Gibsons sells 84% by value at their Autumn Auction Series, for a total of $480,000

By Richard Brewster, on 18-May-2021

The full-size plaster version of this sculpture was exhibited at the 1874 Paris Salon, winning both the Medaille d’Honneur and critical acclaim. The City of Paris then purchased the sculpture for 12,000 francs and had artist Victor Thiébaut cast it in bronze for an additional 8000 francs.

The original bronze is now pride of place in the Hotel de Ville’s central courtyard and the plaster version was re-exhibited at the 1878 Paris Exposition Universelle. Merci’s modern sculpture – portraying a winged female figure of hope carrying to glory a dying French hero, his broken sword a sign of defeat – had become an instant classic as much for the patriotic fervour it inspired as for its aesthetic beauty.

The circa 1889 gilded and patinated bronze sculpture entitled Gloria Victis (glory to the vanquished) (lot 153) by French sculptor Marius Jean Antonin Mercié (1845-1916) achieved the second-highest price at Gibson’s Auctions Autumn Series sale on May 16 in Melbourne, selling for $18,300 against an estimate of $10,000 - $15,000. The sale comprised 532 lots covering a comprehensive range of categories.

The circa 1889 gilded and patinated bronze sculpture entitled Gloria Victis (glory to the vanquished) (Lot 153 ) by French sculptor Marius Jean Antonin Mercié (1845-1916) achieved the second-highest price at Gibson’s Auctions Autumn Series sale on May 16 in Melbourne, selling for $18,300 against an estimate of $10,000 - $15,000. The sale comprised 532 lots covering a comprehensive range of categories.

As the French still keenly felt defeat by the Prussians at the time, Merci’s artistic commemoration of heroism was especially popular. 

Top selling item in the sale was a very unusual Chinese archaistic lacquered bronze covered censer (Lot 102 ) that sold for $23,180 (including buyer’s premium) compared with the catalogue estimate of $5000-$7000,

Lot 176, a Napoleonic III ebonised tortoiseshell and brass inlaid credenza in the manner of A.C. Boulle, brought a credible $17,080 on a $3000-$5000 estimate – while a gilt decorated Chenxiangmu bead rosary bracelet (Lot 87 ) was almost as impressive at $15,860 (estimate $2500-$3500).

A Chinese probably Republic Period famille rose gilt ground vase decorated in Ye Zhenjia style (Lot 50 ) was another popular acquisition at $10,980 and a landscape ink and colour silk hand scroll frontispiece and colophons attributed to Chineae artist Wang Shimin (lot 78) changed hands for $8540.

A set of six George III sterling silver plates by William Stroud dated London 1820 (Lot 220 ) sold for $7320 and an 18th century Flemish landscape tapestry (Lot 135 ) for $6710 – the same price realised for a blue and white Ming-style vase (Lot 39 ) on an $800-$1000 estimate.

Lot 93, a 19th century Qing Dynasty rectangular bronze censer is almost as impressive with its $6100 sale price on a $1000-$1500 estimate.

Notable sale results include lot 65, a pair of large Chinese paintings of courtiers and courtesans, which sold for $5856 on a $1000-$1500 estimate, lot 287 – David Roberts (1796-1864) collection of four colour lithographs Entrance to the Tombs of the King of Thebes, Bab-el-Malouk Grand Entrance to the Temple of Luxor Karnak, General View of Aswan and The Island of Elephantine, all of which sold for $4636 – and Carl Brasch’s (1825-1886) Portrait of Johannes Brahms hand painted photograph (Lot 453 ), a great result at $3904 on a $200-$400 estimate. 

All auction prices shown above are hammer price plus the buyer's premium, unless otherwise noted.

 

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About The Author

Richard Brewster has been writing about the antiques and art auction industry for almost 20 years, first in a regular weekly column for Fairfax's The Age newspaper and also in more recent times for his own website Australian Auction Review. With 45 years experience as a journalist and public relations consultant, in 1990 Richard established his own business Brewster & Associates in Melbourne, handling a wide range of clients in the building, financial, antiques and art auction industries.