Mannerist crystal cup from 1620, Baroque glass and Meissen porcelain among gems to be auctioned online by Arthouse Gallery
Arthouse Gallery is preparing to auction over 300 exclusive pieces of historic glass and porcelain. The online auction scheduled for September 24, will give collectors the opportunity to acquire gems from the Baroque Renaissance, Biedermeier and Art Nouveau period. I spoke to gallery co-owner Tomáš Hejtmánek and first asked him to mention some of the most rare pieces that will be up for sale.
“Among the rarest pieces are a Mannerist crystal cup in the shape of a shell dating from around the 1620s. Or a Baroque cup interwoven with rubies from around 1700. The porcelain collection features items from the Meissen Manufactory, which is one of the oldest, maybe the oldest, first porcelain factory in Europe.
This particular collection also contains many items from the collection of Rudolf Just, an entrepreneur and art collector from the First Republic, is that right?
“That’s right. The collection was created between the 20s and 30s of the 20th century. The English speaking audience may know of Rudolf Just from the novel Utz by Bruce Chatwin, a famous British writer who also worked at Sotheby's auction house in London. Bruce Chatwin wrote this book in 1989, so it was before the Just collection was sold at Sotheby's, more than 30 years later. In the book, which was very popular at the time, the author tells the story of this collector living in the communist era, a period when collecting was something against the regime. And in order to keep his collection he had to hide it. He hid it in his apartment in Prague. And although the ending of the novel is different from the real life of Rudolf Just, you can see this tension between the passion for collecting and the communist era which frowned on the materialistic.”
And in what way was reality different then?
“In the novel the collection was destroyed, but in reality it was preserved. It was found in the 1990s. And it was auctioned in London. So the pieces did not remain in one collection. They ended up in many private collections across the whole of the continent.”
How precious are these items? What are the record prices you expect to get for them?
“We are one of the auction houses that do not set estimates on the works. Because for us collecting is a kind of passion that cannot be transformed into money. So it's hard to say. The time for collecting glass has changed dramatically. So we don't see such prices for glass items nowadays. But the collection consists of many rare objects for very tempting starting prices ranging from 500 crowns to 1500 crowns. Which is around 20 euros to 600 euros. For example, for the mentioned mountain crystal Mannerist piece the estimation would be around 300,000 Czech crowns.”
And you expect collectors from across Europe to take part?
“Yes. I hope that the collectors will find this auction and will have a look what can be bought at very low prices for such rare objects.”
Finally, what is the current market like in historic glass and porcelain? What are people most interested in buying?
“I think it depends on the collectors. Collectors’ demand stems from what they need for their collection. But we are talking about historic glass and the famous names that were present in the history of glass. There is, for example, a very special collection of double-walled glasses from the Baroque period, which were made in Bohemia in the first half of the 18th century. It is a technique that you cannot find anywhere in Europe. That could be a very special acquisition for someone’s collection. Or if someone would like to start a collection, then I think it would be a very fine start. To buy something unique for a good price and also of very high craftsmanship.”
