Press article : "From Romeda to Vosne-romanée, a marathon in Cannes" - Gazette Drouot

René Lalique
Bottle "Blackcurrant stopper"

Three days of exceptional vacations marked the 30th anniversary of the Cannes Besch Auction, with scores sweeping several specialties.

Fine wines opened this anniversary ball on Wednesday, August 14, driven by a bottle of the highly sought-after musigny, of the Leroy domain, bearing the 2005 vintage, bought 28250 €. The great wines from Burgundy were also represented by two bottles of Vosne-Romanée cros-parantoux by Henri Jayer, year 1993, sold at 34100 €. On the Bordeaux side, a case of twelve 1990 vintage margaux – opened in exchange for 11532€ – or a 1989 petrus, sold for 4090€.

On Thursday 15, modern and contemporary arts, which recorded excellent results in the image of the 100400 € won by a bronze with green patina of Cercle, a sculpture of Bruno Romeda, of 2009. In the same chapter, one also admired a panel attributed to the Croatian Ivan Mestrovic (see Gazette no 28, page 36), entitled La Femme à la harpe, appreciated for 50200 €. As for the Main de Roman – bronze of 1993 signed by François-Xavier and Claude Lalanne and numbered EA3/4 – it was seized at 35140€.

As for the masters of painting, Eugène Boudin distinguished himself by the 56475€ inscribed on his canvas entitled Bordeaux, le port around 1874-1876 (listed in Robert Schmit’s catalogue raisonné under number 1010). A second work by Boudin, La Rivière du Faon in Brittany from 1872, was sailing at 43925€. Les Baigneuses evoked the vaporous art of Henri Fantin-Latour, and it took 37650€ to detail them. Paul Signac was also at the party with a watercolour representing Genoa, the lantern, 1908, awarded at 41415€.

From the Far East came then two Chinese boxes from the Qianlong period (1736-1795): the first, in the shape of an ingot, was in lacquer of three colors (red, green and yellow) and the second, a four-lobed profile – two-letter carved red lacquer. To open them, 42040 and 23215€, respectively, were required.

Attributed to Ivan Mestrovic (1883-1962), La Femme à la harpe, high relief carved panel, 170 x 55 cm.

Sold : 50200 €

Raoul Dufy (1877-1953) signed this gouache and watercolor named Harlequin with lyre (64 x 48 cm), around 1942. It won 50200 €, justified by the elegant attitude of the commedia dell'arte character, posing in front of a panorama of Venice, and the delicacy of the palette. The work is duly listed by Fanny Guillon-Laffaille, in Raoul Dufy, catalogue raisonné des aquarelles, gouaches et pastels, volume II (Louis Carré & Cie, 1982).

Opulent and particularly successful, this bottle with a blackcurrant stopper (h. 11 cm), with a barrel-shaped body and a small neck, was designed by René Lalique (1860-1945). This is a rare model, created around 1920, which could only take out this 40150 €. It is here in its red and orange version, but it also exists in three other shades: black, blue and amber. It can be found under references 234 and 235 in the work of Christie Mayer Lefkowith, L'Art de René Lalique, flacons et boîtes à poudre (éditions Stylissimo, 2010).

62750€ : this was the sum to be expected to acquire a painting by Édouard Vuillard (1868-1940), featuring Anemones. Made with glue on a cardboard fixed on a parqueté panel (56,8 x 57,2 cm), it is signed and dated «07». A famous still life, as exhibited many times, especially at the Metropolitan Museum of New York in 1949, 1968 and 1990. It is referenced in the work of Antoine Salomon and Guy Cogeval, Le Regard innumerable, a critical catalogue of paintings and pastels (Milan, 2003).

Italian sculptor Bruno Romeda (1933-2017) was born in Brescia. His art rests on the assembly of branches, rods or twigs, to form geometric volumes cast in bronze. This one, made in 2009, signed and dated, is with green patina and is entitled Cercle (diam. 200 cm, h. 216 cm). The work was acquired by its last owner directly from the artist in 2015. Estimated at between 19000€ and 22000€, it flew away at 100400€.

La Gazette Drouot - September 06, 2019