George II mantle mirror of gilded wood inserted with Chinese export rear-view paintings, approx. 1760
Lent by Christie’s
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The collection of the late Pierre Durand, a collector and philanthropist who co-founded The Chinese Porcelain Company, will be auctioned at a Christie’s live auction in New York on January 27.
The collection includes 243 lots ranging from Chinese paintings, ancient masters paintings and fine French and English decorative arts, and the collection has an estimated total value between US $ 2 million and US $ 3 million.
Durand, who died in January 2021 at the age of 64, was born in Lima to an Italian mother and a Peruvian father of French descent. He was educated in the United States and graduated from Columbia University’s MBA program.
In 1984, he and Khalil Rizk, his life and business partner, co-founded The Chinese Porcelain Company on the Upper East Side of New York, which offers Asian and European artwork and furniture.
He also served on the board of Venetian Heritage, which promotes and preserves Venice’s art, architecture, literature, and music; and on the boards of Master Drawings Association Inc. at the Morgan Library and the American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Large-scale painting by Melchior d’Hondecoeter
Lent by Christie’s
All of the items offered for sale were from Durand’s apartment in New York on Fifth Avenue.
“From old master paintings to French furniture to modern Venetian glass, Pierre was a picky connoisseur of beautiful objects that captured his lust, and he filled his rooms with a witty and diverse feast of objects to delight the eye,” Margaret Gristina, senior specialist in Chinese artwork at Christie’s, said in a statement. “Pierre also eagerly pursued the story of every piece he collected, and was particularly fond of researching and revealing hidden treasures.”
The sale highlights a large-scale painting by the 17th-century Dutch animal painter Melchior d’Hondecoeter. It depicts a sarus crane, a flamingo, a wild bronze turkey rooster, two Padova hens, a wild birch of the silver birch and a hoop, a colorful bird known for its “crown” of feathers. in a landscape. Oil-on-canvas has a pre-sale estimate of between US $ 250,000 and US $ 350,000.
Additional highlights include a George II gilded wood canopy mirror, circa 1760, with a low estimate of US $ 100,000; an ink-on-paper roll by Chinese painter Dan Liu, with a low estimate of $ 70,000; and a pair of Chinese porcelain famille verte large Buddhist lions from the Emperor Kang Xi period (1662-1722), with a low estimate of $ 10,000.
Public viewing is only available by appointment from January 22 at Christie’s Galleries in Rockefeller Center, New York.
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