CURIOSITY

The few antique objects from the Durighiello collection, which Henri Baudoin sold yesterday at Petit's, attracted numerous collectors and dealers. The key piece in the collection, the bronze Crouching Venus, was an object rarely seen at public auction. This work, discovered by the late Durighiello in a garden in Syria in 1901, is well known to collectors and scholars, and Mr. Salomon Reinach (who attended the sale, along with the curators of the Louvre) did not hesitate, in his repertoire of Greek and Roman sculpture, to declare it a "masterpiece." Estimated at 400,000 francs by experts Messrs. Sambon and Leman, this charming Venus was quickly pushed by Messrs. Canessa and various major dealers to exceed 200,000 francs. After a lively bidding process, it was awarded 305,000 francs to Mr. Fritsch-Estrangin, against Mr. Leman. The next item, a magnificent bronze Apollo Citharoed (0.69 m high), also cited by Mr. Reinach, and probably a very fine Roman copy of a fourth-century bronze, went to Mr. Sambon for 143,000 francs. Among the other bronzes, Iphicles Frightened by Snakes, a small statuette of great realism, fetched 3,000 francs, while the Horse Marking the Pace reached 25,500 francs, and an Eros Playing Ball reached 7,800 francs.
The sale began with two charming ivory lions from the Ptolemaic period, small sculptures with the distinctive feature of having, at first glance, the appearance of black basalt, albeit with a richer patina. Estimated at 25,000 francs, these two small sculptures, similar to the two large lions in the Louvre, sold for 16,500 francs.

LA FURETIÈRE.

• Crouching Venus