Collectors know that with art and with furniture it is a good thing to do to keep your eye on the greats. Those who live in big cities can do so by going to the best museums locally, the rest of us travel to them. So much is absorbed by the eye that it is important to keep it tuned in. Christie’s will offer an important American collection of 19th century furniture and works of art in a sale entitled Chateau in London on October 28. The collection focuses on signed pieces of the highest quality in the French Royal styles of the Ancien Régime. Comprising 66 lots, the sale presents masterpieces by the period’s preeminent craftsman, including François Linke, Alfred Beurdeley, Guillaume Grohé, Mathieu Befort and Henry Dasson, whose furniture was supplied from Paris to a global market. Their clients included Kings, Kaisers, Maharajas, and titans of industry and commerce such as the Rothschilds, who created an aesthetic and lifestyle which was emulated by powerful families in the United States of America, such as the Vanderbilts, Astors and Rockefellers. This collection evokes the grand Beaux-Arts building projects of the 19th century, when a new international elite competed to furnish their magnificent Renaissance-style châteaux with the most palatial furniture and objects. With estimates ranging from £3,000 to £400,000, the collection is expected to realise in excess of £3 million. Here are some examples:
An ormolu mounted kingwood commode by Francois Linke (£120,000-180,000) with a large French ormolu mantel clock (£20,000-30,000). Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.
François Linke, index number 1400, the mounts designed by Léon Messagé, the movement by Erard, serial number 98602, Paris, circa 1910
A HIGHLY IMPORTANT FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD AND SATINÉ MARQUETRY AND PARQUETRY `PIANO À QUEUE’ £250,000-400,000. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014
Louis-Auguste Alfred Beurdeley, Paris, circa 1885
A MONUMENTAL PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU AND PATINATED-BRONZE FIGURAL NINETEEN-LIGHT CANDELABRA REPRESENTING `WAR’ AND `PEACE’ £200,000-300,000. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014
Baccarat, Paris, circa 1890
A FRENCH ORMOLU AND CUT-GLASS TWENTY FOUR-LIGHT CHANDELIER
Estimate: £40,000-60,000. Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2014.