Sculpture non figurative made in 1923 by Constantin Brancusi exposed in Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rez-de-Chaussee is in the second place as most expensive art sold in 2005. This recently discovered sculpture, carved from a gray-blue slab of marble, is a keystone in the history of 20th century sculpture. The truly striking element, however, is not its historical position in Brancusi’s Bird series, but the sensitivity and delicacy of its execution. The subject of the bird is so closely captured within the carved marble that even the stone’s white veins link the two parts of the body into a unified whole. The different angles of the footing are carefully tuned to the difference between the front and backside of the bird’s body; particularly in the upper third of the sculpture the polish of the surface shows traces of the hand of the artist.

Sold for $27,456,000 in May 2005, New York.

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