A white nephrite double-gourd 'lingzhi' snuff bottle. Possibly Imperial, 1730–1800
A white nephrite double-gourd 'lingzhi' snuff bottle. Possibly Imperial, 1730–1800. photo Bonhams
sold with accompanying watercolour by Peter Suart, 6.73cm high. Sold for HK$264,000
Treasury 1, no. 63
白玉細腰葫蘆靈芝鼻煙壺
或為御製品，1730～1800
The Lingzhi Double Gourd
Nephrite; very well hollowed and carved in the form of a double gourd; with a sash tied in a bow around its waist and holding a double-headed lingzhi; a branch of leaves and tendrils from the vine also disposed across the two bulbs of the gourd
Possibly imperial, 1730–1800
Height: 6.73 cm
Mouth/lip: 0.59/1.20 cm
Stopper: glass; silver collar
Condition: miniscule nibble to the outer lip smoothed; otherwise workshop condition
Illustration: watercolour by Peter Suart
Provenance: Sydney L. Moss Ltd.
C. S. Wilkinson
Hugh M. Moss Ltd. (London, circa 1963)
Cyril Green
Hugh Moss
The Belfort Collection (1986)
Published:
The Connoisseur, February 1966, p. 11
Chinese Snuff Bottles No. 2, p. 27, fig. 1
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty 1978, p. 100, no. 161
Jutheau 1980, p. 112, fig. 4
Kleiner 1987, no. 32
Bloch Collection Poster (1987), reproduction of watercolours by Peter Suart
Treasury 1, no. 63
Exhibited:
Hong Kong Museum of Art, October–December 1978
L'Arcade Chaumet, Paris, June 1982
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, October 1987
Creditanstalt, Vienna, May–June 1993
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1997
Commentary: This extraordinary bottle is another of the great masterpieces of the fruit-, and vegetable-form group of bottles and another likely candidate to be from the hand of the 'Castiglione of jade carving' (see discussion under Treasury 1, no. 62 and for another possible candidate, Treasury 1, no. 65). It is also linked through other examples to a possible imperial source, and perhaps the palace workshops, which is also endorsed by the slightly chalky white flaws around the shoulders which are in keeping with other known jade used in the palace (see discussion under Treasury 1, no. 149). In common with so many of the group it is not made to stand but to be held in the hand. Another possibility if it is from the imperial output, whether at Beijing and the palace or some other workshop, is that it was designed originally to have a stand. There is ample evidence to suggest that the rule at court was for wood, ivory, or some other material to be carved as a stand for most works of art and it is possible that this also extended to some snuff bottles. On the other hand, the snuff bottle may have been a general exception since it was made for use primarily in the hand, whereas vases, bowls, small sculptures, objects for the scholar's desk, etc. were all made to be viewed as independent sculpture. To whatever extent these other works of art might also be handled, they were mostly not designed to function primarily in the hand.
The asymmetrical double gourd is superbly well carved. The loosely tied sash, with its calligraphic ends seemingly whipped in the breeze, encloses a double-headed lingzhi which simply knocks all other lingzhi on jade snuff bottles into a cocked-hat for style, execution and sheer visual impact. Simply gazing at it seems to breathe a little of the immortality symbolism it carries into the viewer, and by carving it so brilliantly, the artist who made this bottle certainly achieved for himself a level of immortality. The rest of the carving lives up to the same level of mastery, and the leaves of the severed vine also have some relief and some incised skeletal details, linking the bottle to other similar works (see discussion under Treasury 1, no. 65).
The meaning of the sash (shoudai) denotes longevity (shou), while the knot (jie) can be interpreted as a homophone of another character meaning vast, so together the knot and the sash (jieshou) signify a very long life, which is in keeping with the symbolism of the lingzhi and, when added to the wish for ample progeny of the double gourd, suggests longevity and many offspring.
綬帶葫蘆拴靈芝之扁腹壺
閃玉；掏膛非常規整，雕結綬帶、拴著靈芝的葫蘆、葫蘆藤枝
或為御製品，1730～1800
高：6.73 厘米
口經/唇經：0.59/1.20 厘米
蓋：玻璃，銀蓋座
狀態敘述：作坊狀態，唯唇外沿有已磨圓的細小咬痕
有彼德小話 (Peter Suart) 水彩畫
來源：
Sydney L. Moss Ltd
C. S. Wilkinson
Hugh M. Moss Ltd (倫敦, 約 1963)
Cyril Green
莫士撝
Belfort 珍藏 (1986)
文獻：
The Connoisseur, 1966年2月, 頁 11
Chinese Snuff Bottles 2, 頁 27, 圖 1
Snuff Bottles of the Ch'ing Dynasty, 頁 100, 編號161
Jutheau 1980, 頁 112, 圖 4
Kleiner 1987, 編號32
伯樂珍藏海報 (1987), 彼德小話 (Peter Suart) 水彩畫復製
Treasury 1, 編號63
展覽：
香港藝術館，1978年10 月至12月
L'Arcade Chaumet, 巴黎, 1982年6月
Sydney L. Moss Ltd, 倫敦, 1987年10 月
Creditanstalt, 維也納, 1993年5月至6月
Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷, 1997年7月～11月
說明：
本壺是果實、蔬菜形煙壺傑作之一，品質極高，很可能是我們稱為"玉工之郎世寧"的造辨處玉作高手無名玉工所琢製。肩部像白堊的微瑕與其他若干宮廷玉器是一致的。宮廷的寶器常常帶木座或象牙座，這個煙顯然也要架子或座，雖然煙壺本質上是手持物，不一定有足，但將本壺安放在座上而擺在宮殿裏供皇家、大官欣賞，跟其他宮廷玉器的情況也是一致的。
雕呈的一莖靈芝有兩頭，獨特的樣式、精巧的雕琢，都讓別的靈芝大為遜色了。視之有紫芝可採三山近之感；玉工呢，的確是遺物後人守，修成垂不朽。葫蘆葉葉脈有的是陰線刻的，有的是浮雕的， 這和伯樂珍藏中另外一些軟玉煙壺相同。
Bonhams. Snuff Bottles from the Mary and George Bloch Collection: Part I, 28 May 2010 to 29 May 2010. JW Marriott Hotel www.bonhams.com
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) Concetto spaziale, Attese, 1966 & Concetto spaziale, 1954
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) Concetto spaziale, Attese. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2010
signed, titled and inscribed 'l. fontana/ATTESE/Concetto Spaziale Gimondi à conquistato la/maglia gialla' (on the reverse), waterpaint on canvas, 28 7/8 x 23¾in. (73.5 x 60.2cm.) Executed in 1965. Estimate £600,000 - £800,000 Price Realized £1,217,250 ($1,831,961)
Provenance: Stelio Tomei, New York.
Acquired by the present owner in the late 1970s.
Literature: E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogue raisonné des peintures, sculptures et environnements spatiaux, vol. II, Brussels 1974, no. 65 T 126 (illustrated, p. 167).
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogo generale, vol. II, Milan 1986, no. 65 T 126 (illustrated, p. 583).
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogo ragionato di sculture, dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. II, Milan 2006, no. 65 T 126 (illustrated, p. 768).
Notes: 'At a time when people were talking about planes (...) the plane of the surface, the plane of depth etc., making a hole was a radical gesture that broke the space of the picture and that said: after this we are free to do what we want. You cant confine the space of the picture to the limits of the canvas, but it has to be extended to the whole environment. I dont know how or in how many ways, because unfortunately I won't be alive in the year two thousand, but the important thing has been to testify to this need' (L. Fontana, quoted in D. Palazzoli, 'Intervista con Lucio Fontana in Bit, no. 5, Milan, October-November, 1967).
Lucio Fontana (1899-1968) Concetto spaziale. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd., 2010
signed and dated 'l.fontana '54' (on the reverse) oil and coloured glass stones on canvas, 21½ x 65in. (55 x 165cm.) Executed in 1954 Estimate £750,000 - £950,000 Unsold
Provenance: Studio Marconi, Milan.
Toninelli Arte Moderna, Milan.
Private Collection, Milan.
Collection Curco, Rome.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.
Literature: E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogue raisonné des peintures, sculptures et environnements spatiaux, vol. II, Brussels 1974, no. 54 P 21 (illustrated, p. 35).
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogo generale, vol. I, Milan 1986, no. 54 P 21 (illustrated, p. 127).
E. Crispolti, Lucio Fontana: catalogo ragionato di sculture dipinti, ambientazioni, vol. I, Milan 2006, no. 54 P 21 (illustrated, p. 270).
Exhibited: Milan, Galleria Medea, L'avventura spaziale di Lucio Fontana, October-November 1974.
Notes: Executed in 1954, Concetto spaziale is the third largest work in Lucio Fontana's revolutionary Pietre ('Stones') series. This work appears as an elegant, elongated frieze. Its surface sports a variety of textures and often earth-based colours, lending it an organic feel, the abstract forms of the composition revealing why Fontana occupied such an important position within the context of the Art Informel that was so important to the avant gardes in both the United States and Europe. At the same time, it recalls the Ceramiche which he had pioneered to such acclaim, the substantiality of the surface becoming reminiscent of clay and even of the Earth itself.
The organic palette and the variegated texture invoke nature, the primordial, and also ancient mark-making: the composition echoes the cave paintings in places such as Lascaux, those early traces of human activity. The paint has been applied in such a way that it fills the canvas with a sense of the artist's own gestures as he put brush to canvas. What marks Concetto spaziale out from the work of other Informel artists such as Burri, De Kooning or Dubuffet is the fact that our awareness of Fontana's own artistic activity is vividly augmented by the holes that punctuate the surface. The contrast between those punctures and the coloured pieces of glass, or 'stones' as Fontana referred to them, creates an intriguing interplay of space and of light. While Concetto spaziale has clearly disrupted the assumed two-dimensional nature of the picture plane by creating these voids and additions, he has also allowed the work to interact with its environment. The stones glisten, while the holes remain pools of darkness, of infinity, embedded in the surface. In this sense, Concetto spaziale pre-empts the Baroque nature of Fontana's subsequent Barocchi and in particular his famous 1961 series of Venice paintings.
Fontana had first made his great breakthrough, piercing the picture surface, in 1949 in a small group of works on linen paper. He soon saw the revolutionary potential of this idea and began to explore it in a range of works. The initial Buchi, or 'Holes', as the first series was known gradually evolved into the Pietri. The painterly surface in these works was more articulated and the holes embedded within it found their visual counterpoint in the addition of the gleaming stones. The painterly surface deliberately serves to highlight the very medium that Fontana was attacking, whose obsolescence he was trying to illustrate. As he explained, 'I make a hole in the canvas in order to leave behind the old pictorial formulae, the painting and the traditional view of art and I escape symbolically, but also materially, from the prison of the flat surface' (Fontana, quoted in T. Trini, 'The last interview given by Fontana', pp.34-36, W. Beeren & N. Serota (ed.), Lucio Fontana, exh.cat., Amsterdam & London 1988, p. 34). In Concetto spaziale, that escape is made all the more explicit by the emphasis on the surface which, through Fontana's use of the stones and the holes, has been surpassed.
Christie's. Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction. 30 June 2010. London, King Street www.christies.com
Trésors du coffre Vollard ont totalise 23 M€ @ Sotheby's Paris
Pablo Picasso (1881 - 1973)), Le Repas Frugal, eau-forte, 1904; planche : 46 x 37,7 cm ; 18 1/8 x 14¾ in. Estimation 180,000 - 300,000. Prix réalisé 720,750 € (880,439 $) à un collectionneur européen. Record pour une gravure de Picasso en France. photo Sotheby's
Paris – Sotheby’s a dispersé hier une collection dont l’histoire et le parcours sont certainement parmi les plus fascinants du marché de l’art. Composé de tableaux, de gravures, de livres, de manuscrits, de dessins et de photographies d’artistes-clés de l’avant-garde de la fin du XIXème et du début du XXème siècle, ce trésor, qui dormait dans un coffre de banque depuis des décennies, appartenait à Ambroise Vollard.
Les amateurs ont partagé activement le goût du premier grand marchand d’art moderne pour les arts graphiques et l’édition de gravures de Cézanne, Degas, Gauguin, Renoir, Mary Cassatt et Picasso : 1500 visiteurs pendant quatre jours d’exposition, près de 200 enchérisseurs du monde entier propulsant le produit de la vente au-dessus de son estimation haute.
Arbres à Collioure, oeuvre phare du coffre Vollard, un des plus beaux tableaux d’André Derain et du Fauvisme en général à être jamais présenté aux enchères, a été vendu 16,281,250 £ (19,521,241€), doublant ainsi le record de vente pour une oeuvre de l’artiste et de réaliser la plus haute enchère jamais réalisée pour une toile fauve.
Selon Samuel Valette, directeur du département d’Art Impressionniste & Moderne de Sotheby’s à Paris, « Après le record obtenu pour le Derain la semaine dernière, la vente d’aujourd’hui qui réunissait des oeuvres intimes de la collection Ambroise Vollard a dépassé nos prévisions et atteste de la forte demande du marché actuel pour les meilleures oeuvres toutes spécialités confondues. »
Une extraordinaire épreuve du Repas frugal de Pablo Picasso a obtenu la plus haute enchère de la soirée à 720.750 € (1904). Cinq enchérisseurs se sont disputés l’épreuve qu’Ambroise Vollard s’était imprimée pour sa collection personnelle, après avoir acheté à Picasso la plaque originale du Repas frugal.
Edgar Degas (1834 - 1917), La fête de la patronne, monotype avec rehauts d'encre noire, vers 1878-80, motif : 24,7 x 29,7 cm ; 9 3/4 x 11 5/8 in. Estimation 200,000—300,000 €. Prix réalisé 516,750 (631,241$) à un collectionneur français. photo Sotheby's
Un remarquable monotype d’Edgar Degas, La Fête de la patronne, exécuté vers 1878-79 a été disputé jusqu’à 516.750 €. Cette scène au style photographique, par l'organisation du noir et du blanc distribués en valeur plus qu'en trait, est le regard objectif, un peu détaché, sur 'celles qu'on n'épouse pas', des femmes au corps nu, sans réel visage auquel Degas « donne la dignité d’un bas-relief égyptien », selon le mot de Renoir.
Paul Gauguin (1848 - 1903), Trois têtes tahitiennes, monotype en ton bistre doublé sur une feuille de papier vergé, 26,5 x 21 cm ; 10 3/8 x 8 1/4 in. Estimation 100,000 - 150,000. Prix réalisé 312,750 (382,043 $) à un collectionneur français. photo Sotheby's
Le fantastique dessin empreinte, Trois têtes tahitiennes de Paul Gauguin a été adjugé 312.750 €. Cette oeuvre allie le délié d’un dessin à main levée à la vigueur expressive de la gravure sur bois, permettant à Gauguin de parvenir à une image d’un exotisme brut et d’un primitivisme poétique. Vollard avait choisi de la reproduire dans l’édition originale de son autobiographie Souvenirs d’un marchand de tableaux parue en 1937.
Man Ray (1890 - 1976), AUTOPORTRAIT SOLARISÉ, 1933 Tirage argentique, 24,1 x 16,6 cm. Estimation 60,000—80,000 €. Prix réalisé 168,750 (206,138 $) à un collectionneur européen. photo Sotheby's
Enfin, l’une des oeuvres les plus surprenants du coffre Vollard, l’autoportrait solarisé de Man Ray double à 168.750 € son estimation haute.
Selon Andrew Strauss, vice-président Sotheby’s France : « La vente de ce soir rendait hommage à Ambroise Vollard, son esprit visionnaire, ses certitudes et ses artistes. C’était une opportunité unique d’acquérir des oeuvres, provenant directement de la collection de ce marchand avant-gardiste, qui fut conservée à l’abri pendant 70 ans. Cette “capsule témoin” a attiré des enchères internationales, établissant de nouveaux records pour une gravure de Renoir, ainsi que de nombreuses enchères qui ont rendu hommage au père du marché de l’Art Impressionniste et Moderne”.
PARIS (AP).- The stash was hidden away in a Paris bank vault at the start of World War II and forgotten for decades. On Tuesday, the long-lost treasure trove of Renoirs, Cezannes, Degas, Gauguins and Picassos brought in €3.5 million ($4.3 million) at auction in Paris.
Sotheby's offering of 139 works amassed by visionary Paris art dealer Ambroise Vollard, who turned unknown artists into stars, was a sale art lovers had awaited for years, partly because of the collection's history and mystique.
An Edgar Degas brothel scene — a monotype of prostitutes popping Champagne and wearing little besides their stockings — sold for €516,750. A Pablo Picasso print of an emaciated couple drinking wine and eating bread brought the highest price of the night, €720,750.
Many of the works sold are prints and drawings. They are in pristine condition, kept safe from light and damage in the bank vault, said Andrew Strauss, vice president of Sotheby's Paris.
"In a way, people are buying directly from Vollard, one of the greatest dealers," he said.
The tale leading up to the auction contains many twists and turns — and unsolved mysteries.
Vollard died in a car crash in 1939, two months before World War II broke out. Some of his collection came into the hands of a young Yugoslav acquaintance named Erich Slomovic, in circumstances still unclear.
Slomovic sent some of the collection home to Yugoslavia in diplomatic suitcases, and many of those works are held today by the National Museum in Belgrade. He put others in a vault at Societe Generale bank in Paris.
Then, Slomovic, a Jew, was killed by the Nazis in 1942. The bank vault was forgotten until 1979, when clerks opened it up, hoping to sell some of the contents off to recoup unpaid storage fees.
A sale was planned at Paris' Drouot auction house in 1981 but was canceled by court order once Vollard's heirs contested the sale. After a lengthy legal battle, a French court granted a small fraction of the works to Slomovic's heirs and gave most to Vollard's heirs. The dealer's family handed their collection to Sotheby's for sale.
The highest-profile piece was already sold in London last week. The 1905 painting "Arbres a Collioure" (Trees in Collioure) by French artist Andre Derain went for nearly 16.3 million pounds (nearly €20 million.)
One of the highlights of Tuesday's sale was a Paul Cezanne oil portrait of his childhood friend, the writer Emile Zola. But because of an error in the bidding process, it didn't actually sell, Sotheby's said.
The portrait is rare. Cezanne destroyed most of his portraits of Zola "because he didn't think they were good enough," said Samuel Valette, Sotheby's head of Impressionist and modern art in Paris.
Zola, whose friendship with Cezanne later soured, complained in a letter about the painter's perfectionism: "Maybe Paul has the genius of a great painter, but he'll never have the ability to become one. The slightest obstacle drives him to despair." Associated Press writer Rachid Aouli in Paris contributed to this report. Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
An inscribed walnut-shell snuff bottle. Imperial, probably palace workshops, Beijing, Qianlong incised seal mark
An inscribed walnut-shell snuff bottle. Imperial, probably palace workshops, Beijing, Qianlong incised seal mark and of the period, 1736–1799. photo Bonhams
4.33cm high. Sold for HK$600,000
Treasury 7, no. 1517
刻銘胡桃核鼻煙壺
御製品，大概為宮廷作坊作，北京，乾隆御製款識，1736～1799
The Return
Walnut shell and wood; with no functional foot; carved on one main side with an illustration of Tao Qian's poetic composition, Home Again, with the poet walking away from the boat which has carried him home, gazing back at the boatman, as his wife and three children bow to greet him outside their country residence, at the garden gate of which a young servant awaits, and on the other main side with the entire text of Home Again engraved in regular script, one narrow-side rib engraved in seal script Qianlong nian zhi (Made during the Qianlong period), the neck and lip of wood extending down a little into the interior
Imperial, probably palace workshops, Beijing, 1736–1799
Height: 4.33 cm. (including original stopper)
Mouth: 0.57/0.82 cm
Stopper: jadeite, carved as a hand holding a peach, with integral collar
Condition: perfect condition; practically no wear from use.
Provenance: D. A. Ionides
Christie's, London, 12 and 13 June 1990, lot 527
Published:
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, no. 258
Kleiner 1995, no. 331
Chen Tao 2002, p. 65
Treasury 7, no. 1517
Exhibited: Hong Kong Museum of Art, March-June 1994
National Museum of Singapore, November 1994-January 1995
British Museum, London, June-October 1995
Israel Museum, Jerusalem, July-November 1997
Commentary: By far the most exciting imperial walnut-shell snuff bottle known, this so far transcends the humble nature of its material that no serious, scholarly collector would exchange it for far more valuable materials.
It is the largest walnut known among this miniature art form, so much so that it is no longer even close to miniature, but a normal sized snuff bottle. It also has a remarkably smooth surface for a walnut, although this varies with different types of nut, and with a nut this size there would have been plenty of room to reduce the worst of the naturally pitted surface, leaving only the deeper indentations, which the carver has then brilliantly incorporated into the illustration on one main side.
The carving is extraordinary, not only superbly achieved by a master of his carving tools but supremely artistic. The evocative scene is composed like a painting with a natural command of the balance between finely detailed areas and blank spaces; and between the horizontal, vertical and diagonal elements in which the figures strut upon their stage. The scene being played out illustrates the poignant moment when the reluctant official returns home to his family, preferring poverty to the enslavement of official duty and wealth.
And if this bounty of delights fails to fully convince you, it also bears, on one narrow side along the raised rib of the nut, a tiny, seal-script Qianlong reign mark that is of the finest type for such marks and unsurpassed.
Tao Qian (365 or 372 or 376–427) explained in his own words the situation behind the poem, in a preface dated to the eleventh month of 405 AD. Because he was poor and his fields could barely sustain his family, he took an official position thirty miles from his home. Unable to brook, as he said 'discipline or restraint' he was ashamed that he had compromised his principles, 'mortgaging himself to his mouth and belly.' A sister who died gave him the excuse to quit his post and return home after a mere eighty days in office. He determined never to do it again.
The poem reads:
To get out of this and go back home!
My fields and garden will be overgrown with weeds—I must go back.
It was my own doing that made my mind my body's slave
Why should I go on in melancholy and lonely grief?
I realize that there's no remedying the past
But I know that there's hope in the future.
After all I have not gone far on the wrong road
And I am aware that what I do today is right, yesterday wrong.
My boat rocks in the gentle breeze
Flap, flap, the wind blows my gown;
I ask a passerby about the road ahead,
Grudging the dimness of the light at dawn.
Then I catch sight of my cottage
Filled with joy I run.
The servant boy comes to welcome me
My little son waits at the door.
The three paths are almost obliterated
But pines and chrysanthemums are still here.
Leading the children by the hand I enter my house
Where there is a bottle filled with wine.
I draw the bottle to me and pour myself a cup;
Seeing the trees in the courtyard brings joy to my face.
I lean on the south window and let my pride expand,
I consider how easy it is to be content with a little space.
Every day I stroll in the garden for pleasure,
There is a gate there, but it is always shut.
Cane in hand I walk and rest
Occasionally raising my head to gaze into the distance.
The clouds aimlessly rise from the peaks,
The birds, weary of flying, know it is time to come home.
As the sun's rays grow dim and disappear from view
I walk around a lonely pine tree, stroking it.
Back home again!
May my friendships be broken off and my wanderings come to an end.
The world and I shall have nothing more to do with one another.
If I were again to go abroad, what should I seek?
Here I enjoy honest conversation with my family
And take pleasure in books and cither to dispel my worries.
The farmers tell me that now spring is here
There will be work to do in the west fields.
Sometimes I call for a covered cart
Sometimes I row a lonely boat
Following a deep gully through the still water
Or crossing the hill on a rugged path.
The trees put forth luxuriant foliage,
The spring begins to flow in a trickle.
I admire the seasonableness of nature
And am moved to think that my life will come to its close.
It is all over - So little time are we granted human form in the world!
Let us then follow the inclinations of the heart:
Where would we go that we are so agitated?
I have no desire for riches
And no expectation of Heaven.
Rather on some fine morning to walk alone
Now planting my staff to take up a hoe, or climbing the east hill and whistling long
Or composing verses beside the clear stream:
So I manage to accept my lot until the ultimate homecoming.
Rejoicing in Heaven's command, what is there to doubt?
(Tr. James Robert Hightower)
The stopper is far too ostentatious to be the original, which would have been a discreet one in another organic material, not a flashy, jadeite fist holding a peach. Such a stopper is rare, and quite delightful in its own right, and on the right bottle, perhaps a ruby fruit-form bottle, or some other naturalistic form, would be wonderful. It has been published with it twice, and so we have left it for the time being. The symbolic meaning, of course, is to clutch longevity, the peaches representing this popular desire.
僮僕歡迎，稚子候門
胡桃核；無足；壺身一面刻楷隸雜體陶淵明《歸去來辭》全文，另一面雕陶淵明棄舟登陸、一家人候迎的景況，題文後一棱脊上刻"乾隆年製"四字篆款，頸與唇為插進核內的木料部件。
御製品，大概為宮廷作坊作，北京，1736～1799
蓋高：4.33 厘米
口經/唇經：0.57/0.82 厘米
蓋：白底青的翠玉，雕拿著一個桃子的手，蓋、塞一體，原件
狀態敘述: 完整無缺，幾乎沒有磨耗
來源：
D. A. Ionides
佳士得，倫敦，1990年6月12、13日，拍賣品號257
文獻：
Kleiner, Yang, and Shangraw 1994, 編號258
Kleiner 1995, 編號 331
陳韜，《鑒識鼻煙壺》，頁 65
Treasury 7, 編號1517
展覽：
香港藝術館，1994年3 月～6月
National Museum of Singapore, 1994年11月～1995年1月
大英博物館, 倫敦, 1995年6月～10 月
Israel Museum, 耶路撒冷, 1997年7月～11月
說明：
在已知的胡桃核鼻煙壺中，這是最令人興奮的，材料簡陋而文化價值甚高，任何謹慎的、有學問的收藏家都會認為它和大多數材料較珍貴的煙壺不可同日而論矣。
這也是胡桃核鼻煙壺當中最大的，它並不是微小模型的，是煙壺普通的規模。因為核大，面層很平坦，或許也有刮削的地方，宜於刻題340字的賦文；同時匠工利用了坑坑窪窪的地方琢磨出情趣盎然的圖畫。工藝人的用意表現在線條的豎橫斜、布局的疏與密等等的對立結合。
《乾隆年製》四字篆款，字體結構嚴謹，蒼勁渾厚，清代煙壺篆款無出其右。
如此炫耀之蓋，大約不是原件。但它是罕見而悅目的，將它移置於紅寶石水果型或其他象形型的煙壺上，也許最適宜，可是因為這件煙壺已有兩次帶此蓋而發表，我們還是保留著吧。
Bonhams. Snuff Bottles from the Mary and George Bloch Collection: Part I, 28 May 2010 to 29 May 2010. JW Marriott Hotel www.bonhams.com
Edgard Maxence, Les Dernières fleurs du symbolisme @ Musée des beaux-arts de Nantes
Né à Nantes le 17 septembre 1871 dans une famille de propriétaires, Edgard Maxence grandit dans un univers où rien ne le prédestine à une vie d'artiste.
Rien ne permet de savoir, faute de documents, d'où vient la vocation de Maxence. On peut cependant penser que la proximité de sa mère, Estelle Boquien, avec le milieu culturel nantais est l'un des facteurs qui l'a mené vers la carrière artistique.
De plus au cours de sa scolarité à l'Externat des Enfants nantais, il suivit les cours de dessin de l'abbé Sotta (premier maître d'Élie Delaunay) qui a sans doute été à l'origine de sa vocation artistique.
C'est en 1891 que l'on retrouve la trace de Maxence, reçu au concours d'entrée à l'École des Beaux-arts de Paris. Il s'inscrit tout d'abord dans l'atelier d'Élie Delaunay puis, à la mort de ce dernier, dans celui de Gustave Moreau. La rencontre entre Maxence et Moreau est décisive pour l'artiste qui restera dans l'atelier de son maître jusqu'en 1896 et restera fidèle à ses enseignements jusqu'à sa mort.
Le parcours de Maxence à l'École des Beaux-arts est brillant: reçu Premier Logiste en 1893 puis premier prix de figure d'expression en 1894. Malgré tout, il est éliminé dès le premier tour du Prix de Rome en 1895; cet échec détermina certainement le chemin artistique qu'il choisit d'emprunter ensuite.
Très jeune Maxence se démarque de ses contemporains par son goût pour les portraits. A partir de 1893, il expose régulièrement au Salon des Artistes français et participe aux Salons Rose+Croix de 1895 à 1897.
Sa peinture est alors très liée au mouvement symboliste auquel il emprunte ses thèmes. Il choisit de s'inspirer des légendes bretonnes, de sujets ambigus et obscurs, de processions rêveuses, de visages oniriques…
Sa palette est variée: il utilise des rouges grenats, des verts émeraudes, des jaunes sourds. De plus, le médium l'intéressait particulièrement: il peignit avec de l'huile, de la cire, parfois les deux mêlées. La tempéra, la feuille d'or, la gouache et le fusain donnent un aspect singulier à ses oeuvres.
En 1900 il reçoit la médaille d'or de l'Exposition Universelle et est décoré de la Légion d'honneur. Pourtant après la guerre, il décide de s'orienter vers des thèmes plus rémunérateurs. Il poursuit alors une brillante carrière de portraitiste mondain, s'attachant également à des sujets plus spontanés comme les natures mortes ou les paysages.
L'exposition, regroupant une cinquantaine de peintures et de dessins appartenant à des collections publiques et privées européennes, se propose d'examiner l'oeuvre de Maxence dans sa diversité et de la replacer dans l'art de son temps.
Héritier de Gustave Moreau, ami des académiciens et artistes en vogue –comme Paul Chabas ou Henri Martin– Maxence sut aussi créer un style personnel qui reprit l'intérêt des Anglo-Saxons pour les légendes celtes et médiévales. Il fut ainsi sensible à l'art de Burne-Jones et de Rossetti, qu'il adapta selon sa fantaisie.
Sujets symbolistes, oeuvres religieuses et ésotériques, portraits, natures mortes et paysages sont présentés dans l'exposition. Entre le symbolisme et l'académisme, Maxence reste toute sa vie fidèle à son inspiration bretonne sans jamais se renier, ce qui le fit qualifier d' «archaïque moderne».
Cette exposition est coproduite avec le musée de la Chartreuse de Douai, où elle sera présentée du 16 octobre 2010 au 17 janvier 2011.
Projects 93: Dinh Q. Lê @ The Museum of Modern Art, New York
Dinh Q. Lê in collaboration with Tran Quoc Hai, Le Van Danh, Phu-Nam Thuc Ha, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen. Still from The Farmers and The Helicopters. 2006. Three-channel video (color, sound), 15 min., and helicopter. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the artist, Fund for the Twenty-First Century, and Committee on Media and Performance Art Funds. © 2010 Dinh Q. Lê. Courtesy the artist; P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York; Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica; and Elizabeth Leach Gallery.
NEW YORK, NY.- The Museum of Modern Art presents Projects 93: Dinh Q. Lê, the installation of Dinh Q. Lê’s (Vietnamese American, b. 1968) recently acquired work The Farmers and The Helicopters (2006), on view June 30, 2010, through January 24, 2011. The first Vietnamese artist to have a solo exhibition at MoMA, Lê creates work that frequently refers to the Vietnam War—known as the American War in his native country—and presents both sides of the conflict, informed by his own personal history. The installation, in two adjacent galleries, comprises a three-channel video and a helicopter that was constructed by hand from scrap parts by two Vietnamese men: Le Van Danh, a farmer, and Tran Quoc Hai, a self-taught mechanic. The video, made in collaboration with artists Phu-Nam Thuc Ha and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, interlaces interviews and personal recollections of the war by Vietnamese men and women with clips from American blockbuster films and documentaries made during the war. Projects 93: Dinh Q. Lê is organized by Klaus Biesenbach, Chief Curator at Large, The Museum of Modern Art, and Director, MoMA PS1, and Cara Starke, Assistant Curator, Department of Media and Performance Art, The Museum of Modern Art. The Elaine Dannheisser Projects series is coordinated by Kathy Halbreich, Associate Director, The Museum of Modern Art.
The helicopter played an important military role during the war and has become a resonant object for many Vietnamese. While many of the interviewees in the installation’s video relay childhood memories of the horrors associated with helicopters during the war, the helicopter-makers share their vision of this machine as a means to make a better life for the Vietnamese people and bring strength to their community. The collaboration between Lê and the other participants is an important part of The Farmers and The Helicopters, providing the work’s multilayered insight into the country’s complex associations with this charged object.
Lê, who lives and works in Ho Chi Minh City, received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1989, and in 1992 he received a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts in New York. His work has been shown at the Singapore Biennale, Singapore (2008); Bellevue Arts Museum, Bellevue, Washington (2007); Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea (2007); The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, Texas (2007); MoMA PS1, Long Island City, New York (2006); Asia Society, New York, New York (2005); Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy (2003); The RISD Museum of Art, Providence, Rhode Island (2002); and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California (2001).
