Christie's Online Magazine No.249

From: Christie's - Saturday Jan 09, 2021 11:45 am

Christie’s

Art stories to feed the mind and soul

How Susan and John Gutfreund created ‘the most beautifully opulent home in Manhattan’

From the archives: the ex-PoW who bought a Leica and shot Picasso with his first roll of film

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A portrait of Voltaire’s publisher by Jean-Etienne Liotard — kept by his descendants for 250 years

‘Salvaging American history’ — the passion that inspired the Siegmund collection of folk art

How Clementine Hunter’s art won her admirers ranging from Joan Rivers to Oprah Winfrey

‘People trust our eye’: the family firm that has supplied museums and royal collectors for 75 years

Editor’s picks

This 18th-century Venetian painting shows a scene from the city’s carnival games, in which the black-capped Nicolotti competed with the red-capped Castellani to perform feats of strength. Here the Nicolotti form a towering human pyramid, with the winged figure of Fame crowning the man at the top

Estimate: $10,000-15,000
26 January, New York

A model of versatility, this Regency mahogany table is on castors so that it can be wheeled out when needed. It has a backgammon board inside, and its top panel, inlaid with a chess board, can be flipped over for use as a writing desk when the games are finished

Estimate: £5,000-8,000
19 January, London

Antoine-Louis Barye (1796-1875) spent many an hour in the menagerie at the Jardin des Plantes in Paris, sketching the daily life of its exotic inhabitants. This meditative study of a seated leopard is similar to others by the artist in the Louvre and the Petit Palais

Estimate: $3,000-5,000
14-28 January, Online

Elaborately styled as a book, with ridged spine, painted page edges and moulded clasps, this delftware object is thought to have been used as a hand-warmer. An opening in the top allowed it to be filled with hot water, so it could be carried around to keep chills at bay

Estimate: $7,000-10,000
21 January, New York

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John and Susan Gutfreund attend the Citizens Committee for New York Gala at the Waldorf Hotel, New York, February 1988. Photo: Ron Galella/Getty Images // Pablo Picasso photographed with La Chèvre (The Goat), 1950. Photo: © John Stewart. Artwork: © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2021 // Clementine Hunter on the front porch of her home at Melrose, Louisiana, circa 1975. Photograph by Thomas Whitehead // Harry, Bernard, Carole and Guy Apter in the 1980s. Courtesy of Apter-Fredericks