This Lalique ‘cire perdue’ vase was discovered by Anderson & Garland in a house just outside of Morpeth, Northumberland during a routine probate valuation.
A green 'tide' line suggested the 6¼in
(16cm) high vase had been used to display flowers.
Technically challenging and inherently
rare, cire perdue (lost wax) casts are the most eagerly
sought of the Lalique glass output and this vase was particularly
desirable for its subject matter - two winged female nudes with
outstretched arms.
In addition to the R
Lalique wheel-engraved signature, the base is inscribed
No 1/4 and 415-22 (for the mould number and
the date 1922) and betrays both a full and partial
thumbprint.
Records in the Lalique catalogue
raisonné compiled by Felix Marcilhac suggest this vase, titled
Deux Figures Femmes Aillées, was created on November 13,
1922, with three other vessels made before November 20. The design
was previously known only from a line drawing and this is the only
one to emerge on the market.
Bidding
Level
It was valued at £20,000-30,000, but
the interest expressed before the sale at Westerhope, Newcastle, on
September 11 suggested it would climb much higher. It
did.
Bidding opened at £10,000 but leapt
immediately to £100,000, with a pre-emptive strike from one of the
two US bidders who exchanged blows over the telephone - one of whom
was Mark Waller of Gallery Moderne of Piermont, New York who ended
up as the underbidder.
It sold at £280,000 (plus 19.5%
buyer's premium) - a price which was a record for a Lalique vase at
a UK provincial auction.
It is also a house record for Anderson
& Garland (the previous high was £270,000 for a Kangxi celadon
glazed 'flying clouds' water pot sold in these rooms in December
2010) and a record for any 20th century work of art sold at auction
outside of London.
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