Andy Warhol

The Estate of Andy Warhol, New York 

Frayda Feldman & Jörg Schellmann, Andy Warhol Prints, Fourth Edition, New York, 2003, p.236, IIIA.17 [a] (under 'Personal Projects')

In good condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Executed circa 1978, this work is stamped by the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. and numbered UP16.04 on the reverse.

As iconography, this work is as distant as possible from Warhol's Soup Cans.  It is an indication of how far Warhol had traveled in his exploration of uncharted imagery, from vernacular articles (or advertisements for them) to luxury goods.

This is a unique proof of a photographic image which was used for one of the 4 color silkscreens comprising the Gems portfolio (1978, Feldman & Schellmann 186-189).  It is one of the first times Warhol used diamond dust to enrich the surface of his work; he started to use it for editioned prints and canvases the following year.  In combining this glamorously-named material with the image of the emerald-cut diamond (how many carats?) in a unique work, the work of art, as an object, becomes as luxurious a commodity as the thing it represents.