Taste of the Royal Court: Important French Furniture and Works of Art from a Private Collection, Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1, 9th July 2015
A MASTERPIECE BY CHARLES CRESSENT
Unseen on the market since the early 20th century, the top lot of the collection is a bureau plat which is a masterpiece by Charles Cressent, who ranks with Boulle, Riesener and Gouthière as among the most famous craftsmen of the 18th century. The precise form only occurs on one other known bureau plat by Cressent, in the Louvre
Estimate: £1-1.5 million
CREDIT: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2015
Christie’s hold a proud record for important sales of French decorative arts and this present sale, comprising twenty-two lots, is no exception.
A VASE MADE FOR LOUIS XV’S FINANCE MINISTER
A spectacular Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese flambé-glazed porcelain vase, with sinuous rococo mounts attributed to Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis, circa 1755, was almost certainly made for the celebrated collector and financier Jean-Baptiste de Machault d’Arnouville (1701-1794)
Estimate: £600,000-1 million
CREDIT: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2015
Many of the lots have not appeared at auction before and what a selection it is with pieces which have provenances from the 18th century as they were especially created for patrons such as Queen Marie Antoinette, Duke Albert de Saxe-Teschen, Jean Baptiste de Machault d’Arnouville, Chancelier de France and the Prince de Conti.
MARIE ANTOINETTE’S EXQUISITE ARMCHAIR FROM THE PAVILLON BELVEDERE, The Only Surviving Armchair from the Most Expensive Suite Made for the French Queen
A royal Louis XVI giltwood fauteuil en bergère which was made for Marie Antoinette by François II Foliot, after a design by Jacques Gondoin in 1780, with sculpture by Pierre-Edme Babel or Toussaint Foliot
Estimate: £300,000-500,000
CREDIT: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2015
If that were not enough in itself some have then been part of celebrated collections including those of the Dukes of Hamilton, the Marquesses of Bath at Longleat and the Comtes de Vogüé at Vaux-le-Vicomte. This really is, as the photographs show, a great sale with outstanding pieces. It is though it will achieve in excess of six million pounds.
THE PRINCE DE CONTI’S PLANETARY CLOCK
A remarkable Louis XVI Ormolu Planetary Clock (‘Sphère Mouvante’), the movement by Jean-Michel Mabille and the sphere by Martin Baffert, circa 1770, is a tour de force of horological complexity
Estimate: £600,000-1 million
CREDIT: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2015
THE HAMILTON PALACE AGATE EWER
A rare and precious objet d’art from the late 1790s, combining a richly veined 17th century agate ewer and basin with fashionably neo-classical gilt-bronze mounts possibly by Pierre-Philippe Thomire, the design attributed to Jean Guillaume Moitte, has a remarkable history
Estimate: £500,000-800,000
CREDIT: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2015
A PAIR OF JEWEL-LIKE LOUIS XVI WALL LIGHTS – A ROYAL MODEL BY FELOIX
Estimate £200,000-300,000
CREDIT: CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2015
Tim Forrest's E & A 