CURIOSITY

The works of art which concluded the big sale that I spoke about yesterday also sold very well, with some irregularities, some objects far exceeding estimates, others remaining very well below. I will classify in this last category three small Chinese vases, Kien-Long period with pink background and bronze mount from the time of Louis XV, which a merchant got for 49,000 francs, while they were estimated at 60,000.

On the contrary, a small Italian bronze from the sixteenth century, a statuette of Losme de Medici, for which experts were asking 5,000 francs, was pushed by a major dealer up to 31,500 francs. A fairly rare triptych, in silk embroidery from the sixteenth century, estimated at 8,000 francs, reached 28,500 francs.
Other objects remained very close to estimates, such as: Apparition of a deer to Saint Hubert, Renaissance bronze, 13,000 francs: Gubbio earthenware cup, 14,000 francs; sixteenth century box, in rock crystal and precious stones, 10,000 francs.

Some interesting pieces of furniture completed the sale, including a marquetry knitting machine, Louis XVI period, 17,000 francs, and a Louis XV secretary, in flower marquetry, signed Wattelin, 16,000 francs.

THE FURETIERE