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Alexandra Kindermann (London) 44.207.389.2982
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CHRISTIE'S TO STAGE FIVE SALES DEVOTED TO THE DR ANTON C. R. DREESMANN COLLECTION
Largest Dutch collection ever to come to auction to be sold at Christie's in April
Offering over 1300 works of art in London and Amsterdam
The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection - April 2002 Christie's London
Impressionist and Modern Art - 9 April
European Furniture and Works of Art and Chinese Export Porcelain - 10 April
Old Master Pictures and Drawings - 11 April
Portrait Miniatures, Gold Boxes and Objects of Vertu - 11 April Christie's Amsterdam
Dutch Works of Art - 16 April
London & Amsterdam - Christie's announces that the landmark auction of The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection will take place in London and Amsterdam in April 2002. Spanning four days, comprising five sales in two cities and offering over one thousand three hundred works of art, this is one of the great Dutch collections to come to auction and is estimated to realize in the region of £15 million (€24 million / $20 million).
"Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann fulfilled a personal quest to find beautiful and rare objects across the whole spectrum of artistic endeavour for more than forty years. This sale commemorates a passionate collector," said Jop Ubbens, Chairman of Christie's Amsterdam. "This is a superb collection built on a keen sense of history, insatiable curiosity and an independent spirit, and Christie's auctions in London and Amsterdam will provide a rare opportunity for international collectors", said Edward Dolman, CEO of Christie's International. "It is extremely rare in recent times to witness the vision of a collector with such a wide ranging enthusiasm and appetite for works of art," said Noël Annesley, Chairman of Christie's Fine Art Specialist Group.
Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann's reputation as a businessman, entrepreneur and collector extends beyond his fame in Holland. The sale affords a fascinating opportunity to acquire important works at all levels in terms of variety of objects as well as price range. The collector's grandfather, also called Anton, was co-founder of the department stores Vroom and Dreesmann and was himself a modest collector. Dr Dreesmann's father, Willem assembled a superb collection that was dispersed in 1960. Therefore drawing inspiration from the family tradition of both appreciation and careful acquisition of works of art, Dr Dreesmann's own approach became an enthusiastic campaign across a wide range of collecting categories.
The auctions in London will offer superb Old Master pictures and drawings, Impressionist and Modern works of art, European furniture and works of art, gold boxes and portrait miniatures as well as fine Chinese Export porcelain. The Amsterdam sale will offer a wide selection of fine and decorative works of art of particularly Dutch interest. These will include an important group of Dutch silver, engraved glass, pictures, prints, antiquarian books, clocks and furniture. A number of views of local towns, marine and river scenes will be featured and in addition the sale will offer Japanese netsuke and further Chinese export porcelain made for the Dutch market.
Impressionist & Modern Art - 9 April
Dr Dreesmann assembled a wide group of works in this collecting field by a broad range of artists including Foujita, Heckel and Schiele, as well as Gauguin, Modigliani and Chagall. Vincent van Gogh is represented by a portrait of Sien, facing left and a dune landscape (each estimate: £120,000-180,000/€193,000-290,000).
Highlights include the atmospheric canvas Le tas de pierre (estimate: £600,000-900,000 /€960,000-1,400,000) by Seurat, Jawlensky's striking portrait of Julia (estimate: £150,000-200,000/€240,000-320,000) and Au Bois de Boulogne by van Dongen (estimate: £400,000-500,000/€645,000-800,000), a very fine example by the artist. Caillebotte is also represented in the sale by Trois pêcheurs en barque (estimate: £60,000-80,000/€98,000-130,000).
Among the other important works on paper from the period are a pastel, Danseuse en bleu, les bras levés, by Degas (estimate: £150,000-200,000/€240,000-320,000) and Monet's pastel, Waterloo Bridge (estimate: £100,000-150,000/€160,000-240,000). Tiere in der Landschaft, a watercolour by Franz Marc (estimate: £40,000-60,000/€65,000-95,000) and a pen drawing by Picasso Femme nue debout appuyée (estimate: £60,000-80,000/ €95,000-130,000), are further highlights. The sale will also offer two important watercolour landscapes by Cézanne.
Old Master Pictures and Drawings - 11 April
Old Master pictures and drawings in the collection reveal the personal, perceptive taste of Dr Dreesmann and provide an extensive overview of 17th and 18th century Dutch painting including works by Salomon van Ruysdael, van Goyen, Aelbert Cuyp and Emmanuel de Witte. Two evocative works by Hendrick Avercamp, An estuary with a moored fishing smack near a jetty (estimate: £200,000-300,000/€320,000-480,000) and Skaters on the ice (estimate: £600,000-800,000/€960,000-1,280,000) show archetypal scenes of Dutch country life. The still life genre is led by a Breakfast still life by Heda (estimate: £200,000-300,000/€320,000-480,000) and Adriaen Coorte's Still life of shells on a marble ledge of 1698 (estimate: £200,000-300,000/€320,000-480,000).
Further highlights among the Old Master pictures include an important early work by Nicolaes Maes executed shortly after he had left Rembrandt's studio. The Spanish Gypsy (estimate: £200,000-300,000/€320,000-480,000) was long regarded as a work by Rembrandt himself, until shown to be by Maes, one of his most important pupils. A young woman seated in an interior (estimate: £150,000-250,000/€240,000-400,000) by Gabriel Metsu is an intimate depiction of a Dutch peasant woman in which the artist, one of the most important of the Leiden school, displays his talent for psychological insight.
Important Old Master drawings include a rare Goya portrait, The painter, Felipe Liano, executed in red chalk (estimate: £30,000-50,000/€48,000-80,000); Four studies of actors from the Comédie Francaise by Watteau (estimate: £50,000-80,000/€80,000-130,000) and a fine sheet by Fragonard, Susannah and the Elders, in brown wash (estimate: £40,000-60,000/€64,000-96,000). Further highlights among the Old Master drawings are a superb Tulip Book, containing 42 drawings of tulips on vellum (estimate: £80,000-120,000/€128,000-192,000) by Pieter Holsteijn II, and a group of drawings by Rembrandt and his school.
This sale will offer fine furniture as well as clocks, textiles, sculpture and antiquities. Dr Dreesmann's taste in furniture embraced the exquisite creations of 18th century France as well as Dutch furniture. Leading the important furniture in the sale is a Louis XV ormolu-mounted amaranth tulipwood and marquetry table à la Bourgogne by Jean-Pierre Latz (estimate: £250,000-400,000/€400,000-640,000) and a Louis XV kingwood, fruitwood and marquetry bureau de dame by Roger van der Cruse (estimate: £150,000-250,000/€240,000-400,000).
Portrait Miniatures, Gold Boxes and Objects of Vertu - 11 April 2002
A rare German snuff-box by Johann Christian Neuber, Dresden, circa 1775, with a booklet listing the various agates out of which it is composed (estimate: £100,000-150,000/ €160,000-240,000) and an important Swiss antique gold mouse automaton, with the fur simulated in white enamel with pearls, attributed to Henri Maillardet, Geneva, circa 1810-1815 (estimate: £60,000-80,000/€95,000-128,000), are among the highlights of the sale. Two rare and signed pieces by the only prominent Dutch court miniaturist of his day, Pierre le Sage, will also be offered. They are Portrait of Madame de Sabran, (estimate £2,500-3,500/€4,000-5,600) formerly from the Pierpont Morgan collection, and a rare double portrait of Wilhelmina (estimate: £4,000-6,000/€6,500-9,700) the daughter-in-law of William V, Prince of Orange-Nassau, holding her baby boy, the future King William II of the Netherlands. Painted in 1794, this is Le Sage's latest dated work and of great historic importance for miniature painting in the Netherlands.
Dutch Works of Art - 16 April 2002
Christie's Amsterdam
A celebration of the Netherlands, this auction will offer more than three hundred works of art in Amsterdam, in a sale that will encapsulate the glory of Dutch culture and craftsmanship and will reflect Dutch taste over many centuries. A comprehensive collection of Dutch silver dating from the early 17th to the early 19th century includes works by the leading members of the van Vianen family. These works include a circular silver repoussé plaque by Paulus van Vianen, 1611 (estimate: €32,000-48,000); a rare dish signed and dated by Adam van Vianen, Utrecht, 1622 (estimate: €110,000-160,000); and an important, intricate bowl on foot with grotesque monster stem by Christian van Vianen, Utrecht, 1628 (estimate: €190,000-290,000). In addition the sale includes four superb Rococo two-light wall-sconces, by Willem Burger, The Hague, 1752 and 1753 (estimate: €322,000-480,000) as well as two exceptionally important salt-cellars by Thomas Bogaert, Utrecht, 1624 (estimate: €240,000-400,000).
Further highlights include a collection of Delft porcelain and Dutch engraved glass from the 18th century as well as twenty Dutch topographical paintings with views of Amsterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Haarlem by such artists as Jan van der Heyden, Gerrit Adriaensz. Berckheyde, Jan ten Compe, Isaak Ouwater and Hendrik Keun. Among the selection of books are an important example of Euclid's Elementa Geometrica, Venice, 1492, and a fine atlas by Blaeu. All five Dutch Realists are represented in the Amsterdam sale with pictures by Carel Willink, Wim Schuhmacher, Dick Ket, Pyke Koch and Raoul Hynckes.
Highlights of the furniture section are two Dutch longcase clocks both made in Amsterdam and formerly in the collection of Willem Dreesmann, Dr Dreesmann's father. The astronomical longcase clock, made by Pieter Swaan in circa 1735, featured in the entrance hall of Dreesmann's Amsterdam residence (estimate: €80,000-120,000). The second example is a musical longcase clock by Jan Henkels, active in Amsterdam between 1742 and 1778 (estimate: €80,000-120,000). The sale concludes with Chinese Export porcelain and Japanese netsuke of Dutch figures.
International Exhibition Tour:
Selected highlights encapsulating the breadth and quality of The Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann Collection will be on view in international saleroom locations from mid-February. Special lectures and events will also be scheduled to complement the exhibition tour (details to be confirmed).
Christie's, 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York
1 - 5 February
Christie's Amsterdam, Cornelis Schuytstraat 57
13 - 14 March
Christie's Paris, 9 Avenue Matignon, Paris
17 - 21 March
Christie's London, 8 King Street, St. James's
13 February - 31 March
Auction Schedule: Christie's London
Impressionist and Modern Art - 9 April
European Furniture and Works of Art and Chinese Export Porcelain - 10 April
Old Master Pictures and Drawings - 11 April
Portrait Miniatures, Gold Boxes and Objects of Vertu - 11 April Christie's Amsterdam
Dutch Works of Art - 16 April
