A splendid baroque cabinet at the top
The top lot of the auction is a rare, splendid Frankfurt Baroque cabinet, which due to its signed parallel example in Waddesdon Manor, can be attributed to the Master Schilling. The fine inlay design and the particularly beautifully carved capitels are very impressive. (lot 1159, 150/200.000).
The Sansovino frame, illustrated in the large standard work from Lodi/Montanari, matches the quality of the examples exhibited this summer in the London National Gallery. Although named after Jacopo Sansovino, the exhibition proposed Alessandro Vittoria (1525 – 1608), the most talented sculptor in Sansovino's workshop, as the artist responsible for this ornamental design (lot 1096, 30/40.000). An exceptional curiosity art object is a lightly convex enamel on copper portrait of August II of Saxony. Attributed to Georg Friedrich Dinglinger, the valuable ornate frame is set with river pearls and emeralds (lot 1134, 20/25.000). A highly unusual instrument is displayed on the cover of the auction catalogue: a fortepiano from Anton Walter, Vienna. Instruments from the workshop are rarely offered on the market, and this example offers an illustrious provenance also: it was once owned by Marchesa Margherita Taliani de Marchio, Arch Duchess of Austria-Tuscany (1894 - 1986), daughter of Arch Duke Leopold Salvator of Austria-Tuscany and the Blanca de Bourbon, and infantin of Spain (lot 1188, 30/40.000).
The selection of Berlin porcelain offered for sale is particularly unusual. It includes two large ice boxes for cooling caviar, and parts of a dinner service, a gift from King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia to his daughter Charlotte on the occasion of her marriage to the Grand Duke Nikolaus from the house of Romanow-Holstein-Gottorp (lot 1076, 30/40.000). From German noble property is a collection of Meißen animals, which stand out not only for their quality, but also their exceptional condition. The highlight is a rare large pair of parrots (lot 987, 40/50.000). Worth mentioning also is the 74-piece porcelain collection of Julius Rüber-Suter, who began his collection of early Meisen and Sèvres porcelain in the 1970s (lot 886-959, estimates up to 3.000).
In the area of modern decorative arts, a rare large carpet by Otto Eckmann catches the eye; made before 1902 by the Vereinigte-Smyrna-Teppich-Fabriken Berlin (lot 1248, 50/70.000).
As usual, the wide range of silver offers a a large selection of high, some museum quality, works. For example a large Hamburg tankard with a depiction of the Rape of the Sabines, a master work from Hanß Lambrecht III, around 1662-67 (lot 605, 25/28.000). Also from Hamburg is an eight-sided bevelled beaker with finely engraved landscape and costumed figures, from Claus Sülßen II, around 1640 (lot 606, 21/24.000). A rare tankard from Lübeck, Lorenz Detberg, ca. 1690, is decorated with a continuous fries of the triumph of David over Goliath (lot 630, 27/30.000). The Rhineland is represented by a wonderful Renaissance cup with a house mark, made in Cologne ca. 1600 (lot 61, 8/10.000). Highly sought after amomg collectors of Westphalia is a large Münster coffee urn from Johann zum Hulse, around 1742-56 (lot 637, 30/32.000), and an impressive lidded terrine from Osnabrück, Georg Hermann Pölking, circa 1730 (lot 650, 30/32.000). A large lidded beaker with engraved arms of the Duke of Thurn und Taxis is from Ulm, from Master Johann Adam Kienlin, around 1600 (lot 662, 27/29.000). A large Augsburg lidded cup was finished by Johann David I Schäffler around 1724-28 for the Leonberg cooper's guild (lot 537, 9/10.000).
A museum-quality lidded box from France was made by the famous Straßburg master Jacques Kirstein in around 1789 (lot 738, 19/20.000), whilst an attractive sculpture of a hedgehog was conceived as a tooth-pick holder by the Paris court goldsmith Jean-Baptiste-Claude Odiot in 1789 (lot 731, 19/21.000).
Jewellery and a small collection of gold boxes will again be presented in an individual catalogue and auctioned on the evening of 12th November. One of the highlights of the wide selection of historical jewellery is a Belle Epoque butterfly brooch with a circa 9 ct. Diamond and an opal cabochon (lot 21, 8/9.000). Diamond jewellery of the Belle Epoque and Art Déco are richly represented, including a high carat soiltaire ring, lot 142, with a brilliant-cut diamond of ca. 2.5 ct, (15/18.000), and lot 143 with an old-cut diamond of 5.71 ct. (20/25.000)
Jewellery of the Cologne schools is again assigned its own chapter, including works from Elisabeth Treskow, Fritz Deutsch, Peter Heyden and Falko Marx. From the last is a brooch richly set with coloured stones, 'Souvenir de Maroc', (lot 175, 10/15.000). The extensive offering of modern jewellery is dominated by works from the 1950s-70s including high carat rings such as a finely engraved white gold ring from jewellers Friedrich, set with a solitaire diamond of circa 4.49 ct (lot 246, 20/25.000). The very unusual sputnik brooch 'Kosmos', was chosen as jewel of the year by the Gesellschaft der Edelsteinfreunde in 1967 (lot 273, 4/6.000).