Christie's "Anatomy as Art" Auction, Part III

I visited the preview for the Anatomy as Art auction at Christie's today (see previous postings here and here for more information.) It was really rather breathtaking to see all those beautiful old books, anatomical waxes, and framed prints in one modest room. The collection was truly awe-inspiring, and the room was filled wth a fascinating assortment of people--collectors with varying accents earnestly paging through huge ancient portfolios, a slew of young goth-esque kids with their mother(?) paging through same, and a bunch of young teens oohing and ahhing over the stereoscopic slides. I had the opportunity page through Frederik Ruysch's amazing Thesaurus animalium primus... Het eerste cabinet der dieren... from 1704, within which I saw many really incredible engravings I had never seen before; Too bad its estimated to go for $6,000 - $8,000...

Sadly, I did not have my camera, but Melanie at Christie's kindly took these snap shots for me (thanks Melanie!) They give you an idea, but do not nearly do it justice. I suppose the catalogue is all I will be able to afford, but it is a pretty great consolation prize, featuring many of the most memorable images beautifully reproduced explicated by excellent scholarly notations by Jeremy Norman.

The auction itself is tomorrow at 10:00 AM. I plan to spend my lunch hour there; it promises to be an interesting scene. I recommend any people in the area to do the same! The collection is truly a wonder.