The Frame Blog

…to be held on Tuesday 13th February 2018  by Artcurial. This auction includes frames of various periods and nationalities, and is combined with a group of Old Master and 19th century paintings, drawings, and sculptures. Some examples are included here; for the e-catalogue see Maîtres anciens et du 19th siècle.

Lots 5 to 7: Italian and French frames, 17th & 18th century 

Lot 5: a 17th century Italian Baroque limewood bolection frame ornamented with large-scale cross-cut acanthus on the back edge, with a shaped contour; smaller acanthus on the top/sight edge; 72 x 60 cm; estimate €4 – 6,000

Lot 6: Louis XIII-style bunched-leaf frame; reduced at some point (the corner junctures have suffered); 42 x 33 cm; estimate €6 – 800

Lot 7: Louis XIV carved giltwood oak frame, with dentil back edge; scrolling foliated strapwork with florets and leaf buds on the ogee; foliate & strapwork corner cartouches with diapered ground; sanded frieze; acanthus-&-leaf bud sight edge; regilded; 24 x 19 cm; estimate €1 – 1,200

Lots 13 & 14: Italian and French frames, 18th & 17th century

Lot 13: 18th century Italian Baroque limewood frame in late Régence-style, with ovolo-chain back edge; spiral leaf top edge; strapwork & shell corners; scrolling rinceaux with florets in the hollow; interrupted acanthus-&-bud sight edge; 80 x 62.5 cm; estimate €2 – 2,500

Lot 14: Louis XIII-Louis XIV flower-corner frame, with fanned lambrequin corners with sunflowers, poppies, roses, narcissi, violets & daisies, with hatched detail, all on a hazzled ground; plain reposes; acanthus leaf sight edge; 39.5 x 50 cm; estimate €1 – 1,200

Lot 27: French Rococo frame, 18th century

Louis XV Rococo frame, carved and gilded oakwood, with acanthus leaf back edge on a hatched ground; with layered rocaille, cabochon and foliate strapwork corners with diapered ground; with pierced leaf & rocaille centres; rinceaux and florets straying over a finely cross-hatched ground in the hollow; a small hatched frieze; opposed C-scrolls & leaf buds at the shaped sight edge; 51 x 42 cm; estimate €6 – 8,000

Lots 81 to 83: Italian & French frames, 17th to 20th century

Lot 81: late 17th-early 18th century Italian Baroque carved & polished walnut frame, with scrolling pediment; scrolling eared corners; palm leaves depending at the lateral centres; 48 x 33 cm; estimate €800-1,000

Lot 82: late 19th-early 20th century Tuscan frame, parcel-gilt carved oak and pearwood in the style of Pietro Giusti of Siena; outset corners with egg-&-dart top edge; corner cassettes with leafy rosettes in high relief; candelabrum ornament on the lateral friezes, and vertebrate foliate ornament on horizontal friezes centred on an angel at the top, and a pedimented cartouche at the bottom (some losses); rope moulding at the sight edge; stamp of Petralli on reverse; 46 x 36 cm; estimate €2 – 3,000

Lot 83: early 20th century carved, stained & polished armorial frame; corner cassettes with leaf buds on textured ground, supported by fern leaves; guilloche frieze; scutcheon at the crest with leaf buds on a crowned shield supported by greyhounds; s & d Antoine Goulleau of Fougères, 1915; 30.5 x 36 cm; estimate €4 – 600

Lot 85: 16th-17th century octagonal carved walnut frame, parcel-gilt and polychrome, possibly for a votive offering; with six cherubs’ heads set amongst stylized cloud, fruit or floral shapes, overall 39.5 x 49.5 cm; estimate €1,200 – 1,500

Lot 86: Italian leaf frame, 17th-18th century

Lot 86: late 17th-early 18th century Italian Baroque leaf frame; highly sculptural, pierced, undercut & carved in deep relief with scrolling and intertwined acanthus branches, supporting posies of flowers at the top corners; with a male mascaron crowned with a star & ornamented with a metal ribbon at the crest, and a female mascaron crowned with flowers at the bottom (possible representing Winter & Summer); finished with a grey wash; 73 x 59.5 cm; estimate €10 – 15,000

Lots 96 to 98: Spanish & Italian frames, 17th to 18th centuries

Lot 96: Italian (?possibly Spanish) 17th century reverse cassetta carved in limewood; centred spiral ribbon at back edge; frieze with undulating foliate, flower & peapod brocaded pattern picked out on a punchwork ground; centred husk ornament at sight edge; 97 x 69 cm; estimate €5 – 7,000

Lot 97: Roman Baroque ‘Salvator Rosa’ frame, late 17th century; stained & polished wood, parcel-gilt; with acanthus leaf-&-shield back edge; ribbon-&-stave; acanthus leaf-&-shield sight edge; 54 x 42 cm; estimate €3,500 – 4,500

Lot 98: Spanish or Neapolitan 17th century bolection frame, ebonized and parcel-gilt, with stylized corner acanthus leaves engraved against a coarsely-hazzled ground; 25 x 18 cm; estimate €6 – 800

Lot 103 to 104: Italian and Spanish frames, 16th to 17th centuries

Lot 103: Spanish bolection frame in Churrigueresque style, late 17th century, pinewood, with paired C-scrolled leaves carved in high relief and undercut, over a grey marbled ground; acanthus leaf corners; quatrefoil crest supporting a sunflower above a polychrome head; 93 x 73.5 cm; estimate €8 – 10,000

Lot 104: Italian ‘Sansovino’ frame, 16th century, symmetrical about both axes; scrolled, with sparse fluting  and centred on rosettes; stained or painted and parcel-gilt; 48 x 38.5 cm; estimate €3,500 – 4,500

Lot 105: Roman gallery frame, early 17th century, gilt and polychrome; 22 x 17.5 cm; estimate €800 – 1,000

Lots 120 to 122: Spanish and Italian frames, 16th to 17th century

Lot 120: Spanish polychrome bolection frame, 17th-18th century, with blue-grey marbling on the ogee and foliate & flower centre and corner panels; gilded top edge and red-painted cavetto at the sight; 141 x 92 cm; estimate €2 – 2,500

Lot 121: Italian (? Neapolitan) or Spanish Baroque bolection frame, with ebonized ripple mouldings on the back & top edges, the frieze painted in faux tortoiseshell; black-painted cavetto; ripple mouldings; silvered sight edge; 64 x 49.5 cm; estimate €2 – 2,500

Lot 122: probably Italian small aedicule, 16th or 17th century, with ornamental foliate columns and shaped sill; 44 x 31 cm; estimate €1,800 – 2,500

Lots 152 and 153: Netherlandish frames, 17th & 19th centuries

Lot 152: Netherlandish or German revival ripple frame, 19th century, in ebonized wood and palisander veneer; ripple mouldings at back and sight edges; 48 x 40 cm; estimate €800 – 1,000

Lot 153: ? Netherlandish small canted frame with ripple mouldings, 17th century, the frieze veneered in walnut; 12.8 x 9 cm; estimate €1 – 1,500

Lot 157: Flemish Mannerist polychrome and gilded plate frame, 16th century; the frieze decrated overall with an intricate strapwork design supporting corner and centre medallions, with an inscribed cartouche at the bottom; the corners with roundels painted with the four evangelists; the lateral centres with ovals painted with the Nativity on the left & Christ rising from the tomb on the right; a glory inscribed ‘IHS’ at the top; 54 x 51 cm; estimate €1,500 – 2,000

Contact Matthieu Fournier: mfournier@artcurial.com