ALL top international fairs spur dealers in the host city to mount exhibitions and one not to miss at Biennale time is ‘Luxury, Taste, Science: Johann Christian Neuber at the Saxon Court’ at Galerie J. Kugel, whose gallery at Quai Anatole on the left bank must be among the most magnificent in the world.
Known for their stock of precious objects, every two years Alexis and Nicolas Kugel, who are fifth generation dealers, stage a spectacular and scholarly show and this year’s, which runs from September 13 to November 10, features the work of the great 18th century Dresden goldsmith and mineralogist Neuber.
The centrepiece is the ‘Breteuil Table’, a masterpiece of western art inlaid with hardstones and semi-precious stones from Saxony.
The exhibition has already been shown to acclaim at Grunes Gewolbe museum in Dresden and the Frick Collection in New York.
The exhibition is accompanied by a splendid reference catalogue edited by Alexis Kugel at €100 which has an English edition at £100 or $100.