Origin
5000 years ago - The Guennol Lioness, Elam
2007 SOLD for 57 M$ including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
The Guennol Lioness was sold for $ 57M including premium by Sotheby's on December 5, 2007, lot 30. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
This very finely chiseled stone figure 8.3 cm high has the head of a lioness on a human body. It certainly comes from the Iranian plateau and was sold in 1931 to a New York merchant. Its discovery thus precedes the excavations of Tell Agrab, begun in 1936 by a team from the University of Chicago appealed by other finds among the antique dealers of Baghdad.
Such hybrid representations between human and feline date back to prehistoric cultures. The ivory lion-man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dated ca 35,000 to 40,000 years ago by radiocarbon, is the oldest authenticated example of figurative art. The Chauvet cave, painted 30,000 years ago, also includes a lion-woman hybrid.
The Guennol Lioness was sculpted about 5,000 years ago. It belongs to the Proto-Elamite culture, characterized by the development of a proto-writing that has not been decrypted. It is several centuries earlier than the use of the sphinx as a necropolis guardian in Egypt.
It is one of a kind in the round, but is related to similar figures that raise mountains or huge trunks in two-dimensional sigillary iconography. These representations are therefore symbols of extreme power, confirmed in the Guennol Lioness by the hypertrophy of the muscles and the authoritarian position of the head. The head is pierced, allowing to hang it to the neck of a prominent character.
Its name and its exact role in the mythology of that time are not known. It must be analyzed alongside its male counterpart, a bull's head on a human body, of which a kneeling figure is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Unlike the Guennol Lioness whose hands are joined on the abdomen, this proto-Elamite hybrid holds a liturgical vessel.
Guennol is the pseudonym chosen by the couple of collectors who acquired it in 1948 and entrusted its exhibition for almost 60 years to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
This very finely chiseled stone figure 8.3 cm high has the head of a lioness on a human body. It certainly comes from the Iranian plateau and was sold in 1931 to a New York merchant. Its discovery thus precedes the excavations of Tell Agrab, begun in 1936 by a team from the University of Chicago appealed by other finds among the antique dealers of Baghdad.
Such hybrid representations between human and feline date back to prehistoric cultures. The ivory lion-man from the Hohlenstein-Stadel cave, dated ca 35,000 to 40,000 years ago by radiocarbon, is the oldest authenticated example of figurative art. The Chauvet cave, painted 30,000 years ago, also includes a lion-woman hybrid.
The Guennol Lioness was sculpted about 5,000 years ago. It belongs to the Proto-Elamite culture, characterized by the development of a proto-writing that has not been decrypted. It is several centuries earlier than the use of the sphinx as a necropolis guardian in Egypt.
It is one of a kind in the round, but is related to similar figures that raise mountains or huge trunks in two-dimensional sigillary iconography. These representations are therefore symbols of extreme power, confirmed in the Guennol Lioness by the hypertrophy of the muscles and the authoritarian position of the head. The head is pierced, allowing to hang it to the neck of a prominent character.
Its name and its exact role in the mythology of that time are not known. It must be analyzed alongside its male counterpart, a bull's head on a human body, of which a kneeling figure is kept at the Metropolitan Museum in New York. Unlike the Guennol Lioness whose hands are joined on the abdomen, this proto-Elamite hybrid holds a liturgical vessel.
Guennol is the pseudonym chosen by the couple of collectors who acquired it in 1948 and entrusted its exhibition for almost 60 years to the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Funerary Statues in the Fifth Dynasty
2014 SOLD 15.8 M£ including premium
The Egyptian civilization boomed under the Fourth Dynasty, but the pyramids were the domains of the kings. The next dynasty, 4400 years ago, has been more concerned to accompany top officers into their eternal life which was one of the basic beliefs of these people.
A chapel or an altar dedicated to the deceased allowed to accumulate all kinds of offerings that could be useful to him. His memory was maintained by a painted limestone statue, with a remarkable anthropomorphic realism but without looking for a physical resemblance to the deceased.
The man is sitting in a serene attitude, surrounded by his wife and his favorite son, both mid-scale. All three are named, with their titles. The wife starts a loving gesture. Hieroglyphs are detailing the long list of acceptable offerings.
The statue of Ka-nefer, a priest of Ptah and foreman of craftsmen, 36 cm high, was sold for $ 2.8 million including premium by Christie's on December 9, 2005.
On July 10 in London, Christie's sells the statuette of Sekhemka, Inspector of the scribes, 75 cm high. This big piece in exceptional condition is estimated £ 4M. I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
The attitude of the man is very beautiful, with a serious gaze and the hint of a smile. He holds a partly opened scroll covered with fragile inscriptions that remain in perfect condition. The faces of the cube on which he sits are beautifully carved with offering bearers bringing geese, calves and flowers.
POST SALE COMMENT
This great piece from the Old Kingdom of Egypt was sold for £ 15.8M including premium.
A chapel or an altar dedicated to the deceased allowed to accumulate all kinds of offerings that could be useful to him. His memory was maintained by a painted limestone statue, with a remarkable anthropomorphic realism but without looking for a physical resemblance to the deceased.
The man is sitting in a serene attitude, surrounded by his wife and his favorite son, both mid-scale. All three are named, with their titles. The wife starts a loving gesture. Hieroglyphs are detailing the long list of acceptable offerings.
The statue of Ka-nefer, a priest of Ptah and foreman of craftsmen, 36 cm high, was sold for $ 2.8 million including premium by Christie's on December 9, 2005.
On July 10 in London, Christie's sells the statuette of Sekhemka, Inspector of the scribes, 75 cm high. This big piece in exceptional condition is estimated £ 4M. I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
The attitude of the man is very beautiful, with a serious gaze and the hint of a smile. He holds a partly opened scroll covered with fragile inscriptions that remain in perfect condition. The faces of the cube on which he sits are beautifully carved with offering bearers bringing geese, calves and flowers.
POST SALE COMMENT
This great piece from the Old Kingdom of Egypt was sold for £ 15.8M including premium.
4400 years ago - The Masterpiece of the Schuster Master
2010 SOLD 16.9 M$ including premium
Prehistory and antiquity have left many works of art. Experts are able to combine certain pieces and assign them to a unique artist, the great master of the art of his time somehow.
4400 years ago, the Schuster Master worked in the Cyclades islands. His marble idols show pregnant women, arms crossed under the chest, body and head beautifully stylized, whose simplicity has influenced the great figurative sculptors of the last century such as Brancusi and Modigliani. Twelve works, nearly all are fragmentary, are attributed to him.
On December 9 in New York, Christie's sells his masterpiece: a figure 29 cm high, in a stunning state of conservation. The attitude is realistic and flexible, with head slightly tilted back. The body proportions are perfect. This copy which belonged to the collection Schuster is the origin for the designation of the artist.
This lot is estimated $ 3M. The Schuster Master of a great master of the art of all time.
POST SALE COMMENT
For those who thought that the auctions of antiques were much calmer since the sale of the Guennol lioness (Sotheby's, December 5, 2007, $ 57M including premium), here are two results that bring new credibility to this sector of the market.
On December 7, a broken marble bust showing Antinous was sold $ 23.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York.
And our Cycladic idol which we had good reason to compare with Modigliani has been sold by Christie's $ 16.9 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
4400 years ago, the Schuster Master worked in the Cyclades islands. His marble idols show pregnant women, arms crossed under the chest, body and head beautifully stylized, whose simplicity has influenced the great figurative sculptors of the last century such as Brancusi and Modigliani. Twelve works, nearly all are fragmentary, are attributed to him.
On December 9 in New York, Christie's sells his masterpiece: a figure 29 cm high, in a stunning state of conservation. The attitude is realistic and flexible, with head slightly tilted back. The body proportions are perfect. This copy which belonged to the collection Schuster is the origin for the designation of the artist.
This lot is estimated $ 3M. The Schuster Master of a great master of the art of all time.
POST SALE COMMENT
For those who thought that the auctions of antiques were much calmer since the sale of the Guennol lioness (Sotheby's, December 5, 2007, $ 57M including premium), here are two results that bring new credibility to this sector of the market.
On December 7, a broken marble bust showing Antinous was sold $ 23.8 million including premium by Sotheby's in New York.
And our Cycladic idol which we had good reason to compare with Modigliani has been sold by Christie's $ 16.9 million including premium.
I invite you to play the video shared by Christie's.
Anatolia - Stone Women
2017 SOLD for $ 14.5M including premium
The Cycladic figures and the Kiliya-type idols from Anatolia seem to belong to the same family. Yet no evidence of historical correlation has been established. These anthropomorphic statuettes mostly show standing women. No male Kiliya has been described.
Marbles are not datable by physico-chemical methods. The Cycladic production probably extends over two millennia 5000 to 3000 years ago. The repetitiveness of these figures over such a long period is staggering but small details make it possible to define several phases. Anatolian statuettes, rarer and often fragmentary, do not allow a similar analysis.
Their use is different. The Cycladic woman is pregnant and protects her fecundity with her arms. The Anatolian woman holds her arms along the body and raises her forearms symmetrically towards the breast. The head slightly leaning backwards gave the nickname stargazer to the Anatolian type but no explanation is proposed for this attitude.
In both cases the figuration of the body is much stylized but the proportions are constant as if they met some artistic canon independent of the size of the statuette. They are undoubtedly artworks in the modern meaning of that word, in the category of the multiples.
The Anatolian woman has a heavy head shaped like a rugby ball placed over the frail cylinder of the neck which is an incontestable point of fragility. Almost all of them were broken at the neck and the experts conclude unconvincingly that they were used for ritual beheadings at the time of burials.
Two prestigious collections have sheltered an Anatolian idol in very good condition. The 20 cm high ex Schuster stargazer was sold for $ 1,8M including premium by Christie's on June 8, 2005. The 23 cm high ex Guennol stargazer was exhibited on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 1966 to 1993 and from 1999 to 2007 and will be sold on April 28 by Christie's in New York, lot 12.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
Marbles are not datable by physico-chemical methods. The Cycladic production probably extends over two millennia 5000 to 3000 years ago. The repetitiveness of these figures over such a long period is staggering but small details make it possible to define several phases. Anatolian statuettes, rarer and often fragmentary, do not allow a similar analysis.
Their use is different. The Cycladic woman is pregnant and protects her fecundity with her arms. The Anatolian woman holds her arms along the body and raises her forearms symmetrically towards the breast. The head slightly leaning backwards gave the nickname stargazer to the Anatolian type but no explanation is proposed for this attitude.
In both cases the figuration of the body is much stylized but the proportions are constant as if they met some artistic canon independent of the size of the statuette. They are undoubtedly artworks in the modern meaning of that word, in the category of the multiples.
The Anatolian woman has a heavy head shaped like a rugby ball placed over the frail cylinder of the neck which is an incontestable point of fragility. Almost all of them were broken at the neck and the experts conclude unconvincingly that they were used for ritual beheadings at the time of burials.
Two prestigious collections have sheltered an Anatolian idol in very good condition. The 20 cm high ex Schuster stargazer was sold for $ 1,8M including premium by Christie's on June 8, 2005. The 23 cm high ex Guennol stargazer was exhibited on loan at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 1966 to 1993 and from 1999 to 2007 and will be sold on April 28 by Christie's in New York, lot 12.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's :
Christie’s to Sell $3m Guennol Stargazer in April https://t.co/zRmjjCWNkV pic.twitter.com/ao29KTzzlr
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) March 24, 2017
1330 BCE Portrait of a Pharaoh
2019 SOLD for £ 4.7M including premium
On July 4 in London, Christie's sells as lot 110 a 28 cm high fragmentary figure in brown quartzite. This head is capped with the double crown which is an attribute of the main god, Amen, an equivalent of the future Zeus of the Greeks. The press release of June 3 announces an estimate in excess of £ 4M.
A young man with such an attribute is necessarily a reigning pharaoh. Amen is a multiple god who has no personal figuration. Pharaoh is his incarnation.
The heretic king Akhenaten had replaced the worship of Amen by that of the solar circle Aten, certainly for political reasons. He thus escaped the hold by the Theban priests. He had established his capital in the middle of the desert, on a site whose Arab name will be Amarna. This religious revolution was accompanied by an artistic breakthrough. Amarnian artists have for the first time sought a naturalistic representation. Nefertiti was a wife of Akhenaten.
The head for sale is carved with realism, attesting to the post-Amarna period. The only candidate is Tutankhamen, the son of Akhenaten, who returned to the cult of Amen in the third year of his reign around 1330 BCE after a transition of undocumented events that looks like a huge mess. The last two pharaohs of his eighteenth dynasty, Ay and Horemheb, are senior dignitaries. The 19th dynasty, that of the first Ramesses, brings another style.
Fortunately the effigy of Tutankhamen is exceptionally well known. The quartzite head is recognizable by the unhealthy depression between eyes and eyebrows and by the weakness of the lower lip, resulting from the full consanguinity of his parents.
A young man with such an attribute is necessarily a reigning pharaoh. Amen is a multiple god who has no personal figuration. Pharaoh is his incarnation.
The heretic king Akhenaten had replaced the worship of Amen by that of the solar circle Aten, certainly for political reasons. He thus escaped the hold by the Theban priests. He had established his capital in the middle of the desert, on a site whose Arab name will be Amarna. This religious revolution was accompanied by an artistic breakthrough. Amarnian artists have for the first time sought a naturalistic representation. Nefertiti was a wife of Akhenaten.
The head for sale is carved with realism, attesting to the post-Amarna period. The only candidate is Tutankhamen, the son of Akhenaten, who returned to the cult of Amen in the third year of his reign around 1330 BCE after a transition of undocumented events that looks like a huge mess. The last two pharaohs of his eighteenth dynasty, Ay and Horemheb, are senior dignitaries. The 19th dynasty, that of the first Ramesses, brings another style.
Fortunately the effigy of Tutankhamen is exceptionally well known. The quartzite head is recognizable by the unhealthy depression between eyes and eyebrows and by the weakness of the lower lip, resulting from the full consanguinity of his parents.
Next month, a 3,000-year-old statue of #Tutankhamun’s head is going under the hammer in London. However, The #Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, is trying to shut down the sale...
— Barnebys.co.uk (@Barnebysuk) June 23, 2019
Shang - Ritual Bronzes from Anyang
2017 SOLD for $ 37M including premium
Chinese history emerges from the mists of legend with the Shang dynasty that lasted more than five centuries. Bronze comes in supplement to the pottery and is used especially for ritual vessels. For the excitement of the archaeologists the Shang and Zhou bronzes have preserved a perfect condition thanks to a sufficient content of tin. Their finely incised decoration of tight mystical figures and motifs in reserves is neither corroded nor worn.
The long reign of Wu Din marks the culmination of the Shang around 3250 years ago. He resides in the new capital Yinxu which is today in the territory of the city of Anyang.
The tomb of Fu Hao, discovered in 1976, had never been visited by looters. This wife of Wu Din had a considerable political influence, even becoming the supreme general of the armies. Her tomb is a complete catalog of the art of the Shang, including 1800 pieces mainly in jade, bone, bronze and stone, not forgetting 6,900 cowry shells that served as money and 16 skeletons of sacrificed slaves.
The ritual bronzes of the Shang had a wide variety of shapes suitable for storage and cooking. The rites defined the quantities of sacrificial vessels authorized according to the social position. Under the Zhou who overthrew the Shang the king could use 9 ding and 8 gui while a nobleman was limited to 3 ding and 2 gui. The tomb of Fu Hao contained the incredible quantity of 200 ritual bronzes.
On March 15 in New York, Christie's disperses the Chinese art collection of the Fujita Museum in Osaka, including four Shang bronzes. The catalog indicates for each of these pieces an acquisition prior to 1940 by the museum. Their similarity to the bronzes of Fu Hao and the comparable or sometimes superior quality of their technique and of their mystical decoration suggests that these four vessels came from a same royal tomb. They have kept their cover, except of course the zun which never has one.
Lot 523, estimated $ 6M, is a 52 cm high vessel with a complex three-body shape. By its large flared mouth (zun) of square section (fang), it is a fangzun.
Lot 524, estimated $ 5M, is a fanglei 63 cm high including its cover. By comparison the Father Ji's fanglei, sold for $ 9.2M including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2001, is 64 cm high without its lid which is lost and is dated from the Shang-Zhou transition two centuries later.
Lot 525, estimated $ 4M, is a pou 57 cm high. Its two-body shape with a round belly on a truncated cone base is archaic but its decoration is comparable to the other pieces in the sale.
Lot 526 is the sensational zoomorphic gong that was the subject of a previous discussion in this column.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's to introduce the sale.
RESULTS including premium :
Fangzun : $ 37M
Fanglei : $ 34M
Pou : $ 27M
The long reign of Wu Din marks the culmination of the Shang around 3250 years ago. He resides in the new capital Yinxu which is today in the territory of the city of Anyang.
The tomb of Fu Hao, discovered in 1976, had never been visited by looters. This wife of Wu Din had a considerable political influence, even becoming the supreme general of the armies. Her tomb is a complete catalog of the art of the Shang, including 1800 pieces mainly in jade, bone, bronze and stone, not forgetting 6,900 cowry shells that served as money and 16 skeletons of sacrificed slaves.
The ritual bronzes of the Shang had a wide variety of shapes suitable for storage and cooking. The rites defined the quantities of sacrificial vessels authorized according to the social position. Under the Zhou who overthrew the Shang the king could use 9 ding and 8 gui while a nobleman was limited to 3 ding and 2 gui. The tomb of Fu Hao contained the incredible quantity of 200 ritual bronzes.
On March 15 in New York, Christie's disperses the Chinese art collection of the Fujita Museum in Osaka, including four Shang bronzes. The catalog indicates for each of these pieces an acquisition prior to 1940 by the museum. Their similarity to the bronzes of Fu Hao and the comparable or sometimes superior quality of their technique and of their mystical decoration suggests that these four vessels came from a same royal tomb. They have kept their cover, except of course the zun which never has one.
Lot 523, estimated $ 6M, is a 52 cm high vessel with a complex three-body shape. By its large flared mouth (zun) of square section (fang), it is a fangzun.
Lot 524, estimated $ 5M, is a fanglei 63 cm high including its cover. By comparison the Father Ji's fanglei, sold for $ 9.2M including premium by Christie's on March 20, 2001, is 64 cm high without its lid which is lost and is dated from the Shang-Zhou transition two centuries later.
Lot 525, estimated $ 4M, is a pou 57 cm high. Its two-body shape with a round belly on a truncated cone base is archaic but its decoration is comparable to the other pieces in the sale.
Lot 526 is the sensational zoomorphic gong that was the subject of a previous discussion in this column.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's to introduce the sale.
RESULTS including premium :
Fangzun : $ 37M
Fanglei : $ 34M
Pou : $ 27M
A Late Shang Dynasty Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel from the Fujita Museum sold for $37,207,500, a #worldauctionrecord for an archaic bronze. pic.twitter.com/VcxYG3BPkF
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 16, 2017
Shang - Fanglei
2017 SOLD for $ 34M including premium by Christie's
Narrated above.
A Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel & Cover, Fanglei, from the Late Shang Dynasty from the Fujita Museum sold for $33,847,500 #AsianArtWeek pic.twitter.com/FIfq9JsYxm
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 16, 2017
Shang - Pou
2017 SOLD for $ 27M including premium by Christie's
Narrated above.
A Late Shang Dynasty Massive Bronze Ritual Wine Vessel and Cover, Pou, from the Fujita Museum sold for $27,127,500 #AsianArtWeek pic.twitter.com/v1HPYtI9BA
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) March 16, 2017
Shang - The Ritual Ram
2017 SOLD for $ 27M including premium
The bronze art for Chinese vessels was diversified at the end of the Shang dynasty, from 3300 to 3050 years ago. The various shapes are adapted to their ritual uses. Li, yi, lei, fangyi, fanglei and hu examples were previously discussed in this column.
The gong and the zun may both become zoomorphic with a high degree of three-dimensional realism. The zun is designed for its ease of pouring, with a spout lined with broad lips. The gong or guang is an open vessel equipped with a removable lid over its entire upper surface.
On March 15 in New York, Christie's sells a gong in the form of a ram 22 cm long, lot 526 estimated $ 6M. This piece is de-accessioned from the Fujita Museum in Osaka.
The back of the beast consists of the lid which is elongated to the superb head with its C-shaped horns. The body including the cover is embellished in shallow relief with the same traditional motifs as in the geometrically shaped vessels : taotie, stylized beasts. The thick legs ensure the stability of the vase. The back is surmounted by a dragon and a bird positioned like a handle.
The catalog of the auction house considers twelve other complete quadruped gong or zun examples of Shang period, all of them kept in museums : buffalos, elephants, fabulous animals, a boar, an elephant. The last one offered at auction was a buffalo zun in 1988.
Considering the sacred or sacrificial use of some of these animals, the extreme rarity of these pieces may surprise. It is probably due to a high difficulty of execution.
The gong and the zun may both become zoomorphic with a high degree of three-dimensional realism. The zun is designed for its ease of pouring, with a spout lined with broad lips. The gong or guang is an open vessel equipped with a removable lid over its entire upper surface.
On March 15 in New York, Christie's sells a gong in the form of a ram 22 cm long, lot 526 estimated $ 6M. This piece is de-accessioned from the Fujita Museum in Osaka.
The back of the beast consists of the lid which is elongated to the superb head with its C-shaped horns. The body including the cover is embellished in shallow relief with the same traditional motifs as in the geometrically shaped vessels : taotie, stylized beasts. The thick legs ensure the stability of the vase. The back is surmounted by a dragon and a bird positioned like a handle.
The catalog of the auction house considers twelve other complete quadruped gong or zun examples of Shang period, all of them kept in museums : buffalos, elephants, fabulous animals, a boar, an elephant. The last one offered at auction was a buffalo zun in 1988.
Considering the sacred or sacrificial use of some of these animals, the extreme rarity of these pieces may surprise. It is probably due to a high difficulty of execution.
Christie’s NY to Offer Rare Chinese Art from Fujita Museum at 2017 Spring Sale https://t.co/Ag1ow96cfp #Auctions pic.twitter.com/5puxLHtGHv
— ARTINFO HongKong (@ARTINFOHongKong) October 23, 2016
Shang-Zhou The Masterpiece of Father Ji
2001 SOLD 9.2 M$ including premium by Christie's
2014 Withdrawn
PRE 2014 SALE DISCUSSION
1
On March 20 in New York, Christie's sells one of the most outstanding Chinese archaic vases which have survived until now, characterized by its monumental size, 64 cm high, and by the superb quality of its bronze casting.
This ritual wine vessel is a fanglei with square section, one of the most prestigious types that reached its apogee 3100 years ago in the transitional period between the Shang and the Western Zhou. It does not have its cover.
Its decoration in high relief over multiple registers meets a classic iconography but is particularly abundant and expressive : taotie, animals, dragons, masks. It includes an inscription in six characters: Father Ji made on commission (or commissioned) this sacred vessel.
This exceptional piece had already been featured at auction. On 20 March 2001, it was sold for $ 9.2 million including premium by Christie's.
2
The masterpiece of Chinese archaic art was removed from auction and sold to a group of collectors in favor of the Hunan Provincial Museum.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's :
1
On March 20 in New York, Christie's sells one of the most outstanding Chinese archaic vases which have survived until now, characterized by its monumental size, 64 cm high, and by the superb quality of its bronze casting.
This ritual wine vessel is a fanglei with square section, one of the most prestigious types that reached its apogee 3100 years ago in the transitional period between the Shang and the Western Zhou. It does not have its cover.
Its decoration in high relief over multiple registers meets a classic iconography but is particularly abundant and expressive : taotie, animals, dragons, masks. It includes an inscription in six characters: Father Ji made on commission (or commissioned) this sacred vessel.
This exceptional piece had already been featured at auction. On 20 March 2001, it was sold for $ 9.2 million including premium by Christie's.
2
The masterpiece of Chinese archaic art was removed from auction and sold to a group of collectors in favor of the Hunan Provincial Museum.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's :
Bronze Age for the Western Zhou
2013 SOLD 6.7 M$ including premium
The Western Zhou overthrew the Shang but continued their traditions, at least initially. At this time of transition, the preferred ritual piece is the bronze vessel holding the sacred food or the millet wine.
Often made for princely usage, these objects were however not uncommon and many of them have survived. They are very finely decorated, usually including mythical beasts, and their inscriptions invite the decoding of the beginnings of Chinese civilization.
Their use was perhaps funeral but certainly ceremonial. Almost all of them are adorned with several Taotie, these pairs of eyes whose obsessive gaze enables a ritual communication between the living and the dead.
The Gui vessels of the Western Zhou have a complex shape with two bodies. The upper part is bellied, between two large handles. The base is a parallelepiped with sharp right angles. The entire surface is decorated on both parts.
A beautiful specimen is estimated $ 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on September 17, lot 3. Executed 3000 years ago, this zuo bao yi gui food vessel has a peculiarity: the Taotie eyes of the base are all on both sides of the edges, increasing the hypnotic power.
This is the top lot among ten Chinese archaic bronzes from the collection of an Austrian architect. Other pieces from the same collection, from Zhou to Han, will be sold by Nagel in Stuttgart between October 30 and November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
The ten lots auctioned by Sotheby's from the Julius Eberhardt collection were an exceptional group. Half of them exceeded $ 1M. The top three are bronze vessels of the Western Zhou.
As expected, the most interesting piece is the zuo bao yi gui, sold for $ 6.7 million including premium.
Let us also mention from the same period a wine pot sold for $ 3.1 million including premium and a cylindrical vase with an elegant flared neck sold for $ 2.16 million including premium.
Often made for princely usage, these objects were however not uncommon and many of them have survived. They are very finely decorated, usually including mythical beasts, and their inscriptions invite the decoding of the beginnings of Chinese civilization.
Their use was perhaps funeral but certainly ceremonial. Almost all of them are adorned with several Taotie, these pairs of eyes whose obsessive gaze enables a ritual communication between the living and the dead.
The Gui vessels of the Western Zhou have a complex shape with two bodies. The upper part is bellied, between two large handles. The base is a parallelepiped with sharp right angles. The entire surface is decorated on both parts.
A beautiful specimen is estimated $ 2M, for sale by Sotheby's in New York on September 17, lot 3. Executed 3000 years ago, this zuo bao yi gui food vessel has a peculiarity: the Taotie eyes of the base are all on both sides of the edges, increasing the hypnotic power.
This is the top lot among ten Chinese archaic bronzes from the collection of an Austrian architect. Other pieces from the same collection, from Zhou to Han, will be sold by Nagel in Stuttgart between October 30 and November 2.
POST SALE COMMENT
The ten lots auctioned by Sotheby's from the Julius Eberhardt collection were an exceptional group. Half of them exceeded $ 1M. The top three are bronze vessels of the Western Zhou.
As expected, the most interesting piece is the zuo bao yi gui, sold for $ 6.7 million including premium.
Let us also mention from the same period a wine pot sold for $ 3.1 million including premium and a cylindrical vase with an elegant flared neck sold for $ 2.16 million including premium.
879 BCE The Guardian Angels of the Nimrud Palace
2018 SOLD for $ 31M including premium
Archaeologists wanted to retrieve the lost Assyrian cities mentioned in the Bible. From 1845 Layard releases the ruins of a huge palace near the Tigris river. He believes that he found Nineveh. The palace name of Nimrud refers to a character identified in Genesis as a founder of cities. It will be later identified that the site explored by Layard was the most sumptuous palace of Kalhu which was the capital of the Assyrian empire from 879 BCE to 706 BCE.
Founded by Ashur-nasir-pal II over the ruins of a previous city at the time when the Assyrian empire claimed an ambition for a universal kingdom, Kalhu had been one of the greatest urban planning projects made in antiquity. The annual military campaigns of Ashurnasirpal were very efficient and the vanquished peoples supplied the work force for his constructions.
The 120 x 200 m palace excavated by Layard included many rooms separated from the inner courtyards by mud brick walls. About 400 shallow bas-reliefs in gypsum served as a base for these painted walls.
On July 6, 1994, Christie's sold for £ 7.7M including premium an incomplete 183 x 117 x 6.4 cm bas-relief that had been presented by Layard to one of his sponsors. It displays a beardless eunuch and a winged bearded deity ready to serve the king, and has retained three-quarters of a standard cuneiform inscription recalling the achievements of the king supported by the gods. Layard had been authorized by the Grand Vizier to export his discoveries.
On October 31 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 101 a bas-relief 224 x 196 cm that includes the standard inscription mingled in the image. It is illustrated with a single full size standing figure in Egyptian profile, larger than life and complete. This winged bearded creature is busy anointing a tree of life. Its mirror image is known. The pair served to flank a gateway for which our bearded deity was somehow the guardian angel.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. A digital technology enables to reconstruct the original colors, known by traces of pigments on some of the reliefs.
Founded by Ashur-nasir-pal II over the ruins of a previous city at the time when the Assyrian empire claimed an ambition for a universal kingdom, Kalhu had been one of the greatest urban planning projects made in antiquity. The annual military campaigns of Ashurnasirpal were very efficient and the vanquished peoples supplied the work force for his constructions.
The 120 x 200 m palace excavated by Layard included many rooms separated from the inner courtyards by mud brick walls. About 400 shallow bas-reliefs in gypsum served as a base for these painted walls.
On July 6, 1994, Christie's sold for £ 7.7M including premium an incomplete 183 x 117 x 6.4 cm bas-relief that had been presented by Layard to one of his sponsors. It displays a beardless eunuch and a winged bearded deity ready to serve the king, and has retained three-quarters of a standard cuneiform inscription recalling the achievements of the king supported by the gods. Layard had been authorized by the Grand Vizier to export his discoveries.
On October 31 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 101 a bas-relief 224 x 196 cm that includes the standard inscription mingled in the image. It is illustrated with a single full size standing figure in Egyptian profile, larger than life and complete. This winged bearded creature is busy anointing a tree of life. Its mirror image is known. The pair served to flank a gateway for which our bearded deity was somehow the guardian angel.
Please watch the video shared by Christie's. A digital technology enables to reconstruct the original colors, known by traces of pigments on some of the reliefs.
Major consignment of ancient art: 3000-year-old Assyrian relief expected to raise over $10m at @ChristiesInc:https://t.co/0GZH2NTC1I pic.twitter.com/cGVQqtW7yk
— AntiquesTradeGazette (@ATG_Editorial) September 17, 2018
