Christie’s Exceptional Sale 2014
On the evening of 10 July 2014, Christie’s King Street salerooms, London will hold the fifth edition of The Exceptional Sale. As the name would suggest, it promises to be a celebration of excellence, with 58 lots that are united in their rarity, provenance, craftsmanship and beauty.
Lot 10 is the Northampton Sekhemka, an Egyptian painted limestone statue with an estimate of £4,000,000 – 6,000,000, acquired by Spencer Joshua Alwyne Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton, in Egypt between December 1849 and April 1850, and dated to 2400 – 2300 B.C. The Northampton family made significant contributions to British intellectual life in the 19th century, being involved in various scientific institutions and patrons of the arts. The carving depicts a ‘living image’ of Inspector of the Scrolls, Sekhemka ‘strong of soul’ with his wife, Sitmerit ‘daughter of merit’ sitting at his right foot. It would have been displayed in a tomb chapel, where priests and family members would have honoured their ancestors by offering nourishment and incense to allow the departed to live for eternity in the afterlife.
Lot 10, Egyptian statue for the Inspector of the Scribes, Sekhemka, dynasty 5 circa 2400-2300 B.C., painted limestone, 75 cm (30”) high, estimate £4,000,000 – 6,000,000
Lot 10 (detail) showing a heiroglyphic inscription on a roll of papyrus listing offerings that would subsist Sekhemka in the afterlife
Only one carpet is included in the sale: an imposing French Savonnerie commissioned for King Louis XV of France (r.1722-1774) between 1740 and 1760 with an estimate of £500,000 – 800,000. At the time of it’s manufacture the sum paid for such a piece was 2870 livres- an amount equivalent to over a quarter of the income of an 18th century rural French noble family. A series of elements combine to make this an extremely important piece.
The designer was Pierre Josse Perrot (1700 – 1750), the King’s favourite artist, who was already an established name when he undertook his first carpet commission for the dais of the throne room at Versailles in collaboration with Blain de Fontenay the Younger. Notes in the margin of surviving carpet sketches from the reign of Louis XV, suggest that they were submitted directly to the monarch for his personal approval. The royal involvement in determining the theme and style of Court furnishings made them the taste-makers of the day. Their support of creative innovation lead to the modification of the slightly austere Baroque look into less dense compositions that retained an architectural framework, newly combined with delicate, naturalistic floral scrolls. Thus developed the Rococo style that was so in vogue in 18th century France. This Savonnerie displays richly vibrant colours and floating, swirling garlands that are characteristic of Perrot.
The Savonnerie enterprise was started under the impetus of Henri IV (r. 1589-1610) in order to stop the drain on the royal purse of importing oriental carpets. It established an unrivalled reputation, flourishing under the patronage and protection of the Bourbon monarchy manufacturing carpets almost exclusively for the Court, Royal Palaces and diplomatic offerings.
There are five recorded commissions of carpets of this design, the first of these being completed in 1740 and installed in the King’s dining room at Fontainebleau. The other four were presented as gifts; two to Sultan Mahmud of Turkey, one to the Turkish Ambassador, Zaid Effendi, and (following it being loaned to the French Embassy in Rome), one to the Duc of Choiseul upon his leaving the Embassy in 1758. It is likely that the version offered at Christie’s is one of those gifted. Savonneries that remained in the possession of the French court during the overthrow of the ancient regime tend to bear scars of Revolutionary vandalism- a fragment exists with the same central medallion and all four fleurs-d-lys cut out.
Lot 27, Louis XV Savonnerie carpet, France, circa 1740 – 1760, 352 x 486 cm (15’11” x 11’7”), estimate £500,000 – 800,000
Other lots include an English chess set and a 16th century Florentine bronze by Giambologna of the Rape of a Sabine. A world record price for an English dinner service sold at auction was set at Christie’s Exceptional Sale last year, when the Maharaja of Patiala’s banqueting service realised £1,965,875.
Viewing of the 2014 Exceptional Sale is from 5 – 10 July with free coffee, cake and wifi on offer to all visitors in the saleroom’s main entrance for the duration.
Lot 29, Pair of Armoires, circa 1720-30, ormolu mounted and brass inlayed ebony, chinese lacquer and vernis Martin, 149 x 190 x 43 cm (59 x 75 x 17”), estimate £200,000 – 400,000
Lot 30, The Rape of Sabine by Giambologna, Florence, Italy, circa 1587-98, bronze, height 59 cm (23”), £3,000,000-5,000,000
Lot 19, The Emporors’ chess table for the 1867 Paris Exposition Universelle, by Elkington & Co., Birmingham, England, designed by Albert Willms, ebony, ivory, silver gilt and enamel, table height 78 cm (31”), kings height 10 cm (4”), estimate £400,000 – 600,000
Lot 19 (detail)
Comments [0] Sign in to comment