The Frame Blog

An auction of a hundred lots of antique frames of various periods and nationalities will be held by Artcurial  on 22 September 2021: these are combined with Old Master and 19th century paintings (including one or two with interesting frames), drawings, and sculptures. Some examples are included here; for the e-catalogue see Old Masters & XIXth century art. 

Lot 1: a German or Austrian Rococo frame, described as either 18^th or 19^th century; carved and gilded (regilded); concave ogee profile with projecting pierced corners & centres; leaf-tip at back edge; ribbon-bound scrolled fasces at top edge, between asymmetric scrolled, foliate and rocaille corners, with lateral identical pierced and foliated double rocaille centres, top centre crest with pierced projecting rocaille supported by palm leaves, rocaille tongue-shaped ornament below and bay leaf sprigs, and bottom centre with pierced and fanned shell-like form with foliations; the frieze with floral rinceaux and recut hatched panels; a leaf-tip ogee at the sight edge; the corner, top and bottom centre ornaments straying over the pictorial surface area; 117 x 96.5 cm; estimate: €1-1,500

Lot 5: an unusual revival of a French Louis XIII-XIV torus frame with clasps; 19^th century; carved & gilded (regilded) oak; hart’s tongue leaf-tip ogee at back edge; torus with foliate clasps applied with sunflowers at corners and centres, with strapwork decoration and shallow-relief sunflower demi-centres; hart’s tongue leaf-tip ogee at sight edge; sanded cavetto; 73 x 62 cm.; estimate: €600-800 

Lot 9: a French Louis XIV sacred frame; 17^th century; carved giltwood, with shaped arched and shouldered sight; ‘leatherwork’ form with scrolled corners, the two top corners with clasps, the two lower corners foliated; with pierced acanthus branches extending up the sides and supporting at the crest a glory with the Holy Spirit above a closed Bible, and extending at the base into an apron supporting the Arnaud armorial bearings; the visible ground of the structure carved with an overall pattern of imbricated feathers; a torus with clasps and florets at the sight edge; an antique hanger; 15.2 x 10.2 cm.; estimate: €3-4,000 

Lot 17: a French Louis XIII carved and gilded oak garland frame; 17^th century; a slender torus with bunched roses & rose leaves, bay leaves & berries, oak leaves & acorns, with acanthus leaf corners; spiral ribbon; acanthus leaf-tip sight edge; 78.5 x 94 cm.; estimate: €3-4,000

Lot 25: a pair of Baroque German or Austrian frames; 18^th century; carved giltwood; hollow profile with exaggerated sculptural scrolling leaf corners straying over the pictorial surface area; antique hangers; 39.5 x 46.5 cm.; estimate: €1,200-1,800

Lot 33: a pair of French Rococo frames; 18^th century; carved and gilded oak with concave profile; with leaf-tip back edge; S-scrolling ribbon-bound top edge, with strapwork, foliate and rocaille corners and centres; the hollow with floral rinceaux; acanthus-&-leaf bud sight edge; sanded frieze; 31.5 x 60.5 cm.; estimate: €6-8,000 

Lot 37: a French Louis XVI concave frame; last quarter 18^th century; carved and gilded oak with stepped hollows; pearls; rais-de-coeurs; 47 x 69 cm.; estimate: €2-3,000 

Lot 44: a later 19^th century ‘artist’s frame’, possibly German; canted profile with reeding, finished in silver leaf; 78.5 x 64 cm.; estimate: €600-800 

Lot 45: a late 19^th or early 20^th century French ‘artist’s frame’; wood and plaster; with reverse, slightly shaped ogee profile with reeding (this is nothing to do with a Whistler frame); 46 x 36 cm.; estimate: €800-1,200 

Lot 46: a 19^th century French walnut frame, with inlaid or stained top edge; possibly with a later stained oak inlay; 19.5 x 15.5 cm.; estimate: €350-450 

Lot 55: a French Louis XVI architrave frame; carved and gilded pinewood and plaster; ribbon-&-stave; rais-de-coeurs; restored; 105.5 x 160.5 cm.; estimate: €3,500-4,500 

Lot 59: a British ‘Hogarth’ frame; 18^th century; reverse profile; carved, stained, polished and parcel-gilt; acanthus leaf-tip on a hatched ground at the back edge; knulled sight edge with small leaf corners; 74 x 57 cm.; estimate: 1,200-1,800

Lot 67: a pair of Baroque Italian reverse frames; late 17^th or 18^th century; carved, painted black and parcel-gilt (regilded); with scrolling foliate and palmette arabesque decoration in mordant gilding at the corners and centres of the frieze; 27 x 45.5 cm.; estimate: €1,800-2,000 

Lot 71: a Baroque reverse frame, possibly Spanish or Italian; 17^th or 18^th century; ebonized and polished; antique hanger; dowelled joints; 58 x 47.5 cm.; estimate: €800-1,200 

Lot 73: a Baroque Spanish frame; 18^th century; carved and gilded with entablature profile; with fluted back edge; projecting corners with scrolling urn-like leafy clasps holding flowers & leaves, and centres with ribbon-tied sprays of leaves & flowers, the ribbons and sprigs of bay leaves trailing over the sanded frieze; astragal-&-double bead at the sight edge; 89 x 118 cm.; estimate: €3-4,000 

Lot 74: a Baroque Spanish reverse frame; 17^th century; carved and gilded; with an ovolo chain at the back edge; foliate corners and centres with scrolling ‘roses’ (possibly with a reference to the Virgin); acanthus leaf-tip sight edge; 49 x 75 cm.; estimate: €4-6,000 

Lot 89: an unusual 16^th-17^th century Venetian ‘Sansovino’ altarpiece frame with openings to accommodate five rectilinear and one round-arched panel; with acanthus-morphing caryatides supporting the lower tier and scrolling flowered pilasters above, the capitals carved with roses in cassettes; the horizontal rails with deep sculptural scrolls decorated with imbricated scales and infilled with lobed flutes, those of the two lateral sets of openings centred with sunflowers; in the central set of openings centred with cherubs’ heads; each opening with stylized leaf-&-dart at the sight edge; painted and parcel-gilt; the rectilinear openings 53 x 48.5 cm., and the arched opening 57 x 48.5 cm.; the overall dimensions 142 x 200cm.; estimate: €25-35,000 

Lot 95: a Renaissance Italian cassetta (or in the style of) with architrave profile; possibly 16^th-17^th century but probably a 19^th century revival; carved walnut; with trophies of the hunt and the head of Artemis at the top centre; the frieze carved along the top with undulating oak branches and acorns; flowers with screaming mouths in the top corners and bottom centre; the lateral rails carved with crossed quivers, arrows and bows hung on bows of ribbon and ending with hunting horns in the bottom corners; the lower rails with strapwork and acanthus leaves; centred spiralling acanthus at the sight edge; 118 x 101 cm.; estimate: €4,500-6,500  

Lot 114: a British bolection panel frame of the late 17^th– early 18^th century containing the portrait of a chap in armour; carved pinewood (probably) and silvered; stylized leaf-tip back edge; hazzling; stylized spiral ribbon, hazzling; cushion-shaped shallow torus at the top/ sight edge carved with meandering leaf sprigs and heart’s-ease between centred gadrooned panels, all on a hazzled ground; 119.5 x 98 cm.; estimate: €5-7,000 (with bonus portrait) 

Lot 307: a French Louis XV Rococo trophy frame containing a portrait of the king after J.-B. van Loo; 18^th century; carved giltwood; possible acanthus leaf-tip at back edge; fluted and foliate S-scrolling top edge, with pierced scrolling foliate and double fanned lambrequin corners, pierced scrolling foliate and rocaille centres, and shell demi-centres, with scrolling rinceaux in the hollow; the fronton with the arms of France on a cartouche surrounded by the chain of the Order of the Holy Spirit, supported by two bands of rocailles, with the crown of France above (this appears to have sustained some losses); 91 x 73 cm.; estimate: €15-20,000 (with bonus portrait) 

Lot 316: a French folding screen in Rococo taste from the turn of the 18^th-19th centuries, with a trompe l’oeil pierced rocaille frame holding the scene of a fête galante in a park, with a faux marbre base; on the reverse, vases and foliate scrolls in faux stone niches; o/c; each panel 175 x 56 cm.; estimate: €3-4,000 

Lot 527: Edmond Maire (1862-1914); two sketchbooks, 17.2 x 11.5 cm.; pages showing pencil drawings of frames/ framed paintings; estimate: €300-400