Six Dynasties, (420-518 A.D.) Wu Zhu - Reverse Da Quan Wu.

Six Dynasties, (420-518 A.D.) Wu Zhu - Reverse Da Quan Wu.

750 USD @ lindascoin

Note: It is the treasure of the Six Dyn. coin. The similar coin is sold to over $1500 in China.

'Terra Incognita, Italy's Ceramic Revival' @ The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art

Lucio Fontana (1899-1968), Spatial Concept, c. 1964. 45 x 16.8 x 16.8 cm. © Bernd and Eva Hockemeyer Collection

LONDON.- The Estorick Collection of Modern Italian Art presents the exhibition Terra Incognita: Italy’s Ceramic Revival from 30 September to 20 December 2009. This is the first time that the Hockemeyer Collection has been exhibited in the UK and promises to be a revelation to modern art and ceramic enthusiasts alike.

The Bernd and Eva Hockemeyer Collection of 20th century Italian ceramics has been formed over the past twenty-five years as an expression of the collectors’ interest in Mediterranean – and especially Italian – art from antiquity to the present day. Although individual pieces have been exhibited before, this is the first time that such work has been the subject of an exhibition in Britain. It presents a selection of some fifty key works dating from the late 1920s to the mid 1980s by twenty-three of Italy’s most celebrated artists and ceramists including sculptors such as Arturo Martini, Marino Marini, Lucio Fontana, Fausto Melotti, Leoncillo Leonardi and Giuseppe Spagnulo, the painters Roberto Crippa, Gianni Dova and Emilio Scanavino and ceramic masters Pietro Melandri, Guido Gambone, Marcello Fantoni, Pompeo Pianezzola and Carlo Zauli.

The works on show – sculptures, panels, vases and plates – illustrate sixty years of Italian artistic development in the historic medium of clay. The exhibition presents a wealth of different styles, aesthetic ideas and concepts, underlined by the diversity of techniques and scale of the objects on show: terracotta, maiolica and lustrewares ranging in size from a girl’s head by Marino Marini (only 21.6 cm high) to the suspended maiolica sculpture of 2.16 meters by Salvatore Meli, which was presented at the XXIX Venice Biennale in 1958.

The exhibition begins with early classical works by Italy’s most important sculptors of the first half of the 20th century: Marino Marini and Arturo Martini. The latter was represented by works in terracotta at the seminal exhibition XX Century Italian Art at MoMA, New York, in 1949. The exhibition shows works of the same period by the ceramist Pietro Melandri who, with outstanding technical expertise, created both prestigious decorative art objects and sculptures, winning the Grand Prix for Sculpture at the 1937 Paris World Exhibition.

Another important period in Italy’s 20th century ceramic history is extensively represented by the many works of Lucio Fontana dating from the 1930s to the 1960s. The Hockemeyer Collection boasts some of his early figurative and neo-baroque sculptures in terracotta and maiolica from 1931 and 1936, as well as a range of his famous Concetti spaziali which the artist first executed in ceramic in 1959 before he transferred the concept to canvas.

The exhibition also includes works by the sculptor Leoncillo Leonardi, charting the passage from his neo-Cubist period of the late 1940s to his participation in Italy’s explosion of Arte Informale, which was to have considerable influence in Europe and America. His large-scale San Sebastiano Bianco (White Saint Sebastian) (1962) makes a particular impact in its merging of Informale aesthetics with the ‘cut’ – a central element of Fontana’s theory of the Concetto spaziale. Works such as these occupied a central position in Leoncillo’s one-man show at the XXXIV Venice Biennale in 1968.

The works of Fontana’s lifelong friend Fausto Melotti, on the other hand, reflect an entirely individual sculptural approach to the material, exploring the technical limits of manipulating the textural qualities of clay, glazes and firing techniques in pursuit of poetic, formal compositions.

The explosion of Arte Informale in post-war Italy was only one of many creative outbursts that encouraged experimentation in ceramics by artists and artisans alike, resulting in new forms of – and decoration on – the classical vase or plate. One of the galleries will focus on pieces from the 1950s by ceramists such as Guido Gambone and Leandro Lega, whose work was strongly inspired by Italian and international contemporary art. Of great interest are the works of Salvatore Meli and Giuseppe Civitelli, whose painterly abstraction was influenced by the conceptual and aesthetic ideas proclaimed by such groups as Forma I and Gruppo Origine, internationally known through their main protagonists, the painters Giuseppe Capogrossi and Piero Dorazio.

Also in this section are Marcello Fantoni’s modern interpretations of the vase-object which excel in their originality, merging the angular shapes typical of the period with elements that appear reminiscent of the Etruscans or other pre-historic civilizations.

This extraordinary selection of works from the Hockemeyer Collection illustrates the great affinity with the materiality of clay that distinguishes Italy’s artistic panorama of the inter-war and post-war period from those of other European countries during the same era. At a time when many contemporary artists use clay as a means of expression to push the established academic boundaries between art, craft and design, this exhibition represents a long overdue consideration of Italy’s 20th century ceramic culture which, at its high point, was distinguished by a contempt for the divisions between the fine and decorative arts.

Lucio Fontana, Concetto Spaziale, 1960/65 © Lucio Fontana/SIAE/DACS, London 2009

The Collection of William F. Reilly to Be Offered at Christie's New York

A Roman Marble Portrait Head of the Emprero Antoninus Pius Reign 138-161 A.D. 13½ in. (34.3 cm) high. Estimate: $400,000 - 600,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2009.

NEW YORK, NY.- This October, Christie's presents a special collection of fine art and furnishings from the Manhattan residence of the late Mr. William F. Reilly, a prominent philanthropist, collector, and former chief executive officer and chairman of the publishing firm Primedia. This superb collection of important 18th and 19th century furniture, rare antiquities, Old Master paintings, and decorative items was primarily housed in Mr. Reilly's Sutton Square townhouse, located in one of Manhattan's most fashionable neighborhoods. The three-story house with its dramatic river views and impeccably-designed interiors has been profiled in House & Garden and Architectural Digest, among other publications. The complete collection of over 230 items is expected to realize in excess of $5 million.

To build the collection, the late Mr. Reilly worked with top New York antiques consultant and interior designer Timothy Whealon. Over the course of 12 years, Whealon scoured auction houses, dealers, antiques fairs, and art galleries to create a refined collection of rare works of art and antiques. For the sale preview, Christie's will re-assemble the bulk of the collection just as it appeared in the main rooms of Mr. Reilly's home, even using a similar color palette as the one that Whealon chose for the walls.

"The overall design aesthetic was conceived as a modern take on the great English country houses," said Whealon. "Mr. Reilly was an educated connoisseur with a deep interest in European history and the classics. To reflect that, we grounded the collection with excellent examples of English, Irish, and Continental furniture and complimented them with Greek and Roman antiquities, and paintings by the early 18th century Italian masters. Modernist touches in the form of lamps, occasional tables, and small decorative items kept the whole looking fresh and relevant, and remarkably easy for someone to live with."

Exceptional Provenance
The Reilly collection is highlighted by several extraordinary furnishings from prominent British houses, including a Regency Ormolu and Black Slate Mantel Clock, no. 538 (estimate: $40,000-60,000) by Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy, London’s pre-eminent luxury goods producer in the early 19th century. The clock was ordered by the Prince of Wales for his Royal residence at Carlton House, St. James’s, London and delivered in 1815. A George III Mahogany Cabinet-On- Chest (estimate: $200,000-400,000) features an arched cornice, paneled doors and four graduated drawers accented with carved ionic columns and a Greek key design on the façade. This extraordinary 18th century cabinet bears the penciled signature of William Hallett, one of the most well-regarded cabinetmakers to England’s royal families. It is believed this magnificent cabinet was commissioned by Sir Charles Kerneys Tynte, 5th Baronet, for Halswell Park, Bridgwater, Somerset.

From Hamilton Palace, the largest and most majestic of Scotland’s country houses, comes a pair of English Ormolu-Mounted Satinwood-Inlaid Walnut Stools (estimate: $60,000-100,000) that were once part an extensive marquetry suite. Based on inventories of palace furnishings, it is believed that one stool dates from the original suite that was likely commissioned by James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, or by his son James, circa 1710-1720. The second stool was likely commissioned in the early 19th century by the 10th Duke to extend the suite. In later years, the pair was purchased by Sunlight Soap magnate William Lever, the 1st Viscount Leverhulme, and became part of his storied collection at The Hill, his residence in Hampstead.

A pair of George II Walnut and Figured Walnut Open-Armchairs from circa 1730 (estimate: $250,000-400,000) bears the ducal coronet of the Astley family, and are part of a set believed to have been ordered by Sir Phillip Astley, 2nd Baronet (d.1739) or his son Sir Jacob Astley, 3rd Baronet (d. 1760). A Regency Brass-Mounted Ebonized and Specimen Marble Side Table (estimate: $70,000-100,000) features a top veneered with a grid of multi-colored Italian marble specimens. This unique table from circa 1800 is believed to have been acquired on the Grand Tour by the notable art patron and connoisseur Edward, Viscount Lascelles (d. 1814).

Among the excellent examples of Continental furniture in the collection is a Pair of Italian Giltwood Side Tables (estimate: $150,000-250,000) made in Rome circa 1775 in the manner of the influential architect and designer Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778). These exquisite tables with their unique curved legs and medallion friezes are similar to those formerly housed in the Palazzo Rezzonico and Palazzo Borghese.

Antiquities
Mr. Reilly’s deep knowledge of Roman history fueled the acquisition of several important antiquities for his collection, led by a Roman Marble Portrait Head of the Emperor Antoninus Pius (estimate: $400,000-600,000), who became emperor at the age of 52, and reigned from 138-161 A.D. – a period of relative calm, security, and religious piety in the Roman empire. Other portraits in the collection include a Colossal Roman Marble Portrait Head of the Emperor Trajan (estimate: $100,000-150,000) who reigned from 98-117 A.D., and a Roman Marble Portrait Head of the Youthful Marcus Aurelius, circa 138 A.D. (estimate: $150,000-250,000). The latter was one of the first purchases Mr. Reilly made as a collector; he had such high regard for the celebrated young emperor that he named his company Aurelian Communications upon its founding in 2001.

Perhaps the most dramatic item to feature in the Reilly collection is a Greek Marble torso of the goddess Aphrodite (estimate: $200,000-300,000) from the Hellenistic period, circa 1st century B.C. Nearly two-thirds life sized, the partially-draped torso stands with left knee bent and right hip thrust at an angle, forming a sensuous pose.

Old Master Paintings
Leading the collection’s offering of Old Master paintings is a massive 16th century festival scene by a Flemish artist known only as the Monogrammist ‘MO’. Populated with scores of brightly costumed acrobats, A view of a villa with acrobats and gentlefolk; estimate: $600,000-800,000) is a sweeping, jubilant scene of a court festival on the grounds of an Italianate villa. As elegantly dressed courtiers look on, troupes of acrobats in red jumpsuits and ancient military uniform perform elaborate dances and complicated balancing acts. This vibrant celebratory scene, which measures nearly eight feet wide, was the focal point of the dining room at Reilly’s Sutton Square home.

Two important Italian Old Master landscapes from the living room of the Reilly home will be offered as highlights of the Important Old Masters and 19th Century Art sale on January 27, 2010: View of Piazza del Popolo, Rome (estimate: $600,000-800,000) by Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691/2-1765) and Extensive Landscape with Figures at a Shrine (estimate: $300,000-500,000), a rare collaboration between Alessandro Magnasco, Il Lissandrino (1667-1749) and Antonio Francesco Peruzzini (1643/46-1724).

Decorative Highlights
A devoted collector of Irish as well as English furnishings, Mr. Reilly’s collection is highlighted by an exceedingly rare example of Dublin scagliola inlay work attributed to Pietro Bossi, the most accomplished artisan working in Dublin towards the end of the 18th century. This Irish George III White Marble and Scagliola Chimneypiece; estimate: $100,000-150,000) is accented with beautifully-drawn leaf work and ribbon-hung Etruscan medallions in vivid hues of red, blue and green that remain remarkably unfaded. Less than 50 chimney pieces of this type are believed to have been created, and only two or three pieces of comparable quality have appeared on the market in recent years.

Among the more whimsical items within the Reilly collection is a Pair of George II Giltwood Dolphin-Form Wall Carvings from the mid-18th century (estimate: $20,000-40,000). These grimacing fish-like figures with scrolling tails once adorned the Sutton Place apartment of Marietta Tree, the New York society doyenne. They are believed to have been purchased initially by Nancy Lancaster, the legendary designer (and the first Mrs. Ronald Tree), for Ditchley Park in Oxfordshire, one of England’s greatest country houses.

Rounding out the selection of decorative accents is a large selection of mirrors from a variety of periods and styles, including a Louis XIV Ormulu-Mounted Boulle Marquetry Mirror from circa 1710 (estimate: $60,000-100,000); and a pair of five-foot high English Giltwood Mirrors (estimate: $60,000-90,000), one George II, circa 1740, and the other created to match by Carvers and Gilders of London. Also among the offerings is a selection of English silver, including salvers, salt cellars, utensils, and a complete coffee and tea service (estimates range: $500-35,000); and an array of blue and white Chinese export porcelain items, including vases, plates, and urns from the Kangxi period (estimates range: $3,000-30,000).

Flemish artist active in Northern Italy, 16th Century - identified as the Monogrammist 'MO', A view of a villa with acrobats and gentlefolk, signed with monogram and dated 'M D/LXVI' on pedestal (lower left) oil on canvas, 67¼ x 93 in. (170.8 x 236.2 cm.) Estimate: $600,000 - 800,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2009

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, "Priimitive" @ MAMVP, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris

Apichatpong Weerasethakul Primitive, 2009. Courtesy Kick the Machine Films, Bangkok. Crédits : 2009 Kick the Machine Films. Photo: Chaisiri Jiwarangsan

L’exposition présentée à l’ARC s’articule autour de Primitive, un projet qu’Apichatpong Weerasethakul, artiste et cinéaste thaïlandais, mène depuis un an en vue de son prochain long- métrage.

Imprégnées de références diverses, de la pensée bouddhiste à la culture populaire, des soap operas aux contes traditionnels, ses vidéos explorent la mémoire comme une matière fluctuante, non linéaire, sujette aux aléas des questionnements et du désir. Au-delà de leurs aspects purement artistiques et visuels, elles posent aussi un regard critique sur le système actuel de la culture thaïlandaise.

Exposition du 1er octobre 2009 au 3 janvier 2010.

Primitive, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, image © Chayaporn Maneesutham, courtesy of Kick the Machine Films

L’exposition propose huit films courts tournés par l’artiste à Nabua. Village du nord-est de la Thaïlande, il fut occupé par l’armée thaïe entre 1960 et 1980 pour contrôler les insurgés communistes.

Inspiré du livre The Man Who Could Recall His Past Lives racontant l’histoire d’un homme appelé Boonmee qui se souvient de ses vies antérieures, Primitive est une exploration de ce lieu, de ses fantômes et de ses mythes. Divers tableaux relatent les activités des adolescents du village impliqués dans des scénarios semi fictionnels : la construction d’un vaisseau spatial en bois, un match de football avec un ballon en feu... L’artiste réalise ainsi le portrait d’une jeunesse inaltérable, aujourd’hui affranchie de son passé.

Comme dans ses longs métrages, la nature, idyllique et menaçante, est  au centre de l’oeuvre. La narration passe au second plan, au profit d’une immersion dans un paysage énigmatique, irréel, où les frontières se dissipent. Tourné dans une région d’Asie où la vie des habitants est dominée par les croyances animistes et la réincarnation, Primitive célèbre les forces destructives de la nature appelées à renaître et à se transformer.

L’installation sera associée à des photographies réalisées durant le séjour de l’artiste à Nabua ainsi qu’à une œuvre inédite intitulée Phantoms of Nabua.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul

Né à Bangkok en 1970, Apichatpong Weerasethakul vit et travaille à Bangkok et à Chiang Mai, en Thaïlande. Fils de médecins, l’artiste a passé son enfance à Khon Kaen, au nord-est de la Thaïlande. Il a obtenu une licence d’architecture à l’université de Khon Kaen puis un master de cinéma à l’Institut des Arts de Chicago en 1994.

Il réalise des courts-métrages dès 1994 et un premier long- métrage en 2000 (Mysterious Object at Noon). En 1999, il crée Kick the Machine, une entreprise de production et de promotion de vidéos et de films indépendants. Ses projets artistiques lui ont valu une large reconnaissance internationale et de nombreuses récompenses, notamment au festival de Cannes (prix du jury en 2004 pour Tropical Malady)

Longs-métrages

2006 : Syndromes and a Century

2004 : Tropical Malady

2003 : The Adventure of  Iron Pussy

2002 : Blissfully Yours

2000 : Mysterious Object at Noon

Courts-métrages et installations (sélection)

2008 : Vampire

2007 : My Mother’s Garden, Unknown Forces

2006 : Faith

2006 : The Anthem

2005 : Wordly Desires

2001 : Haunted Houses

L’installation Primitive et le film Phantoms of Nabua ont été commandés par le Haus der Kunst (Munich), FACT (Liverpool) et Animate Projects (Londres) et produits par Illuminations Films (Londres) et Kick the Machine Films (Bangkok).

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Uncle Boonmee: A Man Who Can Recall His Past Lives, 2009

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, A letter to Uncle Boonmee, 2009

Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Primitive Installation, 2009

Exceptional Self Portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck to Feature in Sotheby's Sale

Sir Anthony van Dyck, Self Portrait, oil on canvas, est: £2-3 million. Photo: Sotheby's

LONDON.- Sotheby’s announced this morning that its forthcoming Evening Sale of Old Master and Early British Paintings in London on Wednesday, December 9, 2009 will include an outstanding self portrait by Sir Anthony van Dyck, one of the most important artists to have worked in England. This masterpiece, which is van Dyck’s last portrait of himself, was painted in London in 1641 in the final months of his life. It is one of only three self portraits that the artist painted in England and it captures him grandly attired in a black and white silk doublet. The painting has been in the same family collection since 1712, a period of almost 300 years. It was one of the star exhibits of the recent Van Dyck & Britain show at Tate Britain and comes to the market with exemplary provenance and an estimate of £2-3 million. It ranks among the most important paintings by van Dyck ever to come to the auction market.

The painting last appeared on the market in 1712, when it left the collection of Richard Graham and entered that of the family of its current owners. Prior to that - towards the latter part of the 17th century - it is understood to have belonged to Sir Peter Lely. A favored pupil of van Dyck, Lely subsequently established himself as the leading painter at the Court of Charles II. He succeeded van Dyck as the most fashionable portrait artist in England.

Talking about the portrait David Moore-Gwyn, deputy Chairman , UK and Senior Specialist in Early British Paintings at Sotheby’s, comments: “This is by far and away the most important portrait by van Dyck to come to auction in my 35-year career at Sotheby’s. It is an exceptional painting by one of the most important artists to have worked in Britain . We are delighted to be offering collectors the opportunity to acquire such a rare and unparalleled work by an artist who revolutionized the English portrait.”

Born in Antwerp in March 1599 and a highly accomplished talent from a young age, Sir Anthony van Dyck first travelled to England in 1620. He later settled in England in 1632, where he became the court painter of King Charles I and he single-handedly defined the image of the Stuart monarchy. His influence over portraiture in Britain was and continues to be profound, not only within his own lifetime but on successive generations of artists, including Reynolds and Gainsborough. His sophisticated and elegant style was widely copied and developed by future generations of artists, who admired his work, and as a result he was responsible for setting portrait painting in Britain on an entirely new course. Talking about van Dyck’s influence in the catalogue for the recent Van Dyck & Britain exhibition at Tate Britain, Stephen Deuchar, the former Director, Tate Britain stated: “Sir Anthony van Dyck was the most profoundly influential of that succession of European-born artists who were to work in England and so notably nurture its artistic growth from the 16th to the 18th centuries.”

Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong 徽宗, Sheng Song Yuan Bao 聖宗元寳 (1101)

Northern Song Dynasty, Emperor Huizong 徽宗, Sheng Song Yuan Bao 聖宗元寳 (1101)

Long oblique strokes in Song XF - 500 USD @ lindascoin

Note: À la mort de Zhezong, Huizong 徽宗 ouvre l'ère Jianzhong jingguo 建中靖國(1101); dans un premier temps, le palais adopte une politique centriste faisant la balance entre les conservateurs et les réformistes.

Sotheby's 20th Century Italian Art Sale to Include Important Works

Giorgio de Chirico, Interno con frutta, oil on canvas, 1926-28. Estimate: £900,000-1,200,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

LONDON.- Following the tremendous success of Sotheby’s 20th Century Italian Art Sale last October, which was 94.2% sold by value and achieved the second highest total* for a sale in this category at Sotheby’s, the forthcoming auction on Friday, October 16, 2009 is set to include 33 works in a variety of media by leading Modern and Contemporary Italian artists. The sale will include pieces by Giorgio de Chirico, Giorgio Morandi, Marino Marini, Lucio Fontana, Salvatore Scarpitta and Alighiero Boetti and is estimated to realize in excess of £5.7 million.

From a private European Collection, Giorgio de Chirico’s (1888–1978) oil on canvas Interno con frutta is the star lot of the auction. Painted during de Chirico's stay in Paris in the 1920s, the painting is a stunning and monumental example of the 'Classical' period of his art. Although he treated this subject earlier in his career, particularly between 1912 and 1915, it was really during the 1920s that still-life flourished in de Chirico's oeuvre. In the present composition, the bust and fruit which appear to rest on a tabletop occupy an otherwise plain room, while the interior is invaded by the ruins of a classical temple seen through the opening in the wall. The rationale behind these enigmatic groupings of seemingly mundane objects was the artist's wish to uncover the poetic and metaphysical possibilities that lay beneath the surface of everyday reality. Images of classical sculpture and architecture are a recurrent motif in de Chirico's art, often juxtaposing remnants of antiquity with contemporary settings, and imbuing his compositions with a timeless quality. Interno con frutta has remained in the same collection since it was acquired in the early 1970s and is estimated at £900,000-1,200,000.

A further important highlight of the Modern section of the sale is the hand-painted and chiseled bronze sculpture, Piccolo Cavaliere by Marino Marini (1901-1980). Executed in 1950, Piccolo Cavaliere is a prime example of Marini's most celebrated theme – the horse and rider – adorned with a uniquely finished surface and hand painted by the artist in shades of red, yellow and green. Capturing the movement of the two figures in its most dramatic moment, when the rider begins his inevitable fall, the present work exemplifies Marini's dynamic renderings of this theme that characterized his art throughout the 1950s. Marini was drawn not to the refinement of Hellenistic sculpture, but to the rougher, more energetic expression of the Archaic period in Greece and Etruscan sculpture in Italy, and the intensity of expression in the present work points to the influence of Picasso, whose Guernica had the most lasting effect on Marini. Of the six bronze casts of this work, two are in public museums (Nationalgalerie in Berlin and Fondazione Marino Marini in Pistoia) – the example offered for sale is estimated at £600,000-800,000.

The sale will also include a group of three works on paper by Marino Marini, which come from a private European collection. The mother of the present owner, who was a friend of the artist, was given the works directly by Marini in the early 1950s and the pieces have remained in the same family collection since then. Dealing with his favorite subjects of horse riders and jugglers, these works carry estimates ranging from £45,000-60,000 up to £80,000-120,000.

The oil on canvas Natura morta painted in 1962 by Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964) will also be offered for sale and comes from a private Italian collection. The painting reflects the artist’s continuous and devoted search for beauty and harmony in everyday objects. Renowned for his eloquent, disciplined compositions of bottles, bowls and pitchers, Morandi was preoccupied with the interior reality that resides behind familiar appearances. Between 1960 and 1962 he executed several oils and watercolors depicting the tall pitcher, which dominates in the present composition. The inclusion of this new object reflects the artist's tirelessly inventive approach within the still-life genre to which he remained devoted. The bold outline and dark color of the pitcher introduced a new range of pictorial and spatial possibilities, and a departure from the softer treatment of the earlier depictions of bottles. The painting is estimated at £250,000-350,000.

Among the Contemporary pieces in the sale White Concetto Spaziale by Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) is the highlight. The work comes from the Olii series and is estimated at £350,000-450,000. The surface of the painting is made up of thick white oil paint upon which the artist has made a series of sweeping gestures and pierced three holes. Created in 1961, the work combines elements of sculpture and painting and represents Fontana’s ground breaking achievements in Spatialism. The thickness of the oil paint means that the artist has been able to raise the paint around the holes before it was dry to add a sense of depth, movement and dynamism. These holes, like the slashes in the Tagli series, the addition of glass pebbles in the Murano series and the punctured canvasses of the Buchi series, extend the boundaries of the painting.

The sale will also feature an important group of works by Salvatore Scarpitta (1919-2007), which were acquired direct from the artist in New York by two collectors almost 30 years ago. As well as having impeccable provenance the three works by the artist have never been seen in public before now. The two collectors, Gerardus Widdershoven and Nicholas Howey were great friends with Scarpitta and as such had an enormous insight into his revolutionary output. Vulcania, Tocagliolo and Iron Gate – each part painting and part sculpture – all date from 1959 and 1960 – the pinnacle of his career and a period in which he had moved away from the loosely wrapped bandages in favor of glue soaked elastic bandages which injected a sense of tension into the works. From the mid fifties onwards Scarpitta embraced more abstract works over figurative representations. Scarpitta was one part of a dynamic young generation of artists who had survived the war and who were now keen to explore the possibilities of a new form of artistic discourse. Illustrated left is Vulcania, in bandage and mixed media on canvas mounted on board, which spearheads the group and is estimated at £150,000-200,000 (77 by 72.4cm). Tocagliolo, in bandage and mixed media on board, is estimated at £100,000-150,000 (52 by 66.7cm) and Iron Gate, in bandage and mixed media on canvas mounted on board, carries an estimate of £70,000-90,000 (30.5 by 39cm).

The oil on linen work The Black Rose by Jannis Kounellis (b.1936) was executed in 1967, after two years of inactivity and is estimated at £200,000-300,000. The work, measuring 150 by 130cm, stunningly testimonies Kounellis's return to artistic creativity and his crucial role within the development of the Arte Povera movement. In The Black Rose Kounellis magisterially creates a mysterious ambiguity between the elegant beauty and inner simplicity of the rose and its unusual black color. In this same defining year, Kounellis had created Margherita di Fuoco (Burning Daisy) where a daisy made of iron spurted a flame from its centre. In both works, Kounellis opened a dialogue between living beings and a surreal poetical vision of reality. Standing as a monument to Kounellis's creative universe, The Black Rose was among the first compositions to herald this radical shift towards Arte Povera's practices and can be seen as a truly breakthrough work.

One of the most important works from the career-defining year of 1969, Planisfero Politico by Alighiero Boetti (1940-1994) represents the genesis of Boetti's paramount Mappa series. Aesthetically beautiful, brilliantly conceptual and politically engaged, Planisfero Politico marks the culmination of Boetti's artistic output by condensing Arte Povera practices with Boetti's distinctive lyrical experimentation. In the present work Boetti has taken a printed world map and colored each country in felt-tip pen with their respective flags, developing a precise gesture that was to become the signature technique of his later drawings. Fascinated by classifying alterations in political geography, which he interpreted as a human desire to demarcate the earth, Boetti went on to expand the concept of Planisfero Politico into his world-renowned series of embroidered Maps. This series would bear witness to every change that affected countries, their borders and their flags and provides an extraordinary account of political geography from 1971 to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the historic dissolution of the Soviet Union. In 1969 when Planisfero Politico was executed, Boetti felt the political tension generated by the Cold War and translated the fear of Western countries towards the Soviet Union by coloring it with an overwhelming red. The present work embodies Boetti's artistic evolution beyond Arte Povera and his fascination with cultural 'otherness', which the artist filters through his conceptual understanding of fate and time. It is estimated at £220,000-260,000.

The oil on canvas Composizione by Afro (1912-1976) was executed in 1957 and is one of the finest examples of Afro's signature style of lyrical abstraction, and is estimated at £250,000-350,000. At the time of this work's creation Afro was at the peak of his artistic maturity and career, having won the prize for the Venice Biennale in 1956 and recently been commissioned to work on the mural Il Giardino della Speranza (Garden of Hope) alongside Arp, Miró, Calder, Moore and Picasso for the new Unesco Headquarters in Paris. By experimenting with more spontaneous and less contrived gestures, Composizione represents an extraordinary example of his poetic evolution through an emotive comprehension of Abstract Expressionism, which became for him both an inspiration and a challenge. In this exceptional work from the most important period for the artist, Afro achieves the harmonious tension and chromatic balance sought throughout his career.

Emilio Vedova’s (1919-2006) Per la Spagna, which has remained off the market for over 30 years, is estimated at £350,000-450,000. Beautifully chaotic and compositionally dense, Per la Spagna is one of the most resolved exemplars of Emilio Vedova's celebrated abstract paintings. Vedova expressed his condemnation of the intolerant authoritarian regime with the Per la Spagna series through an Abstraction that is both visually energetic and politically engaged. In the Per la Spagna series, executed in 1962 - the height of his career - once the artist was back in Venice, Vedova condensed this rediscovered love of baroque with his radical political views. Per la Spagna is an outstanding example of the eponymous and distinguished series and represents the culmination of the artist's career, in which the spontaneity of his Abstract paintings perfectly merges with his political engagement.

Emilio Vedova’s (1919-2006) Per la Spagna, which has remained off the market for over 30 years, is estimated at £350,000-450,000. Photo: Sotheby's

'Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts' @ The Victoria & Albert Museum

The V&A’s autumn exhibition, Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts, will be the first to comprehensively explore the world of the maharajas and their extraordinarily rich culture. It will bring together over 250 magnificent objects, many on loan to the UK for the first time from India’s royal collections. The exhibition will include three thrones, a silver gilt howdah, gem-encrusted weapons, court paintings, photographs, a Rolls Royce, Indian turban jewels and jewellery commissioned from Cartier and Van Cleef & Arpels in the 20th century.

The exhibition will cover the period from the 18th century when the great era of the maharajas began to the end of British rule in 1947. It will show the changing role of the maharajas in an historical and social context and look at how their patronage of the arts both in India and Europe resulted in splendid and beautiful commissions designed to enhance royal status and identity.

Many of the objects have never before been seen in the UK. The royal collections of Udaipur and Jodhpur are lending several spectacular paintings and objects. The V&A is reuniting four portraits from the 1930s by Bernard Boutet de Monvel depicting the elegant Maharaja and Maharani of Indore. One pair depicts them in Maratha dress and the other in modern Western dress. They will be shown together on public display for the first time.

Another object on show in the UK for the first time is the Patiala Necklace, part of the largest single commission that Cartier has ever executed. Completed in 1928 and restored in 2002, this piece of ceremonial jewellery originally contained 2,930 diamonds and weighed almost a thousand carats.

The next section of the exhibition will focus on the shifts of power and taste in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The disintegration of the Mughal Empire led to a period of political change in which rival Indian kings laid claim to territory. On display will be the golden throne of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who united the warring factions of the Punjab into a powerful Sikh state, as well as weapons and armour owned by Tipu Sultan of Mysore and the Maratha ruler Yeshwant Rao Holkar of Indore.

This period also witnessed the rapid expansion of the territorial interests of the English East India Company. This led to a new hybrid Anglo-Indian style which will be seen in objects such as a Spode dinner service and an Egyptian-revival style chair designed for the Nawab of Awadh.

The exhibition will then look at the grand imperial durbars of the Raj through large-scale paintings and rare archive film footage. This section will include a carpet of pearls, rubies, emeralds and diamonds made for the Maharaja of Baroda and exhibited at the durbar of 1903.

The final section will explore the role of the ‘modern’ maharajas during the Raj and the increasing European influence on their lives. The exhibition will show how they were portrayed in both Indian and European style through portraits of the maharajas and their wives by photographers and artists including Man Ray, Cecil Beaton and Raja Ravi Varma.

The maharajas’ patronage of European firms resulted in luxurious commissions. On display will be saris designed by leading French couture houses, a costume by Madeleine Vionnet, a diamond and emerald necklace designed by Van Cleef & Arpels, a Rolls Royce and a Louis Vuitton travelling case.

The maharajas were also patrons of the emerging European avant-garde. The exhibition will include modernist furniture commissioned by the Maharaja of Indore for his palace in the 1930s and architectural designs for the Umaid Bhawan palace, an Art Deco style residence commissioned by the Maharaja of Jodhpur.

Mark Jones, Director of the V&A, said: “There has never been an exhibition like this before, showing the spectacular treasures of the courts of the maharajas. Many of the objects are leaving India for the first time to come to the V&A. This exhibition will show that India’s rulers were significant patrons of the arts, in India and the West, and will tell the fascinating story of the changing role of the maharaja from the early 18th century to the final days of the Raj.”

The exhibition will feature a number of objects on loan from the royal collections of Udaipur and Jodhpur. Works are also being lent from the royal families of Baroda, Bahawalpur, Bikaner, Gwalior, Indore and Kapurthala. The exhibition is curated by Anna Jackson, Deputy Keeper of the V&A’s AsianDepartment, with consultant curator Amin Jaffer, International Director of Asian Art at Christies.

Maharaja: The Splendour of India’s Royal Courts is at the V&A from 10 October 2009 to 17 January 2010

A painting that supposedly was made by Hans van Meegeren proven to be from the Dutch Golden Age

Hans van Meegeren (1889-1947), Procuress (after Dirck van Baburen) Circa 1940. Oil on canvas, height: 98.7 cm; width: 103.9 cm. Copyright: The Samuel Courtauld Trust\unknown

LONDON.- A painting that supposedly was made by Hans van Meegeren, one of the most notable forgers of all time, dates, from the XVII Century and might have even hung in Johannes Vermeer's house, according to the Art Newspaper.

The painting is titled “The Procuress” and is housed at the Courtauld Institute in London, which accepted it in 1960 as a donation from Professor Geoffrey Webb, a specialist in historic architecture.

Webb, who worked in Germany after World War II, had received it as a gift for his help in the returning of works of art to rightful owners.

He believed that it was a forgery made by Van Meegeren (1889-1947) which Dutch authorities had recovered after the War in a chalet that Van Meegeren had in Nice, Cote d'Azur (South of France).

The painting was loaned to three forgery exhibitions as an example of an excellent artistic forgery.

The painting represents three characters, the Procuress, the character on the right that points with his finger at the other hand as if fixing a price, while in the middle, a man talks to the smiling prostitute beside him, in his arms.

There are two other versions of “The Procuress” that are considered originals: one of them is property of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and the second is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, which obtained it at an auction at Christie’s.

Experts have examined, with great care, the painting donated to the Courtauld Institute and have assured that they have found no modern pigments and believe that it is indeed a painting from the Dutch Golden Age.

Major Works to Highlight Sotheby's October Contemporary Art Sale

Fuego Flores in acrylic and oilstick on canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). Estimate £800,000-1,200,000. Photo: Sotheby's.

LONDON.- On Friday, October 16, 2009, Sotheby’s London will present its October Contemporary Art Auction, which will include for the first time a section of Arab and Iranian Art. The 177 lot sale will comprise works, in a range of media, by leading Post-War and Contemporary artists, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Anish Kapoor, Andy Warhol, Chris Ofili, Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter, Frank Auerbach, Antony Gormley, Farhad Moshiri and Yan Pei-Ming. The sale is estimated to realize in excess of £9 million.

Commenting on this year’s Contemporary Art Sale to coincide with Frieze Week, Isabelle Paagman, Director and Specialist in Contemporary Art and Alex Branczik, Deputy Director and Specialist in Contemporary Art, said: “With the forthcoming sale, our aim was to assemble an auction that would complement the London Frieze Fair and include important Evening and Day Sale quality works at attractive estimates by established Post-War and Contemporary names as well as cutting edge artists. As with the February and June auctions in London and May in New York, we have been extremely selective and have focused on fresh to the market property with outstanding provenance, which would appeal to our clients in the current market.”

Highlighting the forthcoming sale is the masterpiece Afro Apparition by Chris Ofili (b.1968) – who will be the subject of a major survey exhibition of his work early next year at Tate Britain – which is this Contemporary Art Auction’s catalogue cover lot. Signed, titled and dated 2002-2003 on the stretcher, the work is in acrylic, oil, polyester resin, glitter, map pins and elephant dung in linen with two elephant dung supports and measures 275 by 213.5 by 17cm. This piece is the most important work by the artist ever to appear at auction and is one of a suite of works exhibited as part of 'Within Reach' for the 2003 Venice Biennale. Afro Apparition is a stunning example of Ofili's explorations of the interplay between cultural stereotyping and identity, aesthetic beauty and materials.

Just as Ofili's work champions the supremacy of pure aesthetics, it is likewise replete with political and cultural references. The elaborate patterning and restricted palette of Afro Apparition recall an array of sources, revealing Ofili's complex layering of historical and contemporary associations. Its composition is striking for its artfully reductive color scheme of red, green and black; a scheme extended to each work he exhibited at the Venice Biennale, as well as to the interior walls of the British pavilion. The limited palette derives from Marcus Garvey's Pan African flag – the flag of African unity – where red symbolizes the blood uniting all people of African ancestry, black represents the skin, and green signifies the abundant natural wealth of Africa. In appropriating Garvey's flag, long held as an emblem of Black pride, Ofili consciously references both the united black nationalist movement of the 1960s and the iconic work African-American Flag (1990) by David Hammons, whilst simultaneously empowering as individuals the two central figures embracing in the reflection of its colors. The work is estimated at £280,000-350,000.

A major highlight of the upcoming auction is Untitled by Anish Kapoor (b. 1954), a remarkable polished stainless steel work which measures 250 cm by 250 cm by 60 cm – its sale coincides with the solo exhibition of the artist’s work, Anish Kapoor, at Royal Academy of Arts. Executed in 1997, Untitled manifests all the pioneering ingenuity in material and spatial possibilities that characterize the very best output of this world-renowned sculptor. It dates from Anish Kapoor’s breakthrough using this medium of hyper-reflective polished steel and was created in a decade that witnessed Kapoor winning the Premio Duemilia Prize for his British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (1990); winning the Turner Prize (1991); staging a major retrospective at the Hayward Gallery (1998); and becoming a Royal Academician (1999), Untitled is central to the technical and artistic advancement that later led to such highly lauded monumental projects as Cloud Gate of 2004 for Chicago's Millennium Park, and Sky Mirror of 2006 at New York's Rockefeller Center. It is also historically important as an early wall-mounted sculpture, a format adopted to transform the monolithic into the delicate. This work, which was exhibited at the Third Shanghai Biennale, 2000-2001, is estimated at £600,000-800,000.

A further important highlight is Fuego Flores in acrylic and oil stick on canvas by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), which has remained off the market for over 20 years and was last exhibited publicly in the 1984 exhibition Jean- Michel Basquiat at the Gallery V in Stockholm. Signed, titled and dated 1983, this sensational canvas was executed at the very height of Basquiat’s brief and brilliant artistic existence. Created in just his 26th year and perfectly exhibiting his already legendary repertoire of loaded iconography, painterly immediacy and stunning coloristic expressivity, it is estimated at £800,000-1,200,000.

Highlighting the works in the auction by Damien Hirst (b. 1965) is Retribution, which he produced in 2006. Executed on a monumental scale this butterflies and household gloss on canvas work measures 268 cm in diameter (including the frame). In elegant hues of primrose yellow, powder blue and white, Retribution is a uniquely powerful work from the artist’s celebrated series of butterfly grid paintings. Set into a painted film of white gloss, opalescent hues of the butterflies' gossamer wings produce the effect of a Gothic stained-glass rose window. With this work Hirst confronts the central theme of retribution, suggesting that the butterfly's finest quality - its transcendental aesthetic splendor - is also the source of its own demise, as its unrivaled beauty can only be preserved through the artistic process that follows its death. For Hirst the butterfly holds considerable iconographic power and meaning, and in the butterfly paintings, as is the case with Hirst's finest work, the underlying concept is often complex.

The appearance of Retribution changes when viewed from different distances and perspectives. From afar, the individual wings resemble delicately colored tiles in a mosaic, while up close, the individual specimens – some large some small, some with beautiful patterning, others chosen for their calming pearlescence – become discernible. Enshrined in household gloss the butterflies seem fragile and painfully mortal. For Hirst, this moment of realization contains the oxymoronic beauty of horror, and horror of beauty. In a complex echo of the cyclical nature of life on earth, the caterpillar dies in its chrysalis, and is reborn as a butterfly - this delicate creature dies, but in doing so gives birth to a beautiful object, the work of art. The monochrome butterfly canvases were first exhibited in his In and Out of Love exhibition of 1991 at the Woodstock Gallery in London and this example is estimated at £450,000-650,000.

Another important piece in the sale by Damien Hirst is his Two Skulls. In this 2006 oil on canvas Hirst mingles the horrific with the comic and there is an artful tension between the futility of human life and the inevitability of death. Posed as if two companions, their physical disparities suggest gender difference: the left skull, with its ragged teeth and attenuated jaw, appears masculine, the right skull – smaller, and more neatly proportioned – seems feminine. Their arrangement suggests intimacy and companionship – the longed for state of eternal union after which all humans seem fated to strive. Though the skulls of the lovers lie side by side in a final conjugal grin, they are ultimately reduced to inanimate objects, empty vessels now bereft of the human spirit they once contained. The inscription written by the artist on the reverse of the canvas 'Death, Shmeth!' suggests that Hirst is himself prepared to laugh death in the face. In the simple act of creation, he has produced a work of art destined to stand the test of time long after his own demise. In so doing, he simultaneously celebrates the unavoidable gaze of death, whilst himself averting it. Two Skulls is estimated at £220,000-280,000.

Abstraktes Bild by Gerhad Richter (b. 1932) is a further major highlight of the auction. Executed in 1990, the work is a complex interplay of ambiguity and color. With its lyrical and reflective qualities resonating both on the surface and deep within the layers of paint, Richter epitomizes his explorations into Abstraction and seems to both reveal and conceal. Richter initially engaged in Abstract Painting in 1976, thus meaning that the present work draws on nearly two decades of various technical and abstract investigations. To produce these paintings Richter begins by placing a number of white primed canvases around the walls of his studio, eventually working on several of them simultaneously and re-working them until they are completely harmonized. Tracts of color are dragged across the canvas using a squeegee, so that the various strains of malleable, semi-liquid pigment suspended in oil are fused together and smudged first into the canvas, and then layered on top of each other as the paint strata accumulate to bring color and textural juxtapositions. Richter's technical aptitude has led to his reputation as one of the outstanding painters of our era and Abstraktes Bild, which lays testament to his relentless technical explorations in the field of abstract art and to the painterly and intellectual elasticity unique in his work, is estimated at £500,000-700,000.

Highlighting the works of Chinese contemporary art in the auction is the 2009 oil on canvas Mao by Yan Pei-Ming (b. 1960), which is estimated at £200,000-300,000. Executed on a monumental scale (the work measures 200 by 235cm) using broad strokes of bright crimson paint the work is a captivating depiction of the Chinese leader Chairman Mao. Painted with a minimum of brushstrokes, Ming's portraits are built up in blunt, muscular gestures blurring the surface at close range, yet creating a clear and evocative image when viewed from a distance. In the present work, Mao appears to be laughing - the ‘Great Leader’ fixates on someone or something outside the picture space. The moment captured is both ambiguous and unnerving - the deep, rich, crimson pigment creating a compelling tension between the red flag of Communism and its subtext of violent bloodshed.

A further sale highlight is the widely exhibited acrylic and silkscreen ink on canvas Joseph Beuys which was produced by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) in 1980. Joseph Beuys and Andy Warhol met for the first time at Hans Mayer's gallery in Düsseldorf in 1979 and was an encounter observed as the meeting of two revolutionary artistic minds. However, it was during Beuys' spectacular exhibition at the Guggenheim in New York that November that the idea for this work was initiated. Heiner Bastian, the renowned critic and sponsor of both Warhol and Beuys' artistic eminence, persuaded Warhol to invite Beuys to the Factory, and, over lunch, suggested that Warhol should paint Beuys' portrait. In keeping with his then current practice, Warhol took a sequence of Polaroid photographs of the German artist, and the present work results from the distillation of color and contour of one of those images. The bronze metallic ground punctuated with vivid pink and piercing blue demarcates the unmistakable features of an artist who spent over 30 years exploring and redefining the very boundaries of art. Warhol, the architect of Pop and subsequent catalyst of a new cultural age, and Beuys, the poetic radical who revolutionized the landscape of the performance and the concept in art, are here sublimely conflated in an epic tribute to both their talents. It is estimated at £200,000-300,000.

The forthcoming auction will also feature a section dedicated to Arab and Iranian Art, which will include 46 lots. Spearheading the section will be Cowboy and Indian, in acrylic and glitter on canvas, in two parts, by Farhad Moshiri (b. 1963), who is at the very forefront of Contemporary Iranian Art. In the present work, Moshiri has masterfully intertwined artistic innovation with a subtle yet subversive sociopolitical commentary to create one of the most exciting and varied outputs of recent times. The Cowboy and Indian figures, mainstay figureheads of North American culture, are apparently depicted in sugary confection as metaphor for both homogenizing mass culture and in reference to the well-documented lavish culinary excesses during the reign of the last Shah of Iran. Thus through its media alone Moshiri's work implicates and interrogates layered socio-cultural themes, principally the impact of the dissemination of Western culture throughout other parts of the world, specifically the Middle East. Rooted in a Pop dialect founded by the likes of Andy Warhol, Tom Wesselmann and Robert Rauschenberg, Moshiri's mode of expression also similarly takes up themes of contemporary consumerist and branding culture. The work is expected to realize £150,000-200,000.

Another important work in this section is Palastinian artist Mona Hatoum's extraordinary and monumental Untitled (Baalbeck Birdcage) of 1999 in wood and galvanized steel. It stands as an awe-inspiring testament to the artist's brilliant manipulation of scale and pioneering sculptural invention. The inspiration behind this work was a domestic birdcage that Hatoum encountered in the city of Baalbeck during a journey in Lebanon in 1996. Metaphorical associations of imprisonment and acute claustrophobia confront the viewer and are immediately compelling, and Hatoum even used the dimensions of cells of the infamous prison Alcatraz to fashion her phenomenally oversized sculpture. Hatoum has reinterpreted the original birdcage by magnifying its scale ten times. Born in Beirut in 1952, Hatoum's life experience has thus far been one of double exile: first as part of a Palestinian family in Lebanon, and subsequently manifest as her own move to England during Lebanon's Civil War of the 1970s. Although her work is frequently interpreted within this biographical context, with special attention drawn to allied themes such as displacement, alienation, and exile, she herself has always avoided being overtly autobiographical or didactic in her work. Indeed, the present work brilliantly encapsulates how she brings together personal, political and conceptual strands in her art. It is estimated at £100,000-150,000.

Representing the younger, cutting edge component of the sale is Copper Sulphate Chartres & Copper Sulphate Notre-Dame by Roger Hiorns (b. 1975). Hiorns is among four artists nominated for the 2009 Turner Prize and is known for transforming a condemned south London flat by enshrouding it with iridescent copper sulphate crystals. He is an artist of alchemy and the uncontrollable, using eclectic materials including detergent, disinfectant, perfume and other chemical solutions, to crystallize and transform the readymade, used as an explicit point of departure. Hiorns grew crystals on a cardboard architectural maquette, testing the object's status and significance, to create this work which is estimated at £6,000-8,000.

Highlighting the works in the auction by Damien Hirst (b. 1965) is Retribution, which he produced in 2006. Estimate: £450,000-650,000. Photo: Sotheby's