The Frame Blog

This auction, to be held by Artcurial on 24th September, comprises almost 200 lots of frames of various periods and nationalities. These are combined with Old Master and 19th century paintings and drawings. Some examples of the frames are included here; for the e-catalogue see Old Master & XIXth century art.

Lots 4 & 5: 18th century French Baroque frames

Lot 4: an 18th century French Louis XV straight-edged or ‘pastel’ frame, oak, with ogee profile; leaf-tip & enriched gadroon at back edge; sanded frieze; acanthus leaf-tip sight edge on a hatched ground; regilded; 72 x 57.5 cm.; estimate €1,800-2,200

Lot 5: an 18th century French Louis XV straight-edged concave frame with sanded frieze; fluted, scalloped sight edge; asymmetric rocaille crest with florets; gilded; sight 43 x 31.5 cm.; estimate €800-1200

Lots 6 & 7: 17th century French Baroque frames

Lot 6: a 17th century French tondo frame, limewood, with convex profile; ribbon-&-stave at back edge; cross-cut acanthus with crescent moons set with cruciform ‘jewels’; sanded frieze; leaf-tip sight edge on a hatched ground; gilded; 25 cm. diam.; estimate €1,800-2,200

Lot 7: a latish 17th century French Louis XIV frame, limewood, with shallow ogee profile; foliate C-scrolled strapwork on a cross-hatched ground; foliate and strapwork corners and centres with acanthus leaf buds on a diapered ground; large cartouche-shaped fronton with foliate scrolls and a fanned lambrequin on a diapered ground enriched with cruciform florets; sanded frieze; leaf-tip sight edge on a hatched ground; gilded; 82 x 66 cm. diam.; estimate €1,800-2,200

Lot 43: a pair of 17th century French Baroque frames

Lot 43: a pair of French Louis XIV frames, second half 17th century, oak, with shallow ogee profile; ovolo chain at back edge; scrolling strapwork with foliation, carved diapering and shells; foliate corners with fanned lambrequins on a punched ground; the centres with trophies of crossed flaming torches and quivers of arrows (for love); strapwork chain with leaf buds at the  sight edge; left in the oak and polished; 89 x 72 cm.; estimate €7,000-9,000

Lots 63 to 65: a gilt oak and two Art Nouveau frames

Lot 63: a French Art Nouveau frame, turn of the 20th century, cherry wood, with slight undulating profile and shaped contour; carved with sprays of leaves in the top corners and reversed flowers with leaves in the bottom corners; left in the wood and polished; 79 x 102 cm.; label on the reverse of the Maison Dangleterre, Paris; estimate €800-1,200

Lot 64: a late 19th century artist’s-style frame; varied friezes set between bands of reeds; gilt oak; 24.5 x 17 cm.; on the reverse a framemaker’s mark for F. Dupré, Faubourg Saint-Honoré; estimate €600-800

Lot 65: a French Art Nouveau frame, turn of the 20th century, with stepped bolection profile and shaped contour; left in the wood and polished; 28.5 x 41 cm.; estimate €350-450

Lots 66 to 68: naïf craftsmen’s frames; various countries

Lot 66: a 19th century German Black Forest frame, with outset corners, pinnacles on the top rail; a tiled frieze between runs of continuous zig-zag mouldings; left in the wood and polished; 51 x 38 cm.; estimate €350-450

Lot 67: a mid-20th century French naïf frame, with shaped, scalloped contour; punched and diapered frieze; left in the wood save for cream-painted sight edge; 31.5 x 45 cm.; estimate €300-400

Lot 68: a 19th century Italian naïf frame, with wide canted profile; finished in dull red and decorated with painted silver foliate scrolls; 29.5 x 24 cm.; estimate €350-450

Lots 75 to 77: Spanish and Italian frames; various periods

Lot 75: a Spanish Baroque frame, late 17th or possibly 18th century; pinewood; carved with corner-&-centre undulating acanthus leaves, centred with acanthus rosettes, with a large scallop shell at the crest, supported and garlanded with acanthus leaves, buds and ribbons; gilded; 70 x 45.5 cm.; estimate €2,000-3,000

Lot 76: a 19th century Italian moulding frame in revival NeoClassical style; concave profile; acanthus leaf-&-bud; sanded frieze; spiral ribbon; acanthus leaf sight edge; gilded; 37.5 x 28.5 cm.; estimate €400-600

Lot 77: an 18th century Italian miniature reliquary frame; carved with leaf buds; gilded; 2.8 x 2.8 cm.; estimate €400-600

Lot 84: Baroque Sienese frame

Lot 84: a 17th century Italian Baroque bolection frame with bird’s beak profile; limewood; finished in parcel gilding and black paint, with scrolling foliate arabesques in the corners, stars in the centres, of the frieze; the top sight edge decorated in Sienese window-sill style with alternating bands of black and gold; 71 x 55.5 cm.; estimate €1,000-2,000

Lots 87 & 88: 17th century Baroque frames

Lot 87: a reverse 17th century Baroque frame, Spanish (or possibly Italian); parcel gilt limewood picked out in black, with faux marbled frieze on a black ground; old hanger; 44.5 x 38.5 cm.; estimate €2,000-3,000

Lot 88: a 17th century Italian Baroque bolection frame, with octagonal contour and convex and concave mouldings stepped to a round sight edge; original gilding (?); 19 cm. diam.; estimate €900-1,200

Lots 98 & 101: Baroque Spanish frames

Lot 98: an 18th century Spanish frame, with convex profile; opulently finished with gilded panels at corners & centres engraved with acanthus and other foliate motifs on a punchwork ground; with red lacquered reposes decorated with delicate foliate flourishes and ribbons in mordant gilding and black paint; the cavetto similarly decorated in parcel gilding and dark green marbled reposes; antique hanger; sight 173 x 116 cm., estimate €6,000-8,000

Lot 101: a 17th century Spanish cassetta; gilded limewood decorated in the estofado style, with corner and centre panels painted black with sgraffito motifs of reversed flowers and flower buds, with vertebrate honeysuckle panels painted on the reposes of the long sides, and suns in glory with foliate motifs on the short sides; with further enrichment painted on the ogee; sight 76 x 58.5 cm., estimate €3,000-4,000

Lot 99: late Baroque Spanish frame

Lot 99: a Spanish cassetta, probably 18th century; enriched ovolo chain at the back edge; frieze ornamented with finely and sharply modelled sunflowers in the corners, from which depend ropes holding swags of ribbon-tied fruits ending in ears of corn, on a punchwork ground, with shaped reposes on the lateral rails; rais-de-coeur at the sight edge; 84.5 x 60 cm., estimate €2,500-3,500

Lots 160 & 161: Baroque frames

Lot 160: an early 18th century late Régence French frame, with ogee profile; with enriched chain back edge, exaggerated corner cartouches with scrolling foliation, shells and sunflower paterae, with palm leaves on the frieze, and small scrolling centres with shells and cosses de pois; ribbon-&-stave; acanthus leaf-tip-&-bud sight edge on a hatched ground; gilded; 55 x 65 cm.; estimate €2,000-3,000

Lot 161: an late 17th-early 18th century Italian ‘Salvator Rosa’ or Roman frame, with concave profile; with cable moulding, and acanthus leaf-&-shield at sight edge; parcel gilt, stained dark brown and polished; 47 x 35 cm.; with antique hanger; estimate €1,000-1,500

Lots 187 to 190: 17th-18th century Netherlandish frames

Lot 187: a 17th-18th century Netherlandish ogee bolection frame, veneered with ebony, with two bands of ripple moulding; 24.5 x 20 cm.; estimate €1,200-1,800

Lot 188: a 17th century Netherlandish frame, veneered in pearwood; cut down; 25 x 21 cm.; estimate €1,000-1,200

Lot 189: a 17th-18th century Netherlandish frame, veneered in ebony; 30 x 25 cm.; estimate €1,500-2,000

Lot 190: a late 17th-18th century Netherlandish frame, veneered in pearwood; 35.5 x 29 cm.; €800-1,200

Lot 307

Lot 307: French School, c. 19th century; after Peter-Adolphe Hall, Portrait of Mlle de Saint Aubin as Babet, o/c, 32.5 x 26 cm; frame in the style of a NeoClassical fronton frame, with cartouche at the crest from which depend garlands of flowers, caught at the corners by trompe l’oeil ‘nails’; stamp on the reverse of  Georges Heine; estimate €700-900

Contact Matthieu Fournier: mfournier@artcurial.com