283rd Preliminary report

283rd Sale – 27th March 2020

Fine Arts of the XV.-XX. centuries from collections and galleries

One Highlight of the 283th Sale on Friday, March 27th at K & K Auctions in Heidelberg is a crucifixion probably by a student of Dieric Bouts about 1480, with accopanying documents from 1938. The crucifixion scene, painted in oil on wood, shows kneeling Mary, John, Mary Magdalena and other persons in front of a wide landscape with a fortified city. According to Wolfgang Schöne, in: Dieric Bouts und seine Schule, Berlin 1938, it must be a fragment of Calvary, most probably by a student of Dirk Bouts, the so-called „Master of the Munich Capture“ (estimate: €22000-24000,-/ reserve price: € 6900,-)

Another unique artwork in the section of Old Masters is an oil painting of the workshop or periphery of Joos van Cleve (1485 – 1540/41) about 1520 with the presentation of Jesus at the Temple. It is a great example showing the influence of the Italian Renaissance on the art beyond the Alps. The scene depicts Joseph and Mary in the Temple in Jerusalem presenting the firstborn son to the priest Simeon. Here they encounter the elderly prophetess Anna. On the left the donators with their daughters. The oil painting on wood measuring 130 x 86 cm, is in good condition (estimate: 15000-18000,-/ reserve price: € 5500,-).

The same Electoral Palatinate collection yielded a pair of lion shaped candle sticks made of Veronese marble, North Italy, probably 16th/17th cent. (estimate: € 2500-3000,-/ reserve price: € 700,-), also an enthroned Madonna as „Sedes Sapientiae“, a wooden sculpture from 15th cent. Spain, which was bought at Lempertz in 1953, see 438th Sale, lot 168, 2.12.1953 (estimate: € 8000-9000,-/ reserve price: € 1900,-).

Two gilded platters are from the estate of the Elector Friedrich of Württemberg, Stuttgart about 1800 (estimate: € 2500-3000,-/ reserve price: € 900,-). Also coming from a noble estate are gold cuflinks with diamonds and saphires about 1850 made by the royal jeweler Wagner & Sohn, Berlin (estimate: € 400-600,-/ reserve price: € 300,-) as well as 8 silver plates and platters with the coat of arms of the Reischach family made by the royal jeweler Sick, Stgt. /Christofle/ Kirstein, Strasbourg dating 1800-1900 (estimates: € 1100-1800,-/ reserve prices: € 1200/ € 850,-).

There is plenty of beautiful 18th-20th century porcelains and china services by Meißen, Herend, Augarten, KPM, Wallendorf et al. The large service „Lotus“ designed by Björn Wiinblad for Rosenthal in blue and other Rosenthal designs by him and Bele Bachem as well as the “Bauhaus” cutlery 2500 WMF by Kurt Meyer about 1930 may be of interest for design collectors (estimate: € 250/ 300,-/ reserve price: € 20,-).

In the section glass a Dutch a winged chalice of the 17the cent. (estimate: € 1000-1500,-/ reserve price: € 350,-) and a tall Diabolo vase with irises by Emile Gallé, Nancy about 1910 (estimate: € 2500-3000,-/ reserve price: € 1500,-) is worth mentioning.

A gallery liquidation and several private collections yielded art of the 20. cent.: among paintings Rudi Baerwind‘s „Jazz“, Paris 1963, Bernd Berner, Leon A. Biju, Alexander von Fäckl, Josef Istler, Emil Kies, Wolfgang Lettl, Laszlo Mednyánszky, Samuel Mützner, Lothar Quinte, Friedrich Schiemann, Giulio Turcato et al, among prints Elvira Bach, Georg Baselitz, Hans Bellmer, several Josef Beuys‘ works, Agostino Bonalumi, Marc Chagall, Salvador Dali, Max Ernst, Ernst Fuchs, Ruprecht Geiger, Christian Kruck, Georg Karl Pfahler, Niki de Saint Phalle, Pablo Picasso‘s „Raphaël et la Fornarina XXII“, etching from 1968 (estimate: 4000-4500,-/ reserve price: € 1900,-), Mel Ramos, several James Rizzis, many Günther Ueckers, to mention one: „moving nail panel“, large imprint from 1972, Nr. XV/XV, are represented. Among these, Emil Schumacher’s informal- figurative ceramical painting on volcanic stone from 1994 stands out (estimate: € 9000-10000,-/ reserve price: € 3800,-).

There are many modern sculptures on this sale, including Otmar Alt, a tall „Woman combing her hair“, a posthumous casting after Alexander Archipenko (103 cm), Rudolf Hausner, August Hudler, Franz Iffland, Viktor Roman, Heinz Warnecke et al. In the section of Asian art several Tibetan 18th cent. Thangkas, incl. a Thangka with Tsongkhapa, with Karmapa, with Padmasambhava (Guru Rinpoche), with Heruka Hayagriva and with Buddha Shakyamuni (estimates: € 900/1500,- / reserve price: € 190-500,-) are definite highlights. There is a beautiful red ink painting of a bamboo by Puru, also called Pu Xinyu, 1896 – 1963, an important Chinese painter and calligrapher, member of the Mandschu-Aisin-Gioro clan, the sovereigns of the Qing Dynasty (estimate: € 5000-6000,-/ reserve price: € 2500,-). Interesting for numismatics and quite rare is the Da Ming Baochao, that is, 1 Kuan, one of the earliest pieces of paper money from the Ming Period, 1368 – 1399 (estimate: 1500-2500,- / reserve price: € 900,-).

Sale is on March 27th, 2020. The catalogue will be online on March 6th, 2020. The preview will be from March 21 – 26, 20120.