This pair of expressive earthenware guardians is part of Eskenazi’s second showcase of works from the collection of the American film and television agent Norman Kurland, whose agency represented iconic TV shows ranging from Cheers to Scrubs. The Hollywood honcho amassed a beloved collection of works from the brief Six Dynasties period (AD220-581) in China. He once reportedly considered being buried with these objects, but he opted instead to consign them with the London-based dealer instead of donating the works to a museum, where “perhaps five or ten pieces would go on display and the rest would go into some dark store”, Kurland once told the Financial Times. Painted earthenware Chinese guardians (mid-sixth century) at Eskenazi, London, 1-10 November. £250,000. Photo: Courtesy of Eskenazi.
Part of a series of signed pen-and-ink drawings by the beloved American cartoonist Charles Schulz from his Peanuts series, this work includes the birds that the artist introduced first in 1961 that were later developed into the character Woodstock, Snoopy’s sidekick, who made his first appearance in 1967. Heritage Auctions in Dallas achieved the record for a work by Schulz in 2007 with an original Peanuts comic strip from 1955 that realised $113,525. Charles Schulz, Snoopy and friends (early 1960s). Haynes Fine Art at the Winter Art and Antiques Fair Olympia, London, 29 October-4 November. £7,950. Photo: Courtesy of Haynes Fine Art
Hailing from the personal collection of the British dealers James and Claire Hyman, this 19th-century salt print was likely a study for Charles Nègre’s painting La Lecture. James Hyman says there is “rarity in these early French salt prints, with many of these works being unique or irreplaceable”. Indeed, the negative of the work has been lost, but five similar negatives of the same model in the artist’s studio are known, one of which is in the Nègre family collection. The print was last offered by Sotheby’s Paris in 2002 where it fetched £90,000, well above its high estimate of £18,000. Charles Nègre, Model reclining, (around 1849-1850). Photographs sale at Phillips, London, 1 November. Estimate £100,000-£150,000.
This demountable room designed by the self-taught French architect Jean Prouvé is one of four spaces made for a French school that was dismantled and sold in 2012. Consigned by the US collectors Michael and Gabrielle Boyd, it is the first of the four to be offered at auction. Phillips London notably sold a Prouvé house for a record £900,000 in 2015, but Richard Wright, director of Wright auction house, says the collectors are only selling this modular building after their dream of reconstructing it on the beaches of California was dashed: “They simply don’t have a place for it.” Jean Prouvé, Room 10 from École de Dieulouard (1952-53). The Boyd Collection sale at Wright, New York, 8 November. Estimate $500,000-$700,000.
Object Lessons: from sixth-century Chinese figurines to Snoopy's sidekick
Our picks from fairs and auctions around the globe this coming fortnight
Painted earthenware Chinese guardians (mid-sixth century) Courtesy of Eskenazi