Christie's Online Magazine No.288

From: Christie's - Saturday Dec 04, 2021 04:04 pm

Christie’s

Darwin’s microscope, Guitars and cars from Nile Rodgers, Wikipedia goes NFT, A cocktail bible, Albrecht Dürer, Design classics, and more |

The origin of a naturalist: was this the microscope that inspired Charles Darwin’s calling in life?

Good times: Nile Rodgers of CHIC reflects on his guitars — and why he’s auctioning them

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How to make a Thistle: just one of 750 cocktails from a first edition of the bartender’s bible

Why Albrecht Dürer’s travels — from Brussels to Bruges to Venice — changed Western art

At your service: how our design specialists can help you acquire a Perriand, a Royère or a Lalanne

‘Hello, World!’ — Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales on offering his first ever edit to the site as an NFT

More stories

Editor’s picks

This portrait of Eleanor Anne Porden, the first wife of Arctic explorer Sir John Franklin, is by her friend Maria Flaxman (1768-1833). Both were women of accomplishment: Flaxman exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1780 to 1819, and Porden was a noted Romantic poet — hence the quill in her hand

Estimate: £50,000-80,000
until 8 December, Online

Two early Walt Disney movies — Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Pinocchio (1940) — are celebrated in this Cartier charm bracelet. Featuring characters from both films in gold and coloured enamel, it was a gift from Herman ‘Kay’ Kamen, Disney’s merchandising guru in the 1930s and 1940s

Estimate: $40,000-60,000
8 December, New York

The Swedish designer Mats Theselius is known for eye-catching furniture such as this pair of armchairs from 1991. What is most striking is how they combine a modern, industrial aesthetic with the warmth of age-old natural materials, being made of steel, with elk-leather upholstery and beech armrests

Estimate: £4,000-6,000
until 9 December, Online

To those of us who expect objects from antiquity to come in marble, gold or bronze, ancient glass can seem like a miracle of survival. This Roman glass bowl is a wonderfully delicate example. Tinted pale blue and ‘pillar-moulded’ with ribs, it is about 2,000 years old

Estimate: £4,000-6,000
8 December, London

Nile Rodgers performing with CHIC at Øyafestivalen in Norway, 2015. Photo: Gonzales Photo/Alamy Stock Photo // François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008), Carpe d'Or, 1987. Gold leaf, resin. 12 x 22½ x 4½ in (30.5 x 57.1 x 12 cm). Produced by Artcurial, Paris. Estimate: $30,000-50,000 / François-Xavier Lalanne (1927-2008), Moutons de Laine, sheep and two ottomans, 1969-1971. Sheep: 35 x 20 x 38 in (89 x 50.8 x 96.5 cm). Each ottoman: 22½ x 19 x 31 in (57 x 48.3 x 78.7 cm). Estimate: $800,000-1,200,000 / Jean Royère (1902-1981), rare Etoile desk, c. 1948. 28½ x 71 x 29 in (72.4 x 180.4 x 73.7 cm). Estimate: $150,000-200,000 / Jean Royère (1902-1981), Ours Polaire sofa and armchair, circa 1950. Painted beech, velvet upholstery. Sofa: 31½ x 89 x 50 in (80 x 226 x 127 cm). Armchair (not shown): 29 x 38½ x 37 in (73.7 x 97.8 x 94 cm). Estimate: $800,000-1,200,000. All offered in Design on 9 December 2021 at Christie’s in New York

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Christie's Online Magazine No.288