NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s annual sales of Israeli & International Art and Important Judaica will take place on 18 & 19 December in New York. The sales will offer a diverse array of Hebrew books and manuscripts, ritual silver and metalwork from a distinguished private collection, ceremonial textiles, and important paintings. The exhibitions will be on public view in our York Avenue galleries beginning 12 December.
IMPORTANT JUDAICA, INCLUDING A DISTINGUISHED PRIVATE COLLECTION
Auction 19 December at 10:00 AM EST
A TREASURY OF SILVER JUDAICA
Sotheby’s will open the Important Judaica auction with an extraordinary selection of ritual silver and metalwork from a Distinguished Private Collection. Spanning 250 years and many countries of Europe and North Africa, the 136 piece collection tells the story of the culture and religious practice of the Jews, throughout their history. Highlights include a Rare and Large Hungarian Parcel-Gilt Set of Torah Crown and Pair of Finials made in Budapest in 1780 by Johannes Mathias Roth (estimate $150/250,000), a Pair of German Silver Torah Finials modeled in the form of the center tower of the town hall of the city of Emden, by Johannes Beekman Hayens in 1800 (estimate $80/120,000), and a German Parcel-Gilt Silver Torah Finial circa 1780-1800, whose matching pair is in the collection of the Israel Museum (estimate $80/120,000). Other pieces show the inventive Arts and Crafts character of the Bezalel School in Jerusalem, founded in 1906, such as a Silver Book Binding circa 1915, etched with signs of the Twelve Tribes (estimate $4/6,000), while a whimsical Silver and Gold Dreidel in a painted box by Ilya Schor (estimate $10/15,000) brings the collection into the later 20th century.
IMPORTANT BOOKS, MANUSCRIPTS & DECORATIVE ART
The Important Judaica sale is led by the only known Kabbalistic Manuscript with Autograph Notes by Rabbi Jonathan Eibeschuetz, one of the preeminent kabbalists of the 18th century (estimate $250/350,000). Considered an extraordinary kabbalist by his contemporaries and by subsequent scholars, Eibeschuetz likely wrote well over one hundred amulets and authored at least two full-length Kabbalistic tracts. Despite his prodigious literary activity, precious few autograph manuscripts of Eibeschuetz’s survive, making its appearance in the sale all the more remarkable.
The sale also features a superb collection of 31 Bomberg Talmud Tractates, being sold to support the Charitable Endeavors of Yeshiva Zichron Shraga (estimates range from $5,000/120,000). Daniel Bomberg is responsible for the first complete edition of the Babylonian Talmud (1519-1523), universally recognized not simply as one of the most significant books in the history of Hebrew printing, but as one of the great books of the Western world.
The auction also brings to light the Second Oldest Recorded Pre-Expulsion Sephardic Torah Scroll to come to market (estimate $200/300,000). The present scroll is remarkable not only for its rarity as a survivor of the expulsions of Jews from medieval Iberia, but even more so as a testament to the exactitude and skill of one of the most esteemed scribes of medieval Toledo, Israel ben Isaac Ben Israel.
Amongst the selection of decorative objects is an Exquisite Parokhet (Torah Ark Curtain) from 1755, which bears witness to the textile craft practiced by Jewish women in early modern Italy (estimate $100/150,000). Embroidered in a variety of stitches on royal blue silk ground with multicolored silk threads, the curtain features an elaborate central cartouche containing clusters of grapes hanging form vines and surrounded by a lavish border of fruit and floral motifs, including pomegranates, carnations, and roses – all combined to form a dynamic and dramatic pattern. The prominently located clusters of grapes hanging on vines may allude to the biblical metaphor that the Torah is a flowering tree of life to all who grasp it.
AN IMPORTANT 17th CENTURY ITALIAN PAINTING
A large and impressive oil depicting Jews praying in a Synagogue in Italy is an exceptional record from one of the greatest centers of Jewish culture. It is one of the only Synagogue interiors dating from the 17th century and is thus a remarkable record of the rich Jewish life led by the Italian Jews during the Early Modern Era (estimate $250/300,000). The presence of a Shofar on the Reader’s Desk indicates that the scene most likely takes place during the Minhah or Ne'ilah service of Yom Kippur. According to the former owners of this painting, who lived on the outskirts of Siena and in whose possession this work resided for generations, the interior possibly depicts the old Synagogue in Siena.
ISRAELI & INTERNATIONAL ART
Auction 18 December at 10:00 AM EST
A MASTERPIECE BY NAHUM GUTMAN
The auction is led by a rare work by premier Isareli artist Nahum Gutman. Painted in the late 1920’s, Gutman’s idyllic Tiberias Landscape, epitomizes the modernist expression of the artist and his peers in the burgeoning era, capturing scenes of the land of Eretz Israel and its people (estimate $200/300,000). Emphasizing the rolling contours of the terrain, Gutman intimates the fertility of the land and its potential for new life. Acquired directly from the artist, this important masterpiece has been held in the same private collection since it was painted and has been exhibited on long term loan to the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. It has also been included in a major retrospective of the artist’s work in 1984 at the Tel Aviv Museum.
THE FIRON COLLECTION
This season, Sotheby’s will be offering three masterworks from the renowned Firon Collection. Born in Tel Aviv in 1923, Michael (Mike) Firon fought in Israel’s War of Independence as a member of the Palmach. Renowned for his sharp wit and uncompromising professionalism, he served as Legal Counsel to the Israeli Labor party, was deeply involved in developing Israeli industry, and served as Chairman of the Board of the Israeli Aviation Industries. A highly educated intellectual and an avid art lover, Firon acquired his first works of art in the early 1950s and became one of Israel’s best known collectors, acquiring masterpieces from over fifty Israeli and Ecole de Paris artists from the best periods of their creation.
Painted in 1960, the subject of Mordecai Ardon’s intimate masterpiece, Jou-Jou in Quarantine, combines joy and pain, life and death - themes that often meet in the artist’s work (estimate $120/180,000). A brightly colored toy ship anchored in a deep blue sea at first appears to be a child’s carefree game, especially as his four year old granddaughter’s name, Nili, is painted on the side of the boat. However, as suggested by the title, and the yellow flag on shore, the ship is held offshore, quarantined –a metaphor representing life’s solitude and the painful history of immigration to Israel under the British Mandate.
Inspired by the work of René Magritte, Yosl Bergner’s surrealist triptych, Kushan (The Deed) is a masterpiece of historical fantasy (estimate $120/180,000). Sir Herbert Samuel, High Commissioner of British occupied Palestine, rides high through the masterwork, waiving a scroll of paper with Turkish text, a kushan, a deed to the contested land. Bergner illustrates Samuel, the first Jewish governor of the territory in modern times, as a heroic figure, one of the first benefactors of the Jewish homeland. The artist’s characteristic figures, with dark eyes and quiet smiles, look out their windows at the British Zionist arriving on horseback, riding down the coast with land rights in hand. The Ottoman soldiers in the lower left panel may reference the expulsion of Jews from Tel Aviv in 1914, who were only able to return to their homes after the British conquest of Palestine.
RENOWNED AND EMERGING CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
This year’s annual auction features a strong selection of modern and contemporary art, with works by Zoya Cherkassky, David Reeb, Moshe Castel and more on offer. Of particular importance is an installation by celebrated Israeli female artist, Michal Rovner. In her video projection, DEGEL, Rovner captures gesture and human movement, transforming the figure into a moving hieroglyph (estimate $30/50,000). Rovner’s innovative use of archaeology and technology merges the ancient and the new, sculpture and video, to create deeply informed contemporary multi-media experiences.
The sale features 6 works by renowned Israeli-born artist Yaacov Agam, showcasing six decades of the artist’s innovative work. The group includes many of his famed kinetic sculptures and paintings, including a 7ft stainless steel Menorah (estimate $50/70,000), the study for his monumental mural Pace of Time at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (estimate $30/50,000) and a work on paper depicting the Love Star of David created for the Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center marking the 30th anniversary of the state of Israel (estimate $12/18,000).
Additional contemporary highlights include works by two of Israel’s consummate realist painters, Israel Hershberg and Eran Reshef, whose works are held in prominent private and public collections such as the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and the Jewish Museum, New York.
