How does an auction house celebrate its 70th birthday? With an auction, of course.
The Scandinavian auction house Bruun Rasmussen has an exciting array of treasures in its forthcoming 70th-anniversary sales, including a piece of Russian-Danish royal history.
While this royal tiara is being auctioned off on 30 November, the celebrations don’t end here: their other sales have many exciting items up for grabs, including those in ‘Painting & Sculptures’ on 4 December and ‘Design’ on 6 December.
The story about ‘The Russian Sapphire Tiara’ begins all the way back in the spring of 1898, where Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin married the Danish Prince Christian in Cannes. In 1912, they were proclaimed Queen Alexandrine and King Christian X of Denmark. At their wedding in 1898, one of their many presents was this Russian Sapphire Tiara.
It was given to the future Queen of Denmark by Tsar Nikolai II and Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia. The tiara was originally a so-called ‘combination piece’, where the different parts could be used individually. In 1933, the Danish royal couple passed on the jewellery to their daughter-in-law Hereditary Princess Caroline-Mathilde at her wedding to their youngest son Hereditary Prince Knud at the Fredensborg Palace Chapel. After the Hereditary Princess' death in 1995, the tiara was given to her son Count Christian of Rosenborg and his family, where it has been until today.
The artistic giant Willem de Kooning is among the guests at Bruun Rasmussen’s birthday festivities with one of his vellum drawings from the early 1970s.
The work is a reinterpretation of de Kooning’s painting The Dancer from 1972. After the featured work was completed, it was subsequently exhibited at several museums and galleries in the United States.
"It is unusual to see a work by Willem de Kooning at an auction in Denmark. He is one of the world's most expensive artists on the auction market, and with this vellum drawing we dive into a truly interesting and lesser-known side of his artistic oeuvre," explains Niels Raben, Head of Bruun Rasmussen's Department of Modern Art.
Another exquisite artwork up for sale in this large sculptural stoneware vase, modelled in a budded and sprouting style, by Danish ceramicist Axel Salto. The work is decorated with green and brown glaze with blue element.
Salto (1889-1961) studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts from 1909 to 1914 under Peter Rostrup Bøyesen, and was the author and founder of the art magazine Klingen (1917-1919). Throughout the 1920s, Salto’s artistic focus shifted from painting to ceramics and he made about 3,000 different stoneware works from 1923 to 1950.
Finally, we’d be remiss to mention a design piece at Bruun Rasmussen’s auction festivities. The present lot is a pair of freestanding mahogany addition sofa units by Kaare Klint (1888-1954). The sofas have been upholstered with patinated Niger leather and fitted with leather-covered buttons; they were designed in 1933 and made in the 1960s by Rud. Rasmussen Cabinetmakers.
As another consequence to its birthday, the Scandinavian auction house has announced a new auction category: ‘Direct Auction’.
Direct Auction takes place online and uses the Bruun Rasmussen experts and advice for valuing and describing the lots for sale; however, unlike their Live Auctions and Online Auctions, it will be the seller who takes pictures of the item(s) and send them directly to the buyer
You can of course join in on the birthday fun, too: shop the entire Bruun Rasmussen catalogue directly on Barnebys.
