12. Icon on glass, "Saint Haralambie binding the plague", Nicula workshop, second half of the 19th century, from the collection of the world vice champion of bridge Coriolan Neamțu, very rare piece.

Dimensions

width 35 cm, height 41 cm

Description

tempera and gold foil on glaze

PROVENANCE

Coriolan Neamțu was born in 1925, in Satu-Mare, in a family of Transylvanian intellectuals. He was a graduate of the Faculty of Law and of the Academy of High Commercial and Industrial Studies in Bucharest. His particular interest in the game of bridge allowed him to overcome professional dissatisfactions, inherent in the communist regime, and to passionately dedicate himself to bridge. He was an active promoter and organizer of the bridge game in Romania, tournament director and bridge teacher. Coriolan Neamțu wrote and edited between 1970-1983 (year when the bridge was officially banned in Romania) the magazine "Expert Bridge", printed and distributed in hundreds of copies in an almost clandestine manner. A professional journalist, with columns in national magazines and newspapers, and many contributions to prestigious foreign magazines, he wrote several bridge literature works: "Competitive Bridge" (1973), "Entertaining Bridge" (1982), "Start Bridge" (1990), "Humoristic Bridge" (1991) and "Bridge Conventions" (1991). Being also a great animal lover, the author published in 1979 a book entitled "The dog, man's best friend", which enjoyed a great success when it was published. In 2000 he published a volume of maxims and reflections "Restitutio in absurdum". He was a member of the Jockey Club Romania, of the International Association of Bridge Journalists, vice-champion of the IBPA bridge world in 1992 in Salsomaggiore and editor of the bridge column in the magazine "Free Time", the weekly supplement of the newspaper "România Liberă".