Royal Selection at the Tercentenary Auction: Antiques, Furniture, and Jewellery on 18th October 2007

Italian Baroque escritoire

Studio of Tilman Riemenschneider

Armillary sphere

Pair of lidded goblets

Pendant earclips with brilliants and emeralds

In its jubilee year, celebrating the 300th anniversary of its foundation, the Vienna Dorotheum will soon host a third round of major tercentenary auctions: following the auction of old masters on 16th October, the 18th October 2007 will feature another inclusive tercentenary auction of antiques, furniture, and jewellery. The experts in charge of the different categories have selected a range of particularly prominent lots that will jointly be presented in the setting of the great Franz Joseph Hall at the Palais Dorotheum. (Part IV of the Tercentenary Auctions, with a focus on modern art, is set to follow in the period between 26th and 30th November 2007).

A tangle of intertwined gilt serpents, mascaron ornaments, and stars forms a splendidly fitting frame for the prominent Viennese Biedermeier dressing table mirror (ca. 1820, 24.000 – 28.000 €) starring in the furniture selection.  An exquisite rosewood embroidery frame, a so-called metier à broder, by Jean Francois Oeben is decorated with floral intarsia-work, and will no doubt be snapped up by the art market. This unusual example of the great ebonist's handiwork demonstrates the strong desire for perfect proportions and the consummate craftsmanship of its maker (7.000 - 8.000 €). Aside from its elegant lines, the delicate lady's secretaire from 19th century France also captivates us with its elaborate brass and tortoiseshell ornaments, its gilt fittings, and not least with its very fine state of preservation (13.000 - 15.000 €). Owing to its exceptional quality an Italian Baroque escritoire of comparable quality has been valued at € 30.000 - 40.000 by our experts. A highly decorative Baroque table is strongly reminiscent of the workmanship of the Italian wood-sculptor Giovanni Giuliani, who is known to have been active in Vienna (8.000 - 10.000 €).

The sculpture selection on this occasion includes, among many other objects, a historically significant French Madonna with the Christ Child created around 1330-40; the oakwood sculpture is of museum quality and comes from north-eastern Alsace-Lorraine (56.000 - 60.000 €). Attributed to the Spaniard Alonso Berruguete, a 16th century limewood relief depicts the mystical wedding of Joseph and Mary (30.000 - 35.000 €); while another prominent relief from the same period, the work of Hans Thomann and studio, depicts St Anne, the Madonna and the Christ Child together with St Agnes (16th Cent., 40.000 - 50.000 €). A gentle limewood Madonna from the studio of Tilman Riemenschneider, around 1520, is portrayed with solemn features and holding the Christ Child in graceful and delicately carved hands, her garments elaborately draped in the style of Riemenschneider (80.000 - 120.000 €). Few will fail to be charmed by a Christ Child figure, carved from limewood by Martin Zürn around 1635-40 (28.000 - 30.000 €).

The wondrous world of science contributes a highly unusual armillary sphere by Christian Carl Schindler used to represent the movement of celestial bodies during the period around 1710 (50.000 – 80.000 €).
Among the highlights there are two outstanding works by Balthasar Wigand, the most important miniaturist at the time of the Congress of Vienna: a letter casket with miniature views of Vienna, Baden, and Laxenburg and a gouache of the Café in the Prater (€ 20,000 - 30,000, € 2,000 – 3,000). Another item exemplifying the taste of the Biedermeier is a lamp shade with a view of St. Charles's Church in Vienna (€ 8,000-14,000).                      

In the antique category our attention is caught by a very elegant Viennese Biedermeier lantern clock with one-year power reserve (marked Jakob Hitzinger, 40.000 – 50.000 €). A salon cuckoo clock formerly in the possession of Crown Prince Rudolf and dating to ca. 1880 tells its own remarkable story (5.000 - 7.000 €): While taking the waters in the Aussee Region, Gertrude Maria Theresia Sauer, the 23-year old daughter of a civil servant, fell in love with the k & k officer Karl Adolf Baar. It was love at first sight for both of them and they decided to marry, with the father of the bride obliged to post a significant sum as security for the groom's officer rank.  The groom's mother, lady-in-waiting at court, had received the above clock – once hanging in the rooms of the young Crown Prince Rudolf – in recognition of her loyal services. Now it became a wedding present for the loving couple. Much later, the present consignor cared for the former bride until her death.

The glass and porcelain selection of this tercentenary auction also basks in royal radiance: originally presented as a gift by Princess Stephanie and her husband Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria to King Leopold II of Belgium, a prominent pair of lidded goblets features King Leopold II coat-of-arms and is etched with gorgon- and devil heads, canopy and imperial crown, all heightened with gilt. The splendid set is of J. L. Lobmeyr workmanship and was made in 1885 based on a design by Josef Ritter von Storck (45.000 - 80.000 €). Another rare collector's item, the Böttger teapot with silver décor, and decorated with landscapes, shepherds and shepherdesses, is a particularly early Meissen piece dating to ca. 1720 (20.000 - 30.000 €). Joseph Fröhlich was the last permanently employed Dresden court jester and as such his rendition in Meissen porcelain after a ca. 1736 model by J.J. Kändler is among the most popular and well-known (20.000 - 40.000 €). One of the shiniest highlights of the current selection is the unique picture plate „Gemma Augustea“, depicting the apotheoses of Augustus, created at the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in 1815 by Lorenz Herr, and coming up for auction at 20.000 - 35.000 Euro. Among a superb range of cups from the same manufactory, a veduta cup with veduta saucer dating to 1818 deserves our particular attention: the cup is decorated with the polychrome painted view of „la Cathrédrale de St. Etienne, Vienne“, the saucer shows the same gilt décor pattern and bears the view „La ville de Vienne: Prise du chateau du Belvedere“ (9.500 - 15.000 €). A sensational K.P.M. lidded sugar bowl decorated with Höroldt chinoiserie shows a gilt painted garden landscape at tea time; it is valued at 15.000 - 25.000 Euro. Du Paquier, among many other fine pieces, contributes an exquisite Dutch vase of ca. 1730 with three apertures, the painted decoration of insects, caterpillars, and a snail is based on designs by Georg Hofnagel  (7.500 - 12.000 €).

The day will close with a high-carat selection of sparkling jewellery. One such exquisite piece from the 1st third of the 20th century, a pair of 18-carat white-gold ear screws, each with one old-cut brilliant in hand-made settings and weighing a total of ca. 10 carat, is valued at 40.000 - 60.000 Euro. Another intricate jewel of the same period, a platinum and white-gold brooch with old-cut brilliants, octagonal- and baguette-cut diamonds, diamond tears, weighing a total of ca. 9 carat, as well as some cultured pearls, can also be used as a double clip (10.000 - 16.000 €). The 18-carat white-gold pendant earclips with brilliants (ca. 2,20 carat), faceted emerald briolettes, and engraved emeralds with a total weight of ca. 47 carat is an especially eye-catching piece, perfect if one wants to make a grand entry (11.000 - 17.000 €). Finally, fans of contemporary jewellery design will have a wide choice of attractive and unusual rings, e.g. by Georg Spreng or Manfred Seitner (Schullin).

	Italian Baroque escritoire
	Studio of Tilman Riemenschneider
	Armillary sphere
	Pair of lidded goblets
	Pendant earclips with brilliants and emeralds
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