 by the recently emigrated Russian born virtuoso Toscha Seidel after a meticulous quest of the perfect violin. That new ownership made a front page of the New York Times in 1924.
Seidel used it extensively in concert and then in radio hosting and studio recording including for the soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz, Intermezzo and Melody for Three.
The da Vinci ex Seidel was sold for $ 15.3M by Tarisio on June 9, 2022, lot 136. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
3
1721 The Lady Blunt
2011 SOLD for £ 9.8M by Tarisio
The art of Antonio Stradivari has never been equaled. The wood of his instruments was carefully selected, the master was a very clever manufacturer and an excellent mathematician. The secret of the high quality of his violins has however never been discovered.
An interesting hypothesis, not proven, is based on the fact that instruments made at the same time by Andrea Guarneri are approaching the quality of the Stradivarius: the very cold climate of the late seventeenth century would have created less dense wood by slowing the growth of trees.
The Lady Blunt has all the qualities required to excite violinists and experts. Luckily, this specimen is very close to its original state. It was manufactured in 1721, in the best time of Stradivari. It belonged to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the French violin maker of the nineteenth century who made commendable efforts to understand and achieve the quality of the Stradivarius.
In 2008, this wonderful violin was purchased by Nippon Music in a private transaction whose amount exceeded $ 10M. This Tokyo foundation has decided to sell it to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The auction was operated on June 20, 2011 by Tarisio. It was sold for £ 9.8M. Please watch the post sale video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
An interesting hypothesis, not proven, is based on the fact that instruments made at the same time by Andrea Guarneri are approaching the quality of the Stradivarius: the very cold climate of the late seventeenth century would have created less dense wood by slowing the growth of trees.
The Lady Blunt has all the qualities required to excite violinists and experts. Luckily, this specimen is very close to its original state. It was manufactured in 1721, in the best time of Stradivari. It belonged to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the French violin maker of the nineteenth century who made commendable efforts to understand and achieve the quality of the Stradivarius.
In 2008, this wonderful violin was purchased by Nippon Music in a private transaction whose amount exceeded $ 10M. This Tokyo foundation has decided to sell it to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The auction was operated on June 20, 2011 by Tarisio. It was sold for £ 9.8M. Please watch the post sale video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
By Tarisio Auctions. Violachick68 at English Wikipedia - Was sent to me personally, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28827720
1715 pair of Kangxi Dragon ritual bells
2009 SOLD for HK$ 45.5M by Christie's
The Chinese music, based on a twelve-tone scale, was codified at the time of Confucius. The sound depends on the material of the instrument. The bronze bells or bianzhong constitute chimes. They are suspended from porticoes and struck with mallets. Within a carillon all bells have the same height and it is the thickness of the metal that generates the variety of tones.
Music is the supreme art that offers a perfect interpretation of all elements of nature including yin and yang. The imperial bianzhong are dated, as are the guqin.
In the Qing era, an imperial carillon is composed of sixteen bells including four repeated tones in high and low octaves. The gilt bronze bells are decorated with dragons in high relief.
On May 27, 2009, Christie's sold for HK $ 45.5M from a lower estimate of HK $ 10M a pair of 30 cm high bells giving the 4th and 11th notes, dated Kangxi wushisi nian shi corresponding to 1715 CE, lot 1818.
Music is the supreme art that offers a perfect interpretation of all elements of nature including yin and yang. The imperial bianzhong are dated, as are the guqin.
In the Qing era, an imperial carillon is composed of sixteen bells including four repeated tones in high and low octaves. The gilt bronze bells are decorated with dragons in high relief.
On May 27, 2009, Christie's sold for HK $ 45.5M from a lower estimate of HK $ 10M a pair of 30 cm high bells giving the 4th and 11th notes, dated Kangxi wushisi nian shi corresponding to 1715 CE, lot 1818.
1731 The Baltic Violin by Guarneri del Gesu
2023 SOLD for $ 9.4M by Tarisio
The followers of Amati maintained Cremona as the undisputed capital of violin making. Facing Stradivari who worked until over 90 years old, the Guarneri family has also created wonderful instruments. Maybe they used the same sources for the woods.
The popular image for Stradivari is that of a perfectionist craftsman taking care of every detail of the wood and shape. In contrast, the last of the Guarneri from Cremona, Giovanni son of Giovanni filius Andreae, is viewed as a more romantic figure. His violins reach the same power and the same quality of tone as the best Stradivarius instruments.
The elder Giovanni Guarneri was disabled by an illness in 1731. From that date the younger Giovanni inscribed his labels with an acronym of Christ and a cross, possibly referencing a sign of his workshop. For this reason, he will posthumously be known as Guarneri Del Gesu, also applied to his instruments.
From then, typical features of the del Gesu violins include a shorter body, broader wings and special sound holes.
An early Del Gesu in excellent condition made in beautifully flamed, high-quality maple wood was named The Baltic by a violin dealer. Its label with the plausible date of 1731 is a facsimile from the 1930s. The dendrochronology analysis is consistent with that date.
Coming from the family of a Chinese American music patron who had acquired it in 1979, the Baltic was sold for $ 9.4M by Tarisio on March 16, 2023, lot 118. It is complete in all parts and covered in a deep red brown varnish. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The popular image for Stradivari is that of a perfectionist craftsman taking care of every detail of the wood and shape. In contrast, the last of the Guarneri from Cremona, Giovanni son of Giovanni filius Andreae, is viewed as a more romantic figure. His violins reach the same power and the same quality of tone as the best Stradivarius instruments.
The elder Giovanni Guarneri was disabled by an illness in 1731. From that date the younger Giovanni inscribed his labels with an acronym of Christ and a cross, possibly referencing a sign of his workshop. For this reason, he will posthumously be known as Guarneri Del Gesu, also applied to his instruments.
From then, typical features of the del Gesu violins include a shorter body, broader wings and special sound holes.
An early Del Gesu in excellent condition made in beautifully flamed, high-quality maple wood was named The Baltic by a violin dealer. Its label with the plausible date of 1731 is a facsimile from the 1930s. The dendrochronology analysis is consistent with that date.
Coming from the family of a Chinese American music patron who had acquired it in 1979, the Baltic was sold for $ 9.4M by Tarisio on March 16, 2023, lot 118. It is complete in all parts and covered in a deep red brown varnish. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Rare violin crafted in 1731 expected to fetch over $10 million at auction https://t.co/EFew9UbTwA
— UPI.com (@UPI) March 9, 2023
1745 Qianlong Qin
2016 SOLD for HK$ 56M by Sotheby's
During the second year of the Yongzheng emperor, the young prince Hongli is studying in a library of the imperial city. This Wutong Library is named in reference to a pair of sycamore trees placed from immemorial time at the entrance of the pavilion. One of them has already withered away and was replaced, symbolizing the regeneration.
Hongli has become the Qianlong emperor. The second wutong tree passes in its turn during the ninth year of the new reign. Qianlong orders by imperial decree that the wood of the old tree is used to make four qin.
The qin was honored under the Tang and the Song as the first in the list of the four treasures of the scholar. This luxurious zither with seven plucked strings offered the ultimate Chinese music. During the Qing dynasty, the qin is a scarce instrument that revives the past.
The realization of the four Qianlong qin is documented in considerable detail in the imperial books, with the identification of officers, eunuchs and workmen. Each instrument is marked with another imperial poem. They are delivered to the Emperor on the 20th day of the 10th month of the 11th year of the reign, matching 1745 CE.
One of the four qin survives. Identified as the Xiangjiang Qiubi meaning Clear Autumn skies above the Xiang River, it is of Lianzhu (pearl string) style with total length 101 cm, shoulder width 16.5 cm and tail width 11.5 cm. It is lavishly made with cinnabar lacquered outer walls. It is incised with dragons, phoenix, goose feet and cranes, and inscribed. Crackles had been originally added to resemble an archaic instrument.
Conceived for prestige, it was sparingly played. The strings have been professionally replaced. It was sold for HK $ 56M from a lower estimate of HK $ 25M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2016, lot 3605, and for RMB 30.5M by Poly on June 14, 2024, lot 6305. It is detailed and illustrated in the 2024 post sale release shared by The Value.
Hongli has become the Qianlong emperor. The second wutong tree passes in its turn during the ninth year of the new reign. Qianlong orders by imperial decree that the wood of the old tree is used to make four qin.
The qin was honored under the Tang and the Song as the first in the list of the four treasures of the scholar. This luxurious zither with seven plucked strings offered the ultimate Chinese music. During the Qing dynasty, the qin is a scarce instrument that revives the past.
The realization of the four Qianlong qin is documented in considerable detail in the imperial books, with the identification of officers, eunuchs and workmen. Each instrument is marked with another imperial poem. They are delivered to the Emperor on the 20th day of the 10th month of the 11th year of the reign, matching 1745 CE.
One of the four qin survives. Identified as the Xiangjiang Qiubi meaning Clear Autumn skies above the Xiang River, it is of Lianzhu (pearl string) style with total length 101 cm, shoulder width 16.5 cm and tail width 11.5 cm. It is lavishly made with cinnabar lacquered outer walls. It is incised with dragons, phoenix, goose feet and cranes, and inscribed. Crackles had been originally added to resemble an archaic instrument.
Conceived for prestige, it was sparingly played. The strings have been professionally replaced. It was sold for HK $ 56M from a lower estimate of HK $ 25M by Sotheby's on October 5, 2016, lot 3605, and for RMB 30.5M by Poly on June 14, 2024, lot 6305. It is detailed and illustrated in the 2024 post sale release shared by The Value.
An Imperial Cinnabar Lacquer Wutong Qin Ql from 1745 sells for HK$55.5/US$7.2m – far over est. and record for a Qing musical instrument pic.twitter.com/cXLtyQUWgR
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) October 5, 2016
(1959) - 1993 CF Martin of Kurt Cobain
2020 SOLD for $ 6M by Julien's
In the 1990s, young people wanted to have an authentic and relaxed life, opposed to the orthodoxy of their elders. Their main subculture is the grunge, a mixture of hard rock and heavy metal for music, and of hippie and punk for a deliberately offbeat clothing.
This trend ensures the fame for the group Nirvana, created in 1987, and its leader, singer, guitarist and co-founder Kurt Cobain. The grunge is often named the Seattle music.
In 1989 the musical television channel MTV created Unplugged, a series of programs in which groups were invited to reinterpret their best songs while leaving all electronic equipment except microphones.
Nirvana accepts MTV's invitation for a recording to be made on November 18, 1993. They need this program for boosting the sales of their album In Utero, which had not the expected success. Kurt Cobain is excessively nervous during the preparation phase, probably feeling a risk of recuperation of his art by the establishment. He imposes his solutions on the MTV team, including a morbid setting.
For the show, Nirvana plays fourteen songs in one take. In accordance with his commitment, Cobain uses an acoustic guitar. He chose a Martin D18-E from 1959. This instrument is one of the stars of the show : in the last sequence, Cobain places it reverently on its stand and leaves the stage.
Kurt was an irreducible perfectionist. He could not bring himself to offer an exclusively acoustic sound in this program. A hidden pickup was used in the Martin for at least one of the songs.
The record titled MTV Unplugged in New York released a year later is one of Nirvana's greatest hits, posthumously for Cobain. The Martin was sold for $ 6M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Julien's on June 19 and 20, 2020, lot 742. The olive green cardigan worn by the blond singer in this show was sold for $ 334K on October 25, 2019 by the same auction house.
This trend ensures the fame for the group Nirvana, created in 1987, and its leader, singer, guitarist and co-founder Kurt Cobain. The grunge is often named the Seattle music.
In 1989 the musical television channel MTV created Unplugged, a series of programs in which groups were invited to reinterpret their best songs while leaving all electronic equipment except microphones.
Nirvana accepts MTV's invitation for a recording to be made on November 18, 1993. They need this program for boosting the sales of their album In Utero, which had not the expected success. Kurt Cobain is excessively nervous during the preparation phase, probably feeling a risk of recuperation of his art by the establishment. He imposes his solutions on the MTV team, including a morbid setting.
For the show, Nirvana plays fourteen songs in one take. In accordance with his commitment, Cobain uses an acoustic guitar. He chose a Martin D18-E from 1959. This instrument is one of the stars of the show : in the last sequence, Cobain places it reverently on its stand and leaves the stage.
Kurt was an irreducible perfectionist. He could not bring himself to offer an exclusively acoustic sound in this program. A hidden pickup was used in the Martin for at least one of the songs.
The record titled MTV Unplugged in New York released a year later is one of Nirvana's greatest hits, posthumously for Cobain. The Martin was sold for $ 6M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Julien's on June 19 and 20, 2020, lot 742. The olive green cardigan worn by the blond singer in this show was sold for $ 334K on October 25, 2019 by the same auction house.
