Grand Foyer of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Billionaire Russian investor Vladimir Potanin announced a $5 million gift Thursday to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to mark its 40th anniversary and support its programs.
The gift, a first from Russia to the Washington center, includes additional funding from Potanin’s foundation to renovate an Opera House lounge at the center. It will be renamed the Russian Lounge and redecorated to feature Russian culture when it reopens in late 2012.
Potanin, 50, is a founder of Interros Company and the biggest shareholder in the world’s largest nickel producer, Norilsk Nickel. For years, he has been locked in a dispute with rival Oleg Deripaska over control of the mining giant.
Engaging with the Kennedy Center is a “natural expansion” of his foundation’s philanthropic activities in Russia, Potanin said in a written statement ahead of the gift announcement.
“I believe the Kennedy Center has been playing a very important role in building strong cultural relations between our countries by presenting the greatest Russian artists to the American people,” he said.
Over the years, Russia’s Mariinsky Ballet, Opera and Orchestra have performed in Washington, as well as the Bolshoi Ballet.
Cultural ties date back to the Soviet Union era. For 17 years, Mstislav “Slava” Rostropovich served as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra at the center while in exile from the Soviet Union. He was celebrated in 1990 upon returning to Russia for the first time to conduct. He died in 2007.
Artistic programs from Potanin’s foundation will guide the design of the new lounge to showcase Russian arts and culture. The center said it may include museum collections from the foundation’s archives and a multimedia zone to highlight Russian culture.
A Waterford crystal chandelier that was a gift from Ireland when the center opened in 1971 will remain in the lounge. New Russian artwork and furnishings also will fill the room. It will be designed by Russian designer Yuri Avvakumov with architectural support from Baltimore-based Richter Cornbrooks Gribble, Inc.
The Kennedy Center is a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy. The planned national cultural center was named in his honor, following his death.
The Russian Lounge will be the fourth space at the center dedicated to a country or region, along with those devoted to Africa, Israel and China. Gifts from other countries also are part of the center’s design, including 3,700 tons of marble from Italy that lines the building’s interior and exterior.
Kennedy Center Chairman David Rubenstein thanked Potanin for the gift, which will support the center’s programming and operating expenses.
“Russia’s cultural heritage has enriched the Kennedy Center’s programming on countless occasions,” he said, adding that the gift would enable the center to continue to present the best national and international artistry.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Grand Foyer of The Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC.
Apollo 13 flown checklist book directly from the personal collection of Mission Commander James Lovell, signed and certified. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.
CHICAGO (AFP) – A checklist used to guide the wounded Apollo 13 spacecraft home after the explosion that led to the famed “Houston, we’ve had a problem” call sold at Heritage Auctions in Texas on Wednesday for just under $390,000.
The checklist booklet contains handwritten calculations by Commander James Lovell to determine the spacecraft’s angle of descent back to Earth and other notes.
NASA transcripts show how Lovell asked Houston to “check my arithmetic to make sure we got a good course align.” The three-man crew was running out of oxygen, water and heat and only had one chance to make it home safely.
The Apollo 13 Lunar Module Systems Activation Checklist fetched the highest price, at $388,375, for a piece of Apollo Space Program memorabilia that did not make it to the moon’s surface, Heritage Auctions said.
“Without this (booklet) the Apollo 13 crew would not have known their position in space,” said Michael Riley, senior historian at the Dallas-based auction house. “It helped create the greatest successful failure in the history of space exploration.”
Apollo 13 was the seventh manned mission in the U.S. space program and was supposed to be the third to land on the moon. But an oxygen tank exploded two days after its April 17, 1970 launch, badly damaging the spacecraft some 200,000 miles from Earth.
The booklet was sold to an anonymous collector who lives on the East Coast.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Apollo 13 flown checklist book directly from the personal collection of Mission Commander James Lovell, signed and certified. Image courtesy of Heritage Auctions and LiveAuctioneers.com Archive.
Antonio strikes a pose wearing the very mask that Val Kilmer wore in one of the Batman films.
Antonio Sabato, Jr. (General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, Melrose Place) has a thing for Batman – an obsession, you might say. In fact, he was featured on Oprah once, in a segment titled Celebrity Obsessions. “Yeah, I’m obsessed with Batman,” he said with a laugh from his home in Los Angeles. “If I see something with a Batman logo, I pretty much have to have it.”
And, with the obsession comes a collection, and Antonio’s got a doozy. His home is filled with Batman memorabilia – toys, games, radio-controlled toy cars, action figures, statues, posters (one of which is a limited-edition print signed and given to him by the noted British comic book creator Dave Taylor), a book titled Back to the Batcave, signed by the original TV Batman Adam West (and presented to Sabato as a surprise by Paula Deen on her TV show, where both he and West were guests), a copy of the March 11, 1966 LIFE magazine that featured Adam West as Batman on the cover, and many other items.
He also has boxes full of Batman comic books, some dating back to the 1940s, when Batman was gaining traction as a newly-introduced comic hero. He’s not exactly sure, but he doesn’t think he’s got a copy of Detective Comics #27 (in which Batman made his first appearance, in 1939). It would behoove him to find out, though: a copy sold in 2010 through Heritage Auction Galleries for a little over $1 million. At that time, it set a new world record for a comic book at auction, beating the previous record set, for a copy of Action Comics #1 (Superman’s debut).
Sabato has been a fan of Batman since he was a child growing up in Italy (he came to this country in 1985, at age 13), but admiration turned to obsession in 1992, when he joined Chris Steel’s Steel Boxer gym in Los Angeles. “He’s a Batman fanatic, too,” Antonio remarked, “and he had all sorts of Batman memorabilia filling the gym and a room that was all-Batman. His collection got me to looking for Batman items, too, and before long I was hooked.” Chris later became a stunt coordinator for Antonio’s scenes in General Hospital.
Sabato owns three vehicles that are all tricked out with Batman-themed graphics. Two are motorcycles – a 1993 Harley- Davidson Softail with the Batman logo on both sides of the gas tank, and a 2005 Yamaha R-1, which is currently being rebuilt and has Batman symbols on the tank and panels. He also owns a black-on-black 2005 Infiniti FX45 SUV that’s been outfitted with special LED lights and other aftermarket goodies to give it “a Batman-like look,” as he put it, adding the motorcycles “look like comic book bikes.”
There are a few items of which Sabato is particularly proud. Two of them are the actual masks worn by Michael Keaton and Val Kilmer in their respective Batman movies. The other is a metal Batman boomerang-like spiked weapon that was given to him by a fan. “That item is a reminder that Batman is different from other superheroes in that he doesn’t carry a gun, isn’t on steroids and doesn’t rely on outside help of any kind to catch his criminals,” Sabato said. “And, most impressive of all, he’s a human being, like you and me. He’s not Spider-Man, who got his powers through a bite, or a mythical-like character like Thor. It’s possible he could be shot and killed. His mortality is on the line every time he goes out there to fight crime.”
Sabato even has tattoos of Batman – three, in fact. One shows Batman going through a yellow moon, one depicts him gliding downward with cape billowing for support, and the third (on his shoulder) is of a bat, with red eyes. And, of course, he owns a veritable stockpile of DVDs from the television series and movies. Even his flip-flops and bathrobe are Batman-themed, so right out of the shower he’s reminded who is hero is.
Sabato’s favorite actor to play Batman? “Without question, Christian Bale,” he said right away. “He’s the only one who was true to what I feel is the real Batman character. He didn’t treat the role as a cartoon or just walk through his lines to collect a paycheck. I liked Adam West, too, because he was the first and he obviously had a lot of fun with the part. But Christian Bale took the character seriously and brought him to a whole new level, in my opinion.”
He added, “Batman is a complicated character. He’s well-traveled, highly educated and physically fit. And he’s leading two fascinating lives, one as the wealthy Bruce Wayne, with his loyal butler Alfred, and one as an incredible crime-fighter, with another loyal partner, Robin, and all those wonderful gadgets and the Batmobile, the coolest car ever. It’s a lifestyle I’d like to have myself. But of course I can’t, so for now I’m just looking forward to the next Batman movie, which is due out next summer.”
And what will happen to Antonio’s collection when he passes on to that great Batcave in the sky? “I’ll probably hand it down to my children,” he said (he’s got three; a son, 17, a daughter, 9, and a son, aged 6 months). “The two older ones love Batman, too. My 9-year-old got dressed up as Batwoman for Halloween last year. My youngest isn’t old enough yet, but give him time. I’ll make a Batman fan out of him as well.”
Antonio Sabato, Jr., was born Feb. 29, 1972 in Rome, Italy, to an Italian father (also an actor) and a Jewish Czechoslovakian mother (Yvonne, a realtor). When the family moved here in 1985, he had to learn English as a second language and was enrolled at St. Bernard High School in Los Angeles. From there he transferred to Beverly Hills High School. He became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1996. Thanks to his fabulous good looks, he became an underwear model for Calvin Klein in 1990 and the firm’s celebrity model six years later.
A big break came when he was cast to appear in Janet Jackson’s 1990 music video for the song Love Will Never Do (Without You), along with fellow CK underwear model Dijmon Hounsou. Then, in 1992, another big break: Sabato joined the cast of the daytime drama General Hospital, and viewers took notice: in the three years he was on, the show jumped from seventh to third in the daytime Nielsen ratings. Also in 1992, he was named one of People magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People.
From General Hospital, Sabato went on to play Heather Locklear’s abusive ex-husband in a six-episode stint on Melrose Place, and he played Dante Damiano, a role created especially for him, on the daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful. He has also guest-starred on FOX’s Bones, TNT’s hit Rizzoli & Isles, NCIS, CSI: New York and Hot in Cleveland. His dating series My Antonio, set in Hawaii, was a hit for VH-1. He was also the winner on the show Celebrity Circus, on which he performed difficult, Cirque du Soleil-esque acts.
Sabato starred in the movie Ghost Voyage for The Sci-Fi Channel and Destination: Infestation, opposite Jessalyn Gilsig, for the Lifetime Channel. He reprised his General Hospital character, Jagger Cates, on SoapNet’s Night Shift, and recently completed co-starring in the indie drama feature A Mother’s Secret, with Ashley Jones. He starred as serial killer Henry Lee Lucas in the indie feature Drifter: The Henry Lee Lucas Story, for which he won a Best Actor Award at the 2009 Beverly Hills Film Festival.
Sabato has made guest appearances on the TV shows Ally McBeal (FOX) and Charmed (WB). He also appeared opposite Mark Diamond Phillipa and Mark Wahlberg in the feature film The Big Hit, and opposite Tori Spelling in The Help. He is in the recently-released feature film Balls to the Wall, a Penelope Spheeris comedy.
Antonio Sabato, Jr., is a fitness and auto-racing enthusiast and is the author of the book No Excuses: Workout for Life. Fans of the star may visit him online, at www.antoniosabatojronline.com; or, they can tweet him @antoniosabatojr.com. He has over 40,000 followers on Twitter.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGES OF NOTE
Antonio strikes a pose wearing the very mask that Val Kilmer wore in one of the Batman films.Antonio in the garage of his California home with one of two Batman-themed motorcycles.Like all other Batman collectors, Antonio would love to have a copy of Detective Comics #27 (the first appearance of Batman, in 1939). It could be worth $1 million.One of Antonio’s prized possessions is this spiked, metal Batman-themed boomerang.“Classic Batman” figure with colorful graphics and impressive backdrop display.Antonio has not one but two motorcycles tricked out with Batman logos and paraphernalia.Batman action figure with the original store display that invites buyers to “Try Me.”Sabato is a race car driver, a fitness enthusiast, an actor, model and author (of the book No Excuses: Workout for Life).
The White House of the Confederacy is now open year round in answer to increased demand during the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Image courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy. Online: www.moc.org.
RICHMOND, Va. – With the increase in visitation owing to the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War, the White House of the Confederacy, the restored mid-Victorian home occupied by the Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his family during the Civil War, is now open year round. Owned and operated by the Museum of the Confederacy, the house receives thousands of visitors each year and is considered one of the most important restored homes in the United States.
Starting Jan. 2, 2012, admission to the house will be $10. A ticket to the museum is also $10. The best value available is a ticket to both sites for $15. Group discounts apply.
The uniform and sword Gen. Robert E. Lee wore to his meeting with Gen. U.S. Grant at Appomattox will be traveling to the second site in the Museum system, The Museum of the Confederacy-Appomattox. These items are being taken off display at the Museum of the Confederacy-Richmond after Jan. 1, 2012 so they may rest prior to being displayed at the new museum. The Museum of the Confederacy-Appomattox will be open to the public March 31, 2012.
The Museum of the Confederacy is a private, nonprofit educational institution. The Museum and White House are located in downtown Richmond in the historic Court End neighborhood. The Museum owns the world’s largest collection of artifacts and documents related to the Confederate States of America.
The Museum’s address is 1201 E. Clay Street, Richmond, VA 23219. Hours of operation and information on holiday closure may be viewed online at the Museum’s website. For additional information call 855-649-1861 or log on to www.moc.org.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
The White House of the Confederacy is now open year round in answer to increased demand during the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Image courtesy of the Museum of the Confederacy. Online: www.moc.org.
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), Bearded Old Man, from private collection. Photo by Rene Gerritsen, courtesy of Rembrandthuis.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – A painting by Rembrandt that had long been attributed to one of his school is in fact by the 17th-century Dutch master himself, the Rembrandthuis museum in Amsterdam said Friday.
“We are 100 percent sure now that we can attribute the painting to Rembrandt,” Leslie Schwartz, a museum spokeswoman, told AFP.
She said the painting called “Bearded Old Man” had up to now been attributed to “an associate.”
The 18.5-centimetre by 17-centimetre (7.3-inch by 6.7-inch) oil painting was done around 1630, at the end of Rembrandt’s stay at Leyden in the western Netherlands, she said.
The painting is owned by a private collector who prefers to remain anonymous and was given to the museum on loan.
It was authenticated by independent expert Ernst van de Wetering, a Rembrandt specialist, who said there were “technical similarities in the style of painting” with other Rembrandt works of the same period, the museum said in a statement.
“Technical research showed that there is an unfinished self-portrait by Rembrandt under the layer of paint,” it added.
“Bearded Old Man” is now on show at the museum and will be the centrepiece of an exhibition in May and June next year, along with other Rembrandt paintings.
Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, who lived 1606-1669, is considered one of Europe’s greatest Baroque painters and his country’s most important.
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ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), Bearded Old Man, from private collection. Photo by Rene Gerritsen, courtesy of Rembrandthuis.
Carved ivory brush pot, 19th century. Estimate: $10,000-$15,000. Image courtesy of Michaan’s Auctions. ALAMEDA, Calif. – On Sunday, Dec. 18, Michaan’s Auctions will conduct its Fine Asian Works of Art Auction in the main gallery, located at 2751 Todd St. Over 400 lots of objects of superb quality from China, Japan, Korea, Himalaya and other Asian regions comprise the sale.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet live bidding.
Chinese offerings include artwork from numerous categories, meeting the needs of collectors and dealers alike, with objects including but not limited to porcelains, jades, textiles, religious figures, furniture, paintings and calligraphy, scholar’s objects, ivory and coral. Property has originated from local collectors, estates and private collections with only top tier items selected for the Fine Asian Art Sale.
A highlight of the sale certain to pique strong buyer interest are items from the Reynold Tom Collection. Tom accumulated a glorious personal collection of Asian decorative items over the span of approximately 30 years throughout his travels to Asia, amassing the finest in ivory and stone carvings, scrolls, furniture, porcelains, figures and literature. Michaan’s Auctions is honored to present over 40 lots from the collection, a grouping reflecting a lifelong passion from a man with a keen eye for quality, beauty and Asian artistry.
One of the most substantial items up for auction from the Tom Collection is a large embellished lacquer rectangular wall panel (lot 6271, $4,000-$6,000). Dating to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), the piece is beautifully decorated with ivory, jade and hard stones to the front and displays lacquering and gilt decoration on the back. There is also a corresponding tri-gram embellishment on top of the screen, continuing to add to its overall look. The screen is in nearly perfect condition, rare for this type of piece, and depicts an auspicious elephant carrying a scholar’s implements upon its back.
Another important find from the collection is a carved jadeite censer and lid from the early 20th century (lot 6296, $4,000-$6,000). The stone used has a faint greenish tone with intriguing translucency and displays natural russet inclusions. Also unique is its archaistic shape, eschewing the more common tripod form with protruding handles evident of many censers of the period. Crafted as a ritual incense burner, the censer is also a perfect example of the expert lapidary craftsmanship of the time.
With the current state of the Asian art market on the rise, many desirable pieces continue to achieve record prices, taking their prominence to new heights. Lot 6044, a finely carved ivory brush pot, shows promise of being a consummate example of just such a phenomenon ($10,000-$15,000). Dating to the Qing Dynasty, the piece is exquisitely carved with an intense attention to detail rarely seen. Comparable examples can be found in the Palace Museum in Beijing. In spite of the intricate nature of the décor on the pot, it remains in amazingly excellent condition. Depicting the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma among a fanciful flora and fauna landscape scene, “The Blue-Eyed Brahmin,” or Buddha aide, is crafted as a perfect example of the carving workmanship of the period. A comparable object offered in the Michaan’s Auctions June Fine Asian Art Sale of 2011 was estimated at $8,000-$12,000 and brought in an astounding $264,000. Objects such as these are a true find to say the least.
Among the Japanese offerings is a complete and wonderfully preserved samurai armor set. The armor is dated to the post-Edo period and was most likely used to adorn a samurai of high-ranking stature. Design features include sword-like decoration to the front of the lacquered, metal helmet as well as laced body armor in muted tones, sharply accented by bright orange. Shin guards, arm guards, back and chest protectors of metal and woven materials and a lacquered, metal mask with horsehair mustache detailing complete the set. The mask is finished with a fierce, openmouthed expression and neck protector, fit for an accomplished samurai (lot 6426, $3,500-$5,000).
From snuff bottles, carved ivory figures and a collection of fan paintings recently acquired from a private San Mateo estate, to an unusual carved Duan stone landscape table screen and rare, large huanghuali alter table, the breadth of property offered in the Michaan’s Auctions Fine Asian Art Sale is not only varied, but also of excellent quality.
Previews are scheduled Dec. 2 – 4 and 16 – 18.
For details email Ling Shang, Michaan’s Asian Art consultant, mailto:info@michaans.com or phone 510-740-0220.
For a full listing of upcoming auctions visit www.michaans.com.
Snowboarding contributes significantly to ski resort revenues. Shown here: a snowboarder in a freestyle move. Photo by Dmitri Markine, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. Image courtesy of Dmitri Markine. http://www.dmitrimarkine.com
VAIL, Colo. (AP) – Trent Bush has spent almost all his life around snowboards. Now he’s a prime mover in putting the sport’s history on display in Vail.
Bush and other volunteers are in the process of setting up an expanded display of snowboarding heritage at the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum. The display — scheduled to open Dec. 8 – is in the area formerly dedicated to the museum’s hall of fame, which has been moved to another section of the space.
“This will be the most significant snowboard gallery in the world, and that’s appropriate. This is really a U.S. invention,” museum director Susie Tjossem said.
The exhibit will include a lot of boards, of course. But it also will include plenty of other displays and information explaining the evolution of the sport.
One of those items is a 1939 prototype of an early snowboard, along with a rejection letter from the Wilson sporting-goods company explaining why the company didn’t think the public would go for riding on one board.
There also are early boards from Burton, Sims and other pioneering companies, as well as a few pieces that show how early boards were made and painted.
Bush has collected many of the things going into the exhibit. A Boulder native now in his early 40s, Bush was first drawn to boarding in the early 1980s. Much of that riding came on local hills, not ski areas – “mostly as an alternative to sledding,” he said.
Bush’s history with snowboards means he’s seen the sport go from a faddish niche to a sort of outlaw movement to the mainstream. Bush also has spent his entire professional life in the business, from working at ski shops as a young man to running a couple of companies, Technine and Nomis.
Bush said he’s been waiting since about the late 1990s for someone to do something to document how snowboarding has come to its present status. No one ever did, so Bush decided he’d be the one to lead the charge.
“There’s so much snowboarding has gone through to be legitimate,” Bush said.
And while the museum had snowboarding displays, there was little in the way of historical context for what people saw.
Getting the space in the museum took some time, but Bush said it’s the logical place for the new displays.
“To do a snowboard-only museum would have been difficult,” Bush said. “This is a functioning museum, so this is a good place for it.”
And Tjossem said she’s thrilled to have the new exhibit, even in a small space. But while Bush and other volunteers are putting together the snowboarding exhibit, Tjossem said the museum itself needs to make a change.
“We don’t have ‘snowboard’ on our sign on the outside,” Tjossem said. “We’ve got to change that.”
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Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
Snowboarding contributes significantly to ski resort revenues. Shown here: a snowboarder in a freestyle move. Photo by Dmitri Markine, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license. http://www.dmitrimarkine.com
This is an example of a circa-1890s Santee Sioux horse mask. Native-American artifacts of this type are extremely rare. The hide mask is quilled in a leaf and flower pattern with fringed seams and edges. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) – The Wyoming State Museum is restoring an elaborately beaded American Indian horse mask to prepare it for public display within the next year.
Mandy Langfald, curator of collections at the museum in Cheyenne, said Wednesday the Lakota Sioux mask dates to between 1897 and 1910. She said it’s one of fewer than 50 such historic masks that survive from American Indian tribes around the West.
“They started, they believe, when the Spanish conquistadors came through, because they had armor on their horses,” Langfald said of the Indians’ practice of making masks for their own horses.
The mask, made of buffalo hide, is fully covered with tiny venetian beads and features designs of both American flags and stars. Langfald said the mask is unusual because it’s so large, designed to extend far down a horse’s neck.
The museum acquired the mask in 1958. Langfald said it had belonged to Wyoming native John Shangreaux.
According to information Langfald provided, Shangreaux was born at Ft. Laramie in the 1850s to Mary Smoke, daughter of the Oglala Sioux chief, Old Smoke. After serving as a scout for the Indian fighter Gen. George Crook, Shangreaux worked as an interpreter for Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. He later settled as a trader on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. He died in 1926.
Langfald said it’s possible that Shangreaux was given the horse mask, possibly together with a horse, by the Sioux as part of the custom of giving elaborate gifts. She said such masks went out of fashion in the Great Depression, which hit Indian populations even harder than the rest of the country.
The mask is featured in a 2006 book, American Indian Horse Masks, which states it might have been used in the first Oglala 4th of July parade in 1898.
Langfald recently secured a $700 grant from The Denver Foundation to help cover the estimated $1,500-dollar mask restoration project. She said Judy Greenfield, a conservator in Denver, will do the work.
According to a statement from the museum, the mask is suffering from loose beadwork, a loose lining and other loose elements. Once it’s restored, Langfald said the museum intends to display it prominently in the Barber Native American Gallery.
Shangreaux’s descendants occasionally come to the museum to examine the mask and other American Indian items from his collection, Langfald said.
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Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
This is an example of a circa-1890s Santee Sioux horse mask. Native-American artifacts of this type are extremely rare. The hide mask is quilled in a leaf and flower pattern with fringed seams and edges. Image courtesy of LiveAuctioneers.com Archive and Brian Lebel’s Old West Show & Auction.
This colossal statue of Amenhotep III resides in The British Museum. The sculptor is unknown. Photo by A. Parrot.
CAIRO (AP) – Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a large statue of King Amenhotep III who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago and who was the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun.
The Supreme Council of Antiquities says the latest find was made at the king’s funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor.
Thursday’s statement says the 44 feet (13.5 meter) tall statue is made of colored quartzite. It is composed of several large pieces that once put together will depict the king as standing.
Amenhotep III ruled from 1390-1352 B.C.
The latest find comes after several other relics of the king were unearthed last year in his mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile River in Luxor.
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Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
ADDITIONAL IMAGE OF NOTE
This colossal statue of Amenhotep III resides in The British Museum. The sculptor is unknown. Photo by A. Parrot.
This solid Nephrite jade bear from the Chinese Han Dynasty could sell for $10-$20 million. Image courtesy of Elite Decorative Arts. BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. – A rare solid nephrite jade bear, the largest known jade sculpture of its time and dating back to China’s Warring States in the Eastern Han Dynasty (475-B.C. – A.D. 220), is expected to bring $10-$20 million at an estates auction scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 10, by Elite Decorative Arts.
LiveAuctioneers.com will provide Internet bidding for the 400-lot auction, which will begin at 1 p.m. Eastern in the Elite Decorative Arts showroom, located in the Quantum Town Center, 1034 Gateway Blvd., Suite 106.
Several other Oriental objects are expected to easily surpass the $100,000 mark, exploiting the current red-hot market for Chinese antiques.
“Between the extraordinary demand for Chinese antiques and the fact that the tourist season in Florida is now underway, we’re expecting a large, enthusiastic crowd and great sale results,” said Scott Ciecckiewicz of Elite Decorative Arts. “We anticipate 100-150 people will attend the auction live, plus around 500 registered online bidders through LiveAuctioneers.com.”
In addition to Oriental antique objects, the auction will also feature original fine artwork, porcelain, art glass, estate jewelry, silver antique clocks and decorative accessories. But the Chinese items will reign supreme. The jade bear is a monumental figure (14 inches tall and 7 1/2 inches wide) and shows extensive calcification due to centuries of burial. It weighs 40 pounds.
The cup-shaped opening on the top of the bear’s head suggests it was made for a stand or base for a significant object like a flagpole, table or bell stand. The bear was made for an important figure or ruler—with whom it was buried. An analytical report concludes the artifact is original, and it comes with a certificate of authenticity from a Beijing relic verification company.
The sale’s expected runner-up top lot is a rare Chinese white jade goblet (est. $400,000-$600,000), also dating to the Warring States period (400-220 B.C.). A similar example sold at Christie’s in 2006 for $856,000. This 6 3/4-inch piece boasts nice high reliefs of mythical animals, clouds and petal-shaped designs, with a heavy gold leaf overlay covering the copper alloy foil.
A spectacular Russian silver enameled box, with exquisite multicolor design throughout, depicting a prince with sword and double-headed eagles, should realize $200,000-$250,000. The box has an oval panel to cover with miniature landscape enameled painting after Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (Russian, 1832-1898), and silverwork master marks of Fedor Ruckert (Russian, 1840-1917).
From the estate jewelry category comes a stunning white gold diamond and gemstone necklace made by a skilled jeweler to the specifications of a Cartier necklace found in the firm’s 2005 catalog. The necklace carries an estimate of $50,000-$70,000. It has diamonds, amethysts, rubies star sapphires and chalcedony, with a total gem weight of 199.61 carats.
Another estate jewelry item expected to do well is an 18K yellow gold gem jadeite and diamond ring (est. $40,000-$60,000). The translucent green oval cabochon cut stone features 26 transparent colorless diamond baguettes in a yellow gold fancy cocktail ring mounting. The size 6 1/2 ring comes with a GIA certification from 1967 and has a diamond total weight of 21 carats.
A visually arresting blown art glass clam and platter sculpture suite by the master artisan Dale Chihuly should change hands for $15,000-$20,000. The piece features stunning violet color to the interior, with yellow rim, and a pink and white mottled design to the exterior. The platter is 26 inches long by 24 inches deep; the clam sculpture measures 24 inches wide by 14 inches high.
Two palace-size Sevres French hand-painted porcelain and bronze celeste blue urns, manufactured in the mid-to-late 19th century, are expected to sell for $70,000-$90,000. The urns bear painted scenes on the front and back, depicting courting scenes with one male and two females, plus landscape scenes. The urns are large; each is 40 inches tall and 20 inches wide.
An original oil on canvas painting of a famous French tapestry by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garretta (Spanish, 1841-1920) carries an estimate of $50,000-$70,000. The work is signed lower right and is dated 1879. It depicts two men and two women with a horse near a village. Its provenance can be traced to Samuel P. Avery, the first director of the Metropolitan Museum.
A marvelous pair of antique Italian Carrara white marble figural urns with pedestals are expected to realize $40,000-$60,000. The late 18th or early 19th century urns are 86 inches tall by 18 inches wide. They were featured at a Sotheby’s sale in the ’90s and have meticulously carved raised figural designs depicting nude females with fish. Both urns have figural bust handles.
One lot of six original Salvador Dali etchings from the Cosmos I series, pulled on Rives paper at Imprimerie Bellini in Paris in 1975, is expected to finish at $10,000-$20,000. Each work has been individually pencil signed in the margins on the front lower right by Dali. Also, all have “E.A.” artist proof pencil marks in the margins. Each is 29 1/2 inches tall by 22 inches wide.
Previews will be held Friday, Dec. 9, from 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 10, from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m.
To learn more about Elite Decorative Arts and its upcoming sales, log on to www.eliteauction.com or call toll-free (800) 991-3340
