Plural Painting, From Raffaëlli To Heda

Whether it was a still life or a scene from daily life, realistic painting was very much in vogue at Cannes, where China was also represented through its artifacts.

Asian art was in the spotlight on Wednesday April 8 in Cannes under the hammer of Pichon & Noudel-Deniau OVV. The various artifacts on offer, most of them from distant China, totaled €123 ,019 . Among them, an archaic bronze vase with a brown patina and a gui-shaped tripod (h. 21.8 cm), dating from the Western Zhou dynasty (1046-771 B.C.) and used for food offerings, fetched €27,300, well short of its high estimate of €6 ,000 . A similar vase is kept at the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Early paintings were not to be outdone, as evidenced by the €19 , 500 offered for Nature morte à la tazza, au vidrecome et au jambon (Still life with tazza, vidrecome and ham) painted around 1665 by an artist from the entourage of Willem Claesz Heda (1594-1680), and reproduced on page 179 of Gazette no. 13.In the Decorative Arts section, a pair of Boulle marquetry coffrets with curved tops, dating from the19th century, revealed their contents in exchange for €17 ,550 . But it was the following day, Thursday 9, that the pièce de résistance was offered, a painting by Jean-François Raffaëlli, La Leçon de chant (see Zoom en régions Gazette n° 13, page 22). The realist artist, a pupil of Jean-Léon Gérôme, created a work of authenticity and restraint, which more than quadrupled its high estimate of €15 ,000 , finally fetching €66 ,300 . The furniture was equally impressive : a large sideboard (95 x 234 x 52 cm) in lacquered wood and bronze base, signed in a cartouche by Leleu and dated circa 1960, moved for €14 , 950 . In polychrome enamelled ceramics, a double vase by Jean Lurçat (30 x 46 cm), copy 8/50 designed after a drawing by the artist in Sant-Vicens, surprised at €4 ,160 , on an estimate of €300/500. Both sales doubled their estimates, with over 80% of lots sold.