Antiquariaat FORUM na TEFAF – The European Fine Art Fair 2017 (Maastrich)

TEFAF – The European Fine Art Fair 2017

Mais uma vez, a Antiquariaat Forum Rare Books vai estar presente na TEFAF – The European FineArt Fair 2017, que decorrerá nos dias 10 a 19 de Março em Maastrich | Holanda, para o que elaborou um catálogo especial para este evento.

As suas obras em exibição poderão ser apreciadas no Stand 702.

Stand 702 da Antiquariaat Forum and Daniel Crouch Rare Books no TELAF Maastricht.

©Forum Rare Books

A propósito convirá referir que se trata de uma feira de arte e antiguidades, não apenas um salão do livro, e Portugal estará representado por duas galerias de arte:

 “Duas galerias portuguesas vão participar na 30.ª Feira de Arte e Antiguidades de Maastricht (European Fine Art Fair – TEFAF), na Holanda, uma das maiores do mundo, que decorrerá de 10 a 19 de Março, segundo a organização.

Este ano, uma das secções do certame – a TEFAF Curated, com arte contemporânea – terá como curadora Penelope Curtis, directora dos museus da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, em Lisboa.

Para esta secção, será seleccionado um conjunto de galerias com trabalhos de artistas contemporâneos com trabalhos sobre o tema “A figura reclinada”.

Porcelain decorated in overglaze polychrome enamels and gold, with the Arms of Francisco José de Ovando y Solís

Height 140 cm

Diameter 49 cm

China, Qing dynasty, Qianlong period (1736-1795), circa 1750-1755

Porcelain vases of enormous dimensions, such as the present examples, were made at great expense in China, they were the result of impressive technical achievements by the potters at the kilns in Jingdezhen and were considered the most costly Chinese porcelains exported to the West. Made by order for Europeans, vases of this type were highly valued for the quality of their porcelain, their rarity and splendid beauty. They were a luxury commodity available exclusively to the courts and nobility, and were displayed in accordance with the exuberant Baroque taste of the time.

(Jorge Welsh)

These two vases are the only ones so far recorded with this particular armorial. The name 'soldier vases' derives from a historic exchange between Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and Lithuania (1670-1733), and the ‘Soldier King’ Friedrich Wilhelm I, King of Prussia (1688-1740), in 1717. The former, a patron of the Meissen porcelain factory and avid collector of Chinese porcelain, exchanged 151 porcelain vessels for 600 cavalrymen (dragoons) from his army.

This pair of vases exhibits the arms of Francisco José de Ovando y Solís (1693-1755), 1st Marquis of Ovando, a title that was granted to him in 1743 for his bravery during the capture of Brindisi during the Spanish invasion of Naples. He was born in Cáceres, Spain, but soon became a renowned naval officer, being appointed Chief Inspector of the South China Sea in 1743. Two years later he acted as Governor of Chile, and in 1749 married María Bárbara de Ovando y Rivadeneyra (1732-1772) in Puebla de los Ángeles, New Spain. Between 1750 and 1754 he served as Governor General of the Philippines, having arrived in Manila in 1750. He died in the Gulf of California during his return voyage to New Spain, in 1755.

Quanto a galerias de Portugal, na TEFAF vão estar os antiquários Jorge Welsh, que possui galerias em Lisboa e em Londres, especializadas em porcelanas orientais e em arte relacionada com os Descobrimentos portugueses, e Luís Alegria, antiquário do Porto, que se dedica essencialmente à porcelana chinesa dos séculos XV a XIX, marfins, azulejos portugueses do século XVII a XIX, e ao mobiliário dos séculos XVII e XVIII.

Famille-Verte China,

56.4 x 37.5 x 31.3 cm

China, Kangxi Period, 1662-1722

Literature:

The oval form is supported on four claw and ball feet and the crenallated rim. Above a pair of lion mask and ring handles. The interior rim shows carp swimming around and above large fish are shown. Amidst waterweeds and other aquatic creatures are seen in the decoration.

(Luís Alegria)

Arte antiga, moderna e contemporânea, desde pintura, escultura, desenhos e iluminuras, fotografia, e ainda manuscritos, livros, joalharia e objectos de design de todo o mundo são anualmente apresentados na feira de arte e antiguidades de Maastricht.

Referência internacional no mercado de arte e antiguidades, a TEFAF recebe anualmente cerca de 80 mil visitantes, desde curadores, directores e conservadores de museus, peritos de leiloeiras, antiquários e coleccionadores de todo o mundo.

A feira é reconhecida no meio por manter critérios muito rigorosos de selecção das peças, razão pela qual é visitada por coleccionadores individuais ou entidade públicas e privadas, e representantes de museus de todo o mundo para adquirir obras.”

Fonte: Lusa

Catálogo

Mas voltando ao tema deste artigo, vejamos então o catálogo acima referido e do qual daremos alguns exemplos das obras expostas:

The most important source for the Moluccas

in the early colonial period

2. ARGENSOLA, Bartolome Leonardo de – Conquista de las islas Malucas. [Madrid, Alonso Martin, 1609]. Small folio (22 × 30 cm). With an engraved architectural title-page showing an allegorical scene (the Moluccas represented by a native woman with feather headdress, cornucopia and sword, riding a crocodile, with the Spanish royal coat of arms in the sky) and a sleeping lion (representing the author?) in a separate cartouche below. Early 18th-century richly gold-tooled red morocco, each board with a large centrepiece a petit fers made partly with pointillé stamps.

€ 35 000

First edition of the author’s principal work, in the original Spanish, dedicated to King Philip III of Spain, whose father had untied the Portuguese and Spanish crowns in 1580. It centres on the Philippines and the Moluccas, but also discusses China, Java, Sumatra and Ceylon, and even “los estrechos Persico y Arabico” (p. 12). The Portuguese naval commander Afonso de Albuquerque had conquered Malacca by 1511, a few decades after Arabic merchants introduced Islam there. This provided a base to quickly establish Portuguese influence over the islands of the region. “Few narratives are written with so much judgment and elegance ... One of the most important works for the history of the Philippine islands ... The book also contains matter relating to Sir Francis Drake and American voyages, and to the history of Spanish and Portuguese exploration in the Indies” (Cox). “For the compilation of this work, the author had the command of all authentic manuscript relations, which were either in official custody, or in private hands, besides the testimony of such persons then living as had been eyewitnesses to any part of what he delivers” (Griffin).

With the engraved armorial bookplate of Jeremiah Hill (ca. 1820). Later in the celebrated library of Sir Thomas Phillips (1792–1872), then the library of Philip Robinson. The imprint of the engraved title-page appeared below the thin-rule border at the foot and is usually shaved or (as in the present copy) wholly lost, along with part of the foot border itself but the title-page is otherwise complete and intact. A few leaves have marginal chips repaired at an early date or small worm holes in the head margin unobtrusively repaired, and one has a small hole repaired slightly affecting 4 words of text. A few leaves are slightly browned or show some spots or smudges, but the book is otherwise in good condition. The hinges are worn, with a few small cracks, and the head and foot of the spine slightly damaged, but the binding is otherwise good, with nearly all of the tooling very good. A beautifully bound copy of an essential source for any study of the Moluccas and the Philippines in the early Portuguese (from 1580 also Spanish) colonial period.

     Cox I, p. 284; Griffin & Phillips, Philippine Islands 23; Medina, Hisp.-Amer. 551; Palau 16089; Sabin 1946.

Beautifully illustrated work on camellias,

with 301 coloured plates

3. BERLÈSE, Lorenzo and Johann Jakob JUNG – Iconographie du genre camellia ou description et figures des camellia les plus beaux et les plus rares. Paris, H. Cousin (plates printed by N. Rémond), [1839–]1841–1843. 3 volumes. 2º. With 301 engraved plates, printed in colour a la poupée and finished in colour by hand, engraved by Duménil, Gabriel and Oudet after Johann Jakob Jung. Contemporary half morocco, gold-tooled spine.

€ 69 500

First edition of a beautifully illustrated work on camellias by the Italian abbot Lorenzo Berlèse (1784–1863), perhaps the greatest authority on the subject during the 19th century. The three volumes include 300 different types of camellias, each illustrated with a brightly coloured engraved plate. Each plate is accompanied by one leaf, with the description of the flower printed on the upper half, and a scientific monograph on camellias printed on the remaining space running through all the text leaves. 

The flowers were drawn from nature in Berlèse’s greenhouses at Paris (where he held more than 800 camellia species and types) by the German artist Johann Jakob Jung (1819–1844?). Jung was among the various painters who were influenced by the great French flower artist Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840), who was praised for his brilliant and prolific illustrations. The first flower in the first volume, the Camellia derbiana, is illustrated with two plates.

In very good condition, only slightly foxed.

     Blunt, p. 229; Buchanan, Nature into art, p. 59; GFB, p. 75; Nissen, BBI 150; Cat. De Belder 73.

A model in modern historiography

8. GAY, Claude – Historia Fisica y Politica de Chile, segun documentos adquiridos en esta Republica durante doce annos de residencia en ella. Santiago and Paris, Fain, Thunot, Maulde, etc., 1844–1871. 28 volumes in 8º (text) and 2 volumes in large 4º (atlas). With tinted lithographed frontispiece portrait, 20 engraved maps, 55 lithographed plates of views, costumes and antiquities, 41 tinted, and 103 engraved plates, 103 hand-coloured plates in the first atlas vol., and 135 hand-coloured engraved plates on zoology in the second atlas vol. 20th-century half morocco.

€ 39 500

First edition of this monumental account of the natural and civil history of Chile, with numerous beautiful illustrations mostly in very fine colouring. This set has the complete text, which is unusual since the work was issued over a period of 27 years.

In 1830, the French botanist Claude Gay was asked by the government of Chile to make a detailed description of the history, geography, geology and natural history of their country. Gay travelled through Chile during eleven years to do all the scientific research he needed for his work. The result was the present work, the first complete description of Chilean history and a model in modern historiography, with its meticulous examination of sources and documents. Good set.

     Nissen, BBI 695; Nissen, ZBI 1488; Palau 100869 (“Es muy dificil reunir la obra complete”); Sabin 26779; Zimmer, p. 237.

Extremely rare deluxe publication on Greek women’s toiletry, clothing and other private customs, sumptuously bound for the dedicatee Sophia of Bavaria, Archduchess of Austria,new daughter-in-law of the Austrian Emperor Franz I, with the Imperial arms on

10. GIRONI, Robustiano – Toletta delle dame Greche e private costumanze dei Greci si antichi che moderni. Milan, Giulio Ferrario, 1825. Double Crown 4º (dimensions of a large folio: 38.5 × 27 cm). With 19 numbered aquatint illustration plates (no. 12 bound in as a frontispiece as indicated in the list of plates; no. 6 double-page), all conceived and drawn by A. Sanquirico, P. Palagi, G. Bramati and probably also the author, and executed by Gallo and Sigismondo Gallina, Vittorio Raineri, (Ignazio?) Fumagalli, (G.?) Alluisetti, D.K. Bonatti, G. Bramati, (Carlo?) Bottigelli and Bussi, each hand coloured for the publisher, with the publisher’s 12 mm circular blind stamp at the corner, and a contemporary laid tissue guard leaf bound in before each plate. With the crowned S and reversed S cypher monogram of Sophia of Bavaria, Archduchess of Austria stamped on the back of the title-page, facing the printed dedication to her. Contemporary ruby-red grained morocco, richly gold- and blind-tooled, each board with the Imperial Austrian arms of the Emperor Franz I of Austria, formerly the last Holy Roman Emperor Franz II, whose daughter Maria Louisa became Empress of France when Napoleon married her in 1810 and was reduced to Duchess of Parma on his fall in 1814.

€ 48 000

Extremely rare deluxe publication, dedicated to Sophia of Bavaria (1805–1872), the new Archduchess of Austria, and probably produced in honour of her 4 November 1824 marriage to Archduke Franz Karl of Austria (1802–1878), son of Franz I (1768–1835), Emperor of Austria, who had been the last Holy Roman Emperor Franz II until obliged to dissolve the Holy Roman Empire in 1806. A note at the end indicates that only 80 copies were printed, perhaps all intended as gifts for noble men and women, mostly in the Austrian court. But the turbulent politics at the time of publication, the Revolution of 1848 and two World Wars may have hindered distribution and destroyed copies. We have located only two other copies, at the National Library of Austria and at Harvard University. The present copy is most sumptuously bound, with the Imperial Austrian arms on each board, apparently intended as a dedication copy for Sophia herself, since her monogram is stamped on the blank page facing the dedication to her. The subject matter was deemed appropriate for a new wife: the customs, manners, clothing, toiletry and other aspects of the private life of Greek women both in classical antiquity and in modern times. Gironi was ideally suited to write the book, for in the years 1819 to 1823 he had published scholarly accounts of Greek marriage, dance, theatre, music, sculpture and customs. He may have drawn most of the illustrations as well, for most name only the engraver. The text is of great value today not only for showing the state of knowledge of classical Greek women’s habits and manners in 1825, but also for the information it preserves about Greek women of its own time and for the implications for European attitudes toward women in 1825. The publisher certainly spared no expense in producing the aquatint plates, having them coloured with scrupulous care and having the present copy beautifully bound for the Imperial dedicatee.

Giambattista Bodoni brought the height of luxurious printing to Italy with his world-famous press at Parma, and his posthumous Manuale tipografico established a spectacular model of neoclassical typographic prowess in 1818. Napoleon had annexed Parma in 1808, and in 1811, Bodoni produced his luxurious Cimelio tipografico-pittorico in a very limited edition for Napoleon and his new Empress Maria Louisa. Giulio Ferrario no doubt had these precedents in mind when he planned the present book. His letterpress presswork cannot equal that of the great Parma master, but he makes up for it with the stunning coloured aquatint plates.

Dedication copy for Sophia of Bavaria, Archduchess of Austria, as noted above. Book and binding in fine condition and mostly untrimmed, leaving very large margins, with only very minor foxing in the endpapers and on the edges of the leaves, and a tiny corner torn off a couple leaves. A tour de force of neoclassical book production and a remarkable source for women’s studies, with 19 large coloured plates and a beautiful armorial dedication binding.

     M.A. Becker, Samml. der vereinten Familien- und Privat-Bibliothek Sr. M. des Kaisers (1873), 27126; Cat. di ... bibl. privata di S.M. Francesco I. re del regno delle due Sicilie (1825), p. 346; KVK & WorldCat (2 copies); not in Abbey, Travel; Brunet; Cicognara; Colas; Graesse; etc.

Photographic portrait of future King Saud of Arabia,

with very high quality colouring turning it largely into a painting

11. LAFAYETTE STUDIO. Crown Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. [London, 1935]. Matt silver print (ca. 28 × 36 cm), watercolour, pastel, gouache and oil paint. Mounted on paper in a passe-partout. Signed “Lafayette” in pencil on the mount. In a wooden frame (ca. 53 × 64 cm), under glass.

 € 35 000

Impressively coloured photographic portrait of the Saudi crown prince Saud (1902–1969), by the eminent London photographic studio Lafayette. Prince Saud, the future King Saud of Saudi Arabia, had been appointed crown prince in 1933 and fought in the 1934 war against Yemen. After the war his father encouraged him to travel abroad, and over the next few years he visited Saudi-Arabia’s neighbours, Europe and the United States. While in London, Prince Saud had his portrait taken by the Lafayette studio, originally established in Dublin in 1880. It is no coincidence that Prince Saud chose a firm that had photographed numerous emperors, kings, sultans, earls, early movie stars, etc. The firm would also provide hand coloured prints on request, and the current photograph is an example of the very high quality they provided. The photograph of Prince Saud was coloured by painting over the photograph with watercolours and pastel. A subsequent treatment made it possible to use tiny drops of oil paint to highlight the gold trimming on his robe, the jewels and pearls on his sword and the small lights in his eyes.

In very good condition, with only very minor craquelure. A colour portrait of the future King Saud of Arabia: a photograph enhanced by an expert painter, from the leading British firm for the genre.

     For Lafayette: Russell Harris, Narrated in calm prose.

The finest 17th-century view of Rotterdam

18. QUACK, Jacob [and Joost van GEEL]. Rotterdam. Rotterdam, Jacob Quack, “1665” [=not before 1675]. Large etched and engraved panoramic view of Rotterdam on 6 sheets, the whole mounted on paper (57×262 cm as assembled). With the coats of arms of Holland and Rotterdam, each held by a putto, and further with the arms of Johan Kievit, Adriaen Hartman, Johan van der Meyden and Johan Abrahamsz. de Reus, important Rotterdam city council members. Framed.

€ 42 500

Rare and striking panoramic view of Rotterdam, drawn and etched by the Rotterdam genre painter Joost van Geel and published by Jacob Quack. The view shows Rotterdam as seen from the Nieuwe Maas with several prominent buildings, including the Prinsekerk, the Grote Kerk, the City Hall, brewery “De Twee Leeuwen” (the two lions), the Oostmanspoort, Schiedamse Poort, Westpoort, etc. The foreground shows the Nieuwe Maas with several ships, including the Eendragt, the flagship of the United Provinces that was lost in the Battle of Lowestoft during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665).

Jacob Quack (ca. 1622–1668), postmaster of Rotterdam, published the view together with an additional map of the Meuse, 6 views of neighbouring cities, an engraved title (in Latin) and a letterpress description of Rotterdam by Joachim Oudaen to form a huge wall map.

No surviving copy is known that was assembled at an early date. The present view, arguably the finest 17th-century view of Rotterdam, rarely comes on the market.

With some small defects in the paper, but overall in very good condition. A rare large panoramic view of Rotterdam in 1665.

     Ratsma, Historische plattegronden … deel 2 Rotterdam, pp. 53–55.

One of the greatest bird books of all time,

with 446 coloured plates, plus 1 extra plate

23. SELIGMANN, Johann Michael, George EDWARDS and Mark CATESBY – Sammlung verschiedener ausländischer und seltener Vögel,... [erste-neunter … Theil].Nuremberg, Johann Joseph Fleischmann, 1749–1776. 9 parts in 3 volumes. 2º. With 3 different engraved frontispieces, 1 large engraved folding map, 445 (of 473) engraved illustration plates numbered in 5 series plus 1 plate by Seligmann numbered “115” in part 4 but not normally included. With all the usual illustration plates (plus the map) coloured by a contemporary or near contemporary hand, but the extra plate uncoloured. Near contemporary uniform gold-tooled calf, gilt edges.

 € 48 500

First German edition, with the plates newly made for this edition and including new material, the text combining German translations by Georg Leonhard Huth of three important English ornithological works: George Edwards’s A natural history of uncommon birds (1743–1751) and Gleanings of natural history (1758–1764), and Mark Catesby’s Natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (second ed. 1748–1754). Seligmann (1720–1762) brought these materials together and engraved the illustration plates and two of the frontispieces. The book is especially strong for American and Asian birds. The parts and plates were published in instalments and while many copies lack the whole of part 9, the present copy includes the plates and accompanying leaves of text of this part up to plate XXIV. It further includes one (uncoloured) plate, a portrait of an indigenous North American man, not recorded in the literature, though engraved by Seligmann.

With 2 tears in the folding map, almost entirely in the sea, but generally in very good condition. The bindings are slightly scuffed and have some professional restorations along the extremities, but are otherwise very good with most of the tooling clear.

     Anker 462; Fine Bird Books, p. 73; Nissen, Vogelbücher 857.

L'élégance des bibliothèques et l'art des livres

©Mon monde de l'élégance

E assim vos deixo, na minha opinião, com um lote de obras de excepção, com ilustrações de elevada qualidade e beleza.

Claro que poderão discordar, mas para isso terão de consultar, e ver atentamente, mais este magnífico catálogo – que é mesmo o que eu pretendo!

Saudações bibliófilas.