Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Palm Beach Antiques Part 3




Alfred Sisley.  "The Loing at Moiret."  French Impressionism.
There were a number of works by Sisley at various dealers.





Claude Monet.  "Near Monte Carlo."  French Impressionism 1874.





A circular table top decorated in pietra dura peonies.
Each color is a large piece of marble.





"Peonies" and "Morning Glories" in pietra dur;, each piece of the flower and leaves
is a large piece of marble.





A micro-mosaic of the Pantheon in Rome, one of five buildings on this table top.
In usual mosaics, each tessera or piece is about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter.  Here in a
micro-mosaic, each piece is the size of a grain of rice.  This whole picture is less than
2 inches in diameter.  Italy.  The green ring is of malachite pietra dura.





A sapphire and diamond necklace and earrings in a very full display case.





Three-strand gold and amethyst necklace.





A set of emerald earrings and a brooch.  $380,000.





"Tiffany Peony Lamp."  These lamps were designed by women artists and
then fabricated by male glass artisans in the New York workshops.





"Yellow Viburnum" Tiffany Floor Lamp, with original brass support column.
This piece was being offered at $150,000.  Although it looks like wisteria,
the lady assured me it was very rare and viburnum.




"Poinsettia Flower" Tiffany lamp shade.  Each piece of glass is cut separately according to
a design and then joined with strips of lead.




"Man Riding Zebra."  Ardmore Pottery.  South Africa.
The Ardmore Studio was founded in 1985 by Zimbabwean-born British ceramic artist,
Fee Halsted, on Ardmore Farm in the foothills of the Drakensberg Mountains.
Fee has taught ceramics to the natives, who now create pottery making use of
native animals to a large extent.  The pottery is now widely sold.





Bernard Buffet.  "House in the Country."  French  1984.
Buffet's style, with the strong black outlines and flat areas of color, can be easily
recognized.  Posters of his works were very popular for many years.





Keith Haring.  "AIDS Poster."  U.S.
Haring was a famous graffiti artist who died at 32 of AIDS.  He created many
posters about the condition.





Victor Vasarely.  "Ceramic Piece."   Hungarian / French
Vasarely was the "Grandfather of Op Art."  He usually painted or created prints,
so this ceramic dish is quite unusual.





Pablo Picasso.  "Joie de Vivre."  Earthenware Dish.  Spanish/French.
Picasso himself was not a ceramic artist, but he worked with potters and designed
dishes and vessels, which others then created.





Pablo Picasso.  "Centaur."  Ceramic Dish.  Spanish/French





"Man Riding Cheetah."  Ardmore Pottery.  South Africa.





"A Zebra Pitcher."  Ardmore Pottery.  South Africa.





Staffordshire Dogs and Other Figures.
English ceramics of the 19th century.  Some dealers had cases filled with these figures.





Jacques LeBescond.  "Two Bronze Sculptures."  French.
LeBrescond is one of the most prominent French sculptors of the present.





Camille Corot.  "View of Venice."  French.  1874
Corot was known for his very solid, geometric buildings and his quiet
settings with a single female figure.





One gallery was devoted solely to Chinese porcelains of the 17th-19th centuries.
The Chinese invented/discovered porcelain about 2000 years ago; the technique did not
reach Europe until the 18th century.  Porcelain is kaolin clay fired at a very high temperature
(1200-1400 F) so that the body becomes vitrified and glass-like.  When struck with a
mallet, the pieces give a clear sound.  These are two  famille rose  dishes, so called
 because of the soft rose color in the enamel decoration .





Five jars in famille verte  or "green family" of decoration.





A large platter in famille rose with tortoise shell pattern around the edge.





A dish in famille rose, with five scenes and six different flowers.  Each of these
dishes is handpainted in enamels.  They make use of both underglaze and overglaze enamels
with the transparent glaze.





Blue and White Porcelain was a special invention of the Chinese.  The blue is ground
cobalt, which is first applied to the clay, and then a transparent glaze is used to cover the entire
dish.  This is then "underglaze blue."  The first examples found date back to the T'ang Dynasty
 and 9th century, although the great age of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain does not begin
until the 14th century. In the 17th century, Dutch traders began to bring back examples
from the Far East as curiosities, and Dutch potters began to make copies.  The Chinese
examples always have much crisper, cleaner images.  The cobalt is not easy to work with.





Two soup tureens and platters of blue and white porcelain.  The deep blue is cobalt powder.
which is used to paint the images.  They are then covered with a transparent glaze.
The process is very difficult, and it is easy to tell original, with their clear outlines and
clear colors, from the poorer copies with their hazy outlined figures and out-of-focus
images.





Burmese Rubies and Diamond Necklace
I was told Burmese rubies were the best by far.





White and Yellow Diamond Necklace in Floral Pattern.  Over $1 million.





Cloisonne Glass Flower Necklace.  Those are tiny pieces of glass soldered between
copper/gold wires.





Burmese Red Ruby and Diamond Earrings




Diamond Butterfly Brooch.
There were many diamond brooches of butterflies, flowers, and insects.






Juan Ropilles is a Spanish glass artist who creates whimsical figures
and masks.





The greatest of the animaliers, makers of bronze animals, in the 19th century
was Antoine-Louis Barye, who made great numbers of statues of many animals.  One of
the most popular is this life-size bronze figure of a panther and hare.  They are often
quite violent.





Philippe Hiquily.  "Standing Figure."  French.  Steel.
Hiquily is one of the leading French abstract sculptors today.





Jean-Pierre Cassigneul.  "Woman in Rose Garden."  French
Chassigneul is one of the richest and most successful painters in France
today. His subject is usually a single woman.





Jean-Pierre Cassigneul.  "Woman with Red Roses."  French.





Erik Renssen.  "Woman Reading Letter."  Dutch.
Renssen readily admits that Picasso has been the greatest influence in his life,
and Renssen has made dozens of works derived from famous Picasso paintings.
It is easy to recognize Picasso's "Portrait of Dora Maar" as the inspiration
for this work.  Dora was a photographer, painter, and poet, who was also
lover and muse to Picasso for many years.




Erik Renssen.  "Woman Dreaming in Red Armchair."  Dutch.
Picasso made four famous paintings of "The Red Armchair" portraying his
current mistress, Marie-Therese Walter, who had fallen asleep of boredom
while posing.  This is Renssen's variation on Picasso's painting.  Two of
the best Picassos are in Chicago and Pasadena/Norton Simon Museum.



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