We are pleased to bring a representative selection of our manuscripts and jewelry to this fourth edition of Frieze Masters Seoul. A large emerald ring displays an intense dark green color, perhaps from the famous Muzo mine in Columbia, which historically has yielded the most beautiful and valuable emeralds in the world. Alongside it, a tour-de-force necklace can only have come from an important Renaissance court. A tablecut Indian (Golcanda) diamond rests on the chest of a gold and enameled Satyr (half man, half beast), dangling from a delicate gold chain of openwork beads, meticulously crafted in opaque white enamel. Modern jewelers have marveled at the difficulty of fashioning such beads which required great skill on the part of the Renaissance jeweler. The necklace is unique. Our star manuscript is a romance, a timeless love story: the “Roman de la Rose.” Twenty-three miniatures illuminate the story, literally lighting up the pages with gleaming gold and sparkling lapis lazuli. A husband-and-wife team working in Paris around 1350 were responsible for its execution, the wife contributing the majority of the pictures. With these works and many others, we look forward to welcoming the Korean public – so sensitive to their own heritage – to view, better understand, and hopefully purchase some of our heritage treasures.
