State of the Art

The Saffronart Blog

Month: November 2012

Dazzling World Diamonds

November 27, 2012

Amy Lin of Saffronart shares a note on some significant and interesting diamonds

New York: The saying “diamonds are a girl’s best friend” may not be literally true, but speaks about the ethos of these gems, and the charm and persuasion they continue to carry in our modern society. Diamonds are the most valuable gems in the world in terms of their rarity, clarity and heritage of prestige. Our jewelry guide has more information on understanding the properties of diamonds and their important ‘four Cs’ – cut, clarity, color and carat weight.

Here is a compilation of some of the most highly regarded and storied diamonds to have been sold at public auction, for your viewing pleasure:

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Archduke Joseph Diamond

This phenomenal 76.02 carat diamond was recently sold for nearly $21.5 million. This was a new record price for colorless diamonds, averaging $282,485 per carat. The Archduke Joseph diamond originated from India’s Golconda mines, where historically the best diamonds have been discovered. The Golconda diamonds are admired for their internal flawlessness and their soft, watery clarity. It is not clear how the diamond reached Austria but Archduke Joseph visited Hyderabad in 1893 as a guest of the sixth Nizam, Mahbub Ali Khan. The diamond passed down the royal family until it was sold to an anonymous buyer during World War II.

The Graff Pink Diamond

This exceptionally rare diamond is the most expensive gem ever sold at auction for $46 million. Weighing at 24.78 carats, its fancy pink hue makes it part of the top two percent of diamonds worldwide. The origin of the diamond is not clear. It was owned by celebrity jeweler Harry Winston in the 1950s before it was recently purchased by diamond dealer Laurence Graff who named it the “Graff Pink.”

Wittelsbach Diamond

The Wittlesbach is not only known for its brilliant blue color, but its provenance as well. It once belonged to the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain, who was famously painted in Velasquez’s Las Meninas. The gem is one of the finest examples of colored diamonds and fetched an astonishing price of $25.52 million at a 2008 auction. It weighs 35.56 carats with origins stretching back to India. It is even rumored that it was once part of the legendary Hope diamond.

The Blue Hope

Although the Blue Hope has never been sold publicly, its estimated worth is $350 million. The fine blue gem originated in India and weighs 45.52 carats. Ironically named the “Hope,” it has been associated with a series of misfortunes over the years. English banker Henry Thomas Hope bought the gem after it was stolen from French royalty during the Revolution. Soon after inheriting the stone, his son lost his fortunes and the gem was sold to an American widow, Mrs. Edward McLean. Catastrophes fell upon the family as Mrs. McLean’s only child died in an accident and her fortunes were lost. When Harry Winston acquired the diamond in 1949, many of his clients refused to touch it. Currently the Hope diamond is part of the US National Collection and is displayed at the Smithsonian Institute.

The Taylor-Burton Diamond

Richard Burton bought the spectacular 69.42 carat pear-shaped diamond for Elizabeth Taylor in 1969. Burton paid a hefty sum of $1.1 million to Cartier after losing out on the stone at an auction. The stone was promptly renamed Taylor-Burton and was displayed at Cartier’s New York store before Burton could claim it for his beloved Liz. Every day, more than 6,000 people flocked to see the jewel, which the New York Times dubbed ostentatious and vulgar. Elizabeth Taylor wore the diamond to Princess Grace’s 40th birthday party in Monaco before selling it to help build a hospital in Botswana.

The Martian Pink Diamond

This rare 12 carat  pink diamond fetched $17.4 million in an auction earlier this year. Its previous owner Harry Winston named the gem “Martian Pink” in 1974 for the color of the planet, when Americans sent a satellite to Mars.

Yellow Sun-Drop Diamond

This 110.2 carat diamond is one of the largest diamonds to ever be offered at auction. With its intense yellow color that comes from traces of nitrogen trapped in carbon molecules for millions of years, the gem sold for an astounding $10.9 million earlier this year. It was only discovered last year in a South Africa mine and represented the most desirable shade of yellow.

Poetry in Stone: Carved Screens from Sultanate and Mughal India

November 26, 2012

Elisabetta Marabotto of Saffronart on ‘Red Stone’, a two-gallery exhibition of ancient Indian carvings in London

London: The Francesca Galloway and Sam Fogg galleries in London recently concluded a joint exhibition of exquisite Mughal perforated stone screens or ‘jalis’ titled ‘Red Stone: Indian stone carving from Sultante and Mughal India’.

Jalis were a very popular feature in Mughal buildings between the 16th and 18th centuries, mainly used to glorify imperial architecture, and were mostly produced in the Agra and Delhi areas of Northern India.  Jalis had the purpose of separating spaces within buildings to provide privacy, especially for the women of the court, as well as allowing the wind to circulate and dividing ‘divine spaces’ from ‘worldly’ ones.

A note accompanying the exhibition, which coincided with the celebration ‘Asian Art in London’, states, “According to Mughal political thought, a ruler was best represented by his buildings which became memorials to his fame. During the high period of Mughal art the imaginative designs of sandstone and marble jalis achieved a degree of sophistication and refinement not seen elsewhere. Jalis have a contemporary aesthetic which appeals to younger collectors, and have been used in museum installations at The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, The National Gallery of Australia, and the new Islamic Arts wing of the Louvre.”

The perforated stone screens on display in this joint exhibition most probably came from buildings in Agra and Delhi and were earlier part of a private English collection, housed in a country estate in Somerset. The collection includes jalis bearing highly detailed geometric, floral and vase patterns, as well as few frieze fragments from the late 12th and early 13th centuries inscribed with surahs and emblematic sentences from the Koran. All the pieces are carved in the distinctive red sandstone of Northern India.

More information on the exhibition can be found on a New York Times article and the Francesca Galloway and Sam Fogg websites.

Below you can enjoy a selection of the jalis from the exhibition.

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Of Carpets and Textiles

November 24, 2012

Sneha Sikand of Saffronart on Jenny Housego’s engaging and interactive talk on carpets and textiles

Jenny Housego speaking on Carpets at Saffronart, Delhi
Image credit: Saffronart

New Delhi: What was planned as a small and intimate gathering of people collected to hear Jenny Housego speak of her long association with carpets and textiles, became an evening of much interaction between the audience and a select number of experts present. The talk took place in conjunction with Saffronart’s upcoming Auction of Carpets, Rugs and Textiles. A textile historian, Jenny spoke about the years she spent in Iran, walking along a street full of carpet shops and studying the techniques and designs unique to every region within the country, and eventually writing a book titled ‘Tribal Rugs of Iran’.

Carpets and Shawls on display at Saffronart, Delhi
Image credit: Saffronart

The auction collection includes early twentieth century tribal carpets, city carpets, kilims and runners from Iran, Afghan rugs, Kashmiri jamavar shawls and jail carpets from Agra and Amritsar among others. The ‘jail carpet’ was a topic of much discussion. Historically said to have started as a reformatory task for prisoners in these regions, weavers were actually brought from Persia to train these inmates in the art of carpet making.

Also discussed were the difference in motifs found in tribal carpets as opposed to city carpets from Persia. While tribal carpets used more geometric patterns and even the animals and objects depicted were angular, city carpets on the other hand were more floral and bright.

Jenny also spoke about the extensive trade links between countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which led to the increase in the variety of carpets available within India. The carpets, rugs and textiles are currently on view at the Saffronart Delhi and Mumbai spaces. The auction will take place on 27-28 November, 2012.

View the catalogue here

Rathin Barman: The first Asian artist to Exhibit at deCordova Sculpture Park – II

November 24, 2012

Guest blogger, Diana Campbell  in a tête-à-tête with Prateek and Priyanka Raja of the Experimenter Gallery about Rathin Barman’s work that was exhibited in the Frieze Art Fair in New York followed by the deCordova Sculpture Park

Rathin Barman, Untitled, 2012
View at deCordova Sculpture Park
Courtesy of the Artist, Experimenter Contemporary Art, Kolkata, India, and the Creative India Foundation

Mumbai: In my last post, I interviewed Rathin Barman about his recent work exhibited at the deCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts.  This work debuted with Experimenter at the Frieze New York Sculpture Park. The Kolkata based gallerists Prateek and Priyanka Raja spoke to me about about how they saw this work transform from an art fair context to an institutional context.

DC: How did you see the work develop from idea to the fair, and from the fair to the park?

Prateek and Priyanka Raja (PPR): When Rathin responded to the possibility of showing a work at the sculpture park at a venue as prestigious and global as Frieze NY, we felt that he had exceeded our expectations in conceptual framework and thought. Untitled 2012 was also so ambitious in its scale and vision that we knew immediately we would need a collaborator to actualize the project. We were very fortunate to have had the support of Creative India Foundation through every step of the process from production to shipping to installation and even take down of the work at the fair. At the fair, we were anxious how this would turn out given that this was the first time the work was being installed ever. When finally put up, the work looked stunning across the river and with the Manhattan skyline in the backdrop as if conceptually and physically the work came together.

Then when through Creative India Foundation, the opportunity came for the work to be installed at deCordova Sculpture Park, was the high point for us. It meant that the work had found a truly public space viewed within the context of some fantastic sculpture by some of the best sculptors in the world in a beautiful sculpture park that was renowned for its content. It was realizing a large project from seed to thought to reality — a truly wholesome experience for us.

DC: How does it feel to have the first Asian sculptor to be displayed at one of America’s best sculpture parks? This is a great honor for Rathin, do you have any other developments you can share with us about his exciting career? 

PPR: Rathin Barman is a very young sculptor, but his work is not restricted by scale or ambition. For Rathin we feel it was an opportunity of a lifetime. This was the first time he had travelled outside India and I think the learning was tremendous. The honor for Rathin to be included in a sculpture park, not only as an Asian but as an artist is tremendous. Rathin is working on a large commission for a very interesting collection currently and is preparing for a show that is in the development outside Kolkata. Also he is simultaneously applying to a selection of residencies for next year, as we feel the next level of his practice needs to have a deeper understanding of material, form and process that will be possible to garner in an international residency and open up newer possibilities for Rathin.

Rathin Barman, Untitled, 2012
Another View at deCordova Sculpture Park
Courtesy of the Artist, Experimenter Contemporary Art, Kolkata, India, and the Creative India Foundation

DC: You received many compliments about Rathin’s work at frieze, any you can share? 

PPR: During Frieze, one of the most poignant sights with regard to the sculpture was when someone left behind a bouquet of sunflowers beside the sculpture. Untitled really is a work about the ferocious need for our cities to grow and at the cost of everything else around it including nature, the people who live in it and the fabric of lives in a city like NYC. That was an unsaid compliment but whoever kept the flowers surely understood what the work was about.

Another comment was made by an Australian collector who had liked the work a lot. He said that the work “exuded the bereft-ness of city living and the barrenness of our modern relationships that cities bring along. In fact it made a comment on how urbanity is taking over everything”

Diana Campbell is Founding Director and Chief Curator, Creative India Foundation, Hyderabad, a private foundation which advances Indian contemporary art globally and is developing India’s first international sculpture park. She is responsible for directing the foundation’s programming, selecting artists & commissioning sculptures for international sculpture parks as well as the foundation’s future park slated for 2015. Through her work with the foundation, she is a key advisor for renowned international sculpture parks such as de Cordova Sculpture Park, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wanås etc. on Indian artists for their collections. Campbell has curated sculpture projects for the India Art Fair, and SH Contemporary fair in Shanghai, and has contributed to projects at Frieze New York, Frieze London and Art Hong Kong. She is also is the co-curator for the Mumbai City Pavilion for the 9th Shanghai Biennale. Campbell also advises real estate developers on their public art programs in India. Prior to moving to India in 2010, Campbell curated exhibitions independently at prestigious galleries such as Marlborough Gallery, and worked at Sotheby’s New York and the Neue Galerie. Campbell is a Princeton and Independent Curators International (ICI) alumna, and speaks Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Rathin Barman: The first Asian Artist to Exhibit at deCordova Sculpture Park

November 23, 2012

Guest blogger, Diana Campbell in conversation with the Rathin Barman about his work at the deCordova Sculpture Park in Lincoln, Massachusetts

Rathin Barman, Untitled, 2012
Courtesy of the Artist, Experimenter Contemporary Art, Kolkata, India, and the Creative India Foundation

Mumbai: In September 2012, deCordova Sculpture Park exhibited its first sculpture by an Asian artist, Rathin Barman’s Untitled, 2012, which debuted with Experimenter at the Frieze New York Sculpture Park curated by Tom Eccles. deCordova Sculpture Park is one of America’s premier sculpture institutions, and it is investing strategically to be the best sculpture park in the US by 2016. The Creative India Foundation is obviously thrilled to partner with them to spread the reach of Indian creativity internationally ahead of opening our own sculpture park.

deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, Lincoln, Massachusetts

Nick Capasso, the Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs at deCordova Sculpture Park shared, “The installation process went very well, and everyone here is thrilled with the sculpture! We honestly could not be more pleased, and Rathin himself is very happy with the iteration of Untitled at deCordova, which looks very different than how it appeared at Frieze in New York…This artwork has been a success for us on every level – aesthetically, educationally, and strategically.” I am excitedly awaiting images of the work in the snow once the seasons change.

I took some time to interview Rathin Barman and his gallerists Prateek and Priyanka Raja about Rathin’s experience at deCordova and to learn about how they saw the work transform from an art fair context to an institutional context. Rathin Barman had his first solo show less than a year ago, and he is already making solid marks on the international sculpture scene. I look forward to seeing Rathin’s work develop as he continues to experiment, experience, and learn. To avoid reader fatigue, I have broken the interview into two parts, first an interview with Rathin Barman. The conversation with Prateek and Priyanka Raja will follow in my next post.

DC: The work looks completely different at deCordova than at Frieze. How did you react to the new site and how did that experience translate into this work?

Rathin Barman . Untitled, 2012 . Sculpture Park, New York Art Fair
Courtesy: Experimenter, Kolkata and the Creative India Foundation

RB (Rathin Barman): Randall’s Island, the venue for Frieze NY 2012 and deCordova Sculpture Park are completely different sites in terms of environment, urbanity & development with respect to installing Untitled 2012. Randall’s Island is among the lone green areas in New York City surrounded by three mainland city parts, and it is entrapped with box-like architectural structures. I have reacted to the site and situation of the entire physical space of the island while proposing and installing the work at Frieze Art Fair.

Three massive wall structures made of iron construction bars are the metaphoric representation of the shape and geographical position of the island both visually & conceptually. These wall structures created a cage like space in between where viewers can walk through. The inner part of the walls structured organically free flowing, loosely associates formation of tree branches, while the outer part is much more architectonic which simulates the architectural set up of closest city line.

The rubble that partly filled the wall structures was collected from demolished building sites from Manhattan and the surrounding boroughs connected sites to the situations. Moreover, the form allowed viewers to look and experience the work and the surrounded sites of urban development at the same time. It was interesting to see the city through an organically free flowing structure partly obstructed with rubble! It gives a feeling of the city’s tenacious need to grow against its own internal fragility.

While regard to my experience at deCordova Sculpture Park at Lincoln Town, Massachusetts and Lincoln area, my excitement and feeling was totally different from Randall’s Island. More than 95% area of deCordova and Lincoln are green, almost uninterrupted natural space making a strong contrast with the nearby city of Boston. Here the ground plan of the installation is almost unchanged but the rubble (again found locally) filled all over the structure commenting a different realization toward the site and situation. There is no such city line to see but the beauty of nature has been obstructed by the rubble which would remind the viewer of urban development/expansion.

Rathin Barman, Untitled, 2012
View at deCordova Sculpture Park
Courtesy of the Artist, Experimenter Contemporary Art, Kolkata, India, and the Creative India Foundation

Gradations of the park and viewing the installation from inside & outside add an interesting dialogue between the work and the landscape, in context of nature & urbanization and stipulation of their existence.

DC: People think rubble is rubble, what differences did you find between NY rubble and Massachusetts rubble? And how is that different from India? What does that have to say about the respective changes in urban development between these spaces?

RB: One of the most interesting parts of the work is that I made the iron structure in Kolkata, and it’s been transported to NY and then Massachusetts. And I had never been to the US before proposing the project, so I realized the urban site and situation of US virtually and theoretically rather than carrying a physical experience of it while creating the work.

But, when I was making the iron wall structure, the filigree of organic flow onto the structure definitely came from my physical experiences of Indian cities and their surroundings. However, environmental issues regarding urbanization and expansion of urban space are a common challenge to the urban developers throughout the world. In that sense, Untitled 2012 has a universal context.

Rathin Barman, Untitled, 2012 (detail)
Courtesy of the Artist, Experimenter Contemporary Art, Kolkata, India, and the Creative India Foundation

Using locally found rubble into the installation is a response to character particular site and its surrounding development. The Massachusetts rubble had been delivered twice, in both times it contains almost 50% of soil with bricks, stones & concrete, but in New York soil percentage was close to zero. It was almost 100% concrete and bricks. NYC has much more crowded with buildings than Boston the reason why you can hardly find soil into rubble. This is an interesting characteristic of rubble found in two different cities.

DC: You gave several presentations during your time at deCordova, how did the audiences react to your work? Any particularly good questions that pushed the way you think about the work?

RB: Interaction with deCordova audiences was amazing. These were very intimate conversations and I was pleased to know that the local population responded well to my work. Most of my works including Untitled have dealt with multiple ideas related to urban expansion, history & development, environmental issues, relation between rural and urban through formal and material representations. Hence, the viewer interactions were like discussions with each other. Viewers could identify and read/associate with the form, material and the process of the work with his/her experiences, and that way they played a very crucial role with my art practice and often added new layer or meaning or facet to the work. The conversations opened up new angles for me. During an open conversation one lady associated the rubble with 9/11, which I had never thought of at any stage of the production or installation of the work, to her, the rubble meant something else, a different sort of demolition.

Rathin Barman, Untitled, 2012 (another view)
Courtesy of the Artist, Experimenter Contemporary Art, Kolkata, India, and the Creative India Foundation

DC: How was the process of transforming the work with deCordova’s curators?

RB: Working with deCordova was a fantastic experience. During the installation process we have discussed about the history of deCordova, the sculpture park, settlement of Lincoln Town, history of Boston’s urban planning and development etc. and at the same time urbanization in India, these discussions had an important role to the process. My practice and I were very beautifully absorbed into the park and its people, which helped me respond to the space.

Diana Campbell is Founding Director and Chief Curator, Creative India Foundation, Hyderabad, a private foundation which advances Indian contemporary art globally and is developing India’s first international sculpture park. She is responsible for directing the foundation’s programming, selecting artists & commissioning sculptures for international sculpture parks as well as the foundation’s future park slated for 2015. Through her work with the foundation, she is a key advisor for renowned international sculpture parks such as de Cordova Sculpture Park, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wanås etc. on Indian artists for their collections. Campbell has curated sculpture projects for the India Art Fair, and SH Contemporary fair in Shanghai, and has contributed to projects at Frieze New York, Frieze London and Art Hong Kong. She is also is the co-curator for the Mumbai City Pavilion for the 9th Shanghai Biennale. Campbell also advises real estate developers on their public art programs in India. Prior to moving to India in 2010, Campbell curated exhibitions independently at prestigious galleries such as Marlborough Gallery, and worked at Sotheby’s New York and the Neue Galerie. Campbell is a Princeton and Independent Curators International (ICI) alumna, and speaks Mandarin, Portuguese, and Spanish.