Displaying items by tag: statuette

An ancient statuette and an 18th-century painting that were stolen from Italy decades ago have been returned to its government after turning up in New York.

U.S. prosecutors and the FBI gave the artworks to an Italian official Tuesday.

The painting of “The Holy Trinity Appearing to Saint Clement” is attributed to the renowned Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, also called Giambattista Tiepolo. It disappeared from a Turin home in 1982.

The National Gallery of Art's "Little Dancer Aged Fourteen" (1878–1881) takes center stage in "Degas's Little Dancer," a focus exhibition on view through January 11, 2015. The exhibition is presented in conjunction with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts' world-premiere musical "Little Dancer," which runs from October 25, 2014 through November 30, 2014. The musical is inspired by Edgar Degas's renowned original wax statuette of a young ballerina, which caused a sensation when it was first shown at the 1881 impressionist exhibition in Paris and is one of the most popular works of art in the Gallery of Art's collection.

"Thanks to the generosity of Gallery benefactor Paul Mellon, the Gallery has the largest and most important collection of Degas's original wax sculptures, including the groundbreaking 'Little Dancer Aged Fourteen,' one of the best-loved sculptures of all time," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art.

An extremely rare Fabergé statuette recently discovered in an attic in Rhinebeck, NY sold for a record price of $5,980,000 on Saturday, October 26^th at Stair Galleries in Hudson. The work, which was estimated to garner $500,000 to $800,000, sold to a phone bidder. The last hardstone figure to appear at auction sold for $1.8 million in 2005 at Sotheby’s, New York.

 The work, which was believed to have been lost, is one of 50 sculptures in semiprecious stones and gold produced by the Fabergé workshop. The statuette was acquired by a collector from the dealer and industrialist Armand Hammer in the 1930s and re-emerged this summer complete with original receipts when a descendant’s estate was emptied. The work depicts Nikolai N. Pustynnikov, bodyguard to Empress Alexandra, the wife of Nikolai II, Russia’s last Tsar.

 Wartski, the famed London-based jewelers, who serves the Queen of England, purchased the piece. They specialize in Russian pieces, most notably Fabergé. It’s not clear if they were purchasing it for stock or a private client.