It includes a single-owner French collection of European paintings and sculpture formed over more than 60 years.
This features three bronzes from the Dieux et Désesses (Gods and Goddesses) series devised in 1652 by the French sculptor Michel Anguier (1612-86) for the royal goldsmith and jeweller Pierre Le Tessier de Montarsy.
These finely cast baroque sculptures were intended to represent human and divine temperaments by associating each with one of the four elements. On offer are Neptune Agité, Mars quittant ses armes and Pluton Mélancolique.
Neptune, top, which was cast c.1670-80 and stands 20½in (50cm) high, is one of eight known examples of this size and the composition shows the influence of the Italian sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini. It last appeared at auction in 2001 at Christie’s New York in the sale of the Dr Otto Wittman Collection. It has an estimate of €300,000-500,000.
'Mars' from the Dieux et Désesses (Gods and Goddesses) series devised in 1652 by the French sculptor Michel Anguier – estimate €120,000- 180,000 at Sotheby’s Paris on June 15. Image: Sotheby’s / ArtDigital Studio.
The 21½ in (54.5 cm) high figure of Mars, above, from c.1660-70, stamped with the crowned C and also inspired by Bernini’s Mannerism, was last at auction in Sotheby’s London in 2008. It is guided at €120,000-180,000.
'Pluto' from the Dieux et Désesses (Gods and Goddesses) series devised in 1652 by the French sculptor Michel Anguier – estimate €200,000-300,000 at Sotheby’s Paris on June 15. Image: Sotheby’s / ArtDigital Studio.
The 22½in (57cm) high figure of Pluto, above, made c.1660-70, inspired by the antique Farnese Hercules, is one of only four large-format bronzes of this size known. Last at auction in a sale at Drouot in 1992, it is guided here at €200,000-300,000.
