Renaissance stained glass
This season, Lempertz offered three catalogues with varying programmes for fans of objets de vertu and decorative arts from the Gothic era to the 20th century. Of particular historical importance was the catalogue featuring a Lower Saxon private collection of exquisite items in ivory and silver, objects the quality of which have not been offered on the German market for decades ...
Alongside the glittering auction “Treasures from a Lower Saxon Private Collection”, which focussed on works in ivory and silver, Lempertz also presented comparably noteworthy offers in their “Selected Works” catalogue. These included a rare and highly important set of three Renaissance stained glass windows. This comprised of two conforming windows depicting Saint Sulpice and Saint Dionysius, the patron saints of the collegiate church of Saint Sulpice et Saint Denis in Diest, Belgium, from which the windows originated. The third window showed Saint Nicholas and was donated to the same church by the roofer's guild in 1523. The windows were removed from the church in the course of restoration work in 1846 and contemporary replacements were fitted in their stead. The pair of panes with Saint Sulpice and Dionysius were sold into a North American collection for € 211,000, as was the single pane with Saint Nicholas, which sold for € 112,000 (lot 1102, € 160/200,000 and lot 1103, € 80/100,000).
The experts at Lempertz also made a spectacular discovery: A large candlestick from the Meissen Swan Service. The piece, which was previously unknown and never published, was purchased by a German collector for € 74,000 (lot 1135, € 60/80,000). A rare “Russian” table lamp by the well-known New York designer and producer Louis Comfort Tiffany was sold to a client in South Western America for € 52,000 (lot 1169, € 40/60,000). An impressive silver gilt figure of the Virgen del Pilar, the miraculous figure of the Virgin Mary in Zaragossa, which was produced for a wealthy pilgrim in the 17th century, was sold to a Belgian bidder for € 22,300 (lot 1121, € 8/10,000).
The jewellery catalogue featured 372 lots in total, including 193 items of antique jewellery. The greatest result was achieved for lot 166, an Art Deco “Eventail” clip brooch designed by Suzanne Belperron, the only woman among the famous jewellery designers of the 20th century. Seven telephone bidders alone competed for the piece, and it eventually rose far above its estimate of €8/12,000 to achieve € 45,000.
Another highly successful lot was an Art Deco diamond bracelet produced in France in around 1925/30, which rose to achieve € 28,500 (lot 165, € 20,000). Among the broad selection of modern gemstone and diamond jewellery on offer this season, one particular highlight was the impressive aquamarine and diamond cocktail ring produced by Dior in Paris in around 2001/2002 after designs by Victoire de Castellane as a custom-made piece for Angelica Blechschmidt, editor of the German version of Vogue magazine from 1989 to 2003. The piece rose from the estimate of € 25,000 to achieve € 32,200 (lot 348).