The Frame Blog

This sale is being held online by the Spanish auctioneer Setdart (7 Calle de Velázquez, Madrid), ending on Tuesday 28 February. It consists of a collection of frames, begun in the 1970s and put together in Madrid and London, comprising thirty-two lots; the frames range in period from the 16^th to the 19^th century, and are mainly Spanish and Italian – a selection of nineteen lots follows. See the catalogue online here. With thanks to Moana Weil-Curiel.

Lot 35277773: 17^th century Italian Mannerist carved giltwood frame, with astragal-&-quintuple bead at the back edge; centred raking flute on the frieze; centred running leaf tip at the sight edge; 92 x 75 cm., 112 x 95 cm.; antique hanger; estimate: €3,500-3,800

Lot 35277775: 17^th century Baroque Spanish carved giltwood frame, with sculptural curling acanthus leaves on the ogee between the top edge and inner frieze; with beading at the sight edge; restored; 87 x 68 cm., 102 x 85 cm.; estimate: €3,500-3,800

Lot 35277776: a late 17^th or more probably early 18^th century Baroque Latin American (Mexican?) carved giltwood reverse frame, with broken contour and frieze decorated in a shallow relief version of the Churrigueresque style, with winged centres holding fleurs-de-lys, attributes of the angel Gabriel, and scrolling volutes suggesting clouds; the crest carved with a sculptural projecting figure of a dove with displayed tail, symbolizing the descent of the Holy Spirit for the Annunciation: the dove holds an upside-down rose or lily, attributes of the Virgin (it is highly likely that this frame held a representation of the Annunciation); sight edge with gem-like forms; 68 x 53 cm., 102 x 72; estimate: €2,800-3,200

Lot 35277777: a mid-17^th century Spanish carved giltwood frame, with flowered back edge; rope moulding; plain frieze; scalloping; astragal-&-beads at sight edge; 105 x 79 cm., 124 x 97 cm.; estimate: €2,800-3,200

Lot 35277778: a British Regency pier glass in early 19^th century NeoClassical revival style, carved giltwood and compo, with characteristically slender, elongated columns and stiff-leaf capitals; the capitals supporting blocks with oval daisy paterae; a cornice with ogee and stepped profile ornamented with leaf tips; a frieze beneath the upper mirrored plate with vertebrate bay leaf branches centred on a round daisy patera; with plain plinths supporting the lateral columns and a bottom rail with stepped and ogee profile; 101.3 x 55.5 cm.; estimate: €1,200-1,500

Lot 35277781: 17^th century Baroque Spanish carved reverse frame with flowered back edge; scrolling foliate corners and centres; a cabochon chain at the sight edge; finished in black paint and parcel-gilding; added 20^th century linen and gilt inlay; 70 x 57 cm., 86 x 71 cm.; estimate: €2,000-2,500

Lot 35277782: 16^th century Italian carved giltwood and polychrome cassetta, defined by astragals and concave mouldings at the back, top and sight edges; the frieze painted black and enriched with overall sgraffito decoration, with scrolling foliate panels at the corners and centres, with tied corners, and urns at the centres; the reposes filled with imbricated fishscale/peacock feather decoration; original holes for tied twine or leather hanger; 65.5 x 51.5 cm., 81 x 65 cm.; estimate: €3,500-3,800

Lot 35277784: Baroque Spanish carved frame, second half 17^th century; with indented astragal at the back edge; scrolling foliate corner panels and centres with sunflowers laid upon leaves; the crest with a central sunflower against a ruffle of projecting forward-curled leaves; with a cabochon & gem moulding at the sight edge; finished in black paint and parcel-gilding; 116 x 88 cm., 135 x 105 cm.; estimate: €2,500-3,000

Lot 35277785: 17^th century Italian carved giltwood cassetta, with egg-&-dart below the top edge; dentils; a plain frieze enriched with carved stiff leaves decorated with hatching, springing from the corners and joined in pairs at the centres; smaller dentils at the sight edge; 129.5 x 107.5 cm., 145.5 x 124 cm.; estimate: €4,000-4,500

Lot 35277787: 16^th century Italian carved giltwood and polychrome cassetta, defined by stepped fillets and astragals; the frieze painted black and enriched with sgraffito decoration of delicate scrolling foliate and tied decoration in the corners and centres, and with quatrefoil leaf bud demi-centres; the sgraffito damaged at three corners by removal of the black paint at the mitres; 73 x 52 cm., 92 x 71 cm.; estimate: €3,500-3,800

Lot 35277788: a pair of Baroque Spanish (Mallorcan) carved and parcel-gilt looking-glasses, 1760s-80s, with an outer contour of gilded foliate S- and C- scrolls, with leafy flourishes; trailing bay leaves depending from the volutes at the upper corners; drops of trumpet flowers on the lower lateral rails; a foliate spray supported by a small foliated swan’s neck pediment at the crest; the inner frame of stained and polished wood; with the original mirrored plates; each 41 x 28 cm. The catalogue entry suggests that these items were produced in the 18^th century with integral sconces for candles, although there is no sign of that here. Estimate: €1,200-1,500

Lot 35277791: an 18^th century Baroque Italian carved and pierced giltwood leaf frame, c.1720s or later; with outer cutaway strapwork skeleton, with C-scrolls and outset clasps, supporting the scrolling acanthus flourishes which spring from corners and centres and curl in front of and also inside the strapwork elements; inner torus moulding with centred imbricated bay leaves and berries, which is bound to the outer frame by the corner and centre cartouches which clasp the inner torus, and which hold acanthus leaves at the corners and scallop shells at the centres; antique hanger; 98.5 x 72 cm., 125 x 98.5 cm.; €4,500-5,000

Lot 35277792: a large 18^th century British panel frame, with narrow convex profile, parcel-gilt and lacquered; with shaped gilded panels in the corners, enriched with inscribed and punched foliate brocade-like ornament; the reposes lacquered black and painted in mordant gilding with orientalizing scenes of birds, buildings, trees, ferns and people; 182.5 x 133 cm., 194 x 143.5 cm.; estimate: €2,800-3,000

Lot 35277802: a 17^th century Baroque Italian carved giltwood frame with a Mannerist-style bird’s beak top edge decorated with stopped-channel fluting with leaf corners; egg-&-dart; the frieze enriched with a stylized undulating and scrolled vine centred with rosettes on a punched ground; shaped astragal-&-double bead; leaf tip sight edge; 109 x 79.5 cm., 138 x 107 cm.; estimate: €2,800-3,200

Lot 35277803: a late 18^th–early 19^th century Spanish ‘Bilbao looking-glass’: an architrave frame of carved giltwood and pink marble pieces veneered on wood, with the remnants of its original bronze fitments: an urn with a palm at the top left corner, which would have been balanced by another on the right (the foot remains) and an unknown central crest; a bronze relief of Flora, with flowers falling from the folds of her dress, standing on the centre of the lower rail against the glass; the frame itself with flattened beading on the gilded top and sight edges; 86 x 62 cm.; cf. the pair of ‘Bilbao looking-glasses’ in the Minneapolis Institute of Art ; estimate: €1,500-2,000

Lot 35277804: a pair of Baroque Spanish carved giltwood looking-glasses in the form of eagles which hold the original mirrored plates, imitating the eagle of St John the Evangelist which was sometimes depicted holding the arms of Carlos III during the period of his reign; last third 17^th century; each 67 x 47 cm.; estimate: €4,000-4,5000

Lot 35277805: a charming small 18^th century Spanish carved giltwood NeoClassical bolection frame, with stepped mouldings around a central concave frieze and age-crackled gilding; antique hanger; 25 x 23 cm., 34 x 32 cm.; estimate: 500-600

Lot 35277861: a Spanish Biedermeier looking-glass frame, 1810s-40s; with frieze panels veneered in polished burr walnut, and corner cassettes in a darker wood, inlaid or created from the carcass, stained and polished; the corners further enriched with brass sunflower ornaments; 41.5 x 30.3 cm.; estimate: €300-400

Lot 35312252: an 18^th century Baroque Italian or Spanish carved giltwood reverse torus frame, with stepped back edge; the torus carved in an exaggerated and enriched version of a ribbon-&-stave moulding, with centred and bound spiralling acanthus leaves around an ornamental leaf-&-bead core; with an astragal-&-bead sight edge; 119 x 90 cm.; estimate: €1,000-1,500

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Contact the auction house here: madrid@setdart.com

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