Ai Weiwei, Atalanta and Hippomenes (after Guido Reni) (2024)
€400,000, Galleria Continua
Ai Weiwei continues his series of large-scale works reimagining historic art in Lego bricks with this take on Guido Reni’s scene from Ovid’s Metamorphoses. Savelkoul describes it as “a reinterpretation of an Old Master painting by a major contemporary artist”, adding that the work is “a testament to the art-historical exchange between old and new that Tefaf represents”.
René Lalique, Art Nouveau gold, diamond, enamel and glass ‘thistle flower’ choker necklace (around 1905)
Price not disclosed, Epoque Fine Jewels
The celebrated jeweller’s dramatic gold, diamond, enamel and glass choker necklace is based around six pentagonal plaques made from moulded, amber-coloured glass decorated with thistles. The piece comes in its original case, marked “Lalique, Place Vendôme 24, Paris”, and is believed to have been commissioned with the request to feature the thistle motif, a symbol of the Dukes of Lorraine.
Katsushika Hokusai, Washu Yoshino Yoshitsune uma-arai no taki (Yoshitsune’s Horse-Washing, Falls at Yoshino, Yamato Province) (1832-33)
Around €80,000, Galerie Tanakaya
Hokusai made his well-known series of woodblock prints A Tour of Waterfalls in Various Provinces during his seventies, which is widely believed to be the prime period of his career. The waterfall coursing through this landscape is supposed to be where the 12th-century samurai commander Minamoto no Yoshitsune washed his horse, and here, two contemporary grooms do the same. Savelkoul describes the print as “from the artist’s finest period and by one of Japan’s leading masters”.
Marie Bracquemond,
Paysage à la ruelle (1870-85)
€52,000, Galerie Pauline Pavec
Marie Bracquemond (1840-1916) was among the few women painters to exhibit with the French Impressionists, alongside Mary Cassatt, Berthe Morisot and Eva Gonzalès. She never had formal training but received some instruction from Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and advice from Paul Gauguin, which contributed to her vivid impasto style. This Paris gallery, among ten participating in Tefaf’s Focus section this year, “reintroduces overlooked Impressionist female artists to the spotlight”, Savelkoul says.
