Gray's 27th Fine Art, Antiques and Decorations Auction News-antique.com (press release)
Gray’s Auctioneers will inaugurate the 2010 auction season on Saturday, February 27 with one of the auction house’s most anticipated offerings to date. The featured lot is a remarkably rare late 15th/Early 16th Century Franco-Flemish Gothic Biblical Tapestry fragment depicting the life of David the shepherd boy who became the King of Israel. The tapestry includes the depiction of courtly figures with lavish robes and headdresses in a field of flowers. The panel may have formed part of a larger narrative tapestry depicting the life of King David. This type known as a stage-set or altar tapestry is characterized by jeweled columns separating various life scenes. A similar tapestry illustrating “The Virtues and the Vices” may be seen at the Detroit Institute of Arts. The offering of this incredible work has garnered much attention, and promises to be a particularly exciting moment in the sale. Another high note in the auction will be the offering of a bronze sculpture by the Impressionist painter and sculptor, Edgar Degas. Entitled Le Tub, the work features a woman reclining in a basin, bathing. Truly one of Degas’ seminal sculptural works; the piece has a colorful past. From having been found in a warehouse, damaged by fire; to being verified by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Curator of European Sculpture, Mrs. Clare Vincent, as well as the world’s leading authority on Degas sculpture, Walter Maibaum. Gray’s February auction is also notable for the over 100 lots of stunning jewelry pieces featured. These include a beautiful and rare David Webb
