By Nicolas Loir, a very popular fig dish

This previously unseen masterpiece by the Parisian artist, influenced by Poussin, fetched a record price, rivaling a rare Bontems clock featuring singing birds. A bid of €94, 800was made to secure the rediscovered work by Nicolas Loir, *The Holy Family with a Plate of Figs*, a painting of great virtuosity, which thus fetched…

This previously unseen masterpiece by the Parisian artist, influenced by Poussin, fetched a record price, rivaling a rare Bontems clock featuring singing birds. A bid of €94, 800was made to secure the rediscovered work by Nicolas Loir, *The Holy Family with a Plate of Figs*, a painting of great virtuosity, which thus fetched more than four times its high estimate (see Gazette No.25, page22). In doing so, it set a record price for a work by the artist, surpassing a *Triumph of Bacchus* soldfor €77,071by Christie’s New York on October 30, 2018 (source: Artprice). It should be noted that this previously unseen painting had been in the same family in the Puy-de-Dôme region for several generations before resurfacing during an appraisal by the Clermont-Ferrand-based auctioneer. Its attribution to the Louis XIV-era master had, moreover, been confirmed by the leading expert on the artist, Moana Weil-Curiel. Loir specialized in scenes depicting the Holy Family in various situations; this one is particularly original, featuring a group of teenagers offering a dish of figs. Next came a highly poetic timepiece: the “singing birds” clock attributed to Blaise Bontems in Paris, dating from around 1880–1890, reproduced in Gazette No.26 (page94). Two connoisseurs vied for it until the hammer fell at €10,364. It is true that the piece was particularly attractive, taking the form of a tree made of bronze and metal, painted in polychrome with fabric leaves. An automaton mechanism animates six songbirds, all crowning a chiseled and gilded bronze timepiece, whose movement is signed “Bolviller” on the dial (totalheight88cm, width45cm).17th-centurypaintingwas once again in the spotlight with an oval canvas from the French school associated with Robert Nanteuil: the Portrait of Michel Le Tellier (75x60cm) soldfor€6,952. This is a reproduction based on a lost pastel by the artist.