Art as Jewelry as Art
Art as Jewelry as Art
From an Important European Collection
Georges Braque
Tithonos
Lot Closed
October 6, 05:31 PM GMT
Estimate
5,000 - 7,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
From an Important European Collection
Georges Braque
1882 - 1963
Tithonos
1962, signed Bijoux de Braque, Heger de Lowenfeld
dove brooch in silver and green enamel with eyes set with rubies, Artcurial edition 1/75
1½ by 2¾ in.; 3.9 by 6.9 cm.
Pierre Bergé & Associates, Paris: Bijoux - Collection P.M., June 12, 2018 [lot 345]
Acquired from the above by the present owner
Metamorphoses: The Braque Jewels, Geneva, November 21, 1991, Christie's, Geneva, 1991, p. 30 for version in gold
Georges Braque: ‘Les Métamorphoses,’ Millon & Associés, Paris, 2006, pp. 38-39 for version in gold
Artist Georges Braque’s sand-finish Tithonos brooch, part of his Bijoux de Braque collection with Baron Heger de Loewenfeld. Tithonus’ mythology is the story of a youth kidnapped by Eos, goddess of the dawn, for his beauty and love. She pleads for Zeus to grant him immortality but forgets to ask for his beauty to be maintained and he is turned into an old, shriveled man. The eternally spread wings of this bird in flight may be a poetic call for unchanging immortality -- but no bird can fly forever, and as Braque’s own aged hands became unable to bring his ideas to life, he was forced to land on the ground and depend on de Loewenfeld for these creations.