NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s announces Classic Week, a marquee series of five live and three online auctions from 1-19 October including Antiquities, Books and Manuscripts, 19th century European Art, Old Master Paintings and Sculpture, The Exceptional Sale, as well as a dedicated single-owner sale of Always in Style: Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Herbert Kasper. New to the Classic Week series, the online sale of The Collector features European and English furniture, works of art, silver, ceramics and Chinese works of art that span the 17th to 20th centuries. The exhibition at Christie’s Rockefeller Center galleries will be open by appointment only starting 9 October.
Highlights across the sales include Annibale Carracci’s The Annunciation, Les Paul’s personal “Number One” 1952 Gibson Goldtop guitar, a Roman silver and niello inlaid bronze table, a princely Elephant-form automaton clock restituted to the Heirs of Maximilan Baron von Goldschmidt-Rothschild, an Egyptian granite falcon (“The Verite Falcon”), a mammoth Napoleonic Description de l’Egypte, and enchanting works by Julius LeBlanc Stewart.
Antiquities
12 October at 10am EDT
The Antiquities sale features an impressive selection of works of art from the Estate of Yris R. Solomon, daughter of the renowned New York dealer Khalil Rabenou (1906-1961). Highlights include a three-quarters life sized Roman Marble Goddess, circa mid-2nd century A.D. and an important Sasanian Bronze Royal Portrait bust, circa 5th-7th century A.D. Christie’s is also honored to offer two Roman marbles from the Estate of Herbert Kasper (1926-2020): a Portrait Head of the Empress Livia, circa late 1st century B.C., and an striking Head of Isis, circa 2nd century A.D. The top lot of the sale is an Egyptian Basalt Falcon, Late Period, 30th Dynasty, Reign of Nectanebo II to Ptolemaic Period, 380-30 B.C.
Antiquities also features a collection of Greek helmets and armor from a California Private Collector, as well as objects from the Harold and Barbara Marko Collection, including a large Egyptian bronze figure of the goddess Neith from the 26th Dynasty, circa 664-525 B.C., and formerly in the Jack Josephson Collection. Other highlights include a Roman Marble Head of Apollo, circa 1st-2nd century A.D., a Roman Marble Portrait of Aristotle, circa 2nd century A.D., and a Greco-Persian Blue Chalcedony Scaraboid with a Griffin, circa late 5th-early 4th century B.C., formerly in the renowned Southesk and Harari Collections.
The Exceptional Sale
13 October at 10am EDT
The Exceptional Sale will offer an engaging and highly-curated group of masterpieces ranging from wonders of the ancient world and 17th century marvels of time to icons of American popular culture and rock n’ roll. A rare Roman bronze and niello table, circa 1st century B.C.-1st century A.D. and an Ausburg Elephant-form automaton clock restituted to the Heirs of Maximilian Baron Von Goldschmidt-Rothschild lead the sale offerings. Masterworks of decorative art range from Royal French furniture, including a recently rediscovered royal masterpiece, an exquisite secrétaire à abattant by BVRB made for King Louis XV’s cabinet at the château de Saint Huber, to classic English furniture with storied country house provenance. Important silver from private collections, including the Collection of Winston F.C. and C.Z. Guest, French ‘Japonisme’ sculpture and a rare Chinese Tang camel and groom from an important private collection round out the diverse array of objets d’art. A select group of significant electric guitars is headlined by Les Paul’s personal Gibson ‘Goldtop’, an instrument developed circa 1952 to meet the demanding standards of guitar virtuoso and inventor, Les Paul, who designated this instrument his ‘Number One’.
European Art Part I
13 October at 11am EDT
The European Art Part I sale is a masterpiece-level sale of 37 curated lots which offers works by the most sought-after artists of the different schools of 19th century Europe. The most important sale offered in this category annually, this auction highlights the innovation and diversity of this vibrant period in the history of art. The cover lot this season is an important work by Peder Severin Krøyer, from the artist’s acclaimed ‘blue period.’ Other highlights include William Adolphe Bouguereau’s Tricoteuse and a touching work by Dame Laura Knight, A Child at the Baltimore Children’s Hospital. There are also exceptional works by Julius LeBlanc Stewart, Giovanni Segantini, Herbert James Draper, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Vittorio Matteo Corcos, and Edward Robert Hughes, among others.
The sale also includes an extraordinary group of paintings from the Collection of Mrs. Elizabeth R. Moran by Sir Alfred Munnings, the foremost equestrian artist of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Led by the artist’s wonderful equestrian portrait Who’s the Lady?, the collection spans different periods to represent top-quality examples of each of the artist’s most sought-after subjects.
Old Master Paintings and Sculpture
14 October at 10am EDT
Christie’s sale of Old Master Paintings and Sculpture spanning five centuries, ranging from the Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque periods to Rococo and Neoclassicism. Annibale Carracci’s divine Annunciation leads the sale highlights, along with a refined portrait by Giuliano Bugiardini, once thought to be a self-portrait by Raphael, a Renaissance profile portrait by Ambrogio de Predis and an exquisite, intact portable altarpiece by the Master of the Wallraf Triptych, dating as early as the mid-1300s and complete with its original moldings and hinges, as well as Orazio Gentileschi’s Christ Crowned with Thorns.
We are thrilled to be offering a large-scale, lively winter market scene by Lucas van Valckenborch, an enchanting depiction of Animals leaving Noah’s Ark by Roelandt Savery, a Classical seaport with Ulysses returning Chryseis to her father by Claude Lorraine and Jean-Marc Nattier’s elegant Portrait of Marie Rose Larlan. Representing British painting we have an impressive portrayal of a stallion and his groom by Jacques-Laurent Agasse and a selection of portraits by George Romney and Joseph Wright of Derby. We are offering Henry Fuseli's iconic Incubus, a companion to his Nightmare, the most celebrated and haunting image of the Gothic era. For the sculpture there are also pieces ranging from the Medieval through the Biedermeier period, with examples being a charming Renaissance Head of Boy, circa 1465, and attributed to Mino da Fiesole and a fiendishly complex miniature suit of ‘medieval’ armor from the dazzling talented 19th century Paris firm of E. Granger.
Always in Style: Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Herbert Kasper
14 October at 2pm EDT
Christie’s Old Master Drawings sale Always in Style: The Collection of Herbert Kasper features the extraordinary group of old master drawings assembled by the American fashion designer Herbert Kasper (1926-2020). Remarkable for the quality of each drawing, the collection, which will be offered at auction in New York, includes works by artists active in Italy and Northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Among the thirty-five drawings in the sale are exceptional sheets by the most important masters of the late Renaissance such as Parmigianino, Giulio Romano, Paolo Veronese, Giorgio Vasari, Hendrick Goltzius and Peter Paul Rubens among others.
Herbert Kasper, known to everyone simply as Kasper, was a leading figure in the world of fashion and an influential tastemaker in New York. For decades Kasper collected old master drawings, together with photographs and contemporary art, with a particular attraction to the beautiful and elegant figures of the Mannerist painters. The old master drawings in the Kasper collection, part of which have been gifted to some of New York’s most prominent museums, are a testament to the discernment, passion, talent, and exquisite taste of their owner.
Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts Including Americana
1-15 October | Online
Christie’s Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts Including Americana auction in New York features a curated selection of works representing over 500 years of history and the book arts. The material on offer ranges from incunabula and other early printing, masterpieces of cartography from both Europe and Asia, landmarks of science and intellectual history, and both printed and manuscript Americana material from the 18th to the 20th centuries—and much more.
Highlights include the first edition of Johannes Kepler's groundbreaking Astronomia nova, a beautiful early hand-colored edition of Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, the mammoth Napoleonic Description de l’Egypte as well as other illustrated works documenting the history of archaeology, first editions of the key works of modern thinkers like Thomas Malthus and Charles Darwin, and an important group of early Chinese and Japanese maps of China, including handscrolls and wall maps.
The Collector
5-19 October | Online
Christie’s will present The Collector online sale, including a carefully chosen selection of important European and English furniture, works of art, silver, ceramics and Chinese works of art spanning from the 17th to 20th centuries. Bidding for The Collector will open on 5 October and conclude in staggered installments over 19-20 October.
The Collector sale will feature works collected by renowned American style icons such as C.Z. and Winston Guest and Mrs. Gayfred Steinberg alongside private collections of 18th century French and English furniture. Two private collections of 19th century furniture and works of art round out the European collections.
Silver highlights include holloware by Paul Storr, Mario Buccellati and Georg Jensen as well as extensive Victorian and French flatware services. The sale’s porcelain offerings will be well represented by a comprehensive array of forms in Royal Copenhagen’s famous Flora Danica pattern, as well as services by Sevres and works by K.P.M.
