Carved with a scene depicting, on the left, an elaborately turbanned figure and, at right, a physician who holds aloft a flask, the wooden object seen above is, to put it quite bluntly, a 'piss-pot' lid or cover.
It was part of a sale held by Bonhams in London on September 18–one of their regular Oak Interior sales in which furniture or furnishings of all shapes and sizes are the core offering, but where candlesticks, pots, plates and all sorts of other household items are to be found.
Art News
The organizers of ArtPalmBeach 2019 announce their 22nd edition! Erich Weiss will be this year’s guest curator of the fair’s new pavilions for art video, design and art performances. Weiss is currently the curator at large at Barcelona’s Picasso Museum, Rotterdam Institute: Museum for Architecture, Design & Digital Culture, as well as an art critic and curator specializing in Dada and Surrealism.
Leading Heritage Auctions’ December 7 Fine European Art Auction is Auguste Rodin’s monumental Éternel printemps (est. $400,000-$600,000). Depicting two lovers in a passionate embrace, this magnificent bronze is a star within a constellation of masterworks from the likes of William Adolphe Bouguereau, Gerald Brockhurst, and Louis Valtat.
Invader has been in Los Angeles before, notably in 2011 when the anonymous French street artist was arrested while “invading” a site with his mosaic-tile figures based on the popular 1980s video game, Space Invaders. With works on street corners and walls in roughly 30 countries around the world, Invader could not be contained in a single gallery, until now.
Auctioneers at Dorotheum Auction House in Vienna found themselves short one valuable Renoir landscape on Monday. Set to be sold at auction on Wednesday, the painting was on display in their public showroom, when a team of three thieves walked in, cut the painting out of its frame and walked back out. Police believe they were professional thieves, as their efforts were well-coordinated and swiftly executed.
The Morgan Library & Museum is proud to announce the recent acquisition of a large-scale study of two figures for Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s celebrated canvas, The Great Bathers of 1884–87, in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Beginning December 18, 2018, visitors will have the chance to see the monumental drawing in the Gilder Lehrman Hall lobby at the Morgan.
“It’s gorgeous,” was all Marilyn Monroe could say when she first set eyes upon the Moon of Baroda; not a heavenly body to rival her own, but a rare 24.04 karat canary yellow diamond. She wore it while promoting the classic 1953 comedy, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, with its hit song, “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.” The classic stone became the highest bidder’s new best friend when it sold at auction November 27 at Christie’s Magnificent Jewels Hong Kong Sale.
The J. Paul Getty Museum announced today the acquisition of Christ as the Man of Sorrows, painted between 1520-30 by the great Netherlandish master Quentin Metsys (1465 or 1466 – 1530; variously spelled Massys, Matsys, Metsijs; Quinten). The painting has been in a private collection for centuries and was previously unknown to art historians. Its discovery and attribution expands the oeuvre of one of the leading painters in early sixteenth-century Antwerp.
Phillips’ recent two-day 20th Century & Contemporary Art and Design Auction event in Hong Kong, with an Evening Sale November 25th, and an inaugural Day Sale the 26th, reached combined sales of $19.7 million. The Evening Sale realized $13,130,939 and the Day Sale realized $6,570,358. Both auctions offered stellar examples of both Western and Asian art.
On December 5, Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts sale includes The World of Hilary Knight featuring his original Plaza Hotel portrait of Eloise, (estimate: $100,000-150,000), a portrait that captures the irrepressible spirit of one of the most influential children's book characters in history.
