Artcurial, which maintains a permanent presence in Monaco, will hold two days of auctions in Paris on 11th and 12th May dedicated to archaeology and Oriental art, featuring highlights from two significant private collections alongside a Belgian antiquities collection and a section devoted to Islamic and Indian art.

Monday 11 May sees the second and final part of the collection assembled by Christian Levett, founder of the Musée d’Art Classique de Mougins — the museum that for more than a decade placed ancient artefacts in dialogue with modern masters including Picasso, Warhol, Matisse and Damien Hirst before closing in August 2023. Levett spent two decades building what he describes as once the largest and most celebrated collection of ancient arms and armour in private hands, spanning the kingdom of Urartu through classical Greece to the Roman period.

Highlights include a Greek bronze breastplate from the late seventh to early sixth century BC (estimate €50,000–70,000), a Phrygian-type bronze helmet depicting the mythological figure Scylla from the late classical to early Hellenistic period (€60,000–80,000), a Corinthian-type bronze helmet from late sixth century BC Greece (€50,000–80,000) and an important Roman bronze male head from the third century AD (€50,000–80,000).

“I am very proud to present the final sale of my collection,” Levett said. “Having spent fourteen years on the arms and armour committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and eight years on the board of the Ashmolean, I can speak with genuine expertise about the importance and excellence of the pieces presented.”

The Jean-Jacques Rotthier Egyptian collection

Tuesday 12 May opens with the Egyptian antiquities assembled over a lifetime by Jean-Jacques Rotthier (1932–2009), a discreet Belgian collector who lent generously to exhibitions across Europe — from Brussels and Paris to Amsterdam and Venice — without ever seeking recognition. Nearly 70 works covering every period from the predynastic era to the Roman period come to auction seventeen years after his death.

The centrepiece is an exceptional painted wood mummiform coffin and sarcophagus in the name of the Lady Iahtesnakht, from the Saite period, 26th dynasty (664–525 BC), estimated at €120,000–150,000 — completed by a Book of the Dead papyrus held at the University of Cologne. A painted stucco funerary boat model from the Middle Kingdom (estimate €30,000–60,000), chosen to illustrate the cover of the Du Nil à l’Escaut exhibition catalogue, and a rare painted linen shroud from the Roman period (€50,000–80,000) are among the other highlights.

Islamic art and a Belgian private collection

The afternoon of 12 May continues with a Belgian private collection of Mediterranean antiquities including a remarkable Cycladic marble female idol from the Spedos group, dating to 2700–2300 BC (€35,000–40,000). The Islamic and Indian art section features a rare Mughal Quran section from the reign of Aurangzeb (1658–1707), combining floral illuminations and delicate thuluth calligraphy in black and gold (€12,000–15,000), and a Safavid copper-alloy candlestick that once belonged to 19th-century French orientalist Charles Henri Auguste Schefer (€8,000–12,000).

A public exhibition runs from 9 to 11 May at Artcurial’s Paris premises at 7 Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées Marcel Dassault, with viewing by appointment on 12 May.

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Photos source: Artcurial