Christie's Online Magazine No.223

From: Christie's - Saturday May 30, 2020 10:44 am

Christie’s

Art stories to feed the mind and soul

‘Words have temperatures’ — the singular vision that inspired this trailblazing ‘text’ painting

A tale of two sales: Charles Dickens’ copy of ‘the first computer program’, and his desk

Ramble on… legendary graphic designer George Hardie on his iconic artwork for Led Zeppelin

The painted face that offers a glimpse of life and death in Egypt almost 2,000 years ago

Specks of lime green and flashes of pink — a game of tennis and the beginnings of abstraction

The genesis of The Star Spangled Banner — and a rare copy of the first newspaper to publish it

More stories

Editor’s picks

The crocodile was venerated in Egypt, and well-known to the Greeks and Romans. The carving on this yellow jasper ring dates to between the 2nd and 1st century BC. The crocodile’s scales are rendered by a series of dots, while wavy lines indicate water, from which rise lotus flowers and unopened buds

Estimate: $7,000-10,000
2-16 June, Online

Salerno, 1990 represents a turning point in the career of Andreas Gursky, when his work took on a more abstract quality. ‘By retreating further back from the subject and using a light, telephoto lens, the image becomes flatter, foreground and background merge into a single entity,’ he explained

Estimate: €7,000-9,000
until 11 June, Online

John Emms worked as a studio assistant to Frederic, Lord Leighton, before settling near the New Forest in the south of England. A keen hunstman with an affinity for horses and hounds, Emms had a sensitivity towards his subject matter that made works such as Two Hounds and a Terrier in a Kennel highly prized among the landed gentry

Estimate: $150,000-250,000
2-17 June, Online

This Attic black-figured amphora attributed to the Bateman Group was made around 2,500 years ago. The side you can see here depicts Achilles fighting with Memnon after the latter had slain Antilochus, the son of Nestor. Achilles eventually avenged the elderly Nestor, plunging his spear through Memnon’s heart

Estimate: $80,000-120,000
2-16 June, Online

Ed Ruscha, Annie, 1962. Estimate: $20,000,000-30,000,000. Offered in ONE on 10 July at Christie’s in New York. Artwork: © Ed Ruscha // Charles Dickens, Book Plate, 1850. Photograph by Herbert Watkins. Photo: Bridgeman Images // The original artwork for Led Zeppelin’s debut LP, George Hardie, 1969 (detail). Estimate: $20,000-30,000. Offered in The Open Book: Fine Travel, Americana, Literature and History in Print and Manuscript, 2-18 June 2020, Online // An Egyptian painted linen mummy shroud with a portrait of a woman. Estimate: $200,000-300,000. Offered in Ancient Art from the James and Marilyn Alsdorf Collection, 2-16 June 2020, Online // Théo van Rysselberghe, A Thuin ou La Partie de tennis, 1889. Estimate €2,000,000-3,000,0000. Offered in Art Impressionniste et Moderne on 4 June at Christie’s in Paris // BALTIMORE: FORT McHENRY The British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland, 13-14 September 1814, during the War of 1812. Contemporary aquatint by John Bower. Photo: Granger/Bridgeman Images

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Christie's Online Magazine No.223