Sotheby’s London will present the company’s largest ever sale of European sculpture and works of art in the upcoming July 3 auction European Sculpture and Works of Art: Medieval to Modern. The auction will be comprised of some 200 lots and feature nine private collections. It is estimated to bring in an excess of £4 million.
The Important European Private Collection of Medieval Works of Art is spearheading the sale. This group includes the auction’s highest-value item, a mid-13th century copper alloy Leopard Aquamanile estimated at £400,000-600,000. It is especially rare to find an aquamanile (designed for the washing of hands and used in Western Europe from the 12th century onwards) in the form of a leopard.
From the same collection comes an exciting rediscovery: a partially gilt, champlevé and cloisonné plaque, only recently identified as a missing section of the Shrine of the Three Kings in Cologne (estimate value £8,000-12,000). A French Gothic ivory sculpture, known as the Sulzbach Virgin and Child and considered one of the most successful representations of the Virgin and Child within ivory groups of the 14th century, is estimated at £300,000-500,000. The collection also includes a chess piece in the shape of a Queen carved circa 1400 and estimated aat £50,000-80,000.
Rare and exclusive sculptures
A fragmentary diptych with scenes from the life of Christ, produced in Germany in the late 14th century and originally part of a diptych housed in the personal collection of the Fugger family of Augsburg, is expected to be one of the highlights of the auction.A large oak group of St. Anne teaching the Virgin and Child to read, produced circa 1510, is estimated to be sold for £60,000-80,000. A partially glazed and polychromed terracotta of Christ the Redeemer, attributed to Giovanni della Robbia, and a new addition to the artist’s body of work will be another highlight of the auction. Sotheby’s will also present a selection of momento mori from a private European collection, including a remarkable marble skull crowned with a wreath of oak leaves. A 17th-century cup depicting sea creatures and the mythological figure of Andromeda from the circle of George Pfründt in South Germany will attract both collectors and art lovers to the auction.
