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Gallery Sofie Van de Velde
Victor Servranckx (Diegem 1897-1965 Vilvoorde) Opus 20, (Calm Blocks Fallen from an Obscure Disaster), 1927 Oil on canvas 146 x 81 cm Signed and dated lower left Provenance: Félix Carlier, Watermael-Boisfort (purchased from Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels, 1929); Galerie J.-P. Alaerts, Brussels; London, Christie’s, 16 October 1990, lot n° 61 (ill.); Lokeren, De Vuyst, 6 October 2001, lot n° 489; private collection, Brussels; Galerie Ronny Van de Velde, Antwerp Literature: La Nation belge (Brussels), 12th year, n° 48, 17 February 1929, ill. p. 3; Le Peuple (Brussels), 5th year, n° 48, 17 February 1929, ill. p. 1 Exhibitions: Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1929 (no catalogue); Brussels, Galerie Le Centaure, Exhibition De Boeck, Flouquet, Gailliard, Servranckx, 1929, n° 33; Brussels, Palais des Beaux-Arts, 1947, n° 45 '146 x 92 cm'; Brussels, Musée d’Ixelles/Museum van Elsene, Retrospective Le Centaure. Homage to Walter Schwarzenberg, 1963, n° 117; Brussels, Musée d’Ixelles/Museum van Elsene, 1965, n° 107; Hasselt, Provinciaal Begijnhof, 1970, n° 57 (ill.) Thanks to a photograph showing the artist during his solo exhibition at the Palais des Beaux-Arts (Brussels) in January 1929, we know that the painting was exhibited there. Félix Carlier acquired the work at the group exhibition (featuring works by De Boeck, Flouquet, Gailliard, and Servranckx) at Galerie Le Centaure in Brussels in 1929. As one of the leading pioneers of the abstract movement in Flanders, Servranckx explored the new possibilities of modern art with extraordinary intensity. Opus 20, (Calm Blocks Fallen from an Obscure Disaster), dating from 1927, can rightly be regarded as a pivotal work in his oeuvre. It represents a remarkable synthesis of geometric abstraction and the artist’s lyrical imagination, while also anticipating the emergence of Surrealism. Jacques Lipchitz (Lithuania, Druskininkai 1891-1973 Capri) Sitting figure, 1915 Bronze H 87 cm Signed 'JLipchitz' and numbered 2/7 (on base) Provenance: the estate of the artist; acquired from the above mentioned in 1989 by current owner Exhibition: Musée des Années 30, 'Lipchitz, Les Années Françaises de 1910 à 1940', 2005-2006, n° 10, pp. 16-17, ill. in colour
W. Apolloni - Laocoon Gallery
Leoncillo Leonardi (Spoleto 1915-1968 Rome) Plate with abstract design, circa 1950 Glazed ceramic Ø 28 cm Signed below on the edge 'Leoncillo' Literature: E. Mascelloni (text by), M. F. Apolloni and M. Cardarelli (edited by), Leoncillo. Le Ceramiche, De Luca Editori d’Arte, Rome 2018 Exhibition: Leoncillo: Earth, Fire and Colours. A retrospective exhibition 1939-1955, 2026-2027
Franck Anelli Fine Art
Secretary Charles Topino (1742-1803), master in 1773 Transition period Oak, Breccia marble top, bronze and marquetry in rosewood, amaranth, holly, sycamore, lemonwood, stained woods and tobacco wood H 139 x W 92 x D 38 cm Stamped TOPINO and bearing the Jurande hallmark Transition period secretary in wardrobe stamped Charles TOPINO (1742-1803) and Jurande hallmark. Rectangular in shape, the front uprights with cut sides, the front legs arched, the hind legs straight, the oak frame, it opens with a drawer, two leaves and a flap revealing a compartmentalized interior of seven drawers and four compartments. Top of breccia marble from Aleppo. Inlaid decoration in rosewood, amaranth, holly, sycamore, lemon tree, stained wood, tobacco wood, drawing lattices on the uprights and the upper drawer, those of the latter, embellished with flowers, and trompe-l'oeil on the front and on the sides, a decoration of garlands of oval cartouches of stylised acanthus leaves uniting the panels of the toilet seat and the leaves, each also presenting, in the upper part, a leafy garland that can be found on the side panels. The latter are decorated with two gadrooned urns close to the flowered vases of the leaves. The toilet seat has a trompe-l'oeil perspective decoration, an orangery whose open shutters give a glimpse of a wooded landscape in the distance, a perspective accentuated by the checkerboard paving, also present on the leaves. Eight boxes of fruit trees are spread around a table on which are placed two flowered vases and under which is a watering can. The interior reveals six side drawers in three rows, inlaid with a floral vase pattern, as well as a central drawer. Stamped TOPINO and hallmark of Jurande Charles TOPINO received master in 1773 The art of marquetry The bronzes are discreet on our desk and this is intended to give pride of place to marquetry, qualified as wooden painting. If it is possible and tempting - rightly to link a cabinetmaker to his marquetry and this is regularly the case for Topino whose utensil marquetry inspired by the borders of Chinese Coromandel lacquer screens of the time is a characteristic of the artist - it turns out that the models circulated and that inlaid panels could be used by the same circle of cabinetmakers. If the vases, potiches, flowers, utensils reproduced, invented, associated, allow us to recognize Topino's art, it should be noted that the framing motif made up of oval reserves with quartefeuilles and spandrels can be found on secretaries, a chest of drawers and a dressing table stamped Jacques Bircklé. By this same cabinetmaker, a secretary also presents the same vases present on our furniture. Very similar marquetry panels. both in their compositions and in their frames can be found on a chest of drawers attributed to Jacques Bircklé, illustrated in the book by Pierre Kjellberg, who also defines the paving pattern as Bircklé's 'almost exclusiveness'. our secretary thus witnessed the circulation of drawn or engraved models.
Galerie Hurtebize
Henri Lebasque (Champigné 1865-1937 Le Cannet) Femme au chapeau fleuri dans un jardin, 1900 Oil on canvas 65 x 54.3 cm Signed lower right Certificate of authenticity issued by Denise Bazetoux Painted in 1900, this remarkable composition reflects Henri Lebasque’s artistic explorations at the turn of the 20th century. Fascinated by the paintings of Renoir and Pissarro, the artist was part of the Post-Impressionist movement. Through his interactions with Maximilien Luce and Paul Signac, he developed a technique with Pointillist elements, particularly evident in this work. In the heart of a lush garden, an elegant young woman, wearing a flowered hat and a light blue dress, is shown from behind, immersed in an intimate scene. The richness of the brushwork, composed of small, juxtaposed touches of color, brings the vegetation to life and seems to animate the figure under the shifting effects of light. The particularly vibrant color palette creates a dialogue between the luminous blues of the dress, the deep greens of the garden, the brilliant yellows of the foliage, and the delicate pinkish hues of the background. This painting brings together several of Lebasque’s favorite themes: the female figure, the intimacy of everyday life, and lush nature. Through its rich color palette and sensitivity to light, it illustrates a pivotal period in his artistic evolution, foreshadowing the luminous style imbued with a gentle zest for life that would make him famous.
Dalton Somaré
Chokwe chair Angola, late 19th century Wood, metal, and leather H 68 x W 31 x D 38 cm Provenance: collection of Joyce and Donald Doyle, diamond mine directors for the Compagnie de la Forminière in the Belgian Congo in the 1920s. The majority of their collection was donated to the Princeton University Art Museum. Thence by descent to their daughter Suzanne "Sue" Miers, née Doyle (1922–2016), Africanist historian and professor at Ohio University. Thence by descent to her children Charles Miers and Caroline Farrington, New York Literature: Narrative Wisdom and African Arts (Exhibition catalogue), St. Louis Art Museum, 19 October-16 February, 2025, pp. 74, 75, 81 Exhibition: Narrative Wisdom and African Arts, St. Louis Art Museum, 19 October-16 February, 2025 This leather-seated chair belongs to a tradition of Chokwe seats of authority, commonly described as ngundja. Its refined decoration transforms a functional furnishing into a visual expression of chiefly prestige. Such seats formed part of a wider repertoire of objects associated with leadership, alongside ceremonial weapons, staffs and elaborately carved pipes. The combination of a backrest, a leather-covered seat and metal tacks reflects the adaptation of European furniture encountered through trade from the seventeenth century onward. Chokwe artists reworked these features within their own sculptural language, making the chair an expression of local political and spiritual values. At the centre of the back is a sculpted female face, which must be identified as Pwo. Pwo honours female ancestors and has particular significance within a society that traces descent through women. Her imagery also belongs to the wider world of masquerade and initiation. The lower stretchers carry small sculptural groups as musicians playing handheld drums and a slit drum, and a mounted pombeiro, or long-distance trader. It must be noted the unusual prominence of a female subject in these carved scenes. These scenes can be read within the broader Chokwe tradition of presenting ritual and everyday activities as aspects of the social world entrusted to a leader. Extremely sophisticated geometric carving and rows of metal studs enrich the back and supports, contrasting with the leather seat and the varied tones of the wood. The combination of carved figures, the monumentality of the composition and the rigour of the geometric decoration in high relief lend this sculpture the dignity and authority of a true throne.
Mearini Fine Art
Corinthian capital (variation on a Roman type from the 3rd-4th century) Central-southern Italy, late 12th-early 13th century Greek marble H 52 x W 50 x D 50 cm In this unusual variation of the Corinthian capital, three tiers of acanthus leaves, finely detailed with visible drill holes, extend to the top of the kalathos. This type of capital was already being exported to Aquileia (Udine) in antiquity. The city was destroyed by Attila in 452 and temporarily abandoned following the arrival of the Lombards in 568, as evidenced by a fragmentary example dating from the 3rd-4th century, now preserved in the National Archaeological Museum.
De Jonckheere
Herri met de Bles (Dinant or Bouvignes-sur-Meuse circa 1510-active in Antwerp between 1533 and 1566) The Ascent to Calvary Oil on panel 41.5 x 69 cm Signed bottom right with the owl, the artist's symbol, on the drum of one of the peasants Provenance: Franz Haverda-Werlandt collection, Vienna; Count Filip Kolowrat-Krakowski collection, Vienna; Count Ernst Kolowrat-Krakowski collection, Vienna; Oscar Bondy collection, Vienna; confiscated in Vienna for the Kunstmuseum Linz, listed in the inventory of 31 July 1940; returned to the Republic of Austria on 25 April 1946; returned to Oscar Bondy in 1948; sold by Kende Galleries Inc, New York, 3 March 1949, n° 68; private collection, New York; Bob P. Habolt & Co., New York; De Jonckheere, Brussels-Paris, 1990; private collection, France Literature: M. J. Friedländer, Die Altniederlandische Malerei, Berlin, 1937, vol. XII, p. 131, n° 65; R. A. Koch, A Rediscovered Painting, 'The Road to Calvary', by Herri met de Bles, in Record of the Art Museum. Princeton University, 1955, vol. 14, n° 2, p. 37, note 4; M. J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting. Jan van Scorel and Pieter Coeck van Aelst, Leiden and Brussels, 1975, vol. XIII, p. 107; W. S. Gibson, 'Mirror of the Earth': The World Landscape in Sixteenth-Century Flemish Painting, Princeton, 1989, p. 101, n° 108, p. 103, n° 139; L. Serck, Henri Bles et la peinture de paysage dans les Pays-Bas méridionaux avant Bruegel, unpublished doctoral thesis, Université Catholique de Louvain, 1990, n° 33, p. 709, vol. II, p. 711, vol. III; De Jonckheere, Rencontre de Maîtres. XVIIIe exposition. Paysages et Natures mortes, spring 1992, n° 6; L. Serck, 'La Montée au Calvaire d'Henri Bles: Création et composition', in N. E. Muller (dir.), Herri met de Bles. Studies and Explorations of the World Landscape Tradition, exh. cat., Princeton University, 10 October 1995-10 November 1995], Princeton, 1998, p. 63, n° 5; J. Toussaint, Autour de Henri Bles, exh. cat., TreM.a-Musée des Arts anciens du Namurois, 13 May 2000-1 November 2000, Namur, 2000, p. 23, n° 23, repr.; C. Currie, L. Serck, La Montée au Calvaire d'Henri Bles du Musée de Namur, in Guide du visiteur, n° 11, TreM.a-Musée provincial des Arts anciens du Namurois, J. Toussaint (ed.), 2007, p. 39, fig. 23, repr.; B. Schwarz, Hitlers Museum. Die Fotoalben. Gemäldegalerie Linz, Horn, 2004, p. 97, album I/42a, p. 203 repr. Exhibition: New York, Colnaghi Gallery, in association with Alexander Gallery, New York, The Northern Renaissance: 15th and 16th Century Netherlandish Paintings, 6 April-14 May 1983, n° 13
Francis Janssens van der Maelen
Philippe Wolfers (Brussels, 1858-1929) Evocation, 1923 Granite H 39 cm Signed by engraving on the neck 'Ph. Wolfers.' Provenance: Wolfers family, created for the renowned Gioconda ensemble Art Deco bust of a woman with hair adorned with a diadem, sculpted in stone. Philippe Wolfers’ Evocation bust, created around 1923 in granite, was part of the emblematic Gioconda ensemble, designed for the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris. With this ensemble, Wolfers sought to create a true Gesamtkunstwerk - an integrated work of art in which sculpture, furniture, architecture, and silverware engage in dialogue around a unified aesthetic vision. Gioconda was awarded the prestigious Grand Prix at the exhibition.
La Galerie URBAN
Maurice Denis (Granville 1870-1943 Saint-Germain-en-Laye) Bucolique d’Automne or L’Heureux Verger Pouldu, 1906 Oil on canvas 82 x 117 cm Signed and dated lower left 'MAVRICE DENIS 1906' This work is listed in the artist’s catalogue raisonné under n° 906.0016 Provenance: Baron Eberhard von Bodenhausen, Berlin (acquired from the artist, 1906-1908); Bernheim-Jeune, Paris (1908-1919); Miss Edwards (1919); Brooklyn Museum, New York (1927); Galerie Philippe Reichenbach, Paris; Walter P. Chrysler Jr., New York (1960); Stuart Pivar, New York (2004-2021); private collection, Switzerland; La Galerie URBAN, Paris Exhibitions: Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts, Paris, Grand Palais, 15 April-30 June 1906, p. 19, n° 389 (ill.); Fünfzehnten Ausstellung der Berliner Secession, Berlin, spring 1908, n° 46; Internationale Kunstschau, Vienna, Gebäude der Secession, May-October 1909, n° 15; Nus, Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, 17-28 May 1910, n° 30; Ausstellung Französischer Kunst des 18., 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, Leipziger Kunstverein, October-November 1910, n° 55; Internationale Kunstausstellung der Münchener Secession, Munich, Kgl. Kunstausstellungsgebäude am Königsplatz, 16 May-31 October 1911, n° 36; Exposition d'Art contemporain, Paris, Galerie Manzi-Joyant, 12-31 October 1912, n° 44; Ausstellung französischer Kunst, Zurich, Zürcher Kunsthaus, 16 February-26 March 1913, n° 93; A XIX. Szàzad nagy francia mesterei, Budapest, Ernst-Muzeum, September 1913, n° 78; Le Paysage du Midi, Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, 8-16 June 1914, n° 26; Exposition de peinture, série C, Paris, Galerie Bernheim-Jeune, 19-30 June 1916, n° 13; French Paintings 1789-1929 from the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr., Dayton Art Institute, 25 March-22 May 1960, p. 102, n° 94 (ill.) Painted in 1906, Bucolique d’Automne is one of the most eloquent expressions of Maurice Denis’s vision of a modern Golden Age. Set in an orchard at Le Pouldu, on the Breton coast so closely associated with the Nabis, the composition brings together a nursing mother, a reclining nude and a group of children gathering fallen apples beneath a laden tree. Beyond the foliage, a glimpse of the sea opens onto a landscape bathed in golden light. The painting belongs to Denis’s so-called ‘classical moment’, a period marked by increasingly rigorous compositions and a more luminous, vibrant palette, at times recalling the intensity of Matisse’s Fauvist colours. Here, ochres, vermilions and deep greens combine in a shimmering, almost mosaic-like interplay. The garden becomes an emblem of fertility and motherhood: the fruit-bearing tree echoes the nurturing female body, while the children reinforce the image of nature as a source of life and renewal. Modelled by Denis’s wife Marthe, the nude combines quiet sensuality with a vision of feminine beauty, lending the scene an atmosphere of serenity. First exhibited at the 1906 Salon de la Société nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, alongside Denis’s monumental Baigneuses au petit temple or Plage au bonnet rouge (Pouldu), now in Lausanne, Bucolique d’Automne subsequently featured in some of the most significant international exhibitions of its time: the 15th Exhibition of the Berlin Secession (1908), the Internationale Kunstschau in Vienna (1909), and the International Art Exhibition of the Munich Secession (1911). Its provenance is equally distinguished. Acquired directly from the artist in 1906 by Baron Eberhard von Bodenhausen, co-founder of the influential art journal PAN and a prominent collector of contemporary French painting, the work later passed through the galleries of Bernheim-Jeune and Philippe Reichenbach before entering the collection of Walter P. Chrysler Jr. A remarkable synthesis of Nabi modernity and classical idealism, Bucolique d’Automne marks a defining moment in Denis’s career, bringing together the decorative freedom of his early years and his enduring pursuit of compositional harmony and timeless beauty.
Galerie Nicolas Bourriaud
Emile Monier (Paris, 1883-1970) Bust of a Peulh woman, 1930 Fine Swedish granite H 65.5 x W 43 x D 30.5 cm Signed ‘EMILE MONIER’, dated ‘1930’ and titled ‘KOUMBO’ Unique piece Provenance: private collection, France Exhibitions: Société coloniale des artistes français, 1930, n° 101; Office privée des colonies, 34 rue Pasquier, Paris 8th arrondissement, until 19 December 1930
HELENE BAILLY MARCILHAC
Pierre Bonnard (Fontenay-aux-Roses 1867-1947 Le Cannet) Roses, circa 1943 Oil on original canvas 37.7 x 41 cm Signed lower left 'Bonnard' Literature: A. Terrasse, Pierre Bonnard, Paris, 1967, ill. in colour p. 165; R. Cogniat, Bonnard, Paris, 1968, ill. in colour p. 83; J. and H. Dauberville, Bonnard, Catalogue raisonné de l'œuvre peint, 1940-1947 et supplément 1887-1939, Paris, 1974, vol. IV, ill. under n° 1628, p. 60; M. Terrasse, Bonnard, from the Drawings to the Paintings, Paris, 1996, ill. in colour p. 268. Exhibition: Munich, Haus der Kunst and Paris, Musée de l'Orangerie des Tuileries, Pierre Bonnard, Centenaire de sa naissance, October 1966-April 1967
Epoque Fine Jewels
Van Cleef & Arpels Art Deco bracelet, circa 1925 Platinum and diamonds Total diamond weight: approx. 30 ct Signed Van Cleef & Arpels and numbered The rhythmic, continuous wave motif creates a strong sense of movement and symmetry, characteristic of the refined geometric elegance of the Art Deco period. The dynamic repetition of the wave forms evokes the era’s fascination with speed, progress and technological innovation, reflecting the visual language of the Machine Age, in which streamlined motion and modern engineering inspired both architecture and the decorative arts. This impression of forward movement is reinforced by the uninterrupted horizontal flow of the design, giving the bracelet a distinctly modern and energetic presence. Executed in platinum, the bracelet displays exceptional craftsmanship and meticulous stone setting, allowing maximum brilliance while preserving the lightness of the openwork structure. The scroll-like abstraction of natural forms into repeating patterns exemplifies the Art Deco ideal of transforming organic movement into elegant modern geometry.