Christie's Online Magazine No.285

From: Christie's - Saturday Nov 13, 2021 04:04 pm

Christie’s

20/21 Evening Sales top $970m, When Tolstoy met Gorky, Chinese paintings, Giacomo Balla, An emperor’s carpet, Century-old whisky, and more |

20th/21st Century Evening Sales top $970m, led by Van Gogh, Cézanne and Basquiat

One of only 16 complete Ming dragon carpets known to exist — and why it used to be red

‘

War or peace? What happened when Tolstoy the aristocrat met Gorky the young revolutionary

Visions of the Futurist: how Giacomo Balla channelled a love of movement and machinery

The collector who followed ‘serendipity’ to acquire the very best classical Chinese paintings

Springbank 1919: distilled 102 years ago in what was then the ‘Whisky Capital of the World’

More stories

Editor’s picks

The Plough and the Moon, painted in 1940 by George Copeland Ault, shows the surreal influence of Giorgio de Chirico. Ault lived in Woodstock, New York, but here he imagines an eerie desert landscape. ‘I like deserts,’ he once said. ‘There are no human beings to disturb and annoy; only art is left’

Estimate: $120,000-180,000
18 November, New York

Henry Graves Jr. was arguably the most important and prolific watch collector of the 20th century. True to his philosophy — ‘If it’s not the best, don’t bother’ — this gold split-seconds Patek Philippe wristwatch, from 1946, is of outstanding quality, with a dial featuring applied Breguet gold numerals

Estimate: HK$12,000,000-24,000,000
27 November, Hong Kong

Director Alejandro Jodorowsky set out in the early 1970s to make a film of Frank Herbert’s sci-fi novel Dune, starring Mick Jagger, Orson Welles and Salvador Dalí. Sadly, the movie was never made (though Dune has since been filmed twice), but this promotional book is a rare memento of the project

Estimate: €25,000-35,000
22 November, Paris

Of all the materials Hermès handbags are made of, perhaps the most unexpected is bog oak. This ‘Kellywood’ bag is crafted from that material, with Barénia leather details and palladium fittings. To add richness of texture and visual appeal, the oak is inlaid with a chevron pattern in aluminium

Estimate: £60,000-80,000
until 23 November, Online

Leo Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky, 1900. Photo: Bridgeman Images // Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), Cantano i tronchi, 1906. Pastel on paper. 100 x 126.5 cm. Estimate: €80,000-120,000 / Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), Complesso plastico di frastuono + velocità (Linea di velocità). Steel. 51 x 59 x 9 cm. Estimate: €40,000-60,000 / Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), Farfalle in movimento e fiori futuristi, circa 1924-25. Mixed media on tapestry. 219 x 80.9 cm. Estimate: €100,000-150,000 / Giacomo Balla (1871-1958), Velocità astratta + paesaggio, 1914. Pastel on paper. 49.6 x 69.2 cm. Estimate: €70,000-100,000. Offered in the 20th/21st Century Milan Evening Sale on 16 November 2021 at Christie’s in Milan // Campbeltown. Photo: © Quintin Lake

Christie's Newsletters

Christie's Online Magazine No.285