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Lot 16
* PETROV-VODKIN, KUZMA (1878-1939) Still Life. Apples and Eggs , signed with a monogram, inscribed in Cyrillic "S-kand" and dated "1921-VII". Oil on canvas, 35.5 by 47 cm. Provenance: Collection of G. Blokh, Leningrad.Collection of N. Efron, Leningrad.Collection of A. Chudnovsky, Leningrad.Private collection, Europe.Authenticity certificate from the experts N. Aleksandrova and T. Zelyukina.Exhibited: Avantgarde 1900-1930: Tšudnovskin kokoelma Pietarista, Ateneum, Helsinki, 14 October 1993-9 January 1994, No. 53 (label on the reverse).Avantgarde 1900-1930: Tšudnovskin kokoelma Pietarista, Turku Art Museum, Turku, 5 February 1994-6 March 1994, No. 53 (label on the reverse).K.S. Petrov-Vodkin. Izbrannoe, The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg, 1996 (label on the reverse).Literature: V. Kostin, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Moscow, Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1986, No. 64, illustrated; p. 157, listed.Exhibition catalogue, Avantgarde 1900-1930: Tšudnovskin kokoelma Pietarista, Helsinki, 1993, p. 102, No. 53, illustrated.Still Life. Apples and Eggs is one of the most typical and recognisable of Petrov-Vodkin’s works of the early 1920s. It was painted in Samarkand during the summer of 1921 when he was travelling around Central Asia with an expedition organised by the Academy of the History of Material Culture and it very clearly reflects his experimental path from the abstract space of his early years to the metaphysical world of “planetary reality”, full of colour and light.On the table, which is covered with a vivid, rich sky-blue cloth or sheet of paper, there are apples - some red and green, one yellow - and two eggs. At first glance we are struck by the absolute verisimilitude of the depiction: the sharply delineated flattened spheres of the apples, with their light, mauve shadows, and the accurately gauged ellipse of the eggs, warmed by the sun. The modesty of this still life, fairly typical of everyday life in those hard years, did not prevent the artist from creating a serene and exceptionally harmonious piece.In this still life we can sense that special sensitivity and pursuit of the metaphysical essence of objects and phenomena that became the defining element of Petrov-Vodkin’s works of the late 1910s and early 1920s and which resonated with the principles of his Italian contemporaries, Carrà and de Chirico. In its well thought-out haphazardness and in the seemingly random scattering of the fruit across the surface we see the artist’s carefully planned game; he is trying to trace, to get a feel for the inherent interconnection between objects by their very arrangement - the hidden life of inanimate matter. On the one hand, this “magic of corporeality” allows the artist to convey faithfully the concrete attributions of an object (of a greenish, ripe apple, of an egg) but on the other, to create a universalised image of that object, its Platonic eidos: the apple is a generous gift of the earth, the egg a symbol of the eternal beginning of life.Arranging his colour harmonies around the subtle juxtaposition of primary and complementary colours, Petrov-Vodkin achieves a striking vibrancy and richness. The artist is looking at the foodstuffs placed about the table from on high so that their configuration can be accurately rendered and we see them “as if in the palm of our hand”. In this way the artist tries to overcome the one-sidedness of the monocular point of view, considering it neither adequate nor a reflection of genuine knowledge of the object which can and must be viewed from as many angles as possible in order to form a true idea of it. Thus Petrov-Vodkin’s still lifes always have a peculiarly intense character generated by the strong lines of “spherical perspective” which spread throughout the whole space of the canvas. For Petrov-Vodkin, the problem posed by the object is inseparable from the concept of spherical perspective. Although he noted that this acquires an “even greater kinetic sense” in relation to large-scale objects - “landscapes and urban spaces”, which are inconceivable for him without strong “planetary” motion - the apples, matches and violins of his still lifes are connected with planetary motion in exactly the same way. It is no coincidence that a tilted perspective and tilted pictorial axis appear in all of them.The technique based on his “spherical system of perception”, allows Petrov-Vodkin to convey the whole in part, to retain in any still life a sense of the link between the object portrayed and the infinite expanse of the universe. As the artist himself confirmed, it is no coincidence that his study of the object, and by extension his principal work on still lifes, took place during the years of revolution. It seemed to him that without doing this he could not progress further; he could not solve the new artistic challenges he was presented with. Petrov-Vodkin succintly defined this genre, which was so important to him at this period: “The still life is one of the intense conversations the artist has with nature. In it, subject matter and psychology do not hinder the definition of an object in its space. What kind of object is it, where is it, and where am I, the viewer? This is the fundamental question the still life asks of us. And in this there is the great joy of knowing, which is what the viewer takes from the still life.”Petrov-Vodkin had occasionally painted still lifes of flowers and apples earlier in his career, but it was only from about 1918 to 1920 that they became central to his work. During this period he also regularly inserted into his landscapes and portraits the motif of an appletree branch loaded with fruit or of a single fruit or vegetable (Midday, 1917; Portrait of the Artist’s Daughter with Still Life, 1930s). However, thanks to their wonderfully sculptural forms and their graceful draughtsmanship and colour design, each of this artist’s still lifes with apples (Pink Still Life, Apple Tree Branch, 1918; Apple and Cherry, 1917; Apples, 1917; Still Life with Blue Cube, 1918 etc.) proves to be as beautiful and expressive as it is self-contained.Having resolved his major creative challenges of this period in both painting and drawing, Petrov-Vodkin did return from time to time to this genre, but the still life never again reached such heights in his oeuvre. The conciseness and creative concentration of his still lifes from the late 1910s to early 1920s (which invoke fundamental symbols, religious and cultural principles of existence and compassion for spiritual and physical hunger) make them, perhaps, the benchmark standards of Russian art of the post-Revolutionary period, alongside Pavel Filonov’s revolutionary Formula paintings.
Lot 33
* SUDEIKIN, SERGEI (1882-1946) Porcelain Figures and Flowers , signed. Oil on canvas, 92.5 by 71.5 cm. Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert I. Geraschenko.Literature: G. Romanov, Mir iskusstva. 1898-1927, St Petersburg, 2010, p. 967, illustrated.Porcelain and flowers: the decorative potential of this combination had at one time been appreciated for its full worth by the Flemish painters. With the passage of time, however, this kind of still life fell out of favour and was glimpsed only rarely in the pages of art history, until a new wave of enthusiasm for porcelain and floral motifs engulfed the culture of Art Nouveau. The vulnerable frailty of picked flowers and fine china literally became an obsession in passéiste culture as the 20th century moved from its first decade into its second. Their fragile beauty was forever being rhapsodised in Symbolist and Acmeist poetry and they were depicted in a flood of still life work by the recent Blue Rose and World of Art painters.The most vivid and coherent embodiment of the theme of porcelain and flowers can be found in the creative work of three outstanding Russian painters of the period: Sergei Sudeikin, Nikolai Sapunov and Alexander Golovin. The exquisite, almost ornate, images they painted, inspired by the desire - in Abram Efros`s well-turned phrase - “to depict beautiful things beautifully”, always bore the recognisable stamp of each artist’s individual creativity.This composition of Sergei Sudeikin’s Porcelain Figures and Flowers is one of the most original and refined images of this group. In painting his canvas it is as if the artist were weaving the objects depicted into a fanciful pattern, thereby emphasising the decorativeness and deep symbolic significance of the composition. The vase with two artificial roses and the little porcelain figures are portrayed against the background of a piece of wallpaper, or upholstery material, in the Chinoiserie style. The density and impasto of the brushwork in the background, however, differs from that used for the objects, which makes the surface of the painting start to vibrate, and the delicate lilac gauze, its tints soaking up the white of the glazed china, creates a special magnetic, contemplative atmosphere. If in other compositions by Sudeikin, such as Saxon Figurines (1911, The State Russian Museum), Flowers and Porcelain (1910, private collection), Flowers and Statuette (1900s, The State Tretyakov Gallery) or the Still Lifes (1909 and 1911, both in the State Russian Museum) the objects often conceive a game among themselves, and the china marquises and shepherdesses play out scenes that are almost theatrical, then in this composition lethargy reigns in a static and enchanted slumber. The porcelain figurines sleep in each others’ arms, the naked nymph who only a second before had been pulling on her stocking is motionless, as though pricked by a spindle, the water in the tumbling, sparkling stream painted on the backcloth has frozen, and the paper flowers in the vase exude a passionless, timeless beauty. Through this painting Sudeikin transmits the quintessential aestheticism of the World of Art - an illusory world populated by ephemeral images. Their life is only a magical dream created by the artist’s fantasy - enchanting precisely because of its impermanence, and ready to vanish like a sleeping vision. The artist casts a sort of haze over these still lifes, a gauze that insists the painting be perceived as a beautiful reverie.The way the painting is resolved in terms of structure rests on the play between plane and depth, pattern and object. On the one hand the artist affirms the substantive reality of a flower, using every means to define it, but at the same time he creates a certain feeling of deception to the flowers in their arrangement and colour, a sort of sense of mystification. This makes the still life seem like magic exposed, a conjuror’s trick with its artifice laid bare. Sudeikin creates a world of image in which artificiality, fabulous invention and the exposure of these qualities act in uninterrupted communication and become the intrinsic idea and content of the entire composition.
Lot 449
Arcade Game "Peppy the Clown" Australian amusement machine, manufactured by "Como Electronics", electromechanically operated, 230 V, inbuilt tape deck, untested, height: 67 in. Spielautomat "Peppy the Clown" Australischer Unterhaltungsautomat, Hersteller "Como Electronics", elektromechanisch, 230 V, eingebauter Kassettenrekorder, ungetestet, Höhe: 170 cm. Condition: (3/-) Starting Price: €160
Lot 462
Mechanical Pinball Game "Rekord-Golf", 1935 German amusement machine, manufactured by "Jentzsch & Meerz, Leipzig", coin slot for 5 or 10 pfennig. Good working original condition. Klappenspiel "Rekord-Golf", 1935 Mechanischer Unterhaltungsautomat, Flipper-Vorläufer, Hersteller: "Jentzsch & Meerz, Leipzig", Einwurf 5 oder 10 Pf. Gut funktionierender Originalzustand. Condition: (3/2-3) Starting Price: €240
Lot 160
Four Early Boxed Toys:- Putting Golf, in pine box, with pictorial label to underside of lid, tinplate holes and two hickory shafted clubs; Knockemdown Ninepins, made at Disabled Ex-Service Men`s Industries, comprising nine painted figural skittles and a ball; New Angler Game, containing ebonised pieces; Squails, containing painted wooden pieces, in a mahogany box
Lot 847
*Documents, Badges and a Silver Trophy Cup relating to Major R.J. Jones, Queen`s Westminster Volunteers, comprising a consecutive run of National Rifle Association Wimbledon Meeting books from 1882-1892 (excluding 1886), inscribed to the recipient, each edition with multiple adverts within, eight `Wace`s Rifle Score Register` booklets, published 1877 and 1882, each inscribed to the recipient and records of rifle practise and competitions, `Target Register with Notes & Tables` booklet, three `The Queen`s Westminster Volunteers L Company Regulation for Class and Company Shooting & Prize Drills` booklets (1883, 1894, 1896), `Annual Report Middlesex Rifle Association` (1899, 1900), `A Guide to the Queen`s Sixty, 8th Edition` booklet published 1883, `The Perfect All Range Rifle Score Register by Walter C. Luff, L.R.B.` booklet, a silver trophy cup engraved `Middlesex Rifle Association 1885 Meetings Held at Park. Prizes Won by Lieut R.T. Jones O.W.R.V.` with several prize inscriptions, by James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield 1884, 20cm high, 8 ounces, with glass dome and ebonised base, various documents relating to National Rifle Association evening luncheons / dinners (1925, 1929, 1932), a Queen`s Westminster Volunteers Officer`s silver, a cyclists` touring club silver membership certificate holder bicycle wheel badge, with original card box and instructions for wearing, and a note booklet inscribed to the recipient and titled `Cycling 1900` includes a descriptive record of all Major Jones`s rides up to December 1903, plus a booklet relating to the recipients son Mr Eric Arthur Jones titled `Parker`s Rifle-Shot`s Register, Shooting Instructions Wind Charts Etc`, inscribed `E.A.O. Jones, O.T.C. Uppingham May 13th 11`, a `Uppingham School, O.T.C, Shooting Fixtures 1911` card, and a silver print photograph of E.A.O. Jones in uniform inscribed and dated `May 1915`, and a hard back book by Major J.Q. Henriques, T.D. titled `The War History of the First Battalion. Queen`s Westminster Rifles, 1914-1918`. Major Robert J. Jones served with the Queen`s Westminster Volunteers throughout the 1880s / 90s, he was also a lifelong member of the National Rifle Association, included in the lot is a list of game which he shot on Lieutenant Colonel Shoolbred`s estate (he was the owner of James Shoolbred & Co Limited, a furniture manufacturer and repository located at Tottenham House, Tottenham Court Road). Jones had five sons who were all killed during the Great War, Second Lieutenant Eric .A.O. Jones fell on the Somme 18.9.1916 he is described by his commanding officer Shoolbred in `The War History of the First Battalion Queen`s Westminster Rifles, 1914-1918` `he was one of those happy natures with an infinite gift of seeing the bright side of everything. Not even dirt and other unpleasantness of the Somme checked his overflowing happiness he leaves the Regiment another example of duty most gallantly carried out` (p123). See lots 885/886. ()
Lot 856
A small collection of early 19th Century coloured caricatures, all of Napoleonic interest after George Cruickshank (1792-1878) and others, comprising - "The Genius of France expounding her Laws to the Sublime People", 14.5ins x 9ins, "The Genius of France Nursing Her Darling", 11.75ins x 9.5ins, "Political Quadrille - The Game Up", 11.5ins x 14.5ins, and four others including a broad sheet entitled "Bob Rousem`s Epistle to Bonaparte", all framed and glazed
Lot 44
KPM QUALITY PORCELAIN PORTRAIT PLAQUE IN FRAMEBartolomé Esteban Murillo (SPANISH, 1618-1682) Antique Berlin KPM quality hand painted enameled porcelain portrait plaque depicting a young boy eating. From the original work in oil by Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo (SPANISH, 1618-1682) "Children at the Dice Game". Mounted in gold frame. Measures 6" height x 5 1/2" width + 2" frame (15.2cm x 13.9cm + 5.1cm). Total weight of 863 grams.
Lot 56
WEDGWOOD CANEWARE HARE GAME PIE DISH & COVERAntique Wedgwood Caneware game pie oval dish and cover having a Hare finial. Holds impressed WEDGWOOD mark to bottom with GHT. Circa mid to early 19th century. Measures 4 1/2" height x 7 3/4" length x 5 7/8" length (11.4cm x 19.6cm). Total weight of 764 grams.
Lot 309
CHINESE IVORY CARVED IVORY CHESS SET w BOX BOARDOld Chinese hand carved chess set with pieces constructed of ivory. Includes fitted wooden box that is also game board. Largest piece measures 4 5/8" height (11.7cm). Smallest piece measures 2 3/8" height (6cm). Total ivory weight of approx. 672 grams. Overall weight of approx. 3587 grams.
Lot 267
GWR Jigsaw Puzzle `Britain`s Mightiest` 150 pieces, with one, extremely well matched replaced piece, otherwise extremely good. Brown label box is in fair condition. Together with GWR `Race To The Ocean Coast` Game manufactured by Chad Valley. Believed complete except for die cup and instructions. Comprises:- folding board showing map, three painted loco pieces, six pawn counters and die. Well played with and the box has one side missing from lid and the rest is torn but repairable. A scarce game indeed.
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