One of the largest and most impressive groups of bronze and ivory figures to appear at auction in recent years comes under the hammer at the Bonhams ‘Design from 1860’ sale in London on 22 June.
Elsewhere in the sale are six highly unusual stained glass windows made for the famous Belgian chocolate house, Côte d’Or during the influential Exposition universelle in Brussels in 1935 (estimate £25,000-30,000).
Lot No: 155 Louis-Charles Crespin and Florent-Prosper Colpaert An Impressive Suite of Six Stained Glass Panels for the ‘Côte d’Or’ Chocolatiers, circa 1935 depicting various stages of the harvesting of the cocoa beans, including ‘The Trees’, ‘The Ripening’, ‘The Harvest’, ‘The Splitting’, ‘The Drying’, and ‘The Bagging’, individually framed in brass Each 60cm high x 107cm long, signed ‘Ch Crespin a P Colpaert’ (6) Estimate: £25,000 – 30,000, € 28,000 – 34,000
Among the 50 plus works from a private European collector, are several pieces by the Rumanian master Demetre Chiparus from the 1920s and early 30s – his most fertile and sought after period. They include ‘Antinea’ a cold painted bronze and ivory figure of an Egyptian dancer of 1930 modelled as a lady in exotic costume and balanced sur pointes, holding her green and gilt decorated cloak above her head, on a shaped variated marble and onyx plinth. It is estimated at between £50,000 – 80,000.
‘Les Amis de Toujours’ shows a lady flanked by a pair of dogs (estimate £40,000-60,000) and ‘The Secret’ portrays two women in intricate dresses, one with her arm around the other’s shoulder, leaning forward whispering into her ear (estimate £40,000 – 50,000).
Chiparus, who was born in Rumania in 1886, moved to Paris in 1912 where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. He was much influenced by the Ballets Russes and the excavation of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922.
A ‘Medieval Group’ by the Coburg sculptor, Professor Otto Poertzel, is a rare and Impressive Cold-painted Bronze and Ivory piece from around 1930 showing a maiden riding side-saddle on a large dappled grey dressage horse, gazing down at a romantic young male who is reaching up to assist her, his harp laid by the horse’s feet. It has an estimate of £30,000-40,000.
For further sale information please go to www.bonhams.com/design