ABA members at Masterpiece 2019

Daniel Crouch will be sharing ‘T’IEN WÊN T’U’ (A Map of the Stars) The Suzhou astronomical chart. An ink rubbing of a thirteenth-century astronomical stele from Wen Miao Temple (Confucian Temple of Literati) Suzhou, Kiangsu, China; prepared for the instruction of a future emperor. The chart was engraved on stone in 1247 by Wang Zhiyuan, but it is based upon an earlier drawing by Huang Shang, made c1190-1193 at the beginning of Shaoxi in the Southern Song Dynasty, while he was entrusted by the emperor as his son’s tutor. On Thursday 27 June at 6.30pm Crouch will host a talk ‘Sapiens: Mapping the History of Ideas’ on their stand.

Peter Harrington’s selection of rarities includes a second folio of the collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, set page-for-page from a corrected copy of the First Folio, 1623, edited by John Heminge and Henry Condell. Visitors will also be able to see the complete works of Geoffrey Chaucer, printed as a collection for the first time.

Modern, post-war and contemporary original prints and works on paper are a feature of Sims Reed’s stand. Signed artists’ works available include ‘Metropolitan Triptych’, 1974–1977 by artist Francis Bacon and Henri Matisse’s lithograph ‘Nu assis les bras étendus’, 1925, part of a Limited Edition Set.

On display at Shapero’s stand will be Andy Warhol’s screenprint ‘Details of Renaissance Paintings: Sandro Botticelli, Birth of Venus, 1482’, a signed copy of only 70 published by Editions Schnellman and Klüser in 1984. Warhol’s Renaissance series included other interpretations n his own vibrant colours and kitsch style of masterpieces such as Leonardo’s ‘The Announciation’.

Masterpiece runs from 27 June to 3 July in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.