RELEASE: Christie’s Classic Week | 25-29 October | New York

New York – Christie’s announces Classic Week in New York, bringing together nine auctions featuring 19^th-century European Art, Old Master paintings and sculpture, Antiquities, The Exceptional Sale, and Books and Manuscripts, which is joining the marquee sales week for the first time. Three distinguished private collections will be offered in dedicated sales: The Collection of Dr. Anton Pestalozzi of important Greek and Roman portraiture; The Collection of Lewis and Ali Sanders of superb French furniture and clocks; and a private collection of 17^th-century Dutch and Flemish Old Master paintings. Sales run from 25–29 October with viewings from 18-28 October. To add to the multidimensional viewing experience at our Rockefeller Center galleries, the creators behind the scent branding agency 12.29 will introduce a bespoke scent evocative of the artworks, adding an olfactory adventure to Classic Week.

Fine Printed Books and Manuscripts Including Americana | October 25 at 11am

The Books and Manuscripts sale marks the first held during Christie's Classic Week: the twice-yearly auctions will now take place in October and April. The first October auction includes many books auspicious to the season: a first edition Dracula, Frankenstein with a letter by Mary Shelley, horror works by R.L. Stevenson, Oscar Wilde and others, plus a previously unknown broadside naming Edgar A. Poe as editor of Graham’s Magazine. Some of the wide-ranging highlights include The Scott Greenbaum Collection of Literary First Editions, among which is an exceptionally fine copy of Ian Fleming’s Casino Royale and many Dashiell Hammett first editions, including The Glass Key in its rare dust jacket; a section devoted to Game Theory, including a small selection of manuscripts from John Forbes Nash, Jr. and the 1994 Nobel Prize Medal the mathematician was awarded; the Brinley copy of America’s first banned book, Thomas Morton’s New English Canaan of 1637; the important works of 17^th-century naturalist-artist Maria Sibylla Merian; the Louisiana Purchase Collection of Alonzo J. Tullock; and a manuscript document signed by Willem Kieft, granting land near Coney Island to the first person of Muslim origin to settle in America. 

European Art Part I | October 28 at 10am

This carefully curated sale offers 24 lots of masterpiece-level quality from the most well-known artists of 19^th century Europe. Highlights include The Soul of the Rose, a magnificent and rare work by John William Waterhouse, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s depiction of his lover Jane Morris as Prosperpine, a stunning example of the pinnacle of the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Franz von Stuck’s haunting Bacchanal, painted in the year the artist was knighted, is strikingly modern and illustrates the connection between this era and 20^th century art. Other highlights include exceptional works by Eugène Delacroix, Vilhelm Hammershøi, John William Godward, William Adolphe Bouguereau, Gustave Courbet and Jean-Léon Gérôme among others.

Faces of the Past: Ancient Sculpture from the Collection of Dr. Anton Pestalozzi | October 28 at 11am

Christie’s is honored to present Faces of the Past: Ancient Sculpture from the Collection of Dr. Anton Pestalozzi, a selection of 29 lots of Greek, Roman, and Etruscan works of art formed by the late Zurich-based lawyer and collector. Highlights include a recently-rediscovered Monumental Roman Marble Portrait Head of Alexander the Great, formerly part of the famed collection of ancient sculpture at Marbury Hall, Cheshire, assembled by James Hugh Smith Barry (1746-1801); an imposing Portrait Bust of the Emperor Tiberius; and a captivating 3^rd century Portrait Head of a Woman, possibly Julia Soemias, mother of Emperor Elagabalus. Much of the collection was studied and published by the celebrated Swiss archaeologist Ines Jucker. Faces of the Past represents an important moment to acquire ancient works of art that have not been seen on the international market for decades.

Antiquities | October 28 at 12pm

Christie’s October Antiquities sale features an exciting selection of works from across the ancient world. The sale is lead by two important works sold to benefit the Mougins Museum of Classical Art: an Egyptian Painted Wood Anthropoid Coffin for Pa-Di-Tu-Amun dating to the Third Intermediate Period (945-889 B.C.), and an Egyptian “Blue” Cosmetic Vessel of Bes, dating to the Late Period (Circa 664-404 B.C.). Other highlights include the Wald Dioscuri, a Roman Marble Relief with the Dioscuri, dating to the 2nd century A.D., which depicts the divine twins Castor and Pollux. Other top lots include a powerful Roman Marble Torso of the Diadumenos of Polykleitos from the Collection of Roger Thomas, and a large Greek Gold Oak Wreath.

European Art Part II | October 28 at 2pm

The European Art Part II sale includes a strong selection of paintings and sculptures which reflect the extraordinary diversity of this pivotal period in art history. Leading the sale are beautiful examples of the artists’ styles by Eugen von Blaas and Louis Marie de Schryver. Additional highlights include Émile Munier’s Un Sauvetage, a selection of three works by Orientalist painter Frederick Arthur Bridgman (American 1847-1928), and Edmund Blair Leighton’s My Lady Passeth By. The sale also features works by the Barbizon painters including Leon Lhermitte and Henri Joseph Harpignies, and a strong selection of Scandinavian paintings led by three works by Frits Thaulow. A charming, Impressionist view of Paris by Jean-François Raffaëlli and an impressive Symbolist canvas by Henri Le Sidander round out the sale.

Old Masters: Property from a Private Collection | October 29 at 10am

A single owner collection of 40 remarkable Dutch and Flemish paintings, this sale offers a broad survey of the artistic production of the 17^th-century Lowlands. Marked by their exceptional quality and condition, this group presents striking examples by many of the leading artists in the period, including David Teniers II, Jan Steen, Hendrick Goltzius and Jan Lievens. Every genre is represented, with particular emphasis on landscape paintings by such luminaries as Jan van Goyen, Simon de Vlieger and Salomon van Ruysdael.

Old Masters | October 29 at 11am and 2pm

Christie’s Old Masters sale features a curated selection of paintings and sculpture from the early Renaissance to the Baroque, the Dutch Golden Age and the French Revolution. Highlights include Agony in the Garden by Titian and his studio, an Annunciation by Jan de Beer, a beautiful tondo by Lorenzo di Credi, and a striking portrait of Lucien Bonaparte and his mistress by Guillaume Guillon-Lethière. A rare and significant rediscovery is Girodet’s Les Adieux de Coriolan à sa famille. Examples from the 15^th-century include works by Neri di Bicci and the Workshop of Dieric Bouts. Sculpture highlights include a group of elegant busts - ranging from a powerful 16^th-century Spanish gentleman in marble - to an incredibly rare survival of a pair of early 19^th-century pair of classic plaster busts of Paris and Helen from Antonio Canova’s studio.

The Exceptional Sale | October 29 at 11am

 Christie’s New York Exceptional Sale is a tightly curated selection of 25 masterworks led this year by Cobham Hall Hadrian, a 7 foot tall Roman marble Statue of the Emperor Hadrian, sold to benefit the Mougins Museum of Classical Art. Top European decorative arts include a Royal Victorian silver centerpiece and a refined neo-classical ebony bureau plat ‘à la grecque’ by Etienne Levasseur of circa 1770. Pieces of esteemed provenance include a remarkable pair of trompe l’oeil-decorated commodes supplied by the celebrated decorating firm Maison Jansen to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor for their South of France retreat the Château de la Cröe; a pair of 17^th-century bronze andirons from the Rothschilds’ famed Château de Ferrières; a rare Russian carpet with the crowned monogram of Empress Maria Feodorovna almost certainly supplied for her use at Pavlovsk Palace and probably ordered by Count Grigorii Grigorievich Kushelev, whose wife was lady-in-waiting to the Empress; and an extraordinary and exotic royal Spanish commode supplied to King Carlos III for the ‘Gabinetes de Maderas Finas de Indias’ in the Royal Palace, Madrid. The sale also features Miles Davis’s ‘Moon and Stars’ trumpet and the Hasselblad camera used by famed Hollywood photojournalist Douglas Kirkland to shoot his iconic photos of Marilyn Monroe. 

Fifth Avenue Grandeur: Important French Furniture from the Collection of Lewis and Ali Sanders | October 29 at 12pm

Christie’s is delighted to offer Fifth Avenue Grandeur - an exquisitely curated group of 18^th-century French furniture and decorative arts from The Collection of Lewis and Ali Sanders. This private collection displays a superb variety of case and seating furniture, carpets, clocks, and mirrors epitomizing the best of 18^th-century craftsmanship. Highlights from the sale encompass all the key periods: a Savonnerie carpet and a régulateur by André-Charles Boulle from the rein of Louis XIV; beautiful lacquer and marquetry pieces by Bernard II Van Risenburgh (‘BVRB’), Jacques Dubois, Joseph Baumhauer and Jean-François Oeben from the rococo era of Louis XV; and refined neo-classical works from the Louis XVI period including a remarkable group of clocks, and cabinet pieces by makers such as Adam Weisweiler and Martin Carlin.