Giorgio Morandi

Galleria dell'Annunciata, Milan
Galleria Michelucci, Florence
Private Collection, Rome (and sold: Sotheby's, London, April 1, 1981, lot 86)
Stanley J. Seeger, London (acquired at the above sale and sold: Sotheby's, New York, May, 8, 2001, lot 4)
Private Collection, Switzerland (acquired at the above sale)
Acquired from the above in 2011

London, Imago Art Gallery, Giorgio Morandi, Through Light, 2009, n.n., illustrated in the catalogue 

Lamberto Vitali, Morandi, Dipinti, catalogo generale, volume secondo, 1948/1964, Milan, 1994, no. 735, illustrated n.p.

This work is in excellent condition. The canvas is not lined. The surface is clean. Under UV light: no in-painting is apparent.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Painted in 1950, the present work exemplifies Morandi’s elegant and measured exploration of the world around him. Vases and pots appear and reappear throughout the years as Morandi continually rearranged these objects to deftly modulate and emphasize different formal and spatial pictorial elements. Morandi often allowed these objects to be covered with a layer of dust that shifted and altered in the light, thereby blurring the edges of the objects and offering a hushed sense of passing time. Morandi also painted the objects, removing any labels or distinguishing features that would have attached them to a specific period or distracted from the resoluteness of their forms. As Matthew Gale writes: "It had the effect of muting the excesses of transparency and reflection, reducing the glitter typical of academic still lifes to the austere formalism of modernist compositions with their reference to the standardization of mass production" (Matthew Gale, "white bottle—red earth" in Giorgio Morandi (exhibition catalogue), Tate Modern, London, 2001, p. 87). Rendered with beautiful simplicity, these ever-changing configurations allowed Morandi to remove the objects from their domestic origins and translate them into examples of pure form.