The autumn season at the Lempertz auction house in Cologne offers art lovers and collectors a series of unmissable events. From 20 to 22 November, the programme opens with a rich focus on art and decorative arts from past centuries. Below is a selection of the most significant pieces.
The auctions begin on 20 November at 2 p.m. with the Jewellery & Watches sale.
Leading the catalogue is a unique piece by Hemmerle: a sparkling cocktail brooch featuring a naturalistic floral design. Crafted in white gold and oxidised sterling silver, it is entirely set with 538 diamonds totalling 38.83 carats, in old and transitional cuts. Although dating from 2004, the brooch exudes a vintage charm.
Also among the highlights are exquisite coloured gemstones: a ring set with a refined 10.511-carat Madagascar sapphire, and a Rivière-style diamond necklace whose pendant features a rubellite of approximately 20.26 carats.
The sale continues on 21 November at 11 a.m. with the Silver, Wunderkammer, Furniture auction. The catalogue includes numerous treasures of decorative art, among them an important Neapolitan tureen made around 1720 by Geronimo di Benedetto, and a large Cannes silver cutlery service produced around 2010 after a 1928 design by Jean-Emile Puiforcat.
Of particular interest is an extraordinary double-bowl burlwood cup, made around 1500 in southern Germany or Switzerland. The two bowls, carved from Swiss pine, are adorned with mounts in fire-gilt copper, silver and enamel. Especially striking is the handle, shaped like a Gothic bay window with two small turrets and finely incised windows and roof tiles. The cup once belonged to the lawyer and local politician Walter von Pannewitz, who auctioned his prestigious decorative arts collection in 1905.
In the afternoon, from 4 p.m. onwards, the sale of ceramics and porcelain from European private collections will commence.
Anyone wishing to emulate the State Art Collections of Dresden or the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam should not miss this Meissen flute vase with chinoiserie decoration, as both institutions hold comparable examples. What makes this particular piece especially rare is the presence of chinoiserie scenes on both sides: in most cases, the reverse is decorated with a simple floral bouquet. The decoration, dating from around 1730–35, is attributed to the porcelain painter Johann Ehrenfried Stadler.
On 22 November, the spotlight shifts entirely to Old Masters & 19th Century Art, offered in two sessions (11 a.m. and 4 p.m.).
Among the highlights is Head of an Old Man by the Venetian Rococo painter Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. The bearded figure in oriental dress recalls a group of related works known as “philosophers’ portraits”, now housed in the Art Institute of Chicago, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Städel Museum and the Pinacoteca Malaspina. Although the origins of the series remain unclear, Tiepolo appears here to be continuing the tradition of the tronies, particularly popular in the seventeenth-century Netherlands.
Also appearing in the sale is a still life by Fede Galizia, the Milanese painter born in 1578. Her Still Life with Peaches and Grapes, a work from her late period, demonstrates her exceptional naturalistic skill. The daughter of a painter, Galizia was already an esteemed portraitist by the age of twenty, yet she achieved equally remarkable results in still-life painting, as this composition clearly shows.
Also worthy of mention is The Celebration of Herod (1611) by Frans Francken the Younger, depicting the New Testament episode in which Salome requests the head of John the Baptist. At the centre of the painting is a lavishly set table bearing the saint’s severed head alongside various delicacies; in the upper left corner, the moments preceding the execution are depicted.
The auctions will take place from 20 to 22 November at Lempertz, Neumarkt 3, Cologne. The exhibition will be open to the public from 16 November, while a selection of works will be on display in Munich on 10 and 11 November.
Another highlight of the season is the My Choice auction, organised to mark Henrik Hanstein’s 50th anniversary at the helm of the auction house. It will feature fifty carefully selected works spanning a range of periods.
