Browse Sotheby’s selection of decorative arts and objects, each with a unique historical provenance and character. Find a small treasure, a piece of history or an object from a notable collection. <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/interiors/decorative-arts-&amp;-objects/ceramics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shop Ceramics</a>&nbsp;|&nbsp;<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/interiors/decorative-arts-&amp;-objects/glass" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Shop Glass</a>

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Decorative Arts & Objects

The Dream of the Marquise, 1918.<ul><li>Kay Nielsen (Danish, 1886-1957).</li><li>Signed and dated by the artist in pencil on lower right.</li><li>Ink, graphite and gouache on paper, heightened with gold.</li><li>Presented mounted, framed and glazed.</li></ul> This illustration depicts costume designs for Michel and Vera Fokine’s production of the ballet&nbsp;La Reve de la Marquise, performed in New York and Stockholm in 1921. Kay Nielsen was brought up around the theatre—both his parents were actors—and he produced costume and set designs for a number of ballets in Denmark and America in the 1910s and early '20s, mostly in collaboration with the director Johannes Poulsen.&nbsp;

The Dream of the Marquise Drawing

The Dream of the Marquise, 1918.<ul><li>Kay Nielsen (Danish, 1886-1957).</li><li>Signed and dated by the artist in pencil on lower left.</li><li>Ink, graphite and gouache on paper, heightened with gold.</li><li>Presented mounted, framed and glazed.</li></ul> This illustration depicts costume designs for Michel and Vera Fokine’s production of the ballet&nbsp;La Reve de la Marquise, performed in New York and Stockholm in 1921. Kay Nielsen was brought up around the theatre—both his parents were actors—and he produced costume and set designs for a number of ballets in Denmark and America in the 1910s and early '20s, mostly in collaboration with the director Johannes Poulsen.&nbsp;

A print featuring a Wedgwood design.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XXVII.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

The Water Vase

A print featuring a Wedgwood design.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XII.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

A Vase In Grey-Blue Jasper With Reliefs Of The Muses

A print featuring a Wedgwood design.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XXVI.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

The Wine Vase

A print featuring a Wedgwood design.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XXXIX.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

Crystaline Agate Vase With Four Handles

A print featuring Wedgwood designs.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XLIV.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

A Cup And Saucer, Flower Pot, And Teapot

A print featuring a Wedgwood design.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XXXVII.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

A Large Jardinière in Jasper

A print featuring Wedgwood designs.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XLI.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

Jardinière in White and Two Vases in Blue Jasper

A print featuring Wedgewood designs.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from&nbsp;Old Wedgewood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgewood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XXXVIII.</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

Three Vases In Grey-Blue Jasper

A print featuring Wedgwood designs.<ul><li>Frederick Rathbone (English).</li><li>London: Bernard Quartich, 1898.</li><li>Chromolithograph by W. Griggs from Old Wedgwood: The Decorative or Artistic Ceramic Work, in color and relief, invented and produced by Josiah Wedgwood, at Etruria, in Staffordshire, 1760-1794.</li><li>Plate XLV.&nbsp;</li><li>This work is presented matted and unframed.</li></ul>

Green and Tri-Color Jasper Wedgwood Vases

A suite of eighteenth century conversation piece engravings in the rococo style, showing the nobility at leisure, dining and dancing outdoors in a bucolic setting.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>Each image is set within delicately colored scrolled borders featuring flowers, foliage, leafy tendrils and fruit.</li><li>These prints capture the privilege and lifestyle of the aristocracy and are typical of French decorative art in the early to mid eighteenth century.</li><li>Each is presented in a modern gilt frame.</li></ul>

La Manna Le Matin / El Mediodia Le Midi / Eldespues de Comer L'Apres Diner / Le Soir La Tarde

A group of&nbsp;chromolithographs of water fowl, laid on contemporary card, as published.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 6.</li><li>Alexander Pope Jr. (American, 1849-1924).</li><li>New York: Charles Scribner's Sons,&nbsp;1878.</li><li>Alexander Pope Jr. was an American sculptor and painter. He is known primarily for this series on game birds and a similar one on dogs.</li><li>Each is presented framed.</li></ul>

Water Fowl

The engravings depict a key event following the defeat of Tipu Sultan in 1792. Tipu stands outside his fortress of Seringapatum and sends his two young sons to become British hostages, while the British set out the terms of a punitive peace treaty.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 2.</li><li>After Mather Brown (American, 1761-1831).</li><li>Engraved by Francesco Bartolozzi and Daniel Orme.</li><li>The delivery of the definitive treaty by the hostage princes into the hands of Lord Cornwallis [with] The Key to Mr. Brown’s Prints from the India Subjects.</li><li>London: Walker and Brachenbury, 1793.</li><li>Accompanied by the key plate.</li><li>Presented in handmade gilt frames.</li></ul>&nbsp;Mather Brown (1761-1831), born and raised in Massachusetts, was one of the American artists who made their way to Europe during and immediately after the American Revolution to study painting. In London he formed a partnership with Daniel Orme to publish his work as engravings.

The Delivery of the Definitive Treaty by the Hostage Princes into the Hands of Lord Cornwallis

A mezzotint depicting a contest between the game-cocks of Colonel Mordaunt and the Nawab Wazir of Oudh, Asafud-dauba, who are seen facing each other with outstretched arms.<ul><li>Johann Zoffany (German, 1733-1810).</li><li>Engraved by Richard Earlom.</li><li>Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match. At Lucknow in the Province of Oude in the Year 1786, at which were present several High and Distinguished Personages.</li><li>London: R. Sayer, No. 53, Fleet Street, 1st May, 1792.</li><li>With the rare index plate.</li><li>This work is presented framed.</li></ul> The court of Lucknow, renowned for many extravagances, was especially celebrated for the sports of hunting and cockfighting, in which the Nawab delighted. Mordaunt was a keen cockfighter and had brought out from England gamecocks which he was confidant would defeat the native-bred cocks (Mary Webster, Johan Zoffany 1733-1810, Exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, 1976, cat. no. 104). Notable spectators include General Martin, Mr. Wheeler, John Wombwell, Ozias Humphry and Zoffany himself.

Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match

Engravings depicting the metamorphoses of South American insects and the exotic plants on which they feed, from Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphasibus Insectorum Surinamensium.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>After Maria Sybylla Merian (German, 1647-1717).</li><li>Engravings by J. Mulder, P. Sluyter and D. Stoopendaal.</li><li>The Hague: Gosse, 1719.</li><li>Hand-colored later.</li><li>Each is presented framed.</li></ul> Maria Sybilla, daughter of the German engraver and publisher Matthias Merian, devoted herself to the study of European insects and their metamorphoses. As a result of the wealth of tropical varieties being brought back by the Dutch West Indies Company, she decided to visit the Dutch colony of Surinam herself to study and paint the insect life there. She sailed with her daughter Dorothea on June 1699 from Amsterdam, and remained in Surinam until 1701. Her work, first published in 1705, "gave an unprecedented glimpse of the teeming insect life of tropical South America, with gorgeous butterflies flying around luxuriant flowering or fruiting plants and with large many-colored caterpillars crawling over the leaves. [The plates] have earned Maria Merian an honored place in the history of tropical entomology as also in botanical illustration" (W.T. Stearn, introduction to The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars, 1978).

Flowers, Insects and Fruits

A group of engravings of Todda Panna palms.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein (Dutch).</li><li>Plates drawn by Matteus A. St. Joseph and engraved by B. Stoopendael.</li><li>Amsterdam: Sumptibus viduae Joannis van Someren, haeredum Joannis van Dyck, Henrici &amp; viduae Theodori Boom, 1678-1703.</li><li>Copper engraved double-page plates, from Hortus Indicus Malabaricus.</li><li>These works are presented framed.</li></ul> The Hortus Indicus is the first comprehensive Flora of the East Indies, containing the first illustrations of a great number of tropical and suptropical plants and fruits and one of the first major natural history works to make extensive use of Arabic Botanical nomenclature. “One of the most celebrated of pre-Linnean books...an important contribution to the Botany and Ethnobotany of Southern India” (Blunt and Stearn The Art of Botanical Illustration p. 153). Rheede was the colonial governor of Malabar on the southwest coast of India and, when not occupied with official duties, an enthusiastic botanist and investigator of the Indian sub-tropical flora. Initially he encouraged local people to collect plants for him and employed learned Brahmins to supply information.

Todda Panna Botanical Engravings

Hand-colored mezzotint engravings of aloes in decorative pots by Johann Weinmann.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 12.</li><li>Johann Wilhelm Weinmann (German).</li><li>Amsterdam: Zacharias Romberg, 1736-1748.</li><li>In handmade gold-leaf frames and glazed with glass.</li></ul> Weinmann (1683-1741) was a Regensburg apothecary who organized the publication of Phytanthoza Iconographia, a huge florilegum which was not only very beautiful but which also influenced the publication of similar works worldwide. "The mezzotint process used here had been invented by Johann Teyler in the Netherlands around 1688. As practiced here by Bartholomaus Seuter (1678-1754) and Johann Elias Ridinger (1698-1767), it was really a combination of etching and mezzotint, which made possible delicate lines and a very fine grain. The addition of hand-tinting brought about unusual and subtle effects." (Hunt)

Aloes in Decorative Pots Mezzotints

A group of watercolors of hyacinths by Pieter van Loo.<ul><li>Sold as a set of three prints, framed as one piece.</li><li>Pieter van Loo (Dutch).</li><li>Three bodycolor paintings of double hyacinths, with the names of the varieties lettered at the top, each signed below.</li><li>This work is presented framed.</li></ul> Pieter Van Loo (or Loon), Haarlem 1731-1784, was a noted flower painter who spent the whole of his life in Haarlem. His paintings are sought after and are found in leading institutions such as the Albertina in Vienna, the Fitzwilliam, Cambridge and Oak Spring, Virginia.

Hyacinths

A group of hand-colored engraved plates of hyacinths.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 6.</li><li>Pierre Joseph Buchoz (French).</li><li>Collection coloriée des plus belles variétés de Jacinthes, qu'on monte aux Curieux dans les Jardins des Fleuristes d'Harlem.</li><li>Paris, Pierre Joseph Buchoz, 1781.</li><li>Each is presented framed.</li></ul> The second half of the eighteenth century saw a boom in natural history publications in France fueled by such works as Buffon's Histoire Naturelle. The accession of Louis XVI in 1774 was followed by a relaxation in the regulation of the book trade, making it easier for authors to publish their own works. No other writer was to take such copious advantage of these two developments as Pierre-Joseph Buchoz (1731-1807), a French physician, lawyer and naturalist. His works are characterized by the beauty of the illustrations, and their rarity owing to the small size of the print runs.

Hermès Écru and Gris Foncé Wool and Cashmere Small Avalon Pillows<ul><li>These pillows are 90% merino wool 10% cashmere</li><li>Includes two pillow covers with zip closures, two pillow inserts and two dustbags</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

Écru and Gris Foncé Wool and Cashmere Small Avalon Pillows

Hermès Gris Fonce and Ecru Wool and Cashmere Avalon Throw Blanket<ul><li>Made with 90% merino wool and 10% cashmere</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

Gris Fonce and Ecru Wool and Cashmere Avalon Throw Blanket

Hermès Gris Perle Cabriole Merino Wool and Cashmere Avalon Throw Blanket<ul><li>Limited edition child-sized blanket designed by Alice Charbin</li><li>Made with 90% merino wool and 10% cashmere</li><li>Includes ribbon and box</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

Gris Perle Cabriole Merino Wool and Cashmere Avalon Throw Blanket

Münster's fabulous woodcut of monsters of both land and sea, with abundant tusks, horns and twin spouts.<ul><li>Sebastian Münster (German).</li><li>Meerwunder und seltzame Thier wie die in den Mitnachtigen Landern im Meer.</li><li>Basle: Henri Petri, c. 1560.</li><li>Colored woodcut.</li><li>Unframed.</li></ul> The creatures are derived from the vary rare "Carta Marina" by Olaus Magnus, published in 1539, which Ortelius also used for his map of Iceland in 1587.

Sea Wonders and Strange Animals

Hand-colored copperplate engraving of three lizards by Friedrich Johann Bertuch.<ul><li>From Bilderbuch fur Kinder (Picture Book for Children), Weimar, 1798.</li><li>Wooden frame under glass.</li></ul>

German Colored Lizard Engraving

A set of hand-colored engravings of various fish.<ul><li>Engravings from Unterhaltungen aus der Naturgeschichte - Fische by Gottlieb Tobias Wilhelm.</li><li>Depicting various species of fish.</li><li>Wooden frame under glass.</li></ul>

German Colored Fish Engravings

Hand-colored engraving by Prideaux John Selby.<ul><li>Depicting the Common Bunting, Yellow Bunting, Reed Bunting, Cirl Bunting and Tawny Bunting</li><li>Giltwood frame.</li></ul>

English Colored Bunting Engraving

A set of framed engravings from The Costume of China.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>Hand-colored stipple-engraved plates by Dadley after Pu-Qùa of Canton.</li><li>Comprising plates #II "A Watchman," #XXXV "A Balancer," #XLIV "A Serpent-Catcher" and #LIX "A Lame Beggar."</li><li>In wooden frames with information sheets attached to verso.</li></ul>

The Costume of China Colored Engraved Plates

Hermès Écorce Merino Wool and Cashmere Brandebourgs Blanket<ul><li>Includes ribbon and box</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

Écorce Merino Wool and Cashmere Brandebourgs Blanket

Hermès Écorce Brandebourg Wool and Cashmere Throw Pillow<ul><li>This pillow is 90% merino wool, 10% cashmere</li><li>Includes pillow cover, pillow insert and dust bag</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

Écorce Brandebourg Wool and Cashmere Throw Pillow

Hand-colored lithographs from&nbsp;The Birds of Australia.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>John Gould (English, 1804-1881).</li><li>London: For the author, R. &amp; J. Taylor 1848.</li><li>Framed and glazed.</li></ul>&nbsp;John Gould is widely considered as the greatest and most ambitious of all Victorian ornithologists, combining both artistic skill, beauty and anatomical accuracy. Following the tradition of natural history illustrators, such as Barraband and Audubon, Gould enlisted the services of some of the most notable ornithological artists; including Edward Lear, Joseph Wolf and his own wife, Elizabeth, to complete the most outstanding and comprehensive works in the field. A contemporary reviewer said of this work, “Great as is the excellence of Mr Gould’s former publications, there can be no doubt that the present work exceeds them all, both in an artistic and in a scientific point of view... Whether the dignified repose of the eagle, the pert Malurus, the restless parakeet, or the lean and anxious wader, he is equally successful in his efforts.” Indeed, still today, the work is noted as Gould’s most accomplished. In particular, the plates depicting parrots and cockatoos have propelled the work into becoming the most valuable Gould publication. It is also still one of the most comprehensive ornithological works on Australia, an incredible feat considering the continent had only been discovered 70 years previously. As a result of the labors of Gould and his assistants, well over 300 new species were added to the existing list of birds known to inhabit Australasia.

Group of Parrot Lithographs

Hand-colored lithographs from The Birds of Australia.<ul><li>Sold as a set of 4.</li><li>John Gould (English, 1804-1881).</li><li>London: For the author, R. &amp; J. Taylor 1848.</li><li>Framed and glazed.</li></ul>&nbsp;John Gould is widely considered as the greatest and most ambitious of all Victorian ornithologists, combining both artistic skill, beauty and anatomical accuracy. Following the tradition of natural history illustrators, such as Barraband and Audubon, Gould enlisted the services of some of the most notable ornithological artists; including Edward Lear, Joseph Wolf and his own wife, Elizabeth, to complete the most outstanding and comprehensive works in the field. A contemporary reviewer said of this work, “Great as is the excellence of Mr Gould’s former publications, there can be no doubt that the present work exceeds them all, both in an artistic and in a scientific point of view... Whether the dignified repose of the eagle, the pert Malurus, the restless parakeet, or the lean and anxious wader, he is equally successful in his efforts.” Indeed, still today, the work is noted as Gould’s most accomplished. In particular, the plates depicting parrots and cockatoos have propelled the work into becoming the most valuable Gould publication. It is also still one of the most comprehensive ornithological works on Australia, an incredible feat considering the continent had only been discovered 70 years previously. As a result of the labors of Gould and his assistants, well over 300 new species were added to the existing list of birds known to inhabit Australasia.

Hermès Écru Rouge H Merino Wool and Cashmere Avalon III Pillow<ul><li>90% merino wool, 10% cashmere</li><li>Includes dust bag</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

Écru Rouge H Merino Wool and Cashmere Avalon III Pillow

Hermès Outremer Indigo Wool and Cashmere Avalon Jump'H Pillow PM<ul><li>Includes dust bag</li><li>This item is final sale and not eligible for return</li></ul>

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Kay Nielsen

Kay Nielsen

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Frederick Rathbone

Alexander Pope Jr.

After Mather Brown

Johann Zoffany, R.A.

After Maria Sibylla Merian

Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein

Johann Wilhelm Weinmann

Pieter van Loo

Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz

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Hermès

Sebastian Münster

Friedrich Johann Bertuch

Gottlieb Tobias Wilhelm

Prideaux John Selby

George Henry Mason

Hermès

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John Gould

John Gould

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