Books & manuscripts
A QUATREFOIL BRONZE CENSER AND ‘LOTUS’ COVER, QING
China, 1644 1912. Heavily cast with an openwork cover in the form of a lotus flower with large leaves and pods as well as a bird on one side. The recessed base with a two character mark ‘Yunshang’. Provenance: From the private collection of a German …
A CARVED AND GILT HARDWOOD MANUSCRIPT COVER, 14TH-15TH CENTURY
Tibet. Of rectangular form, finely and deeply carved with Buddha Shakyamuni on a throne in the center, flanked by two bodhisattvas, one striking a dynamic pose on a lotus pedestal and the other four armed and seated in meditation, surrounded by folia…
AN IMPORTANT WHITE MARBLE STELE OF BUDDHA, MAUDGALYAYANA AND SARIPUTRA, NORTHERN QI
China, 550 577. Carved from a single piece of marble, the central figure of Buddha is seated in dhyanasana on a throne supported on two chilong, his left hand held in abhayamudra, the face in a serene, meditative expression with downcast eyes and a b…
A SMALL JICHIMU YUANJIAOGUI CABINET WITH ORIGINAL STAND, QING
China, 1644 1912. The cabinet has a protruding top frame raised on splayed vertical posts and is fitted with floating panel doors within rectangular frames and centered around a removable stile, above plain, beaded aprons and spandrels. The whole cab…
AN ALBUM OF 50 STONE RUBBINGS DEPICTING LUOHAN, QING DYNASTY
China, 19 th century. The accordion album with fifty leaves, each depicting a seated luohan beneath a title inscription, with plain hardwood covers, one with an old Chinese export seal in the lower right corner. Provenance: German private collection.…
LU ZONGGUI, DATED 1229: AN IMPORTANT SONG DYNASTY ALBUM
China. Eight watercolors on thin silk. With two hardwood covers. Painted in classic Song dynasty style, each of the leaves shows superior artistic skill and inspiration. Only a few albums of comparable condition and caliber have been on the market du…
AN IMPERIAL POETRY ALBUM BY YU MINZHONG (1714-1779), WITH CARVED SANDALWOOD COVERS, QIANLONG
China, 1760 1779. The covers finely carved in low relief with five clawed long dragons, two on the front cover flanking the central incised title inscription and one front facing on the back cover, surrounded by lingzhi shaped clouds above crashing w…
A MANUSCRIPT OF THE AMITABHA SUTRA WITH SILK COVERS, DATED 1788
China. Accordion album of approximately 88 leaves, ink on paper. Besides the text there are two depictions of Buddha, one surrounded by a retinue of monks and the other flanked by two disciples, likely the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara and Manjushri. …
AN ALBUM OF ‘QI BAISHI’ WOODBLOCK PRINTS BY RONGBAOZHAI, DATED 1955
China, Beijing. Two volumes, containing approximately 40 leaves each, with a brocade silk case. The case and each volume with a label bearing a seal and inscription, splashed with gold foil. Inscriptions: To the case and each volume on the cover, Bei…
A WESTERN ASIATIC CHLORITE ‘SNAKE’ VESSEL, 3RD MILLENNIUM BC
With a slightly domed base and tapering sides rising to a flat everted rim, carved in relief to either side with a large, archaic snake coiled around a bull with an elongated body and large oval eyes, divided by incised palm leaves, the beasts‘ eyes …
AN INDIAN BRONZE FIGURE OF RATNASAMBHAVA, PALA PERIOD
Eastern India, Bihar, 9 th century. Finely cast with Buddha seated in dhyanasana on a double lotus base over a raised plinth, backed by a round nimbus with bead and flame border surmounted by a parasol, the stylized leaves of the Bodhi tree emerging …
AN INDIAN STONE BRAHMANDA, ‘COSMIC EGG’, AND MATCHING BRONZE TRIPOD STAND
India, 19 th century. The stone of ovoid form and finely polished with natural markings and grain. The stand with three rearing mythical animals forming the supports, and with a sun shaped open ring to the top where the stone rests. (2) Provenance: C…
Coffret d'époque romantique contenant 4 volumes : Journal, Notes diverses, Copie de lettres, Poésies illustrés de certains poèmes - Le coffret marqué DE LA PARRIQUE D FENOUX, rue de Grenelles, n° 51
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Books & manuscripts
"A book is alive. Don't trust it. A book sucks you into it," wrote Victor Hugo.
Thus libraries came into being, and in their wake Books and Manuscripts auctions, bringing together antique and modern books, letters, autograph documents, maps and postcards.
From Books of Hours – manuscripts richly illuminated in blue and gold – to works by the Surrealists André Breton and Paul Eluard, the jewels of auctions are first editions on "fine paper" possessing the three cardinal virtues: a period binding, an outstanding provenance and an "envoi", in other words a dedication by the author.
Collectors fight over the manuscripts and letters of the Accursed Poets (Baudelaire, Verlaine and Rimbaud), autograph pages by Proust, travel books and maps.
But with online auctions also pay homage to literature, the "ninth art", with deluxe editions and first prints of strip cartoons by the glorious trio: Hergé, Franquin, and Uderzo & Goscinny. You will also find albums and original pages by cartoonists of the younger generation: Hugo Pratt, Moebius and Enki Bilal…
A real bubble bath!
