On June 11 the auction house Bonhams London organized a good sell of watches at its premises in Bond Street. Buyers, especially Rolex one, were at the rendezvous.

 

A Rolex model "Daytona", "Paul Newman" (lot 328) fetched £46,850. This chronograph wristwatch stainless steel produced in 1970 was sold with its box and warranty certificate.

The +: The Rolex "Daytona” was created in 1959. It celebrates the 24 hours endurance motor racing that takes place in the eponymous city.

 

 

Rolex again (with lot 378), an "Oyster" stainless steel chronograph sold for more than £97,000, well above the estimations. This wristwatch was sold in its original box with a certificate of guarantee and an additional box.

The +: The "Oyster" is the iconic model. Created in 1927, it is the first totally Waterproof wristwatch development. In order to convince buyers, Rolex had arranged in the windows of shops, water-filled tanks where were immersed in the "Oyster". (Main picture)

 

 

Conclude with lot 160, a pocket watch executed in 1933 by Breguet for the designer and illustrator Paul Iribe, lover of Coco Chanel. In 18K yellow gold, it was awarded £26,250.

The + Paul Iribe is known for its influence on the Art Deco style.

In 1933, year of the purchase of this watch, he worked with Coco Chanel to create a line of jewelry in platinum and diamonds on the theme node, stars and feathers commissioned by the International Association of diamond.

 

Swiss watches, Rolex, Breguet, Jaeger LeCoultre, Audemars Piguet, ... or Hublot are much sought after by collectors. Their prices reflect the dynamism of this market.

 

Cedric Henon

 

 

Images: © courtesy of Bonhams

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It is in Cheverny that was auctioned an exceptional cabinet that belonged to Cardinal Mazarin (1602-1661). After being rediscovered by SVV Rouillac in early 2013, the object of inestimable value was sold to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam for £4,5 million on June 9. This chest with impressive dimensions dates from the Edo era, between 1630 and 1640 and served as a bar to its former owner!

 

This object consists of cedar panels covered with thick layers of lacquer and black lacquer with gold aventurine powder, has no less than 9 m2 of decorations of 9 mm thick. The delicacy of decorations and quality of execution shows again the dexterity the Japanese in the art of lacquer.

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Famous worldwide for its clocks creations and in particular watches include the most known the Reverso, the Jaeger-LeCoultre produces the famous Atmos clock with a perpetual motion for 85 years.

 

History

 

It was in 1928 that Jean-Léon Reutter developed the revolutionary movement of this clock. Its operation is based on changes in temperature and atmospheric pressure from where our clock takes its name "ATMOS". A one degree change ensures autonomy of 48 hours. This was a revolution for the time. The secret of this perpetual motion is based on a small capsule of mercury sealed and a particularly economical movement in beats per minute, 250 times less than your wristwatch.

 

From 1936, the Jaeger-LeCoultre produces the Atmos pendulum entirely.

 

Design

 

The classic model is designed as a rectangular glass box whose corners are brass but quickly, Jaeger-LeCoultre works with leading designers, Lalique, Hermes or St. Louis. It can also have a circular base, and even be skeleton or portico.

 

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René Jules Lalique (1860-1945) is one of the most famous jewelers and glassmakers of the movements Art Nouveau and Art Deco. His name is today one of the most prestigious for luxury in the world.

 

It is at the Universal Exhibition of 1885 the world discover Rene Lalique as a jeweler. His designs are innovative in the use of unusual materials such as glass, enamel, leather, horn, mother of pearl, combined with fine and precious stones. He was the first to successfully alloy glass and metal.

 

The Pectoral the dragonfly (main picture), a masterpiece of the 1900 Universal Exhibition is the most beautiful manifest of his work. Bold mix of shapes micro fauna and flora, insects and creepers are popular motifs of Art Nouveau.

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Zao Wou-Ki, one of the greatest French-Chinese painters of the second half of the twentieth century, died a few weeks ago at the age of 92.

 

Born in 1921 in a wealthy family in Beijing, his father is a banker; he studied at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Hangzhou encouraged by his family who owns paintings and ceramics dating back to the tenth century.

 

In 1948, his life changed. Zao Wou-Ki decides to leave China for France and especially Paris to rub and feed on avant-garde artists of Montparnasse. He befriends the biggest names in contemporary painting and sculpture, Pierre Soulages, Alberto Giacometti, Hans Hartung and Joan Miro to name some of the best known.

 

In 1951, Zao Wou-Ki met Paul Klee, this meeting is crucial for our artist that allows him to assert his own style in which he finds a balance between traditional Chinese painting and abstraction from the West particularly in its landscapes.

 

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Elegant and practical, luxurious and easy to wear the Birkin handbag by Hermès represents the height of the female class. Since its creation in 1984, the model was so successful that it became a symbol of the brand. Let’s lift the veil on this timeless accessory.

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Of all the major sculptors of his time, Charles Cordier (1827-1905) is certainly one whose style and art stand out the most.

 

Cordier enters in 1846 to the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and in 1847 joined the studio of François Rude, one of the great masters of sculpture in the middle of the nineteenth century. His encounter with a former Sudanese slave now a model acted as a revelation for our young sculptor. In 15 days he executes his bust marking a decisive turning point for his work. We are then in the midst of the abolition of slavery and the beginnings of ethnography.

 

Charles Cordier's mission is to sculpt the diversity of human beings. To do this, he traveled to Africa and the Maghreb to capture to the best and the most realistic way possible traits of the different peoples.

 

His busts stand by the accuracy of the sculpture on which the hair is done with scissors. He developed a new technique in which he mixes materials, marble, onyx, bronze, gold and silver but also colored enamels and precious stones. Thus, his busts are characterized by polychrome allowing to make it the closest of the character of his subject.

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From £200 to £120 000, the prices of his works are vary wide. Major player in the Figuration Libre of the 1980s, Combas is always an artist popular of the French contemporary art market.

 

Good news: his drawings can be bought. You can indeed "buy Combas" for £250. Autographed in marker drawings are numerous. Made by the artist in dedication of an exhibition catalog, they often end up cut and sold separately. Note that they are not a good investment for you.

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Luxury objects from their origin, wanted by kings, princes and nobles in the sixteenth century, the works of art produced in Sicily in Trapani continue to appreciated by collectors and curators.

 

It is from the early sixteenth century to the late eighteenth century that the city of Trapani develops workshops specialized in the production of objects ornate with corals.

 

Coral, from the Mediterranean is characterized by its highly nuanced red, up to pale pink.

 

Before starting to work the coral branches, the craftsman selected the pieces according to their colors, their shapes and sizes.

 

Mirrors, crucifixes, candlesticks, monstrance, tables and occasional tables produced by the workshops of Trapani are distinguished by their use of coral either branches or pieces. Sought since ancient times coral is fished in the Liguria Sea and considered divine and magical by the three monotheistic religions

 

It is interesting to note that corals could be associated with noble materials such as gold, silver and vermeil but very frequently on much more common materials such as copper, brass, gilt wood or enamel.

 

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Poetic objects with bright light and reflections lacquer panels are used in the decorative arts from the eighteenth century to adorn precious furniture. Their opalescence and depth have poetic and meditative properties so fascinating for Europeans.

 

The use of lacquer in the decorative arts is ancestral as Chinese produce them since the third millennium BC. While Chinese lacquer panels reach their peak during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the Japanese are pushing the technical perfection in the eighteenth century. Through trade with the Far East, they are imported in Europe by the Compagnie des Indes and known of European from the sixteenth century.

 

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