Gas / Petrol Station Original Poster Sign

Finely engraved intaglio portraying a left-facing bust of Henry IV (1553–1610), King of France, in armour, with a decorated gorget and distinctive curled beard, set in a high-carat gold bezel and later fitted with a modern plain shank; supplied with a museum-quality impression. 5.24 grams, 21.83 mm overall, 19.35 mm internal diameter (approximate size British P, USA 7 1/2, Europe 16.23, Japan 15)



Acquired on the European art market.

The engraving is directly after a medallic portrait by Guillaume Dupré, Henry IV’s official medallist, which was widely circulated during the king’s reign and thereafter. The king’s profile is clearly drawn from a familiar medallic type, often used in the 17th and 18th centuries as a symbol of royal authority and dynastic legitimacy.

Formed as a hand showing figa gesture, silver mount with applied twisted wires; attachment loop and ring to the top. 19.6 grams, 56 mm



Private collection, Europe. Acquired on the English art market.

Mano Fico, as protective amulets, have been used since antiquity. It was believed to protect from the evil eye and other dark and magical forces and to promote fertility. In ancient Rome, the fig sign, or mano fico, was made by the pater familias (father of the family) to ward off the evil spirits of the dead as a part of the Lemuria ritual. The ancient Greeks wore amulets of the gesture around the neck to protect from the evil eye, and also used the gesture in artwork. What they considered an overtly sexual gesture was expected to distract evil spirits from causing harm. The pendant would have been worn from a belt or from a chatelaine containing other protective talismans. This carving would have served as a token representing a person's pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, one of the very few places in which jet can be found and mined since at least the Middle Ages.

Framed with a white card reveal, monochrome image of a young woman smoking a cigarette wearing an eye-mask; with collector's slip stating (inter alia) 'Archive Date: 9/01/98' and 'Historical Significance: Shot in late 1997 by the 'King of Kink', this photograph epitomises Newton's lifelong obsession with old-world European grand hotels as cinematic backdrops for high-society mystery and female empowerment. Because the Madrid proof is dated January 1998, it represents a highly coveted "contemporary press proof" - printed and evaluated in real-time immediately following the image's original media debut.' 174 grams, 35.5 x 28 cm including frame



Acquired on the UK art market. Property of a Harwich, UK, collector.