36 - After Léon Bakst (1866-1924) | Russian-French

After Léon Bakst (1866-1924) | Russian-French Costume Design for Ida Rubinstein as Potiphar's Wife, 'La Légende de Joseph', c. 1914 Watercolor on Paper Inscription: Signed and dated ‘Bakst 1913’ (lower right) and inscribed ‘(Mme Ida Rubinstein)’ (upper right), both in the manner of the artist. Old typed collection label and a Bonhams label on the reverse. Dimensions: Framed, glazed: 59.5 × 50 cm | 23.4 × 19.7 in Artwork: 36 × 27 cm | 14.2 × 10.6 in Provenance: John Carr Doughty collection, London (typed label on the reverse, no. 8a). Bonhams, sale 32181, lot 133 (as ‘After Leon Bakst’). Private Collection, Europe. Exhibited: London, Burlington Galleries, CEMA Exhibition of Ballet Designs, 1953 (according to the label). London, Hommage à Diaghilev, 1979, no. 3 (according to the label). Condition: Pencil, watercolour and gold paint on paper, laid down. The sheet is evenly toned with scattered foxing throughout, mostly in the margins; the colours strong; framed under glass in a burr-wood frame, not examined out of the frame. Please contact us to request a detailed Condition Report. Conditions of Sale: All lots are sold as is, in the condition described. The condition summary is given as a courtesy; a full condition report is available on request before the sale. Attributions are governed by our Terms and Conditions. All enquiries must be made before bidding; no further information can be provided after the sale. By placing a bid you confirm that you have read and accept our Terms and Conditions in full, as set out in the terms of this sale. Shipping: Aurora & Athena coordinates professional, insured shipping for every purchase through vetted logistics partners: packing, transport, insurance and the export paperwork are arranged on the buyer's behalf and charged at the provider's cost. Buyers are equally welcome to collect in Barcelona or to appoint a carrier of their own. Lots are released once the total purchase price has been received. For shipments outside the EU an export licence may be required and Spanish export duties may apply to certain higher-value works; these are the buyer's responsibility. No export tax applies within the EU. Full shipping and export information is available on request. -- Potiphar’s wife stands in the costume Bakst designed for ‘La Légende de Joseph’, the ballet by Richard Strauss and Hofmannsthal that opened the 1914 Paris season of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes: a vast crimson skirt scattered with green-stemmed carnations over a gold underskirt, puffed red and white sleeves, ropes of pearls, a tall jewelled headdress with a plume, and the blue wig with gold side-plaits that Ida Rubinstein had worn in ‘Cléopâtre’. The sheet is inscribed with her name, and the typed label on the reverse, from the collection of the English ballet collector John Carr Doughty, records its exhibition at the CEMA ‘Exhibition of Ballet Designs’ at the Burlington Galleries, London, in 1953 and at ‘Hommage à Diaghilev’ in London in 1979. The design is offered as after Léon Bakst: a version of the published Potiphar’s wife costume, in pencil, watercolour and gold paint, with the signature and date in the manner of the artist, as it was catalogued when Bonhams sold it from the Doughty collection. It is a handsome sheet with a documented English exhibition history and the only Ballets Russes design in this sale.