?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,200 - $ 1,800
AUBREY BEARDSLEY. Three Stylized Leaves * Two Dog Roses. Together, 2 ornamental devices for Book II, chapter VI, page 59 and chapter VII, page 60, respectively, of "Le Morte d'Arthur," London: Dent, 1893-94. Pen and ink on paper. 45x43mm; 1 3/4x1 1/2 inches (leaves) and 46x45 mm; 2 inches (roses). Each inlaid to size on 9 3/4x7 1/2-inch sheets with hand-drawn borders, "315[with strike-through]/320" and "296"in pencil on versos, respectively. [1892].
The acanthus leaf represents the fine arts and artifice, while the dog rose represents both pleasure and pain in "Morte d'Arthur." Both ornaments are repeated in subsequent books and chapters of the work. Of the four lots in this sale, these drawings were included in earlier chapters and thus executed a year before the others. In his book "Sources of Art Nouveau," Stephan Madsen notes that the stylized leaves recall Hector Guimard's Paris Metro station designs (New York: DaCapo, 1975, pages 240-41). Provenance: J. M. Dent to Erhard Weyhe Collection, Sotheby's New York 15 December 1988 to Jack and Caroline Milne. Zatlin 376, 377.
