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Alistair Grant (1925- 1997) Modern Abstract Etching 'The Shoe', pencil signed to the margin; framed and glazed; Grant CV: Royal College of Art, staff, Head of Printmaking Dept. and Professor of Printmaking

Leon Underwood (1890-1975) Modern British School Bronze Sculptor, Painter & Print Maker of Repute, he trained at the Slade School of Art, London, and later became a teacher. A fine original bronze on offer of the famous African Madonna, a Limited Edition of 8, this being No. 4. Signed and dated '38, fitted on a gnarled walnut base of the period. Overall height 14.5''. The bronze of fine colour and patination, in its original state.

A Mixed Lot of Collectables to include Royal Crown Derby loving cup, limited edition for the wedding of HRH Prince Edward and Miss Sophie Rhys Jones 19th June 1999 336/750, A Coronation Orb Miniature Loving Cup to celebrate 50th Coronation and limited to production 2003 and a Royal Crown Derby Christmas Tree decoration in the form of a Christmas Tree. Together with a pair of Royal Mint Earrings modelled in the form of a penny black, Modern Silver stamp holder, a Royal Mail Optical Art, A Country Definitive Collection Playing Cards in Wooden Presentation box and a glass paperweight.

Assorted Costume Jewellery, including bead necklaces, Modernist style brooches, imitation pearls, a modern amber set brooch, of Art Nouveau style, wristwatches, "835" rose pendant, etc :- One Tray

A collection of art glass in ruby colours including Whitefriars dishes and a modern glass chilli pepper (4)

A Tracey Emin rare art exhibition poster for the 'This is another place' exhibition at Modern Art Oxford in 2002, framed, 59cm X 42cm

Modern hardbacks on mixed subjects incl art, historical, countryside etc.

Richard Hamilton and Corneille Sotero 3 signed 6x4 illustrations photos. Richard William Hamilton CH (24 February 1922 - 13 September 2011) was an English painter and collage artist. His 1955 exhibition Man, Machine and Motion (Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne) and his 1956 collage Just what is it that makes today's homes so different, so appealing? produced for the This Is Tomorrow exhibition of the Independent Group in London, are considered by critics and historians to be among the earliest works of pop art. A major retrospective of his work was at Tate Modern until May 2014. Good condition. All autographs come with a Certificate of Authenticity. We combine postage on multiple winning lots and can ship worldwide. UK postage from £4.99, EU from £6.99, Rest of World from £8.99

Patrick Heron (British, 1920-1999)16 July : 1995 (Orange) signed, titled and dated 'PATRICK HERON/W.H.S. : 16 JULY : 1995 (ORANGE)' (verso)gouache on paper20 x 62.5 cm. (7 7/8 x 24 5/8 in.)Executed in 1995Footnotes:ProvenanceGifted by the Artist to the present owner, 1995Private Collection, U.K.The Estate of Patrick Heron is preparing a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the Artist's work and would like to hear from owners of any works by Patrick Heron, so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue. The Estate of Patrick Heron, c/o Modern British and Irish Art, Bonhams, 101 New Bond St, Mayfair, London W1S 1SR or email britart@bonhams.com.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Patrick Heron (British, 1920-1999)Soft Discs in Red : September 1962 signed, titled and dated 'PATRICK/HERON/SOFT/DISCS/IN RED :/SEPT 62' (verso)oil on canvas76.2 x 121.9 cm. (30 x 48 in.)(unframed)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Waddington Galleries, London, 1963, where acquired byPrivate Collection, U.K., thence by descent to the present ownersPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedZürich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Patrick Heron, January 1963, cat.no.1152The present work was purchased in 1963 by a foremost modernist British architect and has remained in the same family collection ever since. The architect forged relationships with many well-known artists (including Louis le Brocquy, Graham Sutherland, Augustus John, Sir Eduardo Paolozzi and Keith Vaughan) and Patrick Heron had become a close acquaintance. At the time of the acquisition of the present work the architect wrote to Heron, expressing the synergy between Heron's painting and his own approach to spatial practice. Heron's response was as follows:November 1st : 63 I have been meaning to write and thank you for your very interesting and kind letter of 22nd September : but we have been away for a bit - and in any case I was so interested in what you wrote that I wanted time to consider it. So I delayed. Now I hear from Leslie Waddington that you have bought Soft Discs in Red : September 1962 – a picture I included in my show at Galerie Charles Lienhard, Zurich, in January this year. I'm very glad to know it was you who bought this picture!What you say about your house is extremely interesting - & I'm flattered that you should feel that my painting has influenced it in any way. What you say about putting the windows where you wanted them (from the 'inside') and thus as it were 'discovering' when they came in the elevation (which you do not plan as a separate entity) is fascinating because this is precisely what I do with the 3 or 4 'shapes' that I have in my pictures : I do not 'design' their position in relation to the ground of the picture – or in relation to its 4 edges. I find the position of each 'colour-shape' by intuitive trial and error and it is only afterwards (sometimes quite a long time after) that I begin to see, consciously, just what the exact formal positions of the component 'shapes' are, and either to like them or dislike them.I like very much indeed what you say about seeing the different colour-shapes differently at different moments. This is absolutely true. One gazes at the painting and, as one gazes, first one & then another colour-shape swim forward, or backward : and then they may well do the opposite. What matters is that there should be this illusion of a gentle movement backwards and forwards : a sort of swelling and contracting of the visual images involved. From what you say it sounds as though your windows, with their different frames do the same thing, as it were in your eye...Meanwhile – many thanks for your letter. I'm delighted about the red painting.Yours everPatrick Heron 'In the ideal museum of twentieth-century art, his best colour paintings will be on the wall between those of Matisse and those of the Americans Mark Rothko, Ellsworth Kelly, Kenneth Noland and Barnett Newman – with the German Expressionist Emil Nolde not too far away. And there they will continue to sing' (The Times, Obituary of Patrick Heron, 22 March 1999).As The Times obituary passage surmises, it is often the case that in retrospect an artist's output is neatly framed within a set narrative of their influences, peers, and legacies. Speaking most generally such framing is ordinarily the preserve of the critic, the art the preserve of the artist, and the former follows the latter. However, Patrick Heron is a rare breed, an artist-critic, whose contributions to both fields are notable and, significantly, concurrent. At key points throughout his career the dynamic of this dual role impacted Heron's painting. As he deeply considered his own place within the broader dialogue of art theory, he periodically shifted his practice in accordance with his critical conclusions. One such shift - instigated by the influence of American painting on British art - culminated in 1962 and was announced by Heron through a small group of works to which the present lot belongs.In January 1963 Heron sent this group of works to Zürich for exhibition at Galerie Charles Leinhard. There Soft Discs in Red : September 1962 hung alongside oils such as Blue Painting with Discs : September 1962 (British Council Collection), Tall Purple : September 1962 and Big Green with Reds and Violet : 1962 (both Heron Family Collection). To accompany the exhibition Heron published a text entitled A Note on my Painting : 1962, which was republished in Art International in February 1963. This note was Heron's first statement concerning his own painting since 1957, and in it as Sara Matson outlines, Heron 'in effect announced the formal position he had reached as an abstract painter after four years of determined withdrawal from critical writing to focus on his art. With the lively exchange between the art worlds of London and New York gathering pace throughout the 1950s, in recent years Heron had silently consolidated his allegiance to the modern pioneers of the Paris School and their contemporary heirs, while negotiating the ground-breaking developments of a new generation of American abstract painters and the influence of their trans-Atlantic advocates.' (Sara Matson, Patrick Heron, Pavilion, London, 2018, p.115).Heron's 1962 statement includes three conclusions to which he had arrived through this period of consideration, and each of which is readily apparent in Soft Discs in Red : September 1962. He states that - 'I do not find myself 'designing' a canvas'; I do not 'draw' the lozenge-shaped areas of soft squares. And these forms are not really 'forms' at all, but simply areas... materializing under my brush when I start to saturate the surface of the canvas with, so to speak, varying quantities of this colour or that' (Heron, A Note on my Painting : 1962, exh.cat, Galerie Charles Lienhard, 1963). In the present work the four eponymous discs 'materialize' by varied processes; in one case an absence reveals the red ground beneath, the second is an applied eclipse of opaque brown, the third is a scumbled form of energetic focus and the final a soft orange form which hovers beneath the picture plane. In his statement Heron continues to a second conclusion 'I therefore have the feeling that colour determines the actual shapes, or areas, which balance one another (but statically I hope: all compositions...should be tranquil) in my painting' (ibid.). In this case Heron achieves tranquillity by the interjection of the vertical bar-form which divides the canvas at a point unequal in terms of space but balanced in terms of pictorial weight - the scale just tipped by the inclusion of the slightest appearance of brown pigment at the extreme right edge. Successful as the work is in these two respects, undoubtedly the most impactful aspect of Soft Discs in Red : September 1962 is the sheer power of its unbroken red palette. This resonates far beyond its four-foot span and demonstrates the most revolutionary point of Heron's note - 'for a very long time now, I have realised that my overriding interest is colour, Colour is both the subject and the means, the form and the content : the image and the meaning in my painting today... It is obvious that colour is now the only direction in which painting can travel. Painting still has a continent left to explore, in the direction of colour (and in no other direction)' (ibid.). ... This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

George Kennethson (British, 1910-1993)Rock and Wave Shape alabaster52.1 cm. (20 1/2 in.) highCarved circa 1955 UniqueFootnotes:ProvenanceWith The Redfern Gallery, London, where purchased by the present ownerExhibitedLondon, The Redfern Gallery, The Sculpture of George Kennethson 1910-1994, 9 September-4 October 2014 (col.ill., p.47)London, The Redfern Gallery, Spring Exhibition, Modern British Art, 2017 (col.ill., p.62)This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Patrick Heron (British, 1920-1999)Scarlet and Indigo To Left of Ultramarine : April 1968 signed titled and dated 'PATRICK HERON/SCARLET AND INDIGO TO/LEFT OF ULTRAMARINE :/APRIL 1968'gouache58.1 x 79.4 cm. (22 7/8 x 31 1/4 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith the Waddington Galleries, LondonP.J Goldberg (acquired on the 19 July 1968)Private Collection, U.S.A.ExhibitedLondon, The Waddington Galleries, Patrick Heron: gouaches, 2-27 July 1968The Estate of Patrick Heron is preparing a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the Artist's work and would like to hear from owners of any works by Patrick Heron, so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue. The Estate of Patrick Heron, c/o Modern British and Irish Art, Bonhams, 101 New Bond St, Mayfair, London W1S 1SR or email britart@bonhams.com.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson A.R.A (British, 1889-1946)Hampton Court signed 'C.R.W. NEVINSON' (lower left)oil on canvas62.3 x 48 cm. (24 1/2 X 18 1/8 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceSale; Phillips, London, 10 November 1987, lot 58With David Messum, London, 1988Sale; Bonhams, London, 8 July 2016, lot 78, where acquired byLady DugdaleExhibitedLondon, Leicester Galleries, Paintings and Watercolours by C.R.W. Nevinson, October 1921, cat.no.6London, David Messum, British Impressions, A Collection of British Impressionist Painting 1880-1940, 23 June 1988, cat.no.68Literature'The Queen', Magazine, 15 October 1921'Drawing and Design', Magazine, July 1922'Drawing and Design', Magazine, June 1922Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson's fame rests primarily on the pictures he executed in his capacity as an Official War Artist during the First World War.However these now iconic works constitute but a small component of Nevinson's extensive output, which is overall more broadly concerned with the various themes of industry, leisure and landscape.In the immediate post-war years of 1919-1922 Nevinson painted pictures which he referred to as his 'peace' works. Despite his futurist and vorticist roots, Nevinson did not consider himself a 'modern' and publicly declared in the introduction to his first peace time exhibition; 'I wish to be thoroughly disassociated from every 'new' or 'advanced' movement; every form of 'ist,' 'ism,' 'post,' 'neo,' 'academic' or 'unacademic.' (C.R.W. Nevinson, catalogue introduction to the exhibition New Works by C.R.W. Nevinson at the Leicester Galleries, London, 1919). Indeed the 'peace' pictures, with a defiantly lyrical air, are a sharp turn away from the stylized mechanical aesthetic of his preceding output. This stance was upheld with his rather sharp-tongued review of 'isms' in his 1921 exhibition introduction where he introduced his public to 'Gagaism' ('The international curse of the senile who dominate all official Art Societies, especially in France') and 'Babaism' ('The propagandist sheep who bleat of pure art and significant form, and butt inanely for little periodicals').Nevinson's tendencies towards public declarations, often pointed and unsympathetic to his peers and supporters, invited rather unkind retort. He recalls 'The only oasis I had was in the friendliness and generosity of Oswald Greene, brother of the present Master of the Rolls, who used to drive us every weekend to his houseboat at Hampton Court' (C.R.W. Nevinson, Paint and Prejudice, Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, 1938, p.203). It is presumably on such a trip that Nevinson painted the present oil. Archetypal of the peace time works Hampton Court celebrates the leisure pursuits of the great British public in the immediate heady years of the interwar period. Our scene is likely a depiction of the view looking west from atop Hampton Court Bridge. The pier depicted at the left of the composition still stands today. The canvas throngs with the lively hubbub of the summer regatta. Yet rather than the full spectacle of the event, Nevinson chooses to direct our eye to the relaxed couple in the foreground, the young lady's hand lazily enjoying the fresh water. This simple, tranquil gesture is the antithesis to the wrought anxiety of the war works, a testament to how diverse Nevinson was as an artist.The July 1922 Drawing and Design review remarks 'to say that Hampton Court is a masterpiece of perspective in form, tone and colours, is to give no hint of its rare individual charm...' ('Drawing and Design', Magazine, July 1922).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Patrick Heron (British, 1920-1999)16 July: 1995 (Lemon) signed, titled and dated 'PATRICK HERON/W.H.S. : 16 JULY : 1995 (LEMON)' (verso)gouache on paper20 x 62.5 cm. (7 7/8 x 24 5/8 in.)Executed in 1995Footnotes:ProvenanceGifted by the Artist to the present owner, 1995Private Collection, U.K.The Estate of Patrick Heron is preparing a forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the Artist's work and would like to hear from owners of any works by Patrick Heron, so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue. The Estate of Patrick Heron, c/o Modern British and Irish Art, Bonhams, 101 New Bond St, Mayfair, London W1S 1SR or email britart@bonhams.com.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Dame Barbara Hepworth (British, 1903-1975)Two Forms (Ciel) numbered '4/10' (on the underside)polished bronze on a granite base8.9 cm. (3 1/2 in.) high (excluding base)Conceived in 1959Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Gimpel Fils, LondonLeonard Pearl (Lord Mayor of London)ExhibitedZurich, Galerie Charles Lienhard, Barbara Hepworth, October 1960, cat.no.14 (another cast)London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth, May-June 1961, cat.no.7 (another cast)London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Barbara Hepworth: An Exhibition of Sculpture from 1952-62, May-June 1962, cat.no.41 (another cast)London, Gimpel Fils, Barbara Hepworth, October-November 1972, cat.no.12 (another cast)Wakefield, Wakefield Art Gallery and Museum, Barbara Hepworth: Polished Bronzes, May-June 2003 (another cast); this exhibition travelled to Gouda, Museum het Catharina Gasthuis, July-September 2003LiteratureJosef Paul Hodin, Barbara Hepworth, British Council, London, 1959, p.170, cat.no.266 (another cast)Penelope Curtis, Barbara Hepworth, Tate Publishing, London, 2013, p.51We are grateful to Sophie Bowness for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.On Barbara Hepworth's death in 1975 the obituary published in The Guardian concluded that she was 'probably the most significant woman artist in the history of art to this day'. Few, if any, of her peers would dispute this verdict on an artist who was a founder of the modern movement and a pioneer of abstract art.Two Forms (Ciel) was conceived in 1959, which was the start of an extremely productive period for Hepworth who was finally receiving the international recognition she longed for and had enough space, time and money to be able to really work on just what she wished to. The present work, small but exquisite in bronze, recalls the quiet tenderness and beauty of the artist's 1930s Mother and Child carvings and looks forward to a number of small pierced forms that emerged during the 1960s.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

William Scott R.A. (British, 1913-1989)Four Pears signed and dated 'W. SCOTT 76' (verso)oil on canvas63.5 x 76.2 cm. (25 x 30 in.)Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Gimpel Fils, LondonWith Offer Waterman, London, where acquired by the present ownerPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedRio de Janeiro, Museum of Modern Art, Color en la Pintura Britanica, 9 November 1977-February 1979, cat.no.25; this exhibition travelled to Brazil, Gallery 'B' Fundacao, Cultural de Distrito Federal, 13-22 December 1977, São Paolo, Museo de Arte de São Paolo, 14 February-12 March 1978, Buenos Aires, Museo de Bellas Artes, July 1978, Caracas, Museo de Bellas Artes, 3 September-1 October 1978, Bogotá, Museo de Bellas Artes, Moderno, November 1978, Mexico City, 9 January-February 1979 (cat.nos.803, 804, 806)London, Roundhouse Gallery, Irish Art in the Seventies: The International Connection, 26 February-23 March 1980, cat.no.63LiteratureSarah Whitfield (ed.), William Scott Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings, 1969-1989, Thames & Hudson in association with the William Scott Foundation, London, 2013, p.193, cat.no.804 (ill.b&w)Following its completion in 1976, Four Pears was extensively exhibited in South America during the late 1970s (see exhibition history), alongside Three Pears and Five Pears, painted the same year. In all three canvases the green fruits are presented upright and on white plates, juxtaposed with simply described bowls for company. The William Scott Catalogue Raisonnè of Oil Paintings comments on the present work:'The title and date of this untraced work are recorded on a Gimpel Fils stock card. The composition echoes that of Three Pears (cat.no. 803). Both works relate to An Orchard of Pears, No. 10 (cat.no. 816), one of the paintings in the Orchard of Pears series.The history of the painting is unknown following its inclusion in the exhibition, Irish Art in the Seventies: The International Connection, in the first quarter of 1980.' (Edited by Sarah Whitfield, Volume 4, William Scott, Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings, 1969-1989, Thames & Hudson, London, 2013, p.193)The three aforementioned pear paintings, all 25 x 30-inch canvases, preceded Scott's comprehensive An Orchard of Pears series of 1976 or 1977. The group were shown together in 1977 at an exhibition, Real Life, staged as a Peter Moores Liverpool Project. The renowned art critic Edward Lucie-Smith wrote a poem for the catalogue, titled Five Morsels in the Form of Pears, which contained many sexual references and guided the reader to consider the fruits on display in this manner. With their luscious shapes, suggestive leaning and prominent stalks it doesn't require much imagination to interpret the pears of the present canvas as sexual metaphors. The William Scott Catalogue Raisonné of Oil Paintings introduces An Orchard of Pears series, thus:'The inspiration for the An Orchard of Pears series was the vigorous pear tree growing outside the artist's studio at Coleford, a photograph of which is included in Gallery Kasahara 1977, with the artist standing beside it holding one of the fruits. As Scott told Walter Moos, in a letter dated 5 January 1978, 'I became a little obsessed with the tree on my studio wall last summer.' That obsession had started the previous year, and continued into 1977, but signs had begun appearing as early as March 1975 when Scott sent Walter Moos 'a group of drawings based on the theme of the fruit.' These drawings have not all been identified but at least one was a composition with two pears.In addition to the series An Orchard of Pears, Scott painted seven works titled Still Life of Pears, which he showed as a group at the Dawson Gallery, Dublin, in 1977.' (Op.cit. p.196)We are grateful to the William Scott Foundation for their assistance in cataloguing the present work.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Sir William Nicholson (British, 1872-1949)Lilies of the Valley signed 'Nicholson' (lower left)oil on panel39.4 x 27 cm. (15 1/2 x 10 5/8 in.)Painted in 1927Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Redfern Gallery, London, 1943Lady CochranWith Browse & Darby, London, 1973With James KirkmanReginald Field GlazebrookHis sale; Sotheby's, Brynbella, 2 June 1994, lot 354, where purchased byBrowse & Darby, on behalf ofLady DugdaleExhibitedLondon, Beaux Arts Gallery, Pictures and Drawings by William Nicholson, 30 June-30 July 1927, cat.no.41London, Redfern Gallery, Summer Exhibition, 5 August-22 September 1943, cat.no.21Eastbourne, Towner Art Gallery, William Nicholson: Painter: Landscape and Still-life, 4 November-31 December 1995, cat.no.22; this exhibition travelled to Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, 6 January-25 January 1996, Nottingham, Castle Museum, 2 March-28 April 1996, London, Browse & Darby, 2 May-1 June 1996London, The Royal Academy of Arts, William Nicholson: British Painter and Printmaker, 30 October-23 January 2005, cat.no.39LiteratureLillian Browse, William Nicholson, Rupert Hart Davis, London, 1956, cat.no.376Andrew Nicholson (ed.), William Nicholson, Painter, The William Nicholson Trust, London, 1996, p.204 (col.ill)Sanford Schwartz, William Nicholson, Yale University Press, London, 2004, p.208 (ill.b&w)Sanford Schwartz (ed.), The Art of William Nicholson, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2004, p.92 (col.ill.)Patricia Reed, William Nicholson, Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Modern Art Press, London, 2011, p.463, cat.no.583 (col.ill.)'Lilies of the Valley, where the white flowers are in a glass before a yellow wall in a bright light, has a radiant sweetness that hardly seems matched by Nicholson's earlier work. There is nothing especially sweet, though, about the masterful laying of tones here, from the palest of shadows to the white of the flowers, the whole done, it appears, with breakneck speed.' (Sanford Schwartz, William Nicholson, Yale University Press, London, 2004, p.208)We are grateful to Patricia Reed for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

William Roberts R.A. (British, 1895-1980)In the Park signed 'Roberts' (upper right)oil on canvas30.5 x 35.6 cm. (12 x 14 in.)Painted circa 1925Footnotes:Provenance With The Warren Gallery, LondonPrivate CollectionSale; Christie's, London, 1 March 1974, lot 126Rodney Capstick-Dale, Esq. With Michael Parkin Fine Art, London, where acquired byLady DugdaleExhibitedLondon Artists' AssociationLondon, Michael Parkin Fine Art, William Roberts: An Exhibition of Paintings and Drawings, 17 November–4 December 1976, cat.no.1William Roberts met his wife to be Sarah Kramer in 1915 when he was twenty and she fifteen. The introduction was made by Sarah's brother (Jacob Kramer who had studied with Roberts at the Slade). Roberts was smitten instantly, but as with many young lovers of their generation the war intervened. Roberts returned from Ypres in 1918, the following summer a son was born to the couple, and they were married in 1922. The fledgling family unit entered the twenties living a somewhat impoverished existence, frequently moving between rented rooms, but revelling in the joyful life of bohemian London. As the decade matured so did Roberts's career meeting with success (both critically and commercially), providing much needed stability. As Andrew Gibbon Williams notes, 'As the 1920s drew to a close, he had every reason to feel optimistic about the chances of becoming a successful modern artist. He had acquired an impressive portfolio of collectors. The Contemporary Art Society was acquiring his works. One of his pictures was hanging in the Tate Gallery. Above all, as several tender portraits testify, he was still deeply in love. Whatever life might throw at him, the bedrock of his existence was firmly in place.' (Andrew Gibbon Williams, William Roberts, An English Cubist, Lund Humphries, Aldershot, 2004, p.72).In the pre-war years, at a prodigious age, Roberts was key in the development of the Vorticist movement, introducing the principles of Cubism to British art. Throughout the war, his application of these principles to the extraordinary scenes he witnessed resulted in some of the most affecting images of the conflict. Upon his return to London and throughout the twenties he continued to paint in a developed cubist aesthetic, and his subjects became increasingly documentarian in choosing. The bohemia he and Sarah enjoyed so much formed one strand; music halls and dance clubs at night provided memorable source material, and by day the urban arcadia of London's parks featured in works such as Bank Holiday in the Park (1923) and Figures in the Park (c.1924). In these the many richly described dynamics at play between the numerous protagonists are highly observational, and Roberts clearly finds interest in the hurling together of city dwellers who may have not met before, nor ever cross again. Yet a few works from this period draw from the more personal subject of family and appear to mirror that of the artist's own developing experience. The strife of family life on the breadline is explored in the claustrophobic squalor of The Poor Family (1921-22), a painting which contrasts deeply with the exuberant Happy Family of 1924 (Russell Cotes Museum, Bournemouth). The execution of these two works straddles 1923, the year in which Roberts was able to stage his first solo (and commercially successful) exhibition. Of the latter family park scene Gibbon Williams states; 'Everything about the picture is imbued with optimism: the central motif of the mother lifting her baby, the ball game behind her, the dozing father at the foot of the composition, even the pigeons' (Op. cit. p.69).The present picture could rather enigmatically sit in either camp. Its figures could be unknown to each other, only drawn together through chance as they seek a moments respite from the city. In the main they are introspective; one is lost in a book, another's attention drawn away from the scene towards a dog. One distant shaded figure escapes the sun that blushes exposed limbs elsewhere, observing another whose dozing head is precariously supported by a hand, threatening to fall to slumber. However, the cyclical arrangement in the fore could be read as a family group. Indeed, parallels can be drawn between the casts of The Happy Family and this scene; an observant mother, a playful child and a blissfully withdrawn father could each be identified in both. If so the narrative of the family unit from the turmoil of The Poor Family to the raucous commotion of The Happy Family is resolved by the quiet calm of In the Park.We are grateful to David Cleall and Bob Davenport for their assistance in cataloguing this lot.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Yannis Maltezos (Greek, 1915-1987)Composition III signé en grec et daté '59' (en bas à droite)huile sur toile100 x 100cm (39 3/8 x 39 3/8in).Peint en 1959.signed in Greek and dated (lower right)oil on canvasFootnotes:ProvenanceA. Maltezos collection, Athens.Private collection, Athens.ExposéSao Paolo, V Bienal, September-December 1959 (listed in the exhibition catalogue, p. 225, no. 17, based on label on the reverse).Athens, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Metamorphoses of the Modern, The Greek Experience, May 14 - September 13, 1992, no. 155 (listed, p. 276, and illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 120).Athens, Villa Kosta Research Centre, Yannis Maltezos Retrospective, January 4-10, 2014, no. 3, p. 8 (illustrated) LittératureV. Sarakatsianou, Abstraction in Modern Greek Art, doctoral dissertation, University of Athens, Athens 2004, p. 104 (mentioned), fig. 28 (illustrated).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Theodoros Stamos (Greek/American, 1922-1997)Infinity Field Lefkada Series # I, 1974 titré, daté et signé 'Infinity Field Lefkada Series # I, 1974, Stamos' (sur le revers de la toile)acrylique sur toile 157 x 116cm (61 13/16 x 45 11/16in).titled, dated and signed (on the overlap)acrylic on canvasFootnotes:ProvenanceDoyle, New York, Modern & Contemporary Art Sale, 25 May 2011, lot 83.Piasa, Paris, Art Moderne, Art Contemporain Sculpture & Art Hellénique, 30 November 2016, lot 21.Private collection, Athens.ExposéFlorida, Metcalfe Klopfer Gallery, Theodoros Stamos Selections 1959-1986, February 11 - March 10, 1999, no. 31 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 71).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Mimis Vitsoris (Greek, 1902-1945)Paire de scènes de port toutes les deux signées en grec (en bas à droite)huile sur toilea) 63 x 73cm (24 13/16 x 28 3/4in) b) 38 x 56cm (14 15/16 x 22 1/16in).Peintes en 1938.both signed in Greek (lower right) oil on canvas(2)Footnotes:ProvenanceNia Stratos collection, Athens. a)ExposéAthens, Stratigopoulos Gallery, Dimitris Vitsoris Exhibition, February 20-27, 1939, no. 14 (possibly).Athens, Parnassos Literary Society Hall, Dimitris Vitsoris Exhibition, February 28 - March 15, 1957, nos. 33/63 (possibly).Athens, Astor Gallery, Mimis Vitsoris 1902-1945, retrospective exhibition, 1973, no. 31 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue).a)LittératureS. Lydakis, The History of Modern Greek Painting (16th-20th Century),The Greek Painters, vol. III, Melissa editions, Athens 1976, p. 299, fig. 499 (illustrated).E. Matthiopoulos, Greek Participation in the Venice Biennales 1934-1940, doctoral dissertation, Rethymno 1996, vol. III, p. 969 (mentioned).T. Spiteris Archive, Tellogleion Art Institute, Thessaloniki, no. GR TITSpit f134-20 (illustrated).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Nikolaos Gyzis (Greek, 1842-1901)L'offrande signé et daté 'N.Gysis Muenchen 74' (en bas à gauche)huile sur toile120 x 80cm (47 1/4 x 31 1/2in).Peint en 1874.signed and dated (lower left)oil on canvasFootnotes:ProvenanceVienna Arts Society, 1875. Tzirakopoulos collection, Athens. (from Eikones,magazine, 1960)Private collection, Athens.ExposéVienna Art Exhibition, 1875.Athens, Nicholaos Gysis 1842-1901, The Great Master, National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, October 8 - December 10 2001, no. 20 (discussed, pp. 37-38, 131 and illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, fig. 16, p. 34).LittératureGysis's letter, April 7, 1886 (mentioned).Estia magazine, vol. XIX, no. 470, January 1, 1885, p. 34 (discussed).Kleio magazine, vol. I, no. 2, January 15/27, 1885, pp. 30-31 (mentioned), p. 25 (illustrated).K.F. Skokos, National Calendar of the Year 1897, Athens 1897, p. 20 (mentioned).Panathenea magazine, Homage to Nicholaos Gysis, vol. I, no.11, March 15, 1901, pp. 426-427 (discussed).M. Montandon, Gysis, Derlag von Delhagen & Klafing editions, Bielefeld und Leipzig, 1902, pp. 57, 69 (mentioned), p. 28, fig. 22 (illustrated).La Revue de l'Art Ancien et Moderne, vol. IX, 1903, p, 303.The Studio magazine, vol. XXVII, 1903, p. 203.Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler, Verlag von E.A. Seemann, Leipzig 1922, vol. XV, p. 380 (mentioned). Album of Tinian Artists - N. Gysis, D.I. Kalogeropoulos, X. Sochos ed., Athens 1928, p. 23-24 (mentioned).Dialexis magazine, vol. I, no. 3-4, February 29, 1928, p. 85 (mentioned). Ellinika Grammata magazine, vol. II, no. 7, March 26, 1928, p. 238 (mentioned).Eklogi magazine, vol. V, no. 2, February 1949, p. 203 (discussed).Nicholaos Gysis's Letters, G, Drossinis, L, Koromilas ed., Eklogi editions, Athens 1953, p. 139 (mentioned), p. 57 (illustrated).Great Creators, Zoi edition, Athens 1954, pp. 211-212 (discussed).Eikones magazine, no. 227, February 26, 1960, p. 36 (illustrated).T. Spiteris Archive, Tellogleion Art Institute, Thessaloniki, c. 1960s, no. GR TITSpit f216-3, p. 2 (mentioned). S. Lydakis, Geschichte det Griechischen Malerei des 19. Jahrhunderts, doctoral dissertation, Prestel-Verlag editions, Munich 1972, p. 235 (mentioned).The Greek Painters, vol. I, From the 19th Century to the 20th, Melissa editions, Athens 1974, p. 142 (mentioned).S. Lydakis, The History of Modern Greek Painting (16th-20th Century),The Greek Painters, vol. 3, Melissa editions, Athens 1976, pp. 363-365 (discussed), p. 193, fig. 291 (illustrated).A. Xydis, Propositions for the History of Modern Greek Art, vol. II, Olkos editions, Athens 1976, p. 15 (mentioned).M. Papanikolaou, Greek Genre Painting of the Nineteenth Century, p. 86 (mentioned), p. 183 (listed), fig. 17 (illustrated).T. Spiteris, Three Centuries of Modern Greek Art 1660-1967, Athens 1979, vol. III, p. 298 (mentioned). M. Kalligas, Nicholas Gysis, National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Athens 1981, pp. 52, 217 (discussed).K. Didaskalou, Kompositionsentwurfe und Studienvon Nikolaus Gysis, Munich 1986, pp. 96-97.K. Didaskalou, Genre- und Allegorische Malerei von Nikolaus Gysis, doctoral dissertation, Munich, 1991, p. 39 (mentioned).N. Misirli, Gysis, Adam editions, Athens 1995, p. 98 (discussed), p. 370 (catalogued), p. 99, fig. 47 (illustrated).Epta Imeres - Kathimerini newspaper, Nicholaos Gysis, March 9, 1997, p. 4 (mentioned).Dictionary of Greek Artists, Melissa editions, vol. I, Athens 1997, p. 324 (mentioned).Nicholaos Gysis and his Era, exhibition catalogue, Elitrochos editions, Patra 1999, p. 19 (mentioned).Nicholaos Gysis 1842-1901, On the Occasion of the Centenary of his Death, 2001 Calendar, National Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens 2000 (illustrated).Ellinomouseion, Six Centuries of Greek Painting, vol. I, Athens 2001, p. 120 (mentioned).K. Didaskalou, Gysis in Tinos, 100 Years from the Death of the Artist, exhibition catalogue, Panhellenic Sacred Foundation of the Evangelistria in Tinos, 2001, p. 63 (mentioned).S. Lagouros, Tinos, Art and Artists, Tinos editions, Athens [200-], p. 34 (mentioned), p. 9 (illustrated).F. Yiofyllis, Four Tinian Artists, Erinni editions, Athens 2003, p. 77 (mentioned).Y. Papaioannou, Nikolaos Gysis, Ta Nea editions, Athens 2006, p. 19 (mentioned).N. Misirli, Greek Painting 18th-19th Century, Adam editions, Athens 2006, p. 97 (discussed).A. Paka, Female Figures in Greek Painting from the Late 19th to the Early 20th Century: a Feminist Approach, doctoral dissertation, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2012, pp. 142-146 (discussed), fig. 28 (illustrated).S. Kotidou, European and Greek Symbolism in Painting: Convergences and Divergences, doctoral dissertation, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2015, p. 135 (discussed), p. 134, fig. 53 (illustrated).'Look how wonderfully the artist has painted this beautiful inspiration of his! The two women, exhausted from the long and uphill hike, have paused. The one looks upwards to the mountaintop where a monastery is perched like an eagle's nest. The other is the story's main character. The paleness of her face, her bare feet –those gentle feet that are probably bleeding from the sharp rocks– the candle, and the votive offering she's holding, indicate that she is the heroine of the scene –the one who fulfills her vow barefoot. The two women are silhouetted against a rocky mountain backdrop, whose precipitous side cuts through the horizon, allowing us only to see some traces of a distant beach and a few floating luminous clouds. The mother, with her one hand resting on the rock and the other embracing the young girl, turns her gaze to the Saint up there as if she is praying. What should one think of the young kore in the long dress? Did she just recover from an illness, or did the life of her first child was saved, and so she came to fulfill her vow? On the contrary, the offering she's holding in her hand suggests that some kind of erotic drama, some desire of the heart which was satisfied made her set out for the monastery she's about to ascend to.How many dormant emotions does this beautiful and Greek picture of Gysis evoke?'- Estia magazine, January 1, 1885.A masterwork of 19th century Greek genre painting and a milestone in Gysis's artistic development, the famed L'offrande is a picture of genuine Greek character, distinguished by romantic disposition, expressive power, and solemn grandeur. Alluring and psychologically acute, it shows no signs of idealisation, its beauty emanating from within, depending on the honesty of representation and genuineness of character. Warm, earthy colours and lively brushwork build up a vibrant and moving composition, while the generalised rendering and economy of detail point to the artist's concern with purely pictorial issues.The beautiful countenance of the young female figure, captured in profile and modelled by strong contrasts of light and shadow, has a sculpture-like immobility, recalling the timeless, idealised beauty of ancient Greek statues. Surrendering her individual specificity, the young Greek takes on a symbolic quality, enhancing the poetry of the scene. The painting is bathed in a warm light, casting the figures in relief and lending a glowing quality to their faces. Gysis often used two kinds of lighting in his paintings: a general, diffuse lighting and a local one that highlighted the figures or objects he wanted to be particularly pronounced.1 Here, to accentuate the dramatic effect, he used two local lightings, one for the monastery and the other for the young maiden's face. However, despite the suspenseful moment in the narrative, the painting conveys a sense of tenderness and affection, and displays a nightscape clad in the deep blues of the artist's native ... For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Nikos Engonopoulos (Greek, 1907-1985)Scholiastes d'un texte futur / Composition a la lampe signé en grec (en bas à droite)huile sur toile92 x 73cm (36 1/4 x 28 3/4in).Peint en 1958.signed in Greek (lower right)oil on canvasFootnotes:ProvenanceThe artist's collection, Athens and thence by descent to the present owner.ExposéAthens, Zappeion Hall, VII Panhellenic Exhibition, April 21 - June 1, 1963, no. 156 (listed in the exhibition catalogue).Athens, Nees Morfes Gallery, Art Transformations, December 1979 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 15).Athens, National Gallery - Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Nikos Engonopoulos retrospective, April 3-15, 1983, no. 37 (listed in the exhibition catalogue, p. 42).Thessaloniki, Municipal Gallery, Nikos Engonopoulos, As Handsome as a Greek, 1997, no. B3.Athens, Astrolavos Gallery, Nikos Engonopoulos, Surrealist Whispers, October 24 - November 29, 2002, no. 7. LittératureThe Greek Painters, vol. II, 20th Century, Melissa editions, Athens 1975, p. 262 (mentioned), p. 284 (illustrated).B. Spiliadi, Visual Remouldings, exhibition catalogue, Nees Morfes Gallery, December 1979, p. 15 (illustrated).Athens News newspaper, November 4, 1985 (illustrated).Athinorama magazine, November 7, 1985, p. 67 (illustrated).Eleftherotypia newspaper, November 1, 1985 (illustrated).Tachydromos magazine, no. 1644, November 14, 1985, p. 145 (illustrated).Nikos Engonopoulos, Drawings and Colours, Ypsilon Books editions, Athens 1996, p. 138 (illustrated).Politis magazine, December 15, 2002, p. 8 (illustrated). D. Vlachodimos, Reading the Past in Engonopoulos, Indiktos editions, Athens 2006, fig. 80 (illustrated).E. Benisi, Nikos Engonopoulos and Cityscapes, doctoral dissertation, University of Athens, 2006, pp. 138, 140, 161, 163 (mentioned), p. 140a, fig. 98 (illustrated).D. Menti, Faces and Facades, Literary Identity Interpretations in Modern Greek Poets, Gutenberg editions, Athens 2007, p. 118 (mentioned). K. Perpinioti-Agazir, Nikos Engonopoulos, Son Univers Pictural, exhibition catalogue and catalogue raisonée, Benaki Museum, Athens 2007, no. 600, p. 92 (illustrated), p. 459 (catalogued and illustrated).N. Chaini, The Painting of Nikos Engonopoulos, doctoral dissertation, National Technical University of Athens, 2007, p. 436 (discussed), p. 437, fig. 168 (illustrated).K magazine, no. 13-14, June 2007 (cover illustration).Bathed in an atmosphere of clarity and glow, this exquisite painting is recognised by Melissa editions The Greek Painters as one of the finest examples of the artist's mastery of colour.1 The glittery yellow, green and orange tunics worn by the three figures and the enamel-like blues and reds of the background, applied side by side on the canvas without tonal gradations, invite the viewer to a festive ritual. 'Engonopoulos is a dedicated coloriste, adhering to a long and rich Greek tradition that goes way back to the Homeric epics.'2 Errieti Engonopoulou, the artist's daughter, holds that 'for him each colour has its own value, its own voice'3, much the same way as in Byzantine art, which Engonopoulos always considered an art form Greeks closely relate to. The three phantom-like mannequin figures holding a lamp, a book and a statuette, introduce us to an enigmatic world of poetic metaphor, apparently glorifying an unknown heroic or epic event that echoes the didactic description of Byzantine icon painting and the high rhetoric of the artist's beloved teacher C. Parthenis.4 Elegant, athletic and full of youthful virility, the three scholiasts chant the glory and beauty of the human figure. As noted by Athens National Gallery Director M. Lambraki-Plaka, 'Engonopoulos's figures may draw their origin from Giorgio de Chirico but they are unmistakably Greek, reminiscent of the Minoans immortalised on the Knossos frescoes and the early kouroi, while alluding to the tall and slender formula of the Byzantine saints also evident in El Greco's work.'5 Likewise, Professor D. Papastamos notes that 'Engonopoulos's heroes are not 'disquieted'; on the contrary they fully experience an everyday reality still bound with tradition and eastern myths.'6 The visual act takes place in shallow, stage-like indoor space, accentuating the sense of theatricality which is a key element of Engonopoulos's work. As noted by art historian P. Rigopoulou, the artist never hesitated to explore the correlations between theatrical and pictorial space and introduce the theatrical into his painting.7 'The lack of vast open spaces and supernatural landscapes whose sheer size nullifies the human scale is a typically Greek element. Standing in front of a fastened curtain and illuminated by a circular glow reminiscent of a theatrical spotlight, the three protagonists of this 1958 scene recall a text by Engonopoulos written a few years later: 'The curtain is drawn, and under the stage lights, with the most harmonious moves, in a coordinated whole, amidst colours and music, every human dream comes alive, flooding the soul with guileless joy, far from the obligations and obstacles of grim reality.'8 1 S. Boulanikian, 'Nikos Engonopoulos' [in Greek] in The Greek Painters, vol. 2, 20th Century, Melissa editions, Athens 1975, p. 262.2 Nikos Engonopoulos, Drawing or Colour [in Greek], Ikaros editions, 2007, p. 126. 3 E. Engonopoulou, 'Freedom and Discipline' [in Greek] in Nikos Engonopoulos, The Painter and the Poet, Kathimerini newspaper (Epta Imeres), 25.5.1997, p. 23.4 A reference to future text annotations was made by Engonopoulos in his poem 'In the Lyrical Chimneys', The Clavichords of Silence, 1939. See D. Menti, Faces and Facades, Literary Identity Interpretations in Modern Greek Poets [in Greek], Gutenberg editions, Athens 2007, p. 118. 5 M. Lambraki-Plaka 'The Timeless Pantheon of Nikos Engonopoulos' [in Greek], Filologiki quarterly, no. 101, October-November-December 2007, p. 9.6 D. Papastamos, preface to the exhibition catalogue of Nikos Engonopoulos retrospective [in Greek], National Gallery-A. Soutzos Museum, Athens 1983, p. 8.7 P. Rigopoulou, 'Nikos Engonopoulos' in D. Tsouchlou - A. Bacharian, Stage-Setting in Modern Greek Theatre [in Greek], Athens 1985, p. 141.8 Written in 1961 and reprinted in N. Engonopoulos, Works in Prose [in Greek], Ypsilon editions, Athens 1987, p. 30.Baignée dans une atmosphère de clarté et de lueurs éclatantes, cette exquise peinture est reconnue dans l'ouvrage The Greek Painters (publié par les éditions Melissa) comme l'un des plus beaux exemples attestant de la parfaite maîtrise de la couleur qui caractérise l'artiste. Les tuniques jaunes, vertes et orange scintillantes des trois personnages et les bleus et rouges de l'arrière-plan, comme laqués, peints touche par touche sur la toile sans gradations tonales, invitent le spectateur à un rituel festif. Engonopoulos est un coloriste passionné, qui adhère à une longue et riche tradition grecque remontant à l'épopée homérique. Errieti Engonopoulou, fille de l'artiste, confie que pour lui chaque couleur a sa propre valeur, sa propre voix, ce qui rejoint l'art byzantin qu'Engonopoulos a toujours considéré comme une forme d'art indissociable des Grecs. Les trois personnages fantomatiques, tenant une lampe, un livre et une statuette, nous introduisent dans un monde énigmatique de métaphore poétique, glorifiant apparemment un événement héroïque ou épique faisant écho à la description didactique de la peinture des icônes byzantines et à la rhétorique exigeante du maître bien-aimé de l'artiste, C. Parthenis. Élégants, athlétiques et pleins de virilité juvénile, les... For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Alecos Fassianos (Greek, born 1935)Les ailes de l'ange signé en grec (en haut à gauche) et titré (en haut à droite)huile sur toile98 x 64cm (38 9/16 x 25 3/16in).Peint en 1997.signed in Greek (upper left) and titled (upper right) oil on canvasFootnotes:ExposéRhodes, Municipality of Rhodes Modern Greek Art Museum, Fassianos, 45 Years of Creation, July 30 - November 13, 2009 (illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, pp. 118 [detail], 119).LittératureP. Cabanne, D.T. Analis, Fassianos, Éditions de la Différence, Paris 2003, p. 320 (listed), p. 211 (illustrated). Alekos Fassianos, Educational Program, Municipality of Rhodes Modern Greek Art Museum edition, Rhodes 2009, p. 11 (illustrated).For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Constantinos Parthenis (Greek, 1878-1967)L' Apothéose de Athanassios Diakos signé 'C. Parthenis' (en bas à gauche) huile sur toile117.5 x 117cm (46 1/4 x 46 1/16in).Peint vers 1927 signed and dated (lower left) oil on canvasFootnotes:ProvenanceSpyros Loverdos collection, Athens.Thence by descent to the present owner. ExposéVienna, Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, Foundation for Hellenic Culture, Konstantinos Parthenis, Vienna-Paris-Athens, retrospective exhibition, April 28 - May 14, 1995, no. 20 (discussed, pp. 28-29, 90, and illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, p. 91). LittératureI. Chadjiioannou, Panhellenic Album of National Centennial 1821-1921, The Golden Bible of Hellenism, vol. IV, Fine Arts, Nea Elliniki Ios editions, Athens 1927, p. 160 (shown in a photograph with the artist in his home studio).C. Parthenis, 1964 Calendar, Heracles-Olympos General Cement Company, Athens 1963, p. 31 (illustrated).Ellinika Themata magazine, no.2, 1966, p. 105 (illustrated).Eikones magazine, no. 537, February 4, 1966, p. 44 (mentioned).Tachydromos magazine, no. 730, April 5, 1968, pp. 58-59 (illustrated).The Greek Painters, 20th Century, vol. 2, Melissa editions, Athens 1975, no. 33, p. 26 (discussed), p. 48 (illustrated).S. Lydakis, The History of Modern Greek Painting (16th-20th Century),The Greek Painters, vol. III, Melissa editions, Athens 1976, pp. 370-371 (discussed), fig. 634, p. 369 (illustrated).S. Lydakis, Dictionary of Greek Painters and Engravers, vol. IV, Melissa editions, Athens 1976, p. 335 (illustrated).Eleftheri Yenia magazine, no. 11, March 1977 (cover illustration).T. Spiteris, Three Centuries of Modern Greek Art 1660-1967, Athens 1979, vol. II, p. 57 (illustrated). C. Christou, Greek Painting 1832-1922, National Bank of Greece edition, Athens 1981, pp. 111 (mentioned), 161 (listed), 113 (discussed).Modern Greek Culture 1832-1982, Malliaris-Paideia editions, Athens 1983, vol. 1, p. 169 (mentioned). E. Georgiadou-Kountoura, Religious Subjects in Modern Greek Painting 1900-1940, doctoral dissertation, Thessaloniki 1984, p. 108 (mentioned).A. Kotidis, On Parthenis, University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1984, p. 35, n. 41 (mentioned).L'Art Contemporain et le Monde Grec, Actes du XVIIIe Congrès de l'Association Internationale des Critiques d'Art (AICA), Greece 1984, p. 150 (mentioned).Synchrona Themata magazine, no.35-36-37, December 1988, p. 59 (illustrated).M. Tsikouta, Les Influences dans la Peinture Grecque après 1945, doctoral dissertation, Universite de Paris-Sorbonne, Paris, 1991, illustrations vol. I, fig. 6 (illustrated). A. Kotidis, Modernism and 'Tradition' in Greek Art of the Interwar Period, University Studio Press, Thessaloniki 1993, pp. 228-231 (discussed), p. 231, fig. 162 (illustrated).E. Papaspyrou-Karadimitriou, Thanassis Diakos in Art, Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece edition, Athens 1996, p. 84 (discussed), p. 85, fig. 51 (illustrated).E. Matthiopoulos, Greek Participation in the Venice Biennales 1934-1940, doctoral dissertation, vol. III, Rethymno 1996, pp. 820, 822 (mentioned).C. Christou, Greek Art, 20th Century Painting, Ekdotike Athenon editions, Athens 1996 (cover illustration).A. Saragiotis, Greek Symbolism, (doctoral dissertation), Thessaloniki 1999, p. 109 (discussed), fig, 250, p. 402 (illustrated).C. Christou, Greek Painting in the Twentieth Century, vol. I, 1882-1992, Society for the Dissemination of Useful Books editions, Athens 2000, p. 15 (illustrated). Dictionary of Greek Artists, Melissa editions, vol. III, Athens 1999, p. 476 (mentioned).A. Xydis, Constantinos Parthenis, Ta Nea editions, Athens 2006, pp. 113, 116 (discussed), pp. 86, 122, 123 (illustrated).E. Matthiopoulos, The Life and Work of Costis Parthenis, K. Adam editions, Athens 2008, no. 173, pp. 66, 74, 76 (mentioned), p. 422 (catalogued), pp. 259, 260 (illustrated).A. Voyatzoglou, Ancient Greek Art Themes in Modern Greek Painting of the 1930s, Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 2012, p. 104 (illustrated).Realnews newspaper, July 27, 2014, p. 40 (illustrated).https://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenis-konstantinos-apotheosis-athanasiou-diakou.jpegOne of the greatest pictures ever painted by a Greek artist, Parthenis's famous L' Apothéose de Athanassios Diakos is a triumphant expression of the master's poetic vision and a glorious recapitulation of his lofty symbolist ideals. Ideologically akin to the poetry of Costis Palamas and Angelos Sikelianos, it is a great work of national exaltation, expressing the resurgence of Hellenism and the efforts to extend Greece and restructure it into a modern state. Loaded with age-old memories and entranced by the dynamism and boldness of the twentieth century, L' Apothéose is a highly accomplished work of audacious modernity that elaborates on avant-garde visions and breakthroughs, carrying the hallmarks of Parthenis's signature style and conveying an enduring sense of spiritual uplift and poetic feel. Captured in fine lines and curvilinear shapes echoing the simplicity of ancient Greek vase painting, this stunning canvas pays homage to Athanasios Diakos (1788-1821), one of the leaders of the 1821 uprising and War of Independence. The hero, who had been obtained deacon, and hence was called Diakos, was a member of the Philiki Hetaireia and had served as a klepht under Odysseus Androutsos. On the outbreak of the Revolution he collected a troop to fight the Turkish forces and opposed Omer Vrionis's army at the bridge of Alamana, not far from the pass of Thermopylae where in 480 BC Kind Leonidas and his handful of Spartans died a heroic death resisting the Persian invadors. On May 5, 1821, Diakos with only seven hundred men fearlessly defended the bridge against a far superior Turkish force, and following a most gallant fighting he was captured and horribly executed.1 Occupying the right hand side of the painting, the Greek hero is depicted in the ascetic cassock of a monk hovering above ground in a diagonal position2 and ascending to heaven through a cluster of highly stylised clouds. His head is rendered in clear-cut profile, with the face turned distinctly to the sky, while his hands are stretched in prayer—a direct reference to the Ascension of Christ, reflecting the artist's strong bonds with religious iconography.3On the left, standing suspended in mid-air, a nude male figure with large outstretched wings and ancient helmet, should be identified with the Spartan king Leonidas, who is symbolically akin to Diakos, since both men chose to die under similar circumstances and in the same location, forever etching their names in the pantheon of Hellenism.4 The hero of the liberation struggle seems to welcome Leonidas, who lowers his head in respect, in a typically idealistic linking of the present and the past, of modern and ancient history,5 demonstrating Parthenis's view of the unbroken continuity of Greek civilization.Drawing from the poetic and inspiring atmosphere of the symbolist era, the winged figure represents a recurrent theme in Parthenis's work throughout his career. Interestingly, when the artist produced works intended for worship, the angel wings were given a small, conventional shape. However, in his secular paintings they were stylised in a geometric Art Deco fashion and equalled or exceeded the figure's height.6 (Compare Prayer in the Mount of Olives, c. 1930, Bonhams, Greek Sale, April 4, 2014, lot 24; Annunciation, Bonhams Greek Sale, November 21, 2018, lot 16.)On the lower part of the composition, a female figure in diaphanous veils reclining on a schematised rocky ledge, her body turned towards the viewer, her right arm raised and her head framed in a semi-circular halo-like fashion, is the allegorical personification of Hellas, a favourite Parthenis ... For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

A BONE PLAQUE FROM A RITUAL COSTUME, TIBET, CIRCA 15TH / 16TH CENTURY of crescent-shaped form, depicting a celestial deity kneeling on a lotus with scrolling stem below, modern wood stand 12cm high; 3.7cm max width Provenance: European private collection from the 1940s; acquired London art market by the vendor. Bone aprons formed an important part of Tibetan Tantric rituals and this plaque would have been joined to others with beaded links to form a trellis. See Thomas Holbein Hendley, Indian Jewellery, (Reprint) Delhi, 1991, pl.124 for a typical example

A LEAD PLAQUETTE OF CHRIST BEFORE PILATE, VALERIO BELLI (C.1468-1546), 16TH CENTURY trapezoidal, Christ surrounded by soldiers and disciples brought before Pilate sitting on a dais and washing his hands, signed to the side of the platform "VALERIVS BELLV VICETINVS FA", a classical colonnade in the background, pierced 6.5 x 9.5cm Provenance: Collection of Alfred Spero (1886-1973), London, from whom acquired by Bernard Kelly between 1967-1969. *See lot 309 for Introduction to the Bernard Kelly Collection and Selected Bibliography* This scene is one of a series of similarly shaped Belli plaquettes of The Passion of Christ. Bange 766; Kress 14; Belli 56 LOTS 309 - 490: THE BERNARD KELLY COLLECTION OF PLAQUETTES TO BE SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE, PART PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT WESTMINSTER ABBEY Every so often, if increasingly rarely these days, a collection emerges onto the market that takes you back to another age. The interesting and varied collection of Renaissance and later plaquettes being offered here is therefore a major event. Although some have a more recent provenance, notably from Sylvia Phyllis Adams, whose collection was sold at Bonham"s in 1995, the nucleus of the collection on offer represents the private collection formed by the dealer Alfred Spero, mainly between 1911 and 1936. Spero began trading in London around the beginning of the twentieth century and his career, which lasted into the 1960s, bridged the late Victorian art world and the modern post-War market. Although today a largely forgotten figure, a glance at almost any marked-up catalogue of European sculpture and decorative arts sales in London from the 1920s to the 1960s will reveal Alfred Spero as one of the most active and consistent presences at the auction. Spero was able to benefit from the abundance of Renaissance small bronze sculptures, maiolica, glass and, of course, plaquettes and medals, that were then available on the market during what, for collectors and museums, must have been a golden age of opportunity. Alfred Spero"s own collection of plaquettes contained works stated to have come from some of the great collections of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, Adalbert von Lanna, whose vast collections were sold in Prague in 1911, J.E. Taylor, sold at Christie"s in 1912 and the banker Henry Oppenheimer, a series of sales in 1936, again at Christie"s. There are also plaquettes formerly belonging to two supporters of great museums, Thomas Whitcombe Greene, who gave many of his plaquettes to the British Museum in 1915, and Dr W.L. Hildburgh (1876-1955), one of the Victoria & Albert Museum"s greatest benefactors. Alfred Spero also had a close relationship with the V&A, which as a museum must have been close to his heart. He made a number of gifts to the museum and also sold it various bronzes and other works of art. Purchases and gifts from Spero helped the V&A build its preeminent collection of European Baroque ivories, whilst in 1964 the museum bought from him a masterpiece of Renaissance bronze sculpture, the exquisite figure of Venus removing a thorn from her foot of c. 1560-70 by the French sculptor Ponce Jacquiot. Small-scale, usually single-sided cast metal reliefs, plaquettes began to be made from the mid-fifteenth century and flourished in their purest form only for a limited period of around one hundred years, although they continued to be made into the seventeenth century and beyond. Their subject matter is varied, from designs after the antique to mythological and religious scenes, whilst some plaquettes are important records of designs originally made in precious metal, which have otherwise disappeared. When Alfred Spero began his professional career, plaquettes were eagerly collected and studied, but they have since become a somewhat unjustly neglected art form. At their best, plaquettes are extraordinarily inventive and beautiful works of art, which in their choice and treatment of subject matter are truly emblematic of the Renaissance rebirth of the arts. Dr Jeremy Warren, FSA Honorary Curator of Sculpture, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford Selected Bibliography * Attwood - Philip Attwood, "Italian Medals c. 1530-1600 in British Public Collections", 2 vols., London 2003 * Bange - E.F. Bange, "Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. Die italienischen Bronzen der Renaissance und des Barock. II: Reliefs und Plaketten", Berlin 1922 * Belli - Howard Burns, Marco Collareta and Davide Gasparotto, eds., "Valerio Belli Vicentino 1468c.-1546", Vicenza 2000 * Bernardi 1989 - Valentino Donati, "Pietre Dure e Medaglie del Rinascimento. Giovanni da Castel Bolognese", Ferrara 1989 * Bernardi 2011 - Valentino Donato, "L"Opera del Giovanni Bernardi da Castel Bolognese nel Rinascimento", Faenza 2011 * Bowdoin - Andrea S. Norris and Ingrid Weber, "Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College", Brunswick, Maine 1976 *Jones - Mark Jones, "A Catalogue of the French Medals in the British Museum. II. 1600-1672", London 1988 *Kress - John Pope-Hennessy, "Renaissance Bronzes from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Reliefs, Plaquettes, Statuettes, Utensils and Mortars", London 1965 *Molinier - Émile Molinier, "Les Bronzes de la Renaissance. Les Plaquettes. Catalogue Raisonné", 2 vols., Paris 1886 *Norris/Weber - A.S. Norris and I. Weber, "Medals and Plaquettes from the Molinari Collection at Bowdoin College", Brunswick, ME 1976 *Planiscig - Leo Planiscig, "Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien: Die Estensische Kunstsammlung, I: Skulpturen und Plastiken des Mittelalters und der Reanaissance", Vienna 1919 *Scaglia - Francesco Rossi, "La Collezione Mario Scaglia. Placchette", 3 vols., Bergamo 2011 *Toderi Vannel - Giuseppe Toderi and Fiorenza Vannel, "Le Medaglie Italiane del XVI secolo", 3 vols., Florence 20004 *Warren

Large water pot by Ladi Kwali (Nigerian circa 1925-1984), the pot with incised designs of birds, insects and fish in a sgraffito style, the base rim marked 'LK' with indistinct number. (damaged). Provenance: Acquired in Nigeria in the late 1960s by a missionary and brought back to the UK, thence by descent to current owner, for a very similar pot see Bonhams Modern & Contemporary African Art, October 2021 Lot 52 Condition report: extensive cracks and old glued repairs - professional restoration required

A fine scroll painting on silk of three pigeons in the branches of a maple tree by Watanabe Seitei, signed with seal beneath, blue and beige textile mount, wood box, Meiji period, painting 41cm x 105cm, scroll 53cm x 196cm. Watanabe Seitei (1851 - 1918) is often associated with the cloisonné artist Namikawa Sosuke who recreated some of his paintings in wireless cloisonné, including the famous panels made for the Emperor's Asakusa Palace in the Meiji period. Seitei's works are to be found in many national collections including the Institute of Art, Chicago, Brussels Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo National Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Ashmolean Museum, Fogg Collection, Metropolitan Museum, New York.

KURT SCHWITTERS (1887-1948)Still life with penny signed with the artist's initials and dated 'KS 41' (lower right); signed, inscribed and dated 'Kurt Schwitters 3 St. Stephen's Crescent London W2 1941 (painted in Douglas) Isle of Man' (on the reverse)oil and collage on board laid down on the artist's mount32.8 x 24.9cm (12 15/16 x 9 13/16in). (image size); 56.3 x 44.9cm (22 3/16 x 17 11/16in). (with the artist's mount)Painted in Douglas, Isle of Man, in 1941Footnotes:ProvenanceDr. Walter Dux Collection, UK (a gift from the artist).Thence by descent to the present owners.ExhibitedManchester, City of Manchester Art Gallery, New Movements in Art, 19 September – 18 October 1942, no. 62.London, The Modern Art Gallery, Paintings and Sculpture by Kurt Schwitters, December 1944, no. 1b.Hanover, Sprengel Museum Hanover, Aller Anfang ist MERZ – Von Kurt Schwitters bis heute, 20 August – 5 November 2000, no. 168 (later travelled to Dusseldorf and Munich).LiteratureI. Ewig, 'Raoul Hausmann & Kurt Schwitters, Correspondance 1946-1947', in Les Cahiers du Musée national d'art moderne, no. 76, Summer 2001 (illustrated p. 58).K. Orchard & I. Schulz, Kurt Schwitters, Catalogue raisonné, Vol. III, 1937-1948, Hanover, 2006, no. 2771 (illustrated p. 295).Still life with penny and Vielen herzlichen Dank! were both formerly in the collection of Dr. Walter Dux, a close friend and patron of Kurt Schwitters. A wealthy Hanover industrialist, Dr. Dux had emigrated to London from Nazi Germany and was a crucial source of support for Schwitters during his exile in the United Kingdom. Schwitters and Dr. Dux reportedly established their friendship in Hanover whilst belonging to the same fraternity. Following the deterioration of the political situation in Germany under Hitler's regime in the 1930s, both Schwitters and Dux made plans to flee the country. Dux arrived in London in 1934 having purportedly rented a group of train carriages to transport all the family's belonging across the continent. Once in the UK, the Dux family sponsored and vouched for a number of other Jewish families who had also made their escape. Meanwhile, Schwitters' situation in Germany was becoming increasingly untenable. By early 1937 he was officially wanted by the Gestapo and in July of the same year his Merz works were included in the infamous Entartete Kunst exhibition in Munich. Schwitters fled to Norway in early 1937 to join his son Ernst who had moved there the year prior; father and son would remain there until the German invasion of Norway in 1940 and they eventually arrived in the United Kingdom in the summer of that year. As an enemy alien, Schwittters was detained in various internment camps in Scotland and England before arriving at Hutchinson camp in Douglas on the Isle of Man a month later. Still life with penny was painted during his confinement on the island in 1941. Despite the meagre quality and paucity of artist materials, it was an immensely prolific period for Schwitters who remained resourceful in his practice and repurposed building materials and even porridge to create his paintings and sculptures. With its hand-made mount, Still life with penny shows the determination of Schwitters to continue making work for public preview and sale. He contributed to an art exhibition held at the camp and produced over 200 works during his 16 month imprisonment, including many commissioned portraits which helped to sustain him and his son. Following his release from the camp in November 1941 Schwitters moved to London. It was there that he reconnected with Dr. Dux, who provided much needed succour at a time when Schwitters was living in the penury of exile and struggling to make a commercial success of his work. Schwitters made almost weekly visits to Dr. Dux where he was drawn into his social circle. Writing to friends in Hanover in 1944, Schwitters reported that he had 'made really good friends' thanks to Dr. Dux's introductions. When Schwitters had nowhere to stay he was able to live rent free with the Dux family in Richmond, Dr. Dux also provided the artist with a weekly sum 'for paints'. Later, when Schwitters had moved to Ambleside in 1945, he and his companion Edith 'Wantee' Thomas were supported by a monthly stipend from Dr. Dux. Vielen herzlichen Dank! [Many many thanks] is a memento of their friendship and the great appreciation that Schwitters held for his fellow émigré. On the verso of the work, in Schwitters' hand, is the inscription: 'This picture is called 'Vielen herzlichen Dank!' It has been painted by Kurt Schwitters 1944 and dedicated to Dr. Walter Dux on Christmas 1944.' Schwitters expressed his gratitude by gifting many paintings and sculptures to Dux over the course of his time in the UK. A major collection of works from the British period was also entrusted to the doctor for safekeeping, which later passed into the possession of Ernst Schwitters following his father's death. A group of letters now preserved in the Tate Archive between Dr. Dux, Ernst Schwitters and Edith Thomas, testify to the close relationships between the Schwitters and Dux families.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

AUGUSTE RODIN (1840-1917)Age d'Airain, petit modèle dit aussi '2ème réduction' signed 'Rodin' (on the base), inscribed with the foundry mark 'Alexis Rudier Fondeur Paris' (to the verso) and stamped with the raised signature 'A. Rodin' (on the inside of the base)bronze with brown-black patina64.4 cm (25 3/8in). highConceived between 1875-1877, this reduction from November 1904, this bronze version cast by the Alexis Rudier Foundry in November 1943.Footnotes:This work will be included in the forthcoming Auguste Rodin catalogue critique de l'oeuvre sculpté currently being prepared by the Comité Auguste Rodin at Galerie Brame & Lorenceau under the direction of Jérôme Le Blay.ProvenanceMusée Rodin, Paris.Eugène Rudier Collection, Le Vésinet (acquired from the above in 1943).Galerie Beyeler, Basel.Arthur Stoll Collection, Arlesheim (acquired from the above in 1954); his sale, Kornfeld und Klipstein, Bern, 18 November 1972, lot 169.Private collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale).Acquired from the above by the present owner.ExhibitedBasel, Galerie Beyeler, Le petit format dans l'art moderne, 1 December 1954 – 10 January 1955, no. 42/b.LiteratureG. Grappe, Catalogue du Musée Rodin, Paris, 1927 (plaster version illustrated p. 28).M. Aubert, Rodin Sculptures, Paris, 1952 (another cast illustrated pl. 11).M. Fischer, Sammlung Arthur Stoll, Skulpturen und Gemälde des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, Zurich, 1961, no. 7 (the present work illustrated).C. Goldscheider, Rodin, Paris, 1962 (another cast illustrated pp. 54-55).R. Descharnes & J-F. Chabrun, Auguste Rodin, London, 1967 (plaster version illustrated p. 54).J.L. Tancock, The Sculpture of Auguste Rodin, The Collection of the Rodin Museum Philadelphia, Philadelphia, 1976, p. 356.C. Goldscheider, Auguste Rodin, catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre sculpté, Vol. I, 1840-1886, Paris, 1989, no. 95d, p. 116.I. Ross & A. Snow (eds.), Rodin, A Magnificent Obsession, London, 2001, no. 17 (another cast illustrated p. 28).A. Le Normand-Romain, The Bronzes of Rodin, Catalogue of works in the Musée Rodin, Vol. 1, Paris, 2007 (plaster version illustrated p. 128).'Beauty is everywhere. It is not beauty that our eyes lack, it is our eyes that are deficient in perceiving it. Beauty is character and expression. And there is nothing in Nature that has more character than the human body. Through its force it evokes the widest variety of images. At times it is like a flower: the way the torso bends is like the stem...At times it is like a supple creeper..At other times still it is an urn...The human body is first and foremost the mirror of the soul and its greatest beauty comes from that' – A. RodinAge d'Airain is a work of unprecedented importance within the oeuvre of Auguste Rodin. It not only transformed European sculpture but truly set the artist on his path as the father of modern sculpture. Initially causing huge controversy through its unfathomable perfection, critics soon realised the importance of both the sculpture and indeed its author. With versions of the figure in major public collections such as the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and of course the Musée Rodin in Paris, it is undeniable how key this work is to our appreciation of sculpture as a medium.Rodin began his work on Age d'Airain in Brussels after an inspirational trip to Italy in 1876, where his exposure to the Florentine masters Donatello and Michelangelo had a profound effect on him, particularly Michelangelo's Dying Slave with which we can draw a clear comparison with Age d'airain. His chosen muse was Auguste Neyt, a Belgian soldier, and not a professional model. It was through his form that Rodin sought a raw naturality in place of an exaggerated pose. This is an early example of Rodin's desire to strip away the narrative of myth and allegory from academic sculpture and to explore the natural elements of the human form. He dismissed the gods and muses of Neo-Classical tradition and focused on the distinctly human characteristics of psychology and physicality, making his surfaces rougher and more unfinished in contrast to the polished idealised figures of his predecessors like Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux and Albert-Ernest Carrier-Belluese. As a naturalist, Rodin was more concerned with character, emotion and movement: it is this appreciation for the subtlety of movement that perhaps stems from the influence of his teacher Antoine-Louis Barye, who paid great attention to the details of animals in motion. Auguste Neyt provided a figure that offered Rodin the chance to depict both an outer physicality as well as the inner emotional conflict of the modern man.Age d'Airain recalled an early era in the history of humankind, a suspended moment of self-awareness and human awakening. It possesses a mastery of light, form and shadow, with rugged textured surfaces, all of which add to the work's startlingly realistic presence. After its unveiling at the Salon in Paris in 1877, the perfect realism of Age d'Airain caused many critics to believe it was in fact a surmoulage, cast directly from the body of the model. Whilst fighting to deny these allegations, Rodin's notoriety was in fact boosted by the affair and it eventually led to the French government purchasing a version of the work, in addition to commissioning La porte de l'enfer in 1880 - one of Rodin's most celebrated works. We can see the true precision of the Age d'Airain from the photograph of Neyt, taken by Gaudenzio Marconi, a prolific photographer of nudes. Through studying this image, Rodin's masterful execution of the sculpture is only emphasized and his brilliance in capturing the human profile reinforced.Auguste Rodin's combination of a boldly modern approach to form and finish, whilst maintaining a respect for sculptural tradition through his focus on the human form, is as remarkable today as it was during his lifetime. His sculptures are still revered for their beauty, emotional power and technical brilliance, with Age d'Airain considered amongst his finest work. As one of Rodin's earlier works and the catalyst for his international renown, there is no denying its pivotal importance.This smaller reduction of Age d'Airain, as documented in the Musée Rodin Archive's notes from René Cheruy, Rodin's secretary, would have been created at Rodin's request by Henri Le Bossé, reducer/enlarger, after November 1904 with the aim of donating a bronze copy to Léon Bourgeois, the first French delegate to the Peace Conference in The Hague. The first version, cast in 1907 by the Alexis Rudier Foundry, is now in the Musée Municipal de Chalons-sur-Marne, France.As outlined in the present work's certificate, we know from the production records of the Alexis Rudier Foundry that foundry workers Alliot and Nadiras worked on this cast for thirty-three hours and a further five hours for the mounting. This invaluable archival note is the perfect anecdotal reference that outlines the importance and craftsmanship of these casts of Rodin's work.This particular cast of Age d'Airain has belonged to a number of important collectors and was once housed in the collections of Eugène Rudier (son of Alexis Rudier), Galerie Beyeler and Arthur Stoll. Arthur Stoll (1887-1971) was a prominent Swiss biochemist, who, alongside his interest in science, built a prestigious collection of art. Part of this collection was sold at Kornfeld und Klipstein (today Galerie Kornfeld) in 1972, the year after his death – the auction included over 250 works, in... This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

ALBERTO GIACOMETTI (1901-1966)Tête (recto); Tête de femme (verso) signed 'A Giacometti' (lower right)coloured pencil and pencil on paper14.2 x 10.6cm (5 9/16 x 4 3/16in).Executed circa 1950Footnotes:The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Giacometti. It is recorded in the online Alberto Giacometti Database as AGD 4236. ProvenanceB.C. Holland Gallery, Chicago, no. C84-9-4 (acquired by 1994).Private collection.Acquired by the present owner in 2020.'A blind man is feeling his way in the night'- The first line of a poem Alberto Giacometti wrote when asked to write about himself, quoted in D. Sylvester, Looking at Giacometti, New York, 1994, p. 110. Rendered with frenzied, swirling lines of red, blue, black and yellow, the present lot emphasizes an important technique of Alberto Giacometti's late period. Giacometti mastered all media – sculpture, drawing, and painting – but his exploration of the human figure is most obvious in his drawings, which exude the same feverish energy as his sculptures. Tête reveals the artist's confident handling of the pencil, and his expressive ability as a draftsman to reveal his hand and process. Despite his mastery of multiple media, Giacometti declared that 'one has to focus uniquely and exclusively on drawing. If one could master drawing, everything else could be possible' (Alberto Giacometti quoted in J. Lord, Dessins de Giacometti, Paris, 1971, p. 26). Intensely introspective, Tête is a revelation of Giacometti's exploratory genius as a draughtsman.Executed circa 1950, Tête shows an elongated head and neck floating atop a tangled network of sprawling lines against a vast expanse of paper. Detached from its corporeal support, Giacometti's delicate, yet incisive use of line not only gives vigorous definition to the figure's features, but also forcefully builds the perspectival focus, leading the viewer's eye directly to the sitter's haunting gaze. By this time, Giacometti felt he had exhausted the possibilities inherent in his stick-like, ghostly figures of the late 1940s, and he aimed to reclaim a more concrete sense of space. Barely visible under the tangled interplay of lines is a large 'X', crossing just atop the centre of the figure's brow, and again at the centre of the figure's throat. Throughout Giacometti's drawing oeuvre, the artist's fascination with representing visual perception is evident; here, these lines document Giacometti's attempt to situate the sitter's presence in space. His lines, fast moving, intensely layered in some areas while sparse in others, capture the ever-changing spirit of a human being's presence – a materialization of Giacometti's experience of perception. Like his mentor Paul Cézanne, Giacometti returned to the same motif time and again, relentlessly attempting to perceive visible nature and preserving the feeling of what is seen. Giacometti replicates his pencil in the same repetitive movement around the eyes. The outline around the eyes dissolve into a zone that no longer outlines, but rather energizes their centre. Jacques Dupin described these drawings as Giacometti's 'focus' compositions: 'The line is not so much a definition of forms as it is a challenge to them to appear, revealing themselves in the curve. Their frequency and emphasis are heightened as they near the focus' (Jacques Dupin quoted in B. Lamarche–Vadel, Alberto Giacometti, Paris, 1984, p. 94). Giacometti aimed to depict people as visual phenomena, stating that 'heads, figures are nothing but the perpetual movement of their inside, of their outside, they re-make themselves with no pause, they are not a real consistence... they are a moving mass' (Alberto Giacometti quoted in A. de la Beaumelle (ed.), Alberto Giacometti: Le dessin l'oeuvre, exh. cat., Paris, 2001, p. 190). After World War II, Giacometti almost entirely devoted his sculpture to the singular, skeleton-like figure which was an eerie reminder of alienation and loneliness in the aftermath of post-war Europe. His drawings, on the other hand, allowed the artist to move forward – acting as a neutral backdrop for his imagination. While it can be presumed that the present drawing is likely of Diego, the artist's brother who dominated the artist's creative output, Alberto did begin drawing his friends and associates during this time – including the composer Igor Stravinsky, Giacometti's biographer James Lord, and the poet Pierre Reverdy. In these portraits, almost all the sitters face frontally. They are depicted through rapidly applied lines which repeatedly encircle the outward region of the face, while narrower lines divide the sitter's features. In the present work, the sitter's eyes are reinforced by large and heavily drawn circles. Yves Bonnefoy has explained the significance of the figure's head: 'It is already surprising enough to find an artist at the height of his powers, who in the space of three or four years had sculpted some of the major archetypes of modern art and was immediately recognized as such, practically abandoning this type of creation in order to devote himself to the portraits of a few individuals...During this final period, of almost fifteen years, the heads studies were exclusively Diego, Annette, Annetta [the artist's mother], Caroline and a very few other persons, all close friends, which proves that Giacometti had indeed chosen the existence of individuals, the here and now as the chief object of his new and future study; and he instinctively realized that this object transcended all artistic signs and representations, since it was no less than life itself' (Y. Bonnefoy, Alberto Giacometti, A Biography of His Work, Paris, 2012, p. 369). In May 1985, the artist's biographer James Lord wrote: 'Giacometti said that it was by means of style that works of art attain truth, and he added that, while art is interesting, truth alone is of enduring consequence. By main force and long-drawn-out labor he forged a style instantly recognizable as his, and his alone, owing nothing to anyone, and through it he attained his own truth, now bequeath to us all as part of our living heritage' (James Lord quoted in Alberto Giacometti, exh. cat., New York, 1985). Tête bears witness to the artist's intimate relationship with his subject, providing a way for Giacometti to emphasize the intensity of the sitter's gaze and symbolize man's existence in a post-war era.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

FRANCIS PICABIA (1879-1953)Tête de femme signed 'Francis Picabia' (lower right)oil and pencil on board45.9 x 38cm (18 1/16 x 14 15/16in).Painted circa 1942Footnotes:The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by the Comité Picabia. This work will be included in the forthcoming Francis Picabia catalogue raisonné, currently being prepared.ProvenanceThe Marble Arch Gallery, Florida (acquired before 1989).Anon. sale, Sotheby's, New York, 6 October 1989, lot 185.Private collection, Florida.Private collection, Osaka.Gallery Yamaguchi, Osaka.Michael Werner Gallery, London (acquired from the above in 2006).Private collection, Hong Kong (acquired from the above in 2018).Tête de femme issues from a highly influential series by Francis Picabia realised in the South of France during the 1940s. Now often described as the very first post-modern paintings, these works marked a return to figurative painting for the artist and a predilection for 'popular realism', with imagery drawn from the printed ephemera of the day, including nightclub advertisements, postcards and illustrated 'pin-up' magazines. Following their execution these wartime paintings faded into obscurity with many critics dismissing them as kitsch, however the series underwent a dramatic revaluation in the 1980s with commentators recognising the importance of Picabia's late work, and specifically the 1940s pin-up series, in challenging traditional modes of representation in a way that presaged the post-modern discourse of the day. Of particular influence in this critical reappraisal was a comprehensive survey of Picabia's work which travelled to three European museums as well as a 1983 show at the Mary Boone/Michael Werner Gallery, where the present work formerly resided. In this radical 1940s series, Picabia irreverently rejected modernist norms and refused to conform to prevailing aesthetic taste. It was to become highly influential for future artists, including, amongst others, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, David Salle and Erich Fischl; the latter aptly characterising Picabia as 'pre-postmodern'.Although it had long been suspected that Picabia's wartime work appropriated imagery directly from photographs, it was Sarah Cocrahan who correctly identified much of his source material - namely the popular photo illustrated soft-core porn magazines of the 1930s. Set against a dark background, the figure in Tête de femme looks seductively up to the viewer with a languorous gaze and sultry eyes. Her thinly pencilled brows, cupid bow lips and frozen pose are highly evocative of archival photographs depicting contemporary starlets. Indeed, Picabia was known to use photographs to reproduce portraits of 1930s actresses such as Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Madeleine Solange. In Tête de femme, Picabia even imitates the glare of a photographer's flash-bulb on the figure's face by emphasising the whites of her eyes and the bright highlights on the bridge of her nose, forehead, and neck. Following a visit to Picabia in Golfe-Juan in March 1942, Michael Perrin, a friend of artist, recalled that Picabia's paintings of the same year 'were so precise with colours so true to life that the acerbic critics exclaimed 'But this is photography!'' The famed collector Gertrude Stein, and close confidante of Picabia's, also identified the influence of photography in his work. Writing in her second autobiography Everyone's Autobiography, she noted that 'Picabia's father was a Spaniard born in Cuba and his mother was the daughter of a French scientist and one of the inventors of photography. So Picabia was brought up on photography not taking photographs but the science of photography' (G. Stein quoted in M.C. Cone, 'Francis Picabia's War' in A. Umland & C. Hug, Francis Picabia, Our Heads Are Round So Our Thoughts Can Change Direction, exh. cat., New York, 2016, p. 225). It was the sense of stasis and of arrested motion which, for Stein, provided the link with the photographic medium: 'it was the feeling of movement inside the painting not a painting of a thing moving but the thing painted having inside it the existence of moving' (G. Stein quoted in ibid. p. 226).Picabia's mimicry of mass-produced photographs and his turn towards popular culture as a legitimate source for inspiration has prompted many critics to categorize this phase of his oeuvre as 'Proto Pop Art'. By rupturing the traditional boundaries between 'high' and 'low' art within the modernist canon and subverting the idea of originality, Picabia anticipated the concepts and devices which would become central to the work of Pop artists such as Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein. Subsequent artists associated with Pop Art, such as Robert Rauschenberg and William Copley, later expressed great admiration for Picabia's figurative, realist canvases of the 1940s, with Copley building an important personal collection of his work.Picabia's appropriation of photographic imagery is, however, a nuanced and self-reflexive one. As seen in Tête de femme, despite the source material, he does not imitate a smooth, photographic painterly style but rather employs expressionist brushwork and an almost awkward mode of painting which deliberately foregrounds the intervention and touch of the artist. In doing so he wryly sends-up his own pictorial device and calls into question received ideas relating to aesthetics and authorship. As early as 1921 Picabia stated the importance of imitation and parody to his artistic process: 'The artist makes a choice, then imitates his choice, the deformation of this then constitutes Art' (C. Boublès, 'Francis Picabia, Delicious Monsters: Painting, Criticism, History' in Dear Painter, paint me...Painting the Figure since late Picabia, exh. cat., Paris, 2002, p. 31). Though breaking with artistic convention throughout his career, it was the pin-up series which ultimately secured Picabia's place as a radical forerunner for future artists and movements. His use of appropriation and popular culture anticipated the characteristics of Pop Art, while his unapologetic implementation of a kitschy style prefigured the work of artists such as John Currin and Jeff Koons. Above all, and as exemplified in Tête de femme, Picabia succeeded in breaking away from the Modernist doctrine, which affirmed a rigid, linear pursuit of aesthetic progress, and by contrast revealed that all artmaking is, in fact, self-referential. As Carole Boublès explains, 'When Picabia seeks inspiration [from other sources], he produces a new form of artistic thought. Insofar as it copies or subverts it, it is a parody of the earlier model. But it is also a self-parody that comes from knowing that one is part of History...There can be no 'immaculate conception' no 'pure' writing or painting. Seek, and you will always find the umbilical cord' (C. Boublès, ibid., p. 31).This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

RAOUL DUFY (1877-1953)L'entrée du jardin signed 'Raoul Dufy' (lower right)oil on canvas66 x 81.8cm (26 x 32 3/16in).Painted in 1923Footnotes:ProvenanceGalerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris.Jacques Spreiregen Collection, Monaco (acquired by April 1956); his sale, Sotheby's, London, 31 March 1977, lot 274.Private collection, South Africa (acquired at the above sale).Thence by descent to the present owner.ExhibitedParis, Galerie Charpentier, Jardins de France, Summer 1943, no. 326.Swansea, The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Some Modern French Paintings and Drawings, 23 April – 26 May 1956, no. 24 (later travelled to Aberystwyth and Cardiff).LiteratureM. Laffaille, Raoul Dufy, Catalogue raisonné de l'oeuvre peint, Vol. II, Geneva, 1973, no. 618 (illustrated p. 173).This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

HENRI MATISSE (1869-1954)Nu (femme) debout, also titled Nu près du paravent signed 'Henri Matisse' (upper right)oil on canvas laid down on panel33.5 x 19.5cm (13 3/16 x 7 11/16in).Painted between late 1905 and early 1906Footnotes:The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Georges Matisse.Please note this work has been requested for inclusion in the landmark exhibition Matisse: Life & Spirit, Masterpieces from the Centre Pompidou, Paris at the Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, Australia, 20 November 2021 – 13 March 2022. ProvenanceMichael & Sarah Stein Collection, Paris and San Francisco (acquired directly from the artist through Galerie Druet by 28 April 1906, until at least 1942).James Vigeveno Gallery, Los Angeles (probably acquired from the above in the 1940s).Robert Ardrey & Helen Johnson Ardrey Collection, Oklahoma (acquired from the above in May 1950, until circa 1973-1974).Galerie Yoshii, Tokyo (acquired circa 1973-1974).Shoji Uehara Collection, Japan (acquired from the above on 27 December 1974).Galerie Yoshii, Tokyo (acquired from the above in 1977).Anon. sale, Sotheby's, London, 7 December 1977, lot 28.Private collection, South Africa (acquired at the above sale).Thence by descent to the present owner.ExhibitedParis, Galerie Druet, Henri Matisse, 19 March - 7 April 1906, no. 8.Los Angeles, University of California, Years of Ferment, The Birth of Twentieth Century Art 1886-1914, 24 January – 7 March 1965, no. 34 (later travelled to San Francisco and Cleveland; dated 1904-1905).Paris, Grand Palais, Henri Matisse, Exposition du Centenaire, 21 April - 21 September 1970, no. 80.New York, Museum of Modern Art, Four Americans in Paris, The Collection of Gertrude Stein and her Family, December 1970, no. 15 (later travelled to San Francisco).Tokyo, Galeries Seibu, Exposition les fauves, 15 August - 24 September 1974 (later travelled to Kanazawa).Dalhousie, Nova Scotia, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Aspects of 19th and 20th Century European Art, Part I: Henri Matisse (1869-1954), 23 October 1980 – 4 January 1981.LiteratureA.H. Barr Jr., Matisse, His Art and His Public, New York, 1951, p. 82 (illustrated p. 20).L.M. Golson, 'The Michael Steins of San Francisco: Art Patrons and Collectors', in Four Americans in Paris, The Collections of Gertrude Stein and her Family, exh. cat., New York, 1970, no. 15, p. 43 (illustrated pp. 41, 45 & 117).M. Luzi & M. Carra, L'opera di Matisse, dalla rivolta 'fauve' all'intimismo 1904-1928, Milan, 1971, no. 83 (illustrated p. 88).G-P. & M. Dauberville, Matisse, Vol. I, Paris, 1995, no. 64 (illustrated p. 399).H. Spurling, The Unknown Matisse, A Life of Henri Matisse, Vol. I: 1869-1908, London, 1998, pp. 348 & 352 (illustrated pp. 347 & 383).J.C. Bishop, C. Debray & R.A. Rabinow (eds.), The Steins Collect, Matisse, Picasso and the Parisian Avant-Garde, exh. cat., San Francisco, 2011, no. 112, pp. 133 & 148n15 (illustrated pp. 381, 382, 385, 387 & 411).S. Steinberg, 'Sarah Stein: The Woman Who Brought Matisse to San Francisco', in American Imago, Vol. 68, no. 3, Fall 2011, pp. 521 & 526 (titled 'Nude Woman with Red Hair' and 'Woman with Red Hair').Nu (femme) debout, also titled Nu près du paravent dates from the pinnacle of Henri Matisse's Fauvist period when his unbridled use of colour and handling of pigment was at its most radical and liberated. With an intensity and boldness of palette almost unparalleled in this first Fauve phase of Matisse's oeuvre, Nu (femme) debout stands as a quintessential example of Fauvism, while the manner of execution and figurative subject reveal the artist's tantalising first steps towards his celebrated decorative style. Acquired shortly after completion by arguably the most significant patrons and collectors of his early career, Michael and Sarah Stein, the present work is distinguished by exceptional provenance and remains a rare example of a figurative Fauvist work by Matisse not already housed in a museum collection. Nu (femme) debout also carries the important epitaph of being one of the first three works by Matisse to have ever been seen in America, and there is no doubt that the presentation of this work, along with the astounding promotional efforts of Sarah Stein, helped to secure Matisse's name in the United States, and beyond, as synonymous with the development of modern art in the twentieth century. Nu (femme) debout was painted in the immediate aftermath of the infamous Salon d'Automne of October 1905, the exhibition which appalled the French public and birthed the Fauvist movement. The site of the scandal was the ultimate showcase for modern and contemporary art with room VII, a central room at the Grand Palais, as the arena of the spectacle. Gracing the walls were the radically vibrant paintings that Matisse and André Derain had created in Collioure earlier that summer, along with paintings of a similarly clamorous palette by artists such as Henri Manguin, Albert Marquet, Maurice de Vlaminck and Georges Rouault. Contemporary art critic Louis Vauxcelles referred to the room as the 'cage of wild beasts' ('cage aux fauves'), and thus this cohort acquired its sobriquet. Visitors to the exhibition were aghast at the 'savage' presentation within Salle VII. The paintings employed a hitherto unseen style of execution and defied every prevailing artistic convention. Colour was freed from its mimetic function and applied unfettered, as if directly from the tube, with liberal, even sketchy brushwork. The effect was, as Vauxcelles recorded, 'an orgy of pure tones'. Amongst the various landscapes of Collioure, the painting which caused the greatest uproar was Matisse's portrait of his wife, Amélie - the now iconic Femme au chapeau, which today resides in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The inclusion of this work within the exhibition not only secured Matisse's position as the leader of the Parisian avant-garde but crucially marked the beginning of a profound relationship between him and the most significant friends and patrons of his early career, the Steins.Leo, Gertrude, Michael and Sarah Stein all attended the vernissage along with, now fabled collectors, Claribel and sister Etta Cone who were friends of Gertrude's and Leo's from Baltimore. The Americans were unique in their quiet admiration for Femme au chapeau. Therese Jelenko, who accompanied the Steins on their visit to the Salon, recalled seeing 'Frenchmen doubled up with laughter before it, and Sarah saying 'it's superb' while Mike couldn't tear himself away' (Four Americans in Paris, The Collections of Gertrude Stein and her Family, exh. cat., New York, 1970, p. 42). Were it not for the pioneering discernment of the family, Matisse would have considered the Salon d'Automne to have been an unmitigated failure. However, in the event, Sarah and her brother-in-law Leo decided to purchase the ground-breaking work for the family. The painting initially resided with Leo and Gertrude before latterly forming part of Michael and Sarah's collection. Up until this moment Matisse had, by and large, been overlooked or dismissed by the French, but the acquisition of Femme au chapeau was to alter the course of Matisse's fortunes, whereby his subsequent friendship with the Steins, most importantly Sarah Stein, not only transformed his financial circumstances, but secured his recognition and legacy internationally. As Matisse's grandson, Claude Duthuit, noted, 'Without the Americans...he would have starved' (Duthuit quoted in J. Bishop, 'Sarah and Michael Stein in America' in The... This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

PIERRE-AUGUSTE RENOIR (1841-1919)Paysage aux Collettes stamped 'Renoir' (lower right)oil on canvas18.6 x 41.1cm (7 5/16 x 16 3/16in).Painted in Cagnes circa 1905-1910Footnotes:This work will be included in the forthcoming Pierre-Auguste Renoir Digital Catalogue Raisonné, currently being prepared under the sponsorship of the Wildenstein Plattner Institute, Inc.ProvenanceGalerie Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (acquired from the artist's estate after 1919).Galerie Adolphe Basler, Paris. Hammer Galleries, New York; their sale, Sotheby's Parke-Bernet, New York, 15 April 1959, lot 37. Blanche Swift Morris Collection, Miami Beach; her sale, Sotheby's, New York, 23 February 1984, lot 3. Galerie Klopfer, Zurich (1987).Private collection, South Africa.Private collection, Australia (acquired from the above circa 1998).ExhibitedCoral Gables, University of Miami, Joe & Emily Lowe Art Gallery, 18th, 19th and 20th Century Paintings, July - September 1962.LiteratureJ. & G. Bernheim-Jeune, Renoir's Atelier, San Francisco, 1989, no. 375 (illustrated pl. 121).G-P. & M. Dauberville, Renoir, Catalogue raisonné des tableaux, pastels, dessins et aquarelles, Vol. IV, 1903-1910, Paris, 2012, no. 2920 (illustrated p. 143; dated circa 1910).Painted circa 1905-1910, Paysage aux Collettes is a wonderful example of Renoir's renewed enjoyment of the landscape oeuvre, inspired by fresh surroundings. Prompted to move from Paris to the Mediterranean coast upon the advice of his doctor, the artist bought the five-acre hilltop farm of Les Collettes in 1907, having travelled repeatedly to the area before. Renoir was so enamoured by the original building's rural charm that he left the old structures intact and instead had a new home constructed for his family. Les Collettes and the surrounding views over medieval Cagnes-sur-Mer would provide a new and endless source of inspiration for the artist who sought to capture the gnarled olive trees, sun-drenched meadows and white-washed buildings on intimate, smaller-scale canvases such as the present work.In Paysage aux Collettes we see the characteristic rounded olive trees of Renoir's garden, their foliage realised with verdant greens and burnt yellows, the shadows formed in deep blues and russet tones. Punctuating the landscape are the billowing sheets of white linen hung out to dry, the evocation of a breeze created by fluid and loose brushstrokes. Continually seeking to capture the fleeting effects of nature, Renoir built a glass structure in the olive grove to serve as an outdoor studio to allow him to continue painting en plein air. His new focus on the surrounding landscape led him to comment in a 1918 interview with the art critic René Gimpel, 'The olive tree, what a brute! If you realise how much trouble it has caused me. A tree full of colours. Not great at all. Its little leaves, how they've made me sweat! A gust of wind, and my tree's tonality changes. The colours isn't on the leaves, but in the spaces between them. I know that I can't paint nature, but I enjoy struggling with it. A painter can't be great if he doesn't understand landscape' (Renoir quoted in J. House, Renoir, exh. cat., London, 1985, p. 277).The dancing arabesque shapes formed by trees in the present work are emphasised by their modelling in soft curlicue brushstrokes which appear to sway beneath our gaze. This movement is echoed in the sun-dappled grass and linen which blows in the summer breeze. Renoir's preference for fluid brushwork and layers of transparent colours may in part show the influence of his early training as a porcelain painter from 1854 to 1858.The strong Mediterranean sunlight encouraged Renoir to brighten his already vivid palette and led to an increasing use of red in all its nuances to capture the ruddy Provencal earth. Flecks of red appear throughout the trees and foreground, leading our eye around the work, while the piercing blue of the sky is echoed in the cool shadows in the laundry and grass below. Renoir's landscapes from this period were also typically painted on a smaller scale, but despite their intimate size are full works, densely painted and highly coloured, illustrating his belief that a painting should be attractive to look at, bringing pleasure to both the artist and the viewer. He told the younger artist Albert André, 'I like a painting which makes me want to stroll in it, if it is a landscape' (Renoir quoted in ibid, p. 14). In this aspect, Renoir stood aside from his Impressionist contemporaries who painted the modern world as they saw it, unembellished and un-idealised. Renoir's oeuvre maintained a distance from artistic doctrine, politics or the developments in photography and cinema which influenced so many others. His timeless compositions offered a refuge from the contemporary world and by the time the present work was painted, Renoir was increasingly looking back to eighteenth century classicism. Upon settling on the shores of the Mediterranean he rediscovered his love of classical antiquity, as well as his early interest in artists such as Watteau, Fragonard and Delacroix, whose works he had studied at the Louvre as a young student. Renoir found similarities in his idyllic surroundings with Watteau's landscapes in particular and referenced the tradition of French landscape painting through the use of trees as framing devices and a suffusion of light. Despite suffering from arthritis and being confined to a wheelchair in his later years, Renoir continued to paint every day apart from Sundays. Indeed Matisse, a visitor to the house in 1917, was astonished to see Renoir's mature work and declared these extemporaneous landscapes which celebrate the beauty of the warm Mediterranean coast, to be 'all his best work' (Matisse quoted in F. Harris, Contemporary Portraits, Fourth Series, New York, 1923, p. 125).Housed in a private Australian collection for over two decades, Paysage aux Collettes previously formed part of the prestigious collection of Blanche Swift Morris. Born in France, Blanche de Bilbao enjoyed early success in the theatre in Paris before marrying Colonel Nelson Swift Morris in 1933. The couple had homes in Chicago and Miami Beach and were known for their patronage of the arts and philanthropic contributions. The present work was sold in 1984 to benefit charity, alongside significant works by Henri Fantin-Latour, Eugène Boudin, Maurice de Vlaminck, Louis Valtat, Suzanne Valadon, Moïse Kisling and Camille Pissarro.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ** VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

LÉONARD TSUGUHARU FOUJITA (1886-1968)Nu allongé signed and dated 'Foujita, 1932' and further signed in Japanese (lower left)mineral paint and ink on silk laid on paper70 x 100cm (27 9/16 x 39 3/8in).Painted in 1932Footnotes:The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Sylvie Buisson.ProvenancePrivate collection, Argentina (acquired directly from the artist).Galerie Nichido, Japan (acquired from the above, through Galería Jorge Mara and Galería Bontempo in November 1989).Private collection, Japan (acquired from the above in 2011).LiteratureS. Buisson, T.L. Foujita, Inédits, Paris, 2007, no. C.32.183.H (illustrated p. 23).'[Foujita] represents one of those rare cases... of an artist of non-European race and essence, who has succeeded in becoming important from within the European conception of art... His sharp lines, the vast, blank surfaces, the true synthesis in its representation of theme, the relative coolness, or placidity of expression. All of those elements of his art, finally, leave me in a state of amazement.'-Mario de Andrade, the Brazilian modernist poet and critic, reviewing Foujita's gallery exhibition in Rio de Janeiro, the first stop along his South American tour. Díario Nacional, 20 January 1932.In 1931, Léonard Tsuguharu Foujita embarked on a world tour that would profoundly shift the narratives of his life and art. The close of the Roaring Twenties saw not just the devastating break of his third marriage to Lucie Badoul ('Youki'), but also the first stages of the Great Depression. Dodging the French government's pursuit of exorbitant taxes he had hitherto evaded, Foujita reached an impasse. He fled Paris with his new lover, a beautiful and charismatic young model named Madeleine Lequeux. A member of the thriving bohemian scene of Montparnasse, Madeleine was a hostess at Le Sphinx by day and a performer at the Casino de Paris by night. She is instantly recognisable throughout Foujita's early 1930s oeuvre from her handsome features: golden red hair, piercing blue eyes, a regal nose and a strong, elegant chin. These traits identify her as the resplendent subject of the present work, Nu allongé. The 'Flight of Fou Fou', as the pair's dramatic departure became known, brought them first to Brazil, then to Argentina, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Panama, Cuba, Mexico and the United States. Their tour was embellished with all the hallmarks of celebrity – press conferences, dinners with dignitaries, wildly successful solo exhibitions, and large spreads in national newspapers harking the arrival of the 'Foujita phenomenon'. Dancing under the dazzling lights of the Copacabana Grand Ball, the couple turned heads. Foujita cut an arresting figure with his pudding bowl haircut, Chaplin moustache, horn-rimmed spectacles and fashionable suit. Madeleine donned a glamorous, low-cut gown matched only by her vivacious spirit. Foujita worked fervently throughout the journey, as the fame he had garnered in Paris spread swiftly across the globe. His work took on a more dramatic air, as he introduced into his compositions exaggerated poses inspired by the cinema. He frequently captured the idle and intimate moments punctuating their taxing travels, with Madeleine stretching out into languorous poses. The present work is the most mesmerising of that series.A symphony of serene lines and delicate silk, Madeleine lounges, her body directly confronting the viewer while her face turns away, cold and mysterious. The soft ripples of the backdrop and diaphanous sheets flow into the waves of her auburn hair and the dips and curves of her supple form. Madeleine's very substance merges with her surroundings, their subtle gradients of pink, sepia and white in pure harmony with her alabaster skin, opal-coloured eyes and rose quartz lips. A figment of fantasy, her ideally proportioned figure emerges like a human tapestry, the perfect semi-circles of her breasts traced with a compass-like exactitude. A virtuoso trained in the Japanese arts of calligraphy and Nihonga painting, Foujita elucidates her curves with a deft, undulating outline, encased within a halo-like aura of white mineral paint – a technique solely of Foujita's creation. A visual haiku, the present work takes its power and essence from its measurement and simplicity. The entire effect is of a shrine to Madeleine – a gesture of utmost devotion to beauty incarnate. Foujita's eclectic materials and methods are key in his achievement of this unparalleled aesthetic. To invoke his sinuous half-tones and shading, he would stroke the picture plane with a cotton ball loaded with charcoal power, a method related to his estompe drawing technique. Foujita's pale mineral paint seeps directly into the silk, purposefully revealing the fineness of the material and each of its perfectly calibrated threads. The resulting sfumato ('haziness') – an aesthetic extracted from the Italian Renaissance painters Foujita revered – stands in contrast to the impasto layering of vibrant oil paints favoured by his French contemporaries. In paradoxical departure from European influences, he applies sumi-e ink in razor-thin lines with a menso, the thinnest brush in the Japanese painter's repertoire. All of this is finished with Foujita's grand fond blanc: his magical, secret glaze. Likely an emulsion of crushed chalk, white lead, talc, magnesium silicate and flaxseed oil, the glaze conjures up Foujita's nyuhakushoku or 'milky white' effect, its mesmerising quality causing Foujita's 1920s and early 1930s works to be his most sought-after. The present work's spectacle of pearly iridescence and soft grey shading achieves a dual effect: Madeleine exhibits at once the gravitas of a Michelangelo sculpture and the flat, smooth texture of Japanese lacquerware designs.Foujita's confluence of Western chiaroscuro and precise Japanese painting techniques echoes the innovations of Modern Japanese Nihonga painters, such as Yokoyama Taikan, whose monumental silk scroll Metempsychosis graces the permanent collection of Tokyo's National Museum of Modern Art. Nihonga employs traditional Japanese methods – namely the application of ink and mineral paint onto paper or silk – together with elements of Yōga (European-style painting), particularly shading and perspective. Nihonga artists derive pigments from minerals and other organic materials, such as shells, corals and semi-precious stones. Foujita's use of mineral paint in the present work adopts Nihonga to achieve his authentic vision of the grand nu, a distinctly European genre. These intercultural experiments are hallmarks of the increasingly cosmopolitan outlook of Meiji-era Japan, a period of profound cultural change. At the time of Foujita's birth, Japan's identity was swiftly evolving from that of an isolated, feudal society into a modern, industrialised power open to foreign aesthetic, political, scientific and technological ideas. The present work evidently had enormous personal significance to Foujita. His 1931 self-portrait in the National Museum of Fine Art, Argentina, displays a near replica of the present Madeleine's visage and décolletage. This painstaking repetition – down to the gentle curl of hair over her ear, and the taut muscles of her elegant neck – offers a rare glimpse into Foujita's method. The continual copying of one's own designs echoes the tendencies of the Japanese printmakers – such as Katsushika Hokusai – that Foujita was directly inspired by. The practice of... 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GIORGIO MORANDI (1890-1964)Natura morta signed 'Morandi' (lower left); signed indistinctly 'Morandi' (on the reverse)oil on canvas43.8 x 50.4cm (17 1/4 x 19 13/16in).Painted in 1954Footnotes:ProvenanceDanilo Lebrecht (Lorenzo Montano) Collection, Verona (acquired directly from the artist circa 1954-1958).Thence by descent; their sale, Christie's, London, 30 November 1976, lot 67.Private collection, South Africa (acquired at the above sale).Thence by descent to the present owner.LiteratureL. Vitali, Morandi Catalogo generale, Vol. II, 1948-1964, Milan, 1977, no. 921 (illustrated).Giorgio Morandi occupies something of a unique position in the canon of Italian twentieth century art. His images of stillness act as a bridge between Metaphysical art's quest to capture the unsettling and enigmatic, and the elevation of the everyday found in Arte Povera. Despite living an extremely simple, inward-looking existence for the most part of his life, Morandi's renown extended far and wide in the Post-War period. Natura morta, painted in 1954, is a sublime example of the Bolognese painter's finest work from this crowning decade. When Alfred H. Barr Jr. (the pioneering American curator) travelled to Italy in 1948 sourcing works for his 1949 exhibition of Twentieth Century Italian Art at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, he was told by all that the greatest living painter in Italy was Morandi. His deceptively simple arrangements of bottles, dried flowers, cans and tins – the markings removed so as to further evoke a sense of timelessness – are synonymous with a contemplative minimalism that belies the agonising preparation that Morandi would undertake before completing each composition. Born in Bologna in 1890, Giorgio Morandi lost his father in 1909 and assumed the position as head of the family, living the rest of his life in their house in via Terrazza with his two sisters Dina and Maria Teresa. After attending the Belle Arti in Bologna, Morandi explored briefly the stylistic breakthroughs of Futurism, but the influence of Paul Cézanne and Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin that he had explored at school continued to impact his work more keenly. Indeed, one cannot ignore the resonance of Cézanne's words when looking at Morandi's deliberately structured canvases: 'Treat nature by means of the cylinder, the cone, and the sphere... Lines parallel to the horizon give breadth... Lines perpendicular to the horizon give depth' (Paul Cézanne writing to Émile Bernard in 1904, in J. Rewald, (ed.), Paul Cézanne Letters, New York, 1976, p. 301). Morandi found in the still life genre the possibility to explore almost all that he wished to express about the human condition, collating over the years a cast of inanimate characters that would appear again and again in his canvases. The silk flowers, cigar tin and sugar bowl that gathered dust on the shelves of his studio on via Terrazza represented not liveliness but something more lasting: 'There is something in these still lifes that goes beyond, I will not say the subject, but the very fact of their being paintings, and quietly sings of humanity' (Cesare Brandi quoted in Exh. cat., Giorgio Morandi, London, 2009, p. 12). Morandi's stylistic development outwith the Academy in Bologna began with his discovery of his contemporaries in the Italian avant-garde. Having left Bologna briefly to serve in active duty in the First World War, Morandi suffered a breakdown in 1915 and was summarily discharged. This period of personal hardship and physical retreat saw the beginning of an interest in the developments made by Giorgio de Chirico and Carlo Carrà in Metaphysical painting, which Morandi explored through a series of still life paintings that display the same intense shadows and sense of disquiet that the one finds in de Chirico's piazze or Carrà's mannequins. Works from this period (1918-1922) very much sowed the seeds of what would come later, and represent Morandi's last great shift in style. From the mid-1920s onwards he retained this interest in the emotive and anthropomorphic power of the still life but began to develop an almost minimalist style and his famed approach to process. Initially displaying slivers of light and shade between the dust-covered objects, Morandi's compositions became more and more dense towards the beginning of the 1950s, with the familiar characters huddling ever-tighter together in a poetic defence. This is typified by the present work, Natura morta, where Morandi groups his bottles, tins and vessels in a close formation where almost no shadows fall between them, and the horizon line sits unbroken behind them. No clutter or hint of life beyond the studio exists in the scene: the composition is unabashedly a construct. The restrained palette of greens, greys and putties amplifies this sense of contemplative simplicity. Morandi placed the greatest importance in the process of selecting and assembling these groups of seemingly mundane objects to populate his still lifes. While the painting of the canvases themselves took comparatively little time, what occupied his mind was the process itself. He described his process to the painter Josef Herman in 1953, just a year before painting the present work: 'In a low voice, as though to no one in particular, he mused: 'What do people look for in my bottles?' I looked at him and he now looked at me. 'It is already forty years since I looked for some element of classical quiet and classical purity, a moral guidance perhaps more than an aesthetic one.' Then he changed the direction of his meditation. 'It takes me weeks to make up my mind which group of bottles will go well with a particular tablecloth. Then it takes me weeks of thinking about the bottles themselves, and yet often I still go wrong with the spaces. Perhaps I work too fast? Perhaps we all work too fast these days?'' (J. Herman, 'A Visit to Morandi', in L. Klepac, Giorgio Morandi, The dimension of inner space, exh. cat., Sydney, 1997, pp. 26-27). The present work not only exemplifies Morandi's Post-War refinement of the principles that he developed in the 1920s and '30s, but comes from a distinguished line of provenance. Natura morta was acquired from Morandi by the Italian writer and poet Danilo Lebrecht (better known as Lorenzo Montano, the pseudonym Lebrecht assumed in 1918) sometime in the late 1950s. Lebrecht had himself taken a role in the development of the Italian avant-garde, writing for the influential magazine Lacerba and founding publications such as Il Mese. Just as Morandi did, Lebrecht enjoyed his greatest acclaim during the late 1940s and 1950s. In 1958, around the time that he acquired this work, he was awarded the Premio Bagutta, one of Italy's highest literary accolades.This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * AR* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.AR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Bernard Dunstan R.A., R.W.A., N.E.A.C., H.P.S. (British, 1920-2017)The Bathroom Doorwaysigned with initials 'BD' (lower left); further signed, titled and inscribed with Artist's address 'BERNARD DUNSTAN/10 HIGH PARK RD, KEW,/RICHMOND, SURREY/THE BATHROOM DOORWAY' (on backboard) oil on board 37 x 24.5cm (14 9/16 x 9 5/8in).Footnotes:ProvenanceWith Michael Parkin Fine Art, London, where acquired by the family of the present owner, March 1986, and thence by descentPrivate Collection, U.K.ExhibitedLondon, Michael Parkin Fine Art, Spring Exhibition of Modern British Paintings, 20 March-18 April 1986London, Royal Academy of Arts, Summer Exhibition, 5 May-29 July 1973, no. 968This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

Eliot Hodgkin (British, 1905-1987)Summer Flowers in a Vase signed and dated 'E. Hodgkin/1936' (lower right)oil on board54 x 48.5cm (21 1/4 x 19 1/8in).Footnotes:We are grateful to Mark Hodgkin for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. He is currently preparing the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the artist's work and would like to hear from owners of any work by the artist so that these can be included in this comprehensive catalogue. Please write to Mark Hodgkin, c/o Bonhams, Modern British Art Department, Montpelier Street, Knightsbridge, London, SW7 1HH, or email britart@bonhams.comThis lot is subject to the following lot symbols: ARAR Goods subject to Artists Resale Right Additional Premium.For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com

A silver necklace and earrings by YEN, composed of silver ‘molecules’ with central gilded section, the earrings of similar design and with freshwater cultured pearl highlights, necklace with maker’s mark ‘YD’, London hallmark for 2008, earrings unmarked, maker’s case, necklace length 41cm, earring length 15mm. £120-£150 --- Yen Duong is a modern designer of Vietnamese heritage, her early years being spent in Wales. She studied at the Sir John Cass School of Art in London, graduating in 1995. She established YEN Jewellery the following year, her designs showing her fascination with the structural elements of jewellery, and incorporating movement and fluidity, with a highly tactile quality. Previous exhibitions of her work include those held at The Goldsmiths’ Company and the Crafts Council, and she has worked with Liberty of London, Selfridges and Harvey Nichols.

UKIYO-E: FLOATING WORLDA LARGE COLLECTION OF OVER 150 JAPANESE WOODBLOCK PRINTSAKIRA KUROSAKI (Japan, born in 1937) “Mysterious night” Woodblock print 1970’s Artist proof numbered 19/20 Artist personal sealed paper Hand signed and numbered 39/100 Dimensions:- the full leaf / page: 33,7 x 32 cm;- the sole print: 25,1 x 25,8 cm.Note: Print artist. Kurosaki's work became justly admired internationally in the later 1960s and 70s for his darkly reverberant colours, smooth technique and for his imaginative and disturbing semi-Surrealistic images. His prints since around 1980 have become darker and more purely abstract, with occasional forays into the semi-representational which have been generally considered less successful. His reputation was built especially on his earlier series “The Holy Night”, “Allegory”, “Les Ténèbres Vermeilles”, “Closed Room” and “Lost Paradise”. A leading contemporary Japanese artist, his enigmatic works are in the collections of the British Museum, The Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA of NY), National Museum of Art in Tokyo etcProvenance: PROPERTIES FROM A FRENCH COLLECTOR Condition Report: Dimensions:- the full leaf / page: 33,7 x 32 cm;- the sole print: 25,1 x 25,8 cm.

AN OAK ANEROID WHEEL BAROMETER, having mercury Fahrenheit and centigrade thermometer by Barker & Co Ltd Kensington, polished steel dial measuring 13cms diameter, total height 61cm, with a modern C Rosa bronze effect art deco style table lamp, kneeling woman holding a crackle glaze glass ball shade (2) Not PAT tested

Two modern Moorcroft pottery items, comprising: Art Nouveau style vase and cover, by Emma Bossons, 23cm high, small vase, 11cm high, with a boxCondition report: Both appear to be in good condition

A RARE AND MASSIVE JAPANESE SILVER BRONZE OKIMONO BY GENRYUSAI SEIYA MEIJI PERIOD, 19TH CENTURY Depicting an impressive cockerel, the bird naturalistically modelled with gilt bronze legs and pupils, the claws and long tail feathers rendered in shakudo, the comb and wattle in red patinated bronze, the details of the plumage rendered in kebori, signed in a rectangular cartouche beneath the long tail Dai Nihon Genryusai Seiya zo (Great Japan, made by Genryusai Seiya), raised on a wood base carved as a rocky outcrop, the bronze 75cm, 89cm overall. (2) Provenance: an English private collection, the property of a gentleman; purchased in the 1990s from PAN Amsterdam art fair. See Zacke, Vienna, Asian Art Discoveries Days 1 - Japanese Art, 21st January 2021, lot 13, for another model of a chicken by Seiya measuring 23cm. Also, see Bonhams, London, Meiji Modern Design, 11th June 2003, lot 476 for another tall cockerel signed Masatsune. Cf. Meiji no Takara, The Nasser D. Khalili Collection of Japanese Art, Metalwork, Part II nos.104-5 for two other cockerels by Masatsune. Also, see L Bordignon, The Golden Age of Japanese Okimono, pp.252-3, for another example signed Hanehiroya sei.

JAZZ (BOP/SWING/VOCAL) - LPs. Excellent collection of 73 x LPs (including 10" LPs) for cool cats! Artists/titles include The Flip Phillips Quintet (UK Columbia 33CX 10074 - clean VG+/Ex condition), The Australian Jazz Quartet - Quartet/Quintet (LTZ-N 15065), S/T (LTZ-N 15054) and +1 (LTZ-N15089), Hampton Hawes Trio - This Is Hampton Hawes Vol. 2 The Trio (UK Contemporary LAC 12081 original - VG+/Ex), The Modern Jazz Quartet/Sextet inc. Concorde (Esquire 20-069), Gerry Mulligan, Benny Carter, Art Tatum, Anita O'Day - Pick Yourself Up (DLP 1169) and Collates (33C 9020), Jackie Gleason, Pearl Bailey, Roy (Eldridge) and Diz (Gillespie), Dave Brubeck, Lionel Hampton, 'Alto Saxes', 'Tenor Saxes' and Stan Getz. Condition is often clean VG+ to Ex+ on this well looked after collection.

JAZZ LPs (BOP/CONTEMPORARY/VOCAL). Lovely collection of around 66 x classic LPs. Artists/titles include Charles Mingus - Ah Um (De Agostini sealed modern RE), Sonny Rollins - Alfie (sealed modern RE), Lee Morgan - The Gigolo (Blue Note BST 84212), Chick Corea - Three Quartets and Return To Forever, Dexter Gordon Quartet - Manhattan Symphonie, Art Blakey & The All Star Jazz Messengers, Art Pepper - Smack Up and Straight Life, Miles Davis - Sketches Of Spain (De Agostini sealed modern RE), Blossom Dearie - Sweet Blossom Dearie (TL 5399 - VG+ copy), Julie London - At Home (very scarce og UK stereo, SAH-G 6097 - VG+/VG) and Around Midnight (HA-G 2299), Ella Fitzgerald, Ben Webster - Soulville, Sarah Vaughan, Peggy Lee, Nancy Wilson, Frank Sinatra, Gerry Mulligan and Billie Holiday. Condition is generally VG to Ex+.

*After Cyril Power 'Hockey' giclée print in colours, with Bookroom Art Press blind stamp, numbered 5/950 in pencil 25 x 40cm Provenance: The Lawson Gallery, Cambridge. *Artist's Resale Right may apply to this lot.Condition report: Not viewed out of glazed frame. Appears to be in good condition. Modern print.

Ca. 386–534 AD. Northern Wei Dynasty. A finely hollow-moulded terracotta horse statuette modeLled standing foursquare on a rectangular base, the head drawn in towards the arched neck, the bridle modelLed with a single plume. The head is crisply detailed with flared nostrils, an open mouth, and pricked ears. The beautiful red mane is in contrast with the cream-coloured body. The chest is adorned with a tassel-hung strap. The back is draped with a red cloth with gathered ends set atop a flared green mudguard. The Northern Wei dynasty ruled northern China from c. 386 to 534 AD, and its most famous achievement was unifying a large empire following a long period of social and political turbulence. Craftsmen working under this dynasty were also responsible for beautiful works of art, as this object exemplifies. Stylistically, this horse is very similar to the one unearthed in Cizian, Heibei province in 1979 from the tomb of a Wei Princess–see 'Wenwu', 1984: 4, pl.5, fig. 2, for a line drawing of the horse on p. 6. A similarly caparisoned horse was included in ' Early Dynastic China: Works of Art from Shang to Song, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 26 March-26 April 1996, no.5. For another similar Wei dynasty terracotta horse, see Christie's Fine Chinese Furniture, Ceramics and Works of Art. Thursday 20 September 2001. London: Christie's International Media Division, p.150. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:405mm / W:345mm ; 3.15kg

Ca. 618–907. Tang Dynasty. A beautifully modelled terracotta male attendant standing on a flat base. The figure is shown with head turned in a responsive gesture; one hand is at his chest with a finger pointing to his left whilst the other arm lies along the body, the hand within the long red sleeve decorated with white flowers. A long light-blue tunic tied a the waist by a dark belt is worn over light blue pantaloons. Pointed shoes complete the attire. He has a finely modelled face with rosy cheeks and traces of red paint on the lips, whilst his cloth cap is black and fastened underneath the chin. In China, the custom of producing ceramic tomb sculptures reached its pinnacle during the Tang dynasty, one of the most peaceful, prosperous, cosmopolitan eras in China’s history. The Tang capital of Chang’an (present-day Xi’an, Shaanxi province) attracted numerous foreign traders, pilgrims, and goods, as the famed overland trade route known as the Silk Road terminated in this city. Large sets of ceramic sculptures representing the horses, camels, and foreign merchants that frequented northern China have been recovered from burials. Tang ceramic funerary retinues were especially elaborate, featuring fierce armoured guards, proud court attendants such as this item, and aristocratic equestrians engaged in leisurely pursuits—all serving to demonstrate the high status of the tomb occupant. For more general information on the Tang Dynasty, see Benn, C. (2002). Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty. Westport: Greenwood Press and Watt, J. C. Y., et al. (2004). China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 A.D. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:510mm / W:180mm ; 2.8kg

Ca. 202 BC–220 AD. Han Dynasty. A well-modelled, pottery standing female dancer with arms stretched out in opposite directions, the hands well hidden within the long, voluminous sleeves of the tight-fitting robe, the face carved with delicate features and the hair pulled back behind the ears and gathered into a knot on the back. The elegant clothing comprises flowing, long-sleeved robes decorated with red and light blue inserts on the neckline, waist, and sleeves. The figure retains most of the original white slip and there is additional decoration in pink and black to show the facial features and the hair. The potters have succeeded in imparting a vibrant sense of fluidity to the standing figure, displaying realism in the stance and adding movement and dimension by the curves of the long-draped sleeves. The Han dynasty is the second great imperial dynasty of China (202 BC–220 AD), after the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC). It succeeded the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC). So thoroughly did the Han dynasty establish what was thereafter considered Chinese culture that “Han” became the Chinese word denoting someone who is ethnically Chinese. The cultural milieu of the Han dynasty is well documented, and we know, for instance, that they were patrons of music — as this dancing lady indicates — and that, in temple rituals, dance was often an important element. For a comparison piece of the standing dancers, see https://www.christies.com/lot/lot-4284799. To find out more about the Han dynasty and its material culture, see Miller, A. R. (2021). Kingly Splendor: Court Art and Materiality in Han China. New York: Columbia University Press. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: From the private collection of a Somerset gentleman; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1990s on the UK /European art markets. Size: L:495mm / W:390mm ; 5.5kg

Ca. 202 BC–220 AD. Han Dynasty. A hollow-formed terracotta cream-coloured rhinoceros shown standing four-square with a well-cast head with two horns of different length, rose-coloured ears pricked back, small eyes, overlapping muzzle sensitively cast along the upper edges of the mouth with folds in the skin, which can also be seen in the skin of the neck. Excessive hunting led to the near extinction of the rhinoceros in Han-dynasty China, occasioning their importation from southeast Asia. The anatomical accuracy of the present example indicates that the artist must have modelled his work after a living animal. Very rare. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: From the private collection of a Somerset gentleman; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1990s on the UK /European art markets. Size: L:280mm / W:590mm ; 8kg

Ca. 3000–2000 BC. Indus Valley Civilisation. Beautiful set of three terracotta jars. The smallest one is standing on a ring foot. The interior is decorated with black painted running ibexes, surrounded by geometric motifs and concentric black lines. The one on the left is decorated with stylised felines, a tree, geometric motifs and concentric black lines. The largest one is also decorated with stylised felines, trees, geometric motifs and concentric black lines. The Indus civilization, also called the Harappan civilization, is the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent and was an important Bronze Age culture that arose around ca. 3300 BC and lasted until ca. 1300 BC. It extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BC, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd millennium BC. Large numbers of ceramic vessels decorated with black slip have been found among the sophisticated urban settlements of South Asia's protohistoric Indus Valley civilization. The walls of this jar are so thin that it must have been created on a potter's wheel. Perhaps the best-known artefacts of the Indus civilization are a number of small seals, generally made of steatite depicting a wide variety of animals, both real—such as elephants, tigers, rhinoceros, and antelopes—and fantastic creatures. Sometimes human forms are included. A few examples of Indus stone sculpture have also been found, usually small and representing humans or gods. There is a fair number of small terra-cotta bowls decorated with figures of animals like the present item. To find out more about the Indus civilisation and its material culture, see Possehl, Gregory L., 2002. The Indus Civilization: a Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Provenance: Property of a West London gentleman; previously in a collection formed on the UK/International art market in the 1980s. Size: L:Set of 3; 70-95mm / W:65-120mm ; 665g

Ca. 618–907. Tang Dynasty. This curly-haired young foreigner is shown in the movement of dance with his left arm raised and the left reaching forward, his left knee bent. He wears a red dhoti wrapped around his hips and a long scarf draped over his shoulders and hips and crisscrossed at the back. He is also adorned with an elaborate necklace, bangles and anklets. Representations of foreigners are frequently found among Tang pottery sculptures, illustrating the cosmopolitan culture of the period. This figure can be identified by his dark skin, prominent eyes, curly hair, and scanty clothing as a dancer from South or Southeast Asia. For a similar figure, see Joseph, Adrian M., Hugh M. Moss, and S. J. Fleming. (1970). Chinese Pottery Burial Objects of the Sui and T'ang Dynasties: An exhibition with Special Reference to the Scientific Testing of Pottery Wares and the Work of the Forgers. London: Hugh M. Moss Ltd., cat. no. 84. REF. Foreigners in Ancient Chinese Art, New York, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1969. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:570mm / W:240mm ; 5.9kg

Ca. 3000–2000 BC. Indus Valley civilisation. An interesting terracotta storage jar, amber coloured. The exterior is decorated with black painted running ibexes, surrounded by geometric motifs and concentric black lines. The Indus civilization, also called the Harappan civilization, is the earliest known urban culture of the Indian subcontinent and was an important Bronze Age culture which arose around ca. 3300 BC and lasted until ca. 1300 BC. It extended from modern-day northeast Afghanistan to Pakistan and northwest India. The nuclear dates of the civilization appear to be about 2500–1700 BC, though the southern sites may have lasted later into the 2nd millennium BC. Large numbers of ceramic vessels decorated with black slip have been found among the sophisticated urban settlements of South Asia's protohistoric Indus Valley civilization. The walls of this jar are so thin that it must have been created on a potter's wheel. Perhaps the best-known artefacts of the Indus civilization are a number of small seals, generally made of steatite depicting a wide variety of animals, both real—such as elephants, tigers, rhinoceros, and antelopes—and fantastic creatures. Sometimes human forms are included. A few examples of Indus stone sculpture have also been found, usually small and representing humans or gods. There is a fair number of small terra-cotta bowls decorated with figures of animals like the present item. To find out more about the Indus civilisation and its material culture, see Possehl, Gregory L., 2002. The Indus Civilization: a Contemporary Perspective. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Provenance: Private collection of a West London gentleman; previously in a collection formed on the UK/International art market in the 1980s. Size: L:80mm / W:110mm ; 285g

Ca. 1300–1200 BC. Shang dynasty. A beautiful bronze jia tripod vessel comprising a flaring rim, inward sloping neck, flaring shoulder and flat bottom supported by three wedge-shaped legs. A single strap handle is attached to one side of the vessel and two posts with conical casts rise from the rim. A decorative frieze runs around the neck of the vessel, just above the shoulder, and depicts stylised taotie masks. The taotie are mythological creatures commonly appearing in ancient Chinese art, where they are commonly associated with the Four Evils of the World, a motif fitting for a vessel that would have been used for holding food on ritual or ceremonial occasions. Jia with this form and decoration are typical of the Anyang period (ca. 1300-1030 BC) and a comparable example can be seen in Shang Ritual Bronzes in the National Palace Museum Collection, Taipei, 1998, pp. 152-7, no. 9. A similar, less well-preserved object was recently sold at Christie's, see https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/a-bronze-ritual-tripod-wine-vessel-jia-6276463-details.aspx?from=salesummery&intobjectid=6276463. This piece has undergone X-Ray Fluorescence analysis by an independent Belgian Laboratory. The samples collected show the chemical composition to reflect the typical metal contents of the described period, whilst also showing no modern trace elements in the patina. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:290mm / W:210mm ; 1.6kg

Ca. 100-500 AD. Gandharan. A stucco lion on a modern wooden plinth. The lion is seated, rising from the base with its front paws erect. It has a detailed mane of undulating strands of hair, and it has wide open eyes with a tongue dangling from a gaping mouth, maintaining the lion’s threatening nature. The lion was an important symbol in Gandharan art and Buddhist iconography. The region had been conquered by a string of great powers in the preceding centuries who, together with Gandhara’s important location on trade routes, imported many different cultural ideas into the area; the lion had been an important symbol of kingship and power in the Achaemenid Empire, due to its majesty and ferocity, and this idea took root in Gandhara too where thrones were decorated with lion-shaped throne supports in a design very similar to this one. It had important religious associations too, being one of the primary symbols of all Buddhism itself, as a lion was associated with the Shakya Clan from which the Buddha came (Shakyasimha – ‘Lion of the Shakya Clan’). Provenance: From the collection of a London gentleman; formerly acquired in early 2000s in Belgium; previously in 1970s European collection. Size: L:260mm / W:230mm ; 6kg

Ca. 618–907 AD. Chinese Tang Dynasty. A beautiful terracotta horse standing upon a flat rectangular base with a long neck artistically turned up. The cream-coloured short mane and docked tail are in contrast with the deep amber body. A cloth with traces of light blue pigment is draped over the saddle, which also shows traces of the same greenish/light blue colour. Warhorses were the pride of the Tang, a dynasty of prosperity, military expansion, and artistic achievement. Emperor Xuanzong, for instance, displayed great passion for his mounts commissioning paintings from the famed artist Han Gan (ca. 706–783 AD). In the Lidai minghua ji (‘Record of famous painters of all periods’; 847), Zhang Yanyuan noted that Emperor Xuanzong ‘loved large horses and ordered Han to paint the most noble of his more than 400,000 steeds’. It is easy to speculate that Han Gan’s distinctive style which captures the animals in spirited movement, emphasizing their powerful, rounded and muscular forms while retaining an easy naturalism, influenced the artisans who sculpted the present horse. For more information on the importance of horses in China, see Cooke, B. (ed.) (2000). Imperial China – The Art of the Horse in Chinese History: Exhibition Catalogue. Kentucky Horse Park, Lexington. For more general information on the Tang Dynasty, see Benn, C. (2002). Daily Life in Traditional China: The Tang Dynasty. Westport: Greenwood Press and Watt, J. C. Y., et al. (2004). China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 A.D. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:670mm / W:640mm ; 16.15g

Ca. 3100–2500 BC. Bactrian. A fine Bactrian alabaster vessel, featuring a flat foot, a bulbous body and a rounded rim. It has a beautiful cream colour, with reddish veins running through its body. Alabaster was a precious material, widely traded in the region from the 4th millennium BC onward. The purpose of such a vessel is not known. Pieces like this one often came from burials and votive offerings. Along with others that make up the typology of stone vessels, such as column or circular idols, these objects are all characteristic of the Bactrian material culture. This piece relates to an ancient culture referred to both as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BCAM) or as the Oxus Civilisation. The Bactria-Margiana culture spread across an area encompassing the modern nations of Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Northern Afghanistan. Flourishing between about 2100 and 1700 BC, it was contemporary with the European Bronze Age and was characterised by monumental architecture, social complexity and extremely distinctive cultural artefacts that vanish from the record a few centuries after they first appear. Pictographs on seals have been argued to indicate an independently-developed writing system. It was one of many economic and social entities in the vicinity and was a powerful country due to the exceptional fertility and wealth of its agricultural lands. This in turn gave rise to a complex and multifaceted set of societies with specialist craftsmen who produced luxury materials such as this for the ruling and aristocratic elites. Trade appears to have been important, as Bactrian artefacts appear all over the Persian Gulf as well as in the Iranian Plateau and the Indus Valley. For this reason, the area was fought over from deep prehistory until the Mediaeval period, by the armies of Asia Minor, Greece (Macedonia), India, and the Arab States, amongst others. Many stone carvers inhabited the regions of Margiana and Bactria and there was no shortage in raw material soft steatite or dark soapstone, but also various kinds of marble and white-veined alabaster. The main source for these stones, including semi-precious lapis-lazuli, was in Bactria, at Badakhshan (now north-western Afghanistan), which provided material not only for the Bactrian and Margian carvers but also, further to the west into Mesopotamia, for the Assyrian kings. For more information on Bactria, see Mairs, R. (ed.) (2020). The Graeco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek World. London: Taylor & Francis. Provenance: Property of an Oxfordshire art professional; previously in an old British collection, formed in the 1980s on the UK / International art markets. Size: L:75mm / W:95mm ; 250g

Ca. 202 BC–220 AD. Han dynasty. A beautiful and rare Chinese Han dynasty pottery duck with bronze legs. The duck is standing on its detailed bronze legs which support a globular, squat body and a short neck terminating in a red coloured head with a light-coloured beak and open, attentive eyes. The body is decorated with brownish and green glaze, imitating the animal's plumage. The Han Dynasty, which ruled between 202 BC-220 AD, brought great prosperity and stability to China, reigning over a golden age of classical Chinese civilisation during which China saw major advances including the widespread development of a monetary economy and the invention of paper, as well as much progress in the decorative arts. To find out more about the Han Dynasty and its art production, see Milleker, Elizabeth J. (ed.) (2000). The Year One: Art of the Ancient World East and West. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. This piece has been precisely dated by means of a Thermo Luminescence analysis carried out by Ralf Kotalla, an independent German Laboratory. The samples collected date the piece to the period reflected in its style, whilst also showing no modern trace elements. The TL certificate with its full report will accompany this lot. Provenance: UK private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong. Size: L:130mm / W:135mm ; 430g