The Auction Block

Christie’s
The Rockefeller Emerald
Raymond C. Yard (1885–1964)
Estimate: $4 million – $6 million
Auction Date: May 15
This superb Columbian 18.04-carat emerald, part of the Christie’s sale Magnificent Jewels and the Rockefeller Emerald, embodies the grandeur of the Rockefeller empire. In 1930, John D. Rockefeller Jr. purchased through a private owner a brooch for his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. The brooch, said to be by Van Cleef & Arpels, centered upon a large emerald with mesmerizing color and impeccable clarity. After Abby Aldrich Rockefeller died in 1948, Rockefeller asked Raymond C. Yard to disassemble the brooch. David Rockefeller, who obtained the emerald, had Yard mount it on a ring.

Bonhams
Periodics Rack, c. 1961-2
Pierre Jeanneret (1896–1967)

Bonhams
Periodics Rack, c. 1961-2
Pierre Jeanneret (1896–1967)
Estimate: $70,000 – $90,000
Auction Date: June 21
In 1922, Swiss architect and designer Pierre Jeanneret set up an architectural practice with his cousin Charles Edouard Jeanneret (better known as Le Corbusier), designing many buildings, including a number of villas and vacation houses, as well as much of the furniture that went in them. Their working relationship ended when Pierre joined the French Resistance. However, they collaborated once again after the war, on the plan and architecture for the city of Chandigarh in India. This remarkable piece of teak and aluminum furniture is part of Bonhams’ Modern Decorative Art & Design sale.

Freeman’s
“Evening Landscape in North Friesland,” n.d.
Emil Nolde (1867–1956)

Freeman’s
“Evening Landscape in North Friesland,” n.d.
Emil Nolde (1867–1956) 
Estimate: $50,000 – $80,000
Auction Date: June 12
Born in northern Germany near the Danish border, Emil Nolde was one of the most important German Expressionist painters and printmakers. In 1906, he became a member of the Dresden-based group Die Brücke, the members of which practiced an expressive, avant-garde style of art characterized by a direct approach to form and heightened color. Twelve years later, Nolde exhibited with the Munich-based group Der Blaue Reiter, a stylistically abstract counterpart to Die Brücke’s figurative style. This watercolor is part of the European Art & Old Masters Sale at Freeman’s. 

The Potomack Company
“The Riviera,” n.d.
Janos Vaszary (1867–1939)

The Potomack Company
“The Riviera,” n.d.
Janos Vaszary (1867–1939)
Estimate: $20,000 – $30,000
Auction Date: June 10
Hungarian painter and graphic artist Janos Vaszary served as a correspondent on the Serbian front during World War I. This painting, offered by the Potomack Company, exhibits his lighthearted Impressionist tendencies, to which he returned after making use of more dramatic imagery during the war. From 1920 until his retirement in 1932, Vaszary taught at his alma mater, the University of Fine Arts. In 1924 he was one of the founders of the New Society of Artists; its acronym in Hungarian, “KÚT,” means fountain.

Sotheby’s
“Notes on the State of Virginia,” first edition, 1785
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)

Sotheby’s
“Notes on the State of Virginia,” first edition, 1785
Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
Estimate: $250,000 – $350,000
Auction Date: June 13
Jefferson divided his “Notes on the State of Virginia” into 23 wide-ranging chapters, including “Rivers,” “Mountains,” “Climate,” “Productions mineral, vegetable and animal,” “Aborigines,” “Constitution,” “Laws,” “Religion” and “Weights, Measures and Money.” In the “Notes,” Jefferson produced a philosophical history that at once refuted and corrected contemporary European notions about the New World while extolling the young nation’s potential. One of 200 privately printed copies, this first edition is part of the Sotheby’s sale Fine Books and Manuscripts, Including Americana.