Louis Delanois, Joseph-Nicolas Guichard, Jean-Baptiste Cagny, supplied to Madame Du Barry for Château De Louveciennes, Circa 1770-1771
The landmark Rothschild auction series at Christie’s in New York totalled $62,656,516. There was strong demand for decorative arts of all categories and price levels, and underscoring the enduring power of the Rothschild provenance on both sides of the Atlantic. The four sales averaged 280 percent sold hammer above low estimate, and 98 percent sold by lot. Millennial buyers accounted for an average of 15 percent of bidders and buyers across the week, and bidders and buyers from 40 nations participated. Christie’s broke the record for European 18th century seat furniture and then broke that record in the very same sale. Records were also set for Hispano-Moresque and Bernard Palissy earthenware as well as for 17th century flatware.
The series began with a sale of masterpieces. The leading lot was Gerrit Dou’s A young woman holding a hare with a boy at the window which made $7 million. A pair of late Louis XV gilt walnut fauteuils a la reine by the 18th-century French furniture maker Louis Delanoisset the record for 18th century European chairs making $4,406,00, and then shortly after that this record was broken again by a Delanois pair of late Louis XV giltwood and white-painted fauteuils, supplied to Madame Du Barry for her Château De Louveciennes, Circa 1770-1771, which made $6,221,000, the second-highest price ever for European chairs of any era.
