The famous French ébéniste Georges Jacob (1739-1814) made this white Carrera marble topped console table for the Salon of the Parisan townhouse of Marie-Fortunée d’Este-Modène (1731- 1803), Princess de Conti. The carved and white lacquered table with its laurel frieze dates from c.1776 and is stamped G Jacob. The Paris dealer Galerie Léage will be taking it to Fab Paris where it will have a price in the region of €150,000-200,000.
Image copyright: Galerie Léage
It will take place this year at the Grand Palais Ephémère. This is the temporary structure for major events usually staged in the Grand Palais (which was the location for the former Biennale des Antiquaires for many years) while the building itself undergoes renovation.
Set in the park area known as the Champ de Mars, one of the attractions of the new location will be the space this affords the organisers, the 9000 sq m allowing more exhibitors to take part.
For this 2023 edition, which runs from November 22-26, there will be no fewer than 110 exhibitors, a 25% increase on last year. Significantly, too, 41 are newcomers. Around a third are from outside France, mostly from other European countries.
Branching out
The range of disciplines has also broadened and timewise spans works from antiquity to the present day. When Fine Arts Paris first started in 2017 it was a niche fair with just 34 exhibitors focusing very much on fine art. Gradually new fields have been added over the years such as Asian and ethnographic art, jewellery and books.
Now, FAB Paris will feature 20 different disciplines or, as the fair styles itself ‘all the arts of the world under one roof’; the latest to be added being 20th century design.
This reflect the event’s ambition to grow while continuing to maintain quality.
“One of the main virtues of the fair is its selective nature and this will remain at the core of its development,” says Louis de Bayser, the fair’s president.
Further information on the fair, the exhibitors and the programme of events can be found on the website below.
Pictured here is a selection of works in those different disciplines which the 110 exhibitors will be taking to the event this month.
The 11in (28cm) high Art Deco Four Seasons porcelain vase from 1935 shown here was created by the French designer/decorator Louis Sue for the Sèvres factory, as part of the décor for the famous Art Deco liner the SS Normandie. The vase featured in the interior of the Deauville suite - the most luxurious accommodation on the liner. It will be on the stand of the specialist ceramics dealer Didier Luttenbacher from Paris and will be priced in the region of €15,000.
First-time exhibitor Galerie Neuse from Bremen in Germany will be showing this large 14in (36cm) high silver gilt covered cup and stand at Fab Paris. It is decorated with a scene of a lion hunt. The silver relief is signed Kirstein Orfe. À Strasbourg for Jacques Fredéric Kirstein (1765-1838), a Strasbourg goldsmith, and the base is engraved Composé et executé par Kirstein Orfre à Strasbourg. It has a provenance to Maurice Koehler (1888- 1966) and Elisabeth Schlumberger (1893-1987) and is priced at €860,000.
This polychromed and gilded terracotta bust portrait of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception is attributed to Gervais II Delabarre (1603-50/53), a sculptor who worked in Le Mans in France as part of a family workshop that included his father, Gervais I. The 2ft 3in (70cm) high terracotta dated to c.1630-40 will be offered by the Galerie Sismann, Parisian specialist in Old Master Sculpture, with an asking price of over €200,000.
Image: Christophe FOUIN
This pastel by the Czech-born, Paris-based abstract artist František Kupka (1871-1957) is one of the items that the Paris dealership Galerie AB will be taking to Fab Paris. The 11 x 9in (28.5 x 23cm) signed work from c.1920 is priced at €120,000.
Image: Galerie AB
This tiny 1½ x 2in (4.2 x 5cm) lion head carved from the prized gemstone lapis-lazuli is an Achaemenid Empire piece from what is now Iran and dates from around the 5th century BC. It will be on the stand of the Parisian Galerie Kevorkian, a dealership specialising in the arts of the Ancient East and the Islamic civilisation, and is priced in the €50,000-100,000 range.
Image copyright Galerie Kevorkian/Photo: Thierry Ollivier
Florian Kohlhammer from Vienna specialises in European art and antiques from the Jugendstil, Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods to the Mid-century and is one of the many exhibitors standing at FAB Paris for the first time. He will be showing this Art Nouveau glass vase by Johan Loetz Witwe, a 12¼in (31cm) high mould blown and freeform iridescent model c.1901, signed Loetz Austria, which has a price of €18,000.
Image copyright Lukas Hof/Kolhammer-Preisinger ART GmbH
This ancient Egyptian statue fragment depicting a crown associated with Ramses II, in Greywacke stone, dates from the 19th dynasty, c.1279-1213BC and measures 10in (25cm) high, 8in (20cm) wide and 5¾in (14.5cm) deep. First-time exhibitor Paris dealership Galerie Cybèle will be showing it at FAB Paris, priced at €70,000.
Old Master painting was one of the first specialities featured in the fledging Fine Arts Paris back in 2017 and it continues to have a strong representation in the new FAB Paris fair. Specialist Galerie Didier Aaron (New York, Paris and London), one of the original exhibitors, will be bringing this late 18th century painting by Léonard Defrance (1735-1805) to the event. The Visit to the Forge, an oil on panel measuring 16¼ x 23in (41.5 x 59cm), which is signed lower right L. Defrance / de / Liège and dates from c.1789, is priced at less than €100,000.
This 18½ x 13in (47 x 33cm) marble relief carved with a striking profile portrait of an African nobleman is dated to c.1500-20 and comes from northern Italy (probably Florence). The classical sculpture dealer from Brussels, Desmet Fine Art, a first-time exhibitor, will be offering it at FAB Paris with a price in the region of €100,000.
Among the examples of 20th century art on offer at Fab Paris will be this untitled oil and charcoal painting on canvas by the Cuban-born artist Wifredo Lam (1902-82) offered by the Galerie Boulakia from London, another first-time exhibitor. The 3ft 8in x 2ft 10in (1.1m x 87cm) work, which is signed on the verso and dated to c.1950, is priced at €1.3m.
The Galerie Enrico Frascione from Florence, specialising in Old Master to 20th century paintings, will be showing this portrait of a dalmatian in a landscape. It is by the 17th century artist Pandolfo Reschi (1640-96) who was born in Danzig (Gdansk) but worked in Italy. The 2ft 5in x 3ft 2in (74.5 x 97cm) oil on canvas will have a price in the €50,000-100,000 range at Fab Paris.
