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Lot 147
A Large 19th Century Chinese Hall Vase & Cover elaborately decorated in polychrome enamels on a yellow ground with petalled panels of birds surrounded by scrolling foliage, fruit and flowers. The domed lid surmounted by a dog-of-fo and emblazed with a butterfly either side. The baluster vase moulded with lionmasks bearing rings either side on a trellis-work shoulder band, 39½ ins (100 cms) high.(some restoration).
Lot 159
A Chinese Vase decorated in polychrome enamels with panels of flowers & butterflies on a pale turquoise ground of floral garlands. Old printed label to base; 'Imported by Hewett & Company, The Old Established Chinese, Japanese & Indian Warehouse 9, Baker St & Baker St Bazaar, London W'. 18 ins (46 cms) high.
Lot 17
A 19th Century Vienna Garniture Vase. The body having a finely painted frieze depicting The triumph of Bacchus & Ariadne on a silver ground between an ultra-marine blue collar and pedestal foot embellished with gilding and having flying scroll handles to the sides, 11¾ ins (30 cms) in height.
Lot 21
A Large Sèvres Hall Vase & Cover with gilt bronze mounts on a revolving pedestal. The slender ovoid body with hand painted scene signed Dapoigny, depicting a maiden sat in continuous landscape with a garland of flowers in her lap and Cupid at her feet. The deep rich blue foot and collar adorned with gilt embellishments and having a bell shaped cover and gilt metal mounts. 40 ins (102 cms) in height.
Lot 212
A Large Oriental Vase decorated with panels of birds and lotus flowers and having four gilded loop handles to the shoulders, 14 ins (36 cms) in height, and a Chinese bowl on stand decorated with polychrome enamels with cockerels on a X-form carved hardwood stand, 8 ins (20 cms) high, 11 ins (28 cms) in diameter.
Lot 268
A Small Group of Ceramics: A Small Parian Bust of Shakespeare 4½ ins (11.5 cms) high, two other parian figures; one of girl with bird perched on her shoulder 12½ ins (32 cms) in height, the other of a classical female with wheat sheaf 13 ins (33 cms) in height. A Japanese Satsuma vase and cover (A/F) 15 ins (38 cms) in height and a Belleek style part dressing table set on tray.
Lot 276
Four 19th Century Staffordshire Figure Groups; Venus with child & dolphin on a square base, 8¾ins (22 cms) high (A/F), Man & Sheep (A/F) 7 ins (18 cms) high, a spill vase with three children sat on tree stump encrusted with clumps of foliage, 6¼ ins (16 cms) high, and a man stood by seated woman playing a guitar, 7½ ins (19 cms) high.
Lot 277
Four Pieces of Decorative China: A Noritake Ovoid Vase ornamented with oval panels of floral bouquets on bands of apple green & gilt embellished with tiny raised enamelled beads, 8½ ins (21 cms) high. A Maling lustre glazed bowl; the black centre panel and borders decorated with cornucopias of fruit on a blue sponged glaze ground, 3¾ ins (9.5 cms) high, 8¼ ins (21 cms) in diameter. A Continental pedestal bowl modelled in the form of a boat shaped vessel with dragon prow ridden by a cherub and nymphs upon the stern, 11 ins (28 cms) high, 12 ins (30 cms) in width. And a Vienna jar with portrait roundel on a deep blue ground, and a mismatched lid, 9½ ins (24 cms) in height.
Lot 279
A Collection of Ornamental China: A Royal Crown Derby 3¾ ins (9.5 cm) Urn, tooth pick vase, coffee cup & saucer. A Minton's cup & saucer pattern No 776 date mark for 1808. A pair of Rosenthal cabinet plates with portrait panels in bleu-de-roi borders enriched with gilding, 10 ins (25.5 cms) in diameter. A Spode deep blue glazed plate with gilt rim and small enamel sprigs of flowers and an insect. A Coalport urn & cover painted with scenic panel 8½ ins (22 cms) high. A Royal Worcester coffee cup, saucer & creamer, another Royal Worcester coffee can & saucer. A toy cup & saucer by Spode and a miniature mug by Coalport.
Lot 132
Large Oriental vase, Hexagonal shaped, with numerous decorative panels on yellow ground, blue ground and clear ground, including 4 clawed Dragons on a yellow panel, flowers on a blue panel, Dignitaries and Important people in a landscape, profusely decorated throughout 22" tall 8" wide at its fullest,
Lot 215
Interesting and Unusual Pottery and silver inlaid Norwegian or Scandinavian vase, 8" tall tapering form, 6.5" wide at the top, the top with inlaid silver decoration, the front decorated with a Mermaid, marks on base include a Impressed mark hand Drejad, pattern No:P14 makers mark Gustavsberg. Argenta No: 978
Lot 297
Kingdom of Macedon, Philip II AR Tetradrachm. Amphipolis, circa 336-328 BC. Laureate head of Zeus right / Youth on horseback right, nude, holding palm; ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ above, bee below, janiform-head vase to right. Le Rider 263-325; SNG ANS 510-20. 14.43g, 25mm, 1h. Good Very Fine. Golden toning around the devices. Ex Stack's Bowers and Ponterio 164, 6 January 2012, lot 136.
Lot 450
Lesbos, Mytilene EL Hekte. Circa 454-427 BC. Head of Athena wearing crested Corinthian helmet to right / Two confronted female heads, their faces overlapping; all within incuse square. Bodenstedt 55; HGC 6, 981; Boston MFA 1693; de Luynes 2555. 2.53g, 11mm, 1h. Near Mint State. Very Rare, Bodenstedt lists only 8 examples; CoinArchives records six, of which this is the finest by far. From the Kleines Meisterwerk Collection. This coin seems like a perfectly ordinary hekte when the obverse is first viewed; it is only when the coin is flipped to reveal its highly unusual reverse does the importance and novelty of the type become apparent. Employing a simple but effective form of optical illusion, the reverse appears to show the same female portrait both to the left and to the right. The design is deliberately intended to confound the eye and engage the viewer’s attention in attempting to resolve both portraits independently of the other, which is of course impossible, thus presenting the viewer with a visual paradox. The image works by confusing the brain’s figure-ground perceptual grouping process by giving it contradictory cues, thus preventing it from assigning definitive edges to the observed shapes. As a result, the human visual system will settle on one of the portraits, facing either left or right, and alternate between them. The importance of this type, both in terms of numismatic art and in the wider context of Greek art in general, cannot be understated. It is a thoroughly novel, and never to be repeated experiment in paradoxical illusion on the coinage of a Greek city-state. The Greeks were certainly familiar with the concept of a visual paradox - Plato describes the ourobouros ‘tail-devouring snake’ as the first living thing; a self-eating, circular being: the universe as an immortal, mythologically constructed entity. They were also aware of the power of illusions - Greek architects would apply a technique known as entasis in the construction of their temple columns. Columns formed with straight sides would appear to the observer to have an attenuated appearance, and their outlines would seem concave rather than straight. Therefore a slight convex curve would be built into the shaft of the column, resulting in a swelling in the middle parts, in order to correct this disagreeable trick of the eye. Why then, when they were clearly aware of the power of illusion and paradox, did Greek artists not employ such techniques? The answer most likely lies in the cultural shift away from the static representational art of the archaic period driven by new realistic and idealistic paradigms; artists now sought to demonstrate their skill through attempting to attain aesthetic perfection based on both observational study, and occasionally improvement of nature through idealisation of the subject’s features. Thus non-practical forms of optical illusion were most likely dismissed as curious, but unlikely to earn an artist everlasting fame. It was therefore left to relatively modern artists such as Oscar Reutersvärd, who created the Penrose Stairs (also dubbed the impossible staircase), and psychologists such as Edgar Rubin, who developed the familiar Rubin’s vase (sometimes known as the Rubin face or the figure–ground vase), to explore the visual and psychological implications of these images which trick the brain. The significance of this coin therefore is that it predates the work of both of the aforementioned celebrated ‘illusionists’ by well over two milennia, and demonstrates an appreciation and understanding of optical illusions as an art form, not just a necessary practical expedience.
Lot 479
Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 550-500 BC. Half-length bust of a winged female deity to left, wearing kekryphalos headdress, round earring and long-sleeved chiton, in her right hand holding a tunny fish by the tail, and raising a flower to her chin; bust truncation indicated by dotted line between parallel lines / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze 75; SNG France 205; Boston MFA 1448 = Warren 1519. 16.15g, 19mm. Near Extremely Fine, struck on a vast, elongated flan. Very Rare, and in excellent condition for the type. The winged figure on this coin of Kyzikos is most frequently simply described as a 'winged female', though on occasion numismatists have ventured to suggest that the depiction is that of a harpy, one of the mythical ‘snatchers’ who were sent by the gods to torment Phineos, the blind seer-king of Thrace, for his transgressions. Though in the Homeric poems the harpies are nothing more than the personifications of storm winds, Hesiod (c. 750-650 BC) described them as the daughters of Thaumas by the Oceanid Electra; fair-haired and winged maidens, who surpassed the winds and birds in the rapidity of their flight. Archaic pottery depicts them thus, in a manner that closely resembles the winged figures on the coins of Kaunos in Karia - see in particular Wagner Museum L164 – black figure clay vase. It was only later tradition that portrayed the harpies as hideous half-woman, half-bird creatures - a development resulting from a confusion of harpies with sirens. By the time of Aeschylus (c. 525-455 BC), this transformation was largely complete, though the harpy’s ‘beautiful’ image is still occasionally seen as late as 480 BC - see the J. Paul Getty Museum hydria/kalpis by Kleophrades, on which the harpies are rendered as young winged girls. The identification of the winged figure on this stater as a harpy is therefore possible, though other identifications are equally plausible. Iris, goddess of the rainbow, was depicted as a winged woman with a herald’s staff, as likewise was Nike, though the latter usually carried a wreath or palm. However, none of these beings was associated with flowers, which above all were an attribute of Aphrodite and Kore-Persephone. Only one parallel for the present type exists in surviving Greek art: the 5th century BC funerary stele now known as ‘The Exaltation of the Flower’, held in the Louvre. Carved in a similarly severe archaic style, the stele depicts two female figures holding up flowers; the left figure in a pose very similar to that shown on this coin. Those figures have been identified either as unknown mortals, or as Demeter and her daughter Persephone - the view favoured by its discoverer Léon Heuzey. The wings on our figure clearly identify her as a goddess though, and the flower is most likely the key to understanding her identity. Kore-Persephone, daughter of Demeter, therefore seems to be a logical choice: she was gathering flowers when Hades came to abduct her, and her return to earth each year was heralded by the blossoming of the meadows. Her overwhelming prominence on the later coinage of Kyzikos further strengthens the case for her depiction here. Regardless of her identity, the winged deity on this coin is rendered in exquisite detail, from her ornamented cap to her expressive face and crinkly chiton. The same treatment of the chiton can be observed in major art of the archaic period, for example in the east frieze of the Siphnian treasury at Delphi.
Lot 493
Mysia, Kyzikos EL Stater. Circa 500-450 BC. Double-bodied winged sphinx standing with head facing atop tunny fish to right, wearing ouraios, hair falling in plaited locks behind / Quadripartite incuse square. Von Fritze -, cf. 128 (hekte); Greenwell -, cf. 101 (hekte); SNG France -, cf. 280 (hekte); CNG inventory 925160; Roma VIII, lot 631. 16.16g, 20mm. Near Extremely Fine. Of the highest rarity, only the third known specimen. The sphinx as a type recurs frequently on the coinage of Kyzikos and new types are still being discovered today, yet the double-bodied sphinx is certainly the most curious depiction of this mythological monster, and the reason for it being so is not easy to divine. Greenwell (p. 102), who was citing Cousinéry, proposed that it was simply an artistic device for showing the sphinx as seated facing, 'arising from the difficulty of depicting a figure in that position'. This proposition appears plausible, until one considers that double-bodied owls are also engraved on coins at various cities including Athens, where they certainly had no problem with engraving a front-facing owl. More damning still for this simplistic view, the double-bodied sphinx appears also in statuary where again there is no logical reason to sculpt it so unless it possesses some significance - see in particular the limestone Tarentine column capital of the Corinthian order at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, and also the marble gravestone decorated with a loutrophoros supported by a double-bodied sphinx at the British Museum (both 4th century). The concept of double-bodied monsters was an ancient one, and probably originated in ancient Sumeria, as they are seen on cylinder seals from this culture, and are repeated later on ancient Iranian goldwork. Here, the double-bodied monsters probably signified a dualistic nature that is easily adaptable and can be one thing or another, or a span between two distinct yet connected elements such as sunrise and sunset. Tom Rasmussen (Corinth and the Orientalising Phenomenon) proposes that the artistic portrayal of the sphinx as a double-bodied monster was first devised at Corinth, where it can be found on a Protocorinthian olpe vase, circa 640 BC, known as the Chigi olpe which is now in the Villa Giulia in Rome. This was likely the product of a blending of Greek and Eastern imagery, yet the result is wholly original; indeed Rasmussen points out that 'Greek Orientalising is rarely straight copying of Oriental'. It has often been suggested that the electrum staters of Kyzikos take their types from a wide range of artistic sources across a broad geographical range, as might be expected for a city-state that relied almost entirely for its prosperity on being a commerce hub where east and west would meet and exchange wares and ideas. Whether or not Corinth was the origin of the double-bodied Sphinx, it is not surprising that such an intriguing motif should be adopted at Kyzikos.
Lot 57
PINCHUS KREMEGNE (RUSSIAN-FRENCH 1890-1981)Still Life with Apples, Wine, Vase and Cup, oil on canvas54.3 x 73 cm (21 3/8 x 28 3/4 in.)signed lower leftEXPERTISEWe are grateful to Jeannette Kremen for confirming the authenticity of this paintingPLEASE NOTEIf you will be bidding live on auction day, please note that Session I of the Auction (Asian and Russian Fine & Decorative Art), starts at 10:00 AM New York Time and goes from Lot 1 through Lot 254. Session II of the Auction (European, American and International Fine & Decorative Art) starts at 3:00 PM New York Time and goes from Lot 500 through Lot 676. We sell approximately 70 lots per hour.
Lot 311
Pair of works, to include one PEG FOSTER framed, signed, dated 1979, oil on canvas, still life of a large vase of peach and white flowers, and one framed, indistinctly signed, 20th Century, oil on canvas, still life of a basket with overflowing red, white and pink flowers, 49.5cm x 39.5cm, 29cm x 39cm (2).
Lot 329
Three paintings to include ALFRED TAYLOR, pair of signed, 19th Century, watercolour on paper, one pastoral scene framed by tree on left with large house in background and one still life depicting vase of wild flowers resting on a book, one unsigned, framed, glazed, watercolour on paper, indistinct inscription to verso, two small studies of walnuts, 12cm x 19.7cm, 23cm x 16.5cm, 7cm x 10cm (3).
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653833 item(s)/page