Dec 15, 2022 - Sale 2625

Sale 2625 - Lot 9

Price Realized: $ 3,750
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,000 - $ 4,000

AUBREY BEARDSLEY (1872-1898)

Three Stylized Clematis Flowers.

Ornamental device for Book VI, chapter XVIII of Le Morte d'Arthur,( London: Dent, 1893-94). Pen and ink on paper. 91x60 mm; 3 1/2x2 1/2 inches. Inlaid to size on 9 3/4x7 1/2-inch sheet with hand-drawn borders, "402" in pencil on verso. [1893].

The clematis in "Morte d'Arthur" represents both intellectual beauty and artifice while also anticipating 20th century abstract design. This ornament is repeated in Book IX, chapter XIX, page 402 and Book XVII, chapter IV, page 785. Zatlin, Linda, Aubrey Beardsley: A Catalogue Raisonné, Vol 1; #472.

Provenance: J. M. Dent to Erhard Weyhe Collection, Sotheby's New York 15 December 1988 to Jack and Caroline Milne; Swann Galleries, 2016; Private Collection.