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A well-respected patron of the arts and a scholar of Christian theology, Dr. George S. Heyer Jr. led a life characterized by his deep interest in, and love of, art. His passion and knowledge were expressed not only through his art collection, but also by his service as Chairman of the Texas State Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Chairman of the Advisory Council for the College of Fine Arts at the University of Texas, Austin, and as a longstanding Trustee of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Dr. Heyer also served as a devoted member of the Museum Collections Committee for decades. In graduate school, Dr. Heyer began collecting pieces that would eventually become the collection he is best known for publicly - one of the world's great small-scale collections of fine English silver produced between 1660 and 1760, which included the famous “Ely Ewer” by Paul de Lamerie. While he befriended and was well known to silver dealers in New York and London, it was legendary dealer Eric Shrubsole’s friendship and guidance that proved indispensable to Dr. Heyer over the decades that it took to assemble the collection. This collection has been bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. A voracious and passionate reader, Dr. Heyer loved the process of learning about, and then collecting, art across various categories, with his collection eventually including Old Master drawings and paintings, Impressionist art and Contemporary art. Coupled with his love of travel, Dr. Heyer developed lifelong friendships with some of the top art dealers in the world, whom he would see either in their shops or on his routine trips to international art fairs in New York, London and Maastricht. But it was likely an art tour he and his wife took to China in the late 1970s, a trip very few Americans made at the time, that sowed the seeds for the final collection he assembled -- early artworks from China, India, Southeast Asia and Himalaya. Over the years, many scholars have commented on how rare it is to see a collection with such breadth across various cultures, periods, and mediums, that also reflects a deep understanding of, and discerning eye for, pieces that express the true beauty of a particular art form. Dr. Heyer’s efforts as a patron were unmistakably concentrated on his home state of Texas, where his family had well-established roots: his great uncle was Earnest Nalle, who built the foundation for the Paramount Theater in Austin in 1915; and the gymnasium at the University of Texas at Austin was named after his grandfather, Thomas Watt Gregory, U.S. Attorney General under Woodrow Wilson. Dr. Heyer, however, received a bachelor’s degree in religion at Princeton in 1952, a bachelor’s of divinity from Yale in 1956, and finally, a PhD in religious studies from Yale in 1963. Dr. Heyer returned to Texas to serve as a minister at the First Presbyterian Church in San Angelo prior to pursuing his doctorate and later, to teach the history of Christian doctrine at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he worked from 1964 to 1993.A true gentleman and connoisseur, Christie’s is pleased to offer a selection of works from the collection of Dr. George S. Heyer, Jr.PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF DR. GEORGE S. HEYER, JR. (1930-2015)

A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU

LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH CENTURY BC

细节

A BRONZE RITUAL WINE VESSEL, GU
LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH CENTURY BC
Of slender form, the gu is cast in relief on the trumpet-shaped neck with four blades incorporating the detached elements of animal masks above a band of four cusped quatrefoils with raised centers, and on both the center section and flared foot with two masks divided and separated by notched flanges, those on the foot below a narrow band of four dragons, all reserved on leiwen grounds. A two-character inscription is cast inside the foot.
12 ¼ in. (31 cm.) high

来源

Bluett & Sons, London, 1955.
Private collection, London.
Eskenazi Ltd., London, November 1999.
George S. Heyer, Jr. (1930-2015) Collection.

出版

Eskenazi Ltd., Ancient Chinese bronzes from an English private collection, London, 1999, no. 1.

展览

London, Eskenazi Ltd., Ancient Chinese bronzes from an English private collection, November 1999.

拍品专文

The inscription cast inside the foot consists of a shield-shaped clan sign followed by the character Ji. The same clan sign can be found in a fangyi exhibited and illustrated by J.J. Lally & Co., Chinese Archaic Bronzes: The Collection of Daniel Shapiro, New York, 2014, pp. 38-41, no. 10.

LATE SHANG DYNASTY, 12TH CENTURY BC

拍品专文

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