Christie's Online Magazine No.287

From: Christie's - Saturday Nov 27, 2021 04:05 pm

Christie’s

El Greco restitution, Richter and Chu Teh-Chun, Xmas gift guide, Harry Bertoia sculpture, Innovative watchmakers, Sherry, and more |

How these Old Master works seized by the Gestapo were restituted some six decades later

So how do you play poker on a mechanical watch? Today’s most innovative watchmaking brands

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When art meets design: Harry Bertoia sculptures treasured by his friend Florence Knoll Bassett

Sherry: all you need to know about Oloroso, Amontillado, the finer points of Fino — and flor

Masters of invention: how this Chu Teh-Chun canvas speaks to the vision of Gerhard Richter

Our Christmas gift guide: jewels, handbags, whisky, watches and more, available only at Christie’s

More stories

Editor’s picks

Currently the subject of an exhibition at Moscow’s New Tretyakov Gallery, Iurii Pimenov was one of Soviet Russia’s foremost artists. This magically luminous set design, showing a drawing room open to the night sky, was painted in 1946 for an unrealised production of La Dame aux Camélias

Estimate: £80,000-120,000
29 November, London

Jean Schlumberger was one of only four Tiffany & Co. designers entitled to sign their work. Like this gold and platinum ibex brooch, set with diamonds and a ruby, much of his jewellery was inspired by nature, attracting star clients such as Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn and Elizabeth Taylor

Estimate: $4,000-6,000
until 7 December, Online

In this 2007 work, I Am a Painter, Liu Ye presents his version of Miffy, the storybook rabbit created by Dick Bruna. ‘Take a closer look at Miffy,’ the artist once said. ‘She is smart, sophisticated, kind and witty… Miffy is like a self-portrait of mine, so mysterious’

Estimate: HK$3,500,000-5,500,000
2 December, Hong Kong

It may have been made in 1982, but this anthropomorphic cabinet and desk has its origins in the 16th century. Marcello Mariotti based his design for the piece — one of a limited edition of nine — on drawings by the Genoese Mannerist master Luca Cambiaso (1527-1585)

Estimate: €10,000-15,000
1 December, Paris

From left: Harry Bertoia (1915-1978), Untitled (Bush), circa 1965. 14¾ in (36.5 cm) high, 16 in (40.6 cm) diameter. Estimate: $50,000-70,000. Untitled (Bush), circa 1965. 13½ in (34.4 cm) high, 12½ in (31.8 cm) diameter. Estimate: $40,000-60,000. Untitled (Bush), circa 1965. 28½ in (72.4 cm) high, 14 in (35.6 cm) diameter. Estimate: $60,000-80,000. Untitled (Multiplane Construction), circa 1965. 34¾ in (88.3 cm) x 20½ in (52.1 cm) x 9 in (22.9 cm). Estimate: $60,000-80,000. Untitled (Bush), circa 1965. 8 in (20.3 cm) high, 8 in (20.3 cm) diameter. Estimate: $20,000-30,000. All lots offered in Design on 9 December 2021 at Christie’s in New York // Jerez landscape. Photo: F.J. Jimenez/Getty Image // Chu Teh-Chun (1920-2014), Embrasement (A Blazing Area), painted in 1978-1979 (detail). Oil on canvas. 195 x 130 cm (76 x 51⅕ in). Estimate: HK$28,000,000–40,000,000. Offered in the 20th/21st Century Art Evening Sale: Worlds in a Hand on 1 December 2021 at Christie’s in Hong Kong

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Christie's Online Magazine No.287