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THE COLLECTION OF WERNER FORMAN (1921-2010) (LOTS 830 - 854 INCLUSIVE)
Christie’s are delighted to offer this 25-lot selection of ceramics, works of art, paintings and textiles from the collection of London-based Werner Forman (1921-2010). Czech-born art photographer Werner spent his life travelling the world photographing works of art from museums, private collections and archaeological sites. Perhaps inevitably, this award-winning photographer built an extensive and eclectic collection that included Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Islamic and Tribal art. He bought from dealers and auctions worldwide from the 1950s through to the 1990s.
He was the photographer and co-author of more than 150 illustrated books. His earliest collaboration was A Book on Chinese Art with fellow Czech Lubor Hajek published in the former Czechoslovakia in 1954. He later worked with Chinese art scholar and former Director of Australia’s Art Gallery of New South Wales, Edmund Capon, on Tang China: Vision and Splendour of a Golden Age, MacDonald Orbis, 1989.
In a private, recorded interview he gave with a close friend before he died, Werner expressed what it was that inspired his photography and appetite for collecting. “I had something different in me, a hungry eye…Beauty, a phenomenon very hard to describe, would always fascinate me. I was, and still am, a fan of all things beautiful…In each and every photograph I try and capture this beauty. Through creating an appropriate atmosphere, through appropriate lighting…and through appropriate setting.”
Werner Forman (1921-2010)?? (???830?854?)
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????,??????????150???????????????????????????Lubor Hajek??????????«A Book on Chinese Art»,??1954??????????1989?,?????????????????????Edmund Capon??????«Tang China: Vision and Splendour of a Golden Age»?
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AN EMBROIDERED BLUE SILK FLYING TIGER BANNER
LATE 19TH CENTURY
Details
AN EMBROIDERED BLUE SILK FLYING TIGER BANNER
LATE 19TH CENTURY
The tiger is shown standing on its hind legs, teeth bared, and spreading its large red wings that span the width of the banner, all on a blue ground embroidered with flame scrolls and bats. The triangular flag has a red 'flame' border partially edged in black.
100 in. (254 cm.) x 46½ in. (118.2 cm.)
LATE 19TH CENTURY
The tiger is shown standing on its hind legs, teeth bared, and spreading its large red wings that span the width of the banner, all on a blue ground embroidered with flame scrolls and bats. The triangular flag has a red 'flame' border partially edged in black.
100 in. (254 cm.) x 46½ in. (118.2 cm.)
Further details
Tigers with bat-like wings were associated with military personnel since the mid-Ming dynasty. Flying tigers were featured on military banners from the 17th century.
An earlier, Kangxi period (1662-1722), flying tiger banner was sold in Christie's New York, 'The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles', 19 March 2008, lot 41.
An earlier, Kangxi period (1662-1722), flying tiger banner was sold in Christie's New York, 'The Imperial Wardrobe: Fine Chinese Costume and Textiles', 19 March 2008, lot 41.