R eturning to the auction calendar this July alongside the live Master Sculpture from Four Millennia auction, Sotheby’s dedicated online sale of Ancient Sculpture & Works of Art will include a diverse selection of objects from the classical world, with a focus on accessible price points for both new and seasoned collectors.
Jan Mitchell (1913-2009), was an avid art collector, philanthropist, and New York tastemaker. Born in Latvia, he came to New York as a young man, working from the ground up in the restaurant business. One of his greatest achievements was reviving the legendary restaurant Lüchow’s, where his passion for fine art and fine dining were realized with Old Master and 19th century paintings lining the walls as he played host to New York’s artistic and literary community.
After selling Lüchows and other Manhattan restaurants, Mitchell turned in earnest to collection paintings and works of art. His eclectic taste and spirited buying had full reign, “It isn’t necessary for me to spend twenty-four hours wondering whether I like a work of art, I know right away”. (Cartier Ratcliff, “Jan Mitchell-The Varied Tastes of a New York Connoisseur,” Architectural Digest, p. 298, November, 1987). He focused particularly on his collection of Pre-Columbian gold (gold having a special allure after his father gave him a gold coin as a reward for learning to read) as well as sculpture from the ancient Mediterranean. A generous portion of his collection of Pre-Columbian gold was given to the Met in 1991, adding to the Nelson Rockefeller and Alice Bache collections, and forming one the most important permanent installations, The Jan Mitchell Treasury, which former Museum director Phillippe de Montebello referred to as “our little El Dorado.”
Ancient stone sculpture has a unique capacity to enliven an interior with a sense of deep history and antique beauty. Ancient heads of an Egyptian man and Hellenistic queen (lots 222 and 234) have a stately and dignified presence, while a votive fragment with Zeus Meilichios (lot 236) offers the opportunity to live alongside one of the most iconic gods of Greek antiquity. An alabaster head from South Arabia (lot 291) has an abstract and modernist feel, and would make a stylish companion in a contemporary home.
This sale offers several opportunities to acquire tasteful pieces of ancient jewellery and wearable art. Note in particular a gold and garnet finger ring (lot 256), which has lost none of its elegance since its manufacture over two millennia ago. A beautiful Hellenistic cameo of Selene (lot 251) offers the chance to wear a graceful and otherworldly ancient Greek moon goddess, while a selection of fascinating Greco-Egyptian engraved amulets (lots 252-255) give an insight into the magical beliefs of antiquity, and retain an air of mystery and the supernatural.
