NYC24591 Irene Roosevelt Aitken

NEW YO R K | 12 F EB RUA RY 2 02 6

THE COMPLETE SESSIONS CALENDAR VOLUME 1

The Dining Room and British Paintings Lots 1-115 Wednesday, 11 February 2026, 10 am VOLUME 2

The Drawing Room and French Paintings Lots 201-321 Thursday, 12 February 2026, 10 am VOLUME 3

The Library, Bedrooms and Objects of Vertu Lots 401-550 Friday, 13 February 2026, 10 am ONLINE SALES

A Love of the 18th Century Lots 601-799 Online sale 4-18 February 2026 A Life on 5th Avenue Lots 901-1089 4-19 February 2026

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

AUCTION Thursday, 12 February at 10 am (Lots 201-321)

20 Rockefeller Plaza New York, NY 10020

Saturday Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday

EXHIBITION 7 February 3.00pm-6.00pm 8 February 1.00pm-5.00pm 9 February 10.00am-5.00pm 10 February 10.00am-5.00pm 11 February 10.00am-5.00pm 12 February 10.00am-5.00pm

AUCTIONEERS Victoria Tudor, Richard Nelson, Tash Perrin, Sarah El-Tamer, Helena Guindo, Joey Quigley, Jennifer Wright

AUCTION CODE AND NUMBER In sending absentee bids or making enquiries, this sale should be referred to as SEASONS-24591

ABSENTEE AND TELEPHONE BIDS Tel: +1 212 636 2437 Email: BidsUS@christies.com

PRIINCIPAL AUCTIONEER: Adrien Meyer

Please scan for complete auction information Front Cover: Lots 236, 237

Back cover: Lot 218

18/ 12/2024

SPECIALISTS AND SERVICES FOR THIS AUCTION

Will Strafford Deputy Chairman, Senior International Specialist European Furniture and Works of Art

Elizabeth Seigel Head of Private and Iconic Collections, New York

Jennifer Wright Head of Department, Old Master Paintings, New York

Giada Damen Specialist, Old Master Drawings, New York

Allison Cox Associate Specialist, English Furniture and Works of Arts, New York

Chris June Junior Specialist, Silver, New York

Csongor Kis Specialist, European Furniture and Works of Art, New York

Peter Hall Cataloguer, European Furniture and Works of Art, New York

Will Russell Specialist Head of Department, Sculpture, New York

Jonathan Rendell Consultant, Private and Iconic Collections

Paul Carella Consultant, Antique Arms

Jody Wilkie Senior Consultant, European Ceramics and Glass

Carleigh Queenth Consultant, European Ceramics and Chinese Export

Melissa Gagen Consultant, English Furniture

Alan Wintermute Consultant, Old Master Paintings

John Stainton Deputy Chairman, Old Master Paintings, London

Harry Williams-Bulkeley International Head of Silver, London

Isabelle Cartier-Stone Specialist, Silver and Gold Boxes, London

Margo Oganesian Head of Department, Faberge and Russian Works of Art, London

Annabel Kishor Specialist, British Drawings and Watercolors, London

Thomas Williams International Head of English Furniture and Clocks, London

Charles Cator Deputy Chairman, Christie’s International, London

Orlando Rock Chairman, Christie’s UK, London

Amjad Rauf International Head of Masterpiece and Private Sales, London

Paul Gallois Head of European Furniture, Paris

PAYMENT, SHIPPING AND COLLECTION Tel: +1 212 636 2650 Fax: +1 212 636 4939 Email: PostSaleUS@christies.com John Manger

Sale Coordinator

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

THE AITKEN COLLECTION: PROVENANCE AND HISTORY

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Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957) Horst P. Horst / Condé Nast via Getty Images

o enter the Aitken apartment was to be instantly immersed in history. One stepped across the threshold into the entrance hall to be greeted by a sumptuous mounted celadon vase from Harewood House, a stool supplied to Marie-Antoinette and an intricately carved table made for the Duke of Montagu, all vying for your attention with glorious Fragonard drawings. You might then turn left into the dining room to be immediately struck by a wonderful abundance of Meissen birds and animals, modeled after those made for Augustus the Strong and in some cases actually from his collection, while subsequent owners included luminaries such as Baroness Renée de Becker, the Goldschmidt-Rothschilds and the Pallavicini and Von Pannwitz families, all set off by a dazzling array of 18th century society portraits including Lady Berkeley, Mme de Pompadour’s brother the Marquis de Marigny and the 2nd Earl Spencer. Immediately off the entrance hall was the library, with Russell Aitken’s extraordinary collection of antique European arms made for Hohenzollerns, the courts of France and Russia and including a pair of pistols specially commissioned by Napoleon for his son the king of Rome. That memorable space led into the Living Room which was the quintessence of French 18th century elegance- one picture alone had been owned in succession by the Marquess of Lansdowne, Alfred de Rothschild, Lord Iveagh of the Guiness family and Jaime Ortiz Patiño- a veritable roll call of elite collectors, particularly as it shared a corner of the room with a clock from the Viennese Rothschilds and a secretaire from the companion of Samuel Kress.

But above all the Aitken Collection is a fascinating time capsule of American collecting in the 20th Century. The core of the collection formed by Annie Laurie and Russell Aitken in the 1950’s and 60s reflects a bygone, leisurely era of collecting, especially when one realizes that almost all their purchases were acquired within a few blocks of their apartment at Fifth Avenue and 80th Street. For auctions they went to Parke-Bernet Galleries on Madison and 76th; their favorite dealers were Rosenberg and Stiebel, A la Vieille Russie, the Antique Porcelain Company and Ruth Constantino, all within walking distance. And the sales they bought from reflected a veritable who’s who of American and international high society, with pieces in the collection from the automobile fortunes of Thelma Chrysler Foy, fashion icon and resident of 740 Park Avenue; and Henry Ford II and his wife Anne who later married Deane Johnson; blue blooded society figures such as Winston Guest, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan, Elleanor Elkins Widener Rice (whose first husband George Widener went down on the Titanic) and Baroness Renée de Becker who was so influential in forming Jayne Wrightsman’s taste; Mrs. Morton Plant who famously persuaded her husband to sell the Cartier mansion for a string of pearls (a story Irene Aitken loved to relate as more than one of her pieces had previously been owned by the Plants)- she later moved to 1051 Fifth Avenue, just a few blocks from the Aitken apartment; Mrs. Henry Walters whose husband founded the Walters Art Museum, and Elisa Dolora Kilvert, the companion of Samuel Kress whose collection of Old Master paintings, now gracing the walls of so many American museums, was the stuff of legend.

All of these names are redolent of a vanished world of elegance and refinement, just as the Aitken apartment links us directly back to a golden age of American collecting.

Mrs. Henry Walters (1859-1943)

Mae C. “Maisie” Plant, née Caldwell, later Rovensky (1881-1955)

Madame Jacques Balsan, née Consuelo Vanderbilt and formerly Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1877-1964) shown sitting on a George III settee in the Aitken collection, lot 275. Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Toni Frissell Photograph Collection, [LC-DIG-tofr-27165].

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AFTER JEAN BAPTISTE LEMOYNE THE ELDER (1679-1731) BUST OF NOEL-NICHOLAS COYPEL

19TH CENTURY On a later faux marble base, inscribed JB. Lemoyne fecit 1730 and NN. Coypel peintre / ord. du Roi terracotta 25Ω in. (65 cm.), the terracotta 31 in. (79 cm.), with the base $2,000-3,000 PROVENANCE:

With Mallett, London, May 27, 1970; Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

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A PAIR OF CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN ‘FRENCH MARKET’ ARMORIAL WINE COOLERS QIANLONG PERIOD, CIRCA 1770

Each enameled with the arms of Bishop of Fréjus (Provence), Emmanuel-François de Bausset de Roquefort, gilt rocaille scrolls at the rim, flanked by beast-mask handles, iron-red and gilt flower sprays below 9¿ in. (23.1, cm.) wide, overall (2) $5,000-7,000 PROVENANCE:

Emmanuel-François de Bausset de Roquefort, Bishop of Fréjus, circa 1770.

Gift of Philip Suval, New York, 1950s.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Crawford, later Aitken (1900-1984) from the above.

Emmanuel-François de Bausset de Roquefort (1731-1802) was ordained in 1754 and by 1766, he was appointed as Bishop, whereupon he built a grand seminary in Provence. See A. Lebel, French and Swiss armorials on Chinese export porcelain of the 18th century, 2009, p. 321 for a further discussion and an illustration of a soup tureen from this service.

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202

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

A FRENCH ROYAL DINNER SERVICE (LOTS 203 AND 204) The present large wine cooler and the charger that follows are part of a much debated Chinese export dinner service believed to have been ordered for Louis XV in the early 18th century, with various scholars dating the service from as early as 1715 to as late as 1738. Both pieces have the arms of France to the center, and notably the cavetto of the charger and rim of the cooler include addorsed L’s for Louis, one of his preferred emblems. The service is recorded as descending through the Orléans side of Louis XV’s family until it was gifted to a French noble family by Charles X circa 1830. Other examples from the service have come to market on occasion, including the charger in the Benjmain F. Edwards III Collection, sold at Christie’s, New York, 20 January 2004, lot 147 ($71,700); a pair of jars and covers from the Collection of Khalil Rizk, sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 25 April 2008, lot 4 ($61,000); and a bidet in the Dalva Brothers collection, sold at Christie’s, New York, 22 October 2020, lot 150 ($21,250).

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A LARGE CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN FRENCH ROYAL ARMORIAL WINE COOLER YONGZHENG PERIOD, CIRCA 1730

Enameled in the verte Imari taste with the Royal arms of Louis XV within the orders of Saint-Michel and SaintEsprit, a band of gilt and iron-red scrolling lotus at the rim punctuated by cartouches of addorsed L's, the sides with Kakiemon style panels of fans and lotus above large bowls of finger citrus and other fruit on leafy daises, flanked by shell handles 10Ω in. (26.6 cm.) wide, overall $15,000-25,000 PROVENANCE:

203

Part of a service reputedly delivered to Louis XV in the second quarter of the 18th century.

The Benjamin F. Edwards III Collection; Christie's, New York, 29 January 2003, lot 73.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

LITERATURE:

Christie's Magazine, January/February 2003, p. 89.

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A LARGE CHINESE EXPORT PORCELAIN FRENCH ROYAL ARMORIAL CHARGER YONGZHENG PERIOD, CIRCA 1730

Enameled in the verte Imari taste with the Royal arms of Louis XV within the orders of Saint-Michel and SaintEsprit, a band of gilt and iron-red scrolling lotus at the well punctuated by cartouches of addorsed L's, the rim with Kakiemon style panels of fans and lotus alternate with bowls of finger citrus and other fruit on leafy daises 14¿ in. (35.8 cm.) diameter $6,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

Part of a service reputedly delivered to Louis XV in the second quarter of the 18th century.

Union Central (old sticker to reverse).

Antoine Lebel, Paris, 3 February 2003.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

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THE LOUIS XV TASTE (LOTS 205-207) The following three lots have long been thought to be part of a second Chinese export dinner service ordered for Louis XV. Though they relate closely to the previous two lots, differences can be seen in the scale of the Order of Saint-Esprit, which impales the bolder iron-red border at the footrims, as well as in the lack of colorful enameling on the lotus devices. Some are now calling the dating and manufacture of this ‘second’ service into question, and believe this second service was made by Samson in 19th century France. All five of the present lots were tested using X-ray fluorescence (XRF), and the elemental components in the clay and blue enamels were found to be nearly identical on both the two lots acknowledged to be of Chinese manufacture from the 'first' service as well as the three lots from the 'second' service.

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A SMALL PORCELAIN WINE COOLER WITH THE FRENCH ROYAL ARMS POSSIBLY CHINESE EXPORT, CIRCA 1730

Enameled in the verte Imari taste with the Royal arms of Louis XV within the orders of Saint-Michel and SaintEsprit, a band of gilt and iron-red scrolling lotus at the rim punctuated by cartouches of addorsed L's, the sides with grisaille panels of fans and lotus above large bowls of finger citrus and other fruit on leafy daises, flanked by Buddhist lion mask handles 6Ω in. (16.5 cm.) diameter, overall $3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

The Chinese Porcelain Company, New York.

Collection of Khalil Rizk; Sotheby's, New York, 25 April 2008, lot 3.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

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A PORCELAIN WINE COOLER WITH THE FRENCH ROYAL ARMS

A SMALL PORCELAIN BOWL WITH THE FRENCH ROYAL ARMS

Enameled in the verte Imari taste with the Royal arms of Louis XV within the orders of Saint-Michel and SaintEsprit, a band of gilt and iron-red scrolling lotus at the rim punctuated by cartouches of addorsed L's, the sides with grisaille panels of fans and lotus above large bowls of finger citrus and other fruit on leafy daises, flanked by Buddhist lion mask handles 8æ in. (22.2 cm.) wide, overall

Enameled in the verte Imari taste with the Royal arms of Louis XV within the orders of Saint-Michel and SaintEsprit, a band of gilt and iron-red scrolling lotus at the rim punctuated by cartouches of addorsed L's, the sides with grisaille panels of fans and lotus above large bowls of finger citrus and other fruit on leafy daises 5æ in. (14.5 cm.) diameter

POSSIBLY CHINESE EXPORT, CIRCA 1730

$3,000-5,000

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POSSIBLY CHINESE EXPORT, CIRCA 1730

$1,000-2,000 PROVENANCE:

PROVENANCE:

Antoine Lebel, Paris, 7 January 2003.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

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Antoine Lebel, Paris, 7 January 2003.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

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A WILLIAM AND MARY GILT-WALNUT SIDE TABLE

POSSIBLY BY JEAN PELLETIER, CIRCA 1700, FORMERLY A CABINET-STAND The rectangular portor marble top over a frieze carved with strapwork and acanthus, supported on tapering legs carved with tasseled lambrequins over openwork shafts, the open sections carved with stacked flowers, joined by an X-shaped scrolled stretcher, the back inscribed 'G.-R.557' once in black and once in white, and twice in black 'G-179x', the marble inscribed 'G-179x' 34Ω in. (88 cm.) high, 38º in. (97.5 cm.) wide, 20æ in. (53 cm.) deep $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

Possibly supplied to Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu (1638-1709) for either Montagu House, London or Boughton House, Northamptonshire.

Collection of René Fribourg (1880-1963); Sotheby's, London, 28 June 1963, lot 206 (as 'Louis XIV').

With The Antique Porcelain Company, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 25 February 1969.

LITERATURE:

The Ivory Hammer: The Year At Sotheby's, 219th Season 1962-1963, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, 1963, p. 227.

Boughton House in Northamptonshire has been called the ‘English Versailles’ for the Continental Baroque influence on its design and furnishings. As a member of Charles II's Privy Council the 1670s, Ralph, 1st Duke of Montagu (1638-1709) pursued the role of an 'Apollo of the Arts', endeavoring to bring gloire to the Restoration court by elevating English arts and manufactures to the same high standard that he had witnessed while serving as the King's Ambassador Extraordinary to the Court of Louis XIV. As 'Comptroller' of the Royal Tapestry Works at Mortlake from 1674, Montagu's role was to supervise the purveyors of furnishings to the Royal households and to set the 'national' or 'court' style. After returning from exile in Paris during the reign of James II, Montagu gained control of King William III's Great Wardrobe, a charge that catapulted his ambition to enlarge both Montagu House and Boughton in the most fashionable taste expounded by the French court, imbued with the 'antique' style of architects, ornemanistes and sculptors including Daniel Marot, Charles Le Brun, and Pierre Le Pautre.

The present table, probably originally a cabinet-stand, shares much of its design vocabulary with continental models, from the distinctive profile of its tapering columnar legs to the powerful curving of its X-shaped stretcher. French examples sharing similar elements include a Royal example sold Christie’s, London, 6 July 2023, lot 24 and an adapted console table sold from the Collection of Maria Angiolillo, Christie’s, London, 15 July 2010, lot 665, both of which have been related to the work of Le Pautre (1652-1716).

Montagu House, Bloomsbury, London.

Most remarkable are the openwork legs, each apparently carved from a single block in a tour-de-force of carving that appears to defy structural logic. The tasseled lambrequin atop each is equally exceptional, evoking in carved giltwood the sumptuous upholstery that constituted the most valuable of furnishings in English homes of the seventeenth century. At Boughton House today, a cabinet-on-stand in the Audit Room is constructed with two near-identical legs at its front, although the upper structure and the ebonized remainder of the stand are unrelated, being apparently assembled in the Regency period from various elements including seventeenth-century Boulle marquetry panels. This may well have been the work of Thomas Parker, the fashionable 'Cabinet and Buhl Manufacturer' who is recorded as working at Boughton in 1813. It is first documented in 1820 in the Duchess’s Drawing Room, inventoried as 'a Boulle cabinet on a carved and gilt stand'. Furthermore, a table later photographed among the Buccleuch collections at Ditton Park is of a similar design, though with solid legs; it may have begun life at Boughton House and as relative of the present lot, as many of the furnishings at Ditton were brought from Boughton by the son of the 1st Duke.

A few similar tables outside of the Montagu family, both English and French, are documented. The closest is the example illustrated in A. Chastel, French Art, Vol. III: The Ancien Régime, 1620-1775, Paris and New York, 1994, p.

206. A French side table from the Georges Hoentschel Collection now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, also in gilt walnut, similarly features openwork legs centering stacked flowers (obj. no. 07.225.185). For an English example, see the Royal table commissioned by Montagu for the Late Queen’s Bedchamber at Kensington Palace, recently published in Ronald Phillips, trade catalogue, Great English Furniture, London, 2025, cover and pp. 264-268, cat. no. 132, for which bills to Robert Derignée and Jean Pelletier survive, signed by Montagu himself.

Christie's would like to thank Crispin Powell, archivist at Boughton House, for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.

A cabinet-stand in situ in the Audit Room at Boughton House, with legs near-identical to the Aitken table. © Country Life/Future Publishing Ltd.

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JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD (GRASSE 1732-1806 PARIS)

Saint Phar escaping through the window of Aline's room black chalk, brown and white wash 8æ x 6¬ in. (22.4 x 16.8 cm) $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

Hippolyte Walferdin (1795-1880), Paris; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 12-16 April 1880, lot 217 (265 francs).

Albert Hecht (1842-1889), Paris; by inheritance to Raffaele Pontremoli (1832-1906), Paris. with Wildenstein Galleries, New York. with Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fragonard. Drawing Triumphant, New York, 2017, no. 89, ill. (catalogue entry by Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey).

LITERATURE:

E. and J. de Goncourt, L'art du XVIIIème siècle, Paris, 1882, II, p. 285.

R. Portalis, Honoré Fragonard, Paris, 1889, II, p. 302.

A. Ananoff, L'œuvre dessiné de Fragonard, Paris, 1961-1970, IV, no. 2022.

A great part of Fragonard’s graphic production, nearly three hundred drawings, consists of illustrations of literary texts. Fragonard selected a great variety of works to illustrate, ranging from Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso to Cervantes’s Don Quixote to La Fontaine’s Les Contes, to contemporary texts. None of the projects undertaken, however, came to completion. Therefore the purpose of these series of drawings is not known.

Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey has connected this work with a series of twelve other compositions by Fragonard based on the short novel, La Reine de Golconde by Stanislas Jean de Boufflers (1738-1815) and first published in 1761. The story enjoyed great success and many editions appeared during the 18th Century. Fragonard’s related drawings were dispersed early on and their connection to the novel was lost.

La Reine de Golconde tells the story of two young lovers, Aline and the narrator (Saint Phar), from the time of their first encounter until, many adventures later, they reunite. At that point Aline is married to the Sultan of Golconde who surprises her and Saint Phar in the bedroom; Saint Phar is able to flee by leaping out of the window. This charming scene expresses all the wit and verve of Fragonard's draftsmanship. The pentimenti of Saint Phar’s legs moving in the air, his jacket and the window curtains fluttering in the a breeze, evoke a sense of frantic motion which corresponds to Boufflers’s lively writing style.

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JEAN-HONORÉ FRAGONARD (GRASSE 1732-1806 PARIS) Homage to Gluck

inscribed 'Homere', 'Gluck', 'Virgile', and 'Amanti degli arti' (center left); and 'Et mon coeur/ et mes/ oeuvres/ Fragonard' (center) black chalk, brush and brown wash 14 x 18¿ in. (35.5 x 46 cm) $200,000-300,000 PROVENANCE:

Probably Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul (1713-1781), Paris; Boileau, Paris, 3 December 1781, lot 239 (‘Un superbe Dessin lavé au bistre sur papier blanc. Il représente la Peinture dédiant ses crayons a Homere, Virgile & Mécène. Allégorie ingénieuse présentée sous la figure d’un Peintre dessinant sur une table antique devant les bustes de ces grands Hommes [36 x 48.7 cm]’ sold for 72 livres to de Broc).

Louis-Pierre Norblin de la Gourdaine (1745-1830), Paris; gifted to Madame de Conantré, Paris (according to a label on the back of the frame).

Baronne de Ruble, Paris.

Sigismond Bardac (1856-1919), Paris. Édouard Rahir (1862-1924), Paris.

Irwin Laughlin (1871-1941), Washington D.C. Hubert Chanler, Geneseo, NY. with Thomas Agnew, London.

Mrs Hubert Chanler, Geneseo, NY; Sotheby’s, London, 10 June 1959, lot 20 (£1100 to Cailleux). with Galerie Cailleux, Paris (L. 4461).

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fragonard. Drawing Triumphant, 2017, no. 79, ill. (catalogue entry by Marie-Anne Dupuy-Vachey).

LITERATURE:

R. Portalis, J.-H. Fragonard, Paris, 1889, p. 303.

E. and J. de Goncourt, L'art du XVIIIème siècle, Paris, 1882, III, p. 295.

A.P. Oppé, ‘Honoré Fragonard’, Old Master Drawings, II, no. 5, June 1927, pp. 8-9, ill.

L. Réau, Fragonard, sa vie, son œuvre, Brussels, 1956, p. 195.

A. Ananoff, L'œuvre dessiné de Fragonard, Paris, 1961-1970, I, no. 455, ill.

M. Roland Michel, 'The themes of the artist, and of inspiration as revealed by some of Fragonard's drawings', The Burlington Magazine, CIII, supplement no. 9, November 1961, pp. i-iii, ill.

D. Wakefield, Fragonard, London, 1976, p. 15.

P. Rosenberg, Fragonard, exhib. cat., Paris, Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1988, p. 506, ill.

This impressive drawing, known as L’hommage à Glück, was intended by Fragonard as a tribute to his contemporary, the famous composer Christoph Willibald Glück (1714-1787), but also as a celebration of artistic inspiration more broadly. The composition is vigorously sketched in black chalk and fluid and rich strokes of brown wash.

An artist, crowned with laurel wreath, is seated at his desk holding a pencil; on a large sheet of paper in front of him, he has written the dedication ‘et mon Coeur/ et mes/ oeuvres/ Fragonard’ (my heart and my works, Fragonard) that appears to be addressed to Glück and to the two poets of antiquity, Homer and Virgil, all three portrayed in sculpted busts on a podium erected in front of the artist’s desk. In the room, on the ground, are a lyre, a palette, a portfolio of drawings and some sheets of paper, symbolizing the different forms of art.

The German-born Glück was one of the 18th Century leading opera composers.

He worked at the Hapsburg court in Vienna, as well as in London, Dresden and Paris. Glück arrived in Paris in 1773 and worked between there and Vienna for nearly a decade during which time he created Orpheus, Iphigenia and Aulis and what is considered his finest work, Iphigénie en Tauride (1779). During this period Glück also wrote the score for Armide (1777), a 17th Century opera with a libretto by Phillipe Quinault (1635-1688) that was based on Torquato Tasso's 16th Century epic poem, La Gerusalemme liberata. In Paris Glück was supported by Queen Marie Antoniette and came to enjoy immense success.

Many artists portrayed him in painting and sculpture. His admirers wanted to honor Glück with a marble bust to be commissioned to Jean-Antoine Houdon and to be placed in the grand foyer of the Opera. For this reason, in July 1776, a subscription was launched to raise money to pay for the work. It appears that Fragonard himself was among the subscribers (Stein, op. cit., p. 230).

This drawing is one of several of Fragonard’s compositions celebrating artistic inspiration. Marianne Roland Michel in an article of 1961 cited several other examples executed in a similar format and technique, among these The inspiration of the poet (whereabouts unknown; see Ananoff, op. cit., 1961-1970, I, no. 454, ill.) and Ariosto inspired by Love and Folly (inv. D2862, Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie; see P. Rosenberg, Les Fragonard de Besançon, exhib. cat., Besançon, Musée des Beaux-Arts et d’Archéologie, 2006, no. 93, ill.).

Most likely the present drawing can be identified with a sheet included in the posthumous sale of the notable collector Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul held in Paris in 1781. The inaccurate identification of the poets in the sale catalogue - Un superbe Dessin lavé au bistre sur papier blanc. Il représente la Peinture dédiant ses crayons a Homere, Virgile & Mécène. Allégorie ingénieuse présentée sous la figure d’un Peintre dessinant sur une table antique devant les bustes de ces grands Hommes (A superb wash drawing on white paper. It represents Painting dedicating its pencils to Homer, Virgil & Maecenas. An ingenious allegory personified by the figure of a Painter drawing on an antique table in front of the busts of these great men) - seems to prove that the inscriptions under the busts with the names of the sitters were added later, perhaps by Fragonard himself. The date of the sale provides a possible important terminus ante-quem for the drawing.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI-STYLE GILTWOOD OVERDOOR PANELS LATE 19TH/ FIRST HALF 20TH CENTURY

Each carved with a medallion of a Roman emperor in profile, flanked by martial trophies, one inscribed 'AITKEN x MANN FLEMING' in white chalk on the reverse 20º in. (51.5 cm.) high, 35º in. (90 cm.) wide $3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

With Mann & Fleming Antiques, Ltd., London.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 12 June 1961.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS

A PAIR OF EARLY LOUIS XV GILT WALNUT TABOURETS

Each cartouche-shaped back and serpentine seat rail carved with flowers and trailing leaves, the scrolling arms on shaped fluted supports, the back with incised decoration, on cabriole legs headed with flowers and terminating in acanthus, covered in ivory silk damask, each with spurious stamp 'I. AVISSE' 37º in. (95 cm.) high (2)

Each with a padded rectangular seat, the rails and cabriole legs carved with shells, scrolls, trellis and acanthus, on hoof feet, covered in covered in tan silk embroidered with flowers 17æ in. (45.5 cm.) high, 18Ω in. (47 cm.) wide, 14æ in. (37.5 cm.) deep (2)

CIRCA 1760

$10,000-15,000

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CIRCA 1725

$5,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 12 December 1966.

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Mrs. Alan L. Corey, New York and Glen Head, Long Island, Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 5-7 December 1974, lot 731.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

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FRANÇOIS BOUCHER (PARIS 1703-1770) A female nude, half-length oil on canvas, oval 14√ x 12Ω in. (37.8 x 31.7 cm.) $70,000-100,000 PROVENANCE:

(Possibly) Beurnonville Collection (according to the Galerie Cailleaux invoice).

Anonymous sale; Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 16 March 1959, lot 6, as Attributed to Fragonard. with Galerie Cailleux, Paris, by 1961, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Annie-Laurie Aiken, née Warmack (1900-1984), from the above in June 1970.

EXHIBITED:

Paris, Galerie Cailleux, François Boucher: premier peintre du roi 1703-1770, May-June 1964, no. 74.

LITERATURE:

'Pariser Treffpunkt fur Boucher', Die Weltkunst, XXXIV, no. 12, June 1964, p. 496, illustrated.

Acquired from Galerie Cailleux, Paris, in 1970 by Russell and Annie-Laurie Aitken, this lovely female head by Boucher is little-known and has been rarely seen. When it was exhibited in 1964, Jean Cailleux described it as a study for a larger composition, perhaps one of the Graces in L’Amour enchaîné par les Grâces, known from a contemporary engraving by Beauvarlet. Certainly, in type, the young model – blonde, gentle of expression, barely clothed and seated among the clouds – strongly resembles Boucher’s frequent depictions of the Graces (or Muses) in his mythological canvases from the later 1730s and early 1740s and throughout the rest of his career. Characteristic of Boucher’s style near the beginning of the 1740s, the painting evokes its model’s delicate beauty with the lightest, airiest and loosest of touch – the very manner that would profoundly influence Fragonard and a younger generation of French painters – and the thinnest layers of nearly translucent glazing. The near-life-size, bust-length scale and oval format of the painting is unusual for Boucher, and while it is possible that it was a sketch kept in the studio as a model for his large workshop, it seems equally likely that it represents a fragment salvaged from a larger, unfinished canvas intended to include depictions of several of the Graces or Muses reclining in the heavens. Regardless, its masterly paint handling, dazzling freedom of brushwork, and sparkling pastel palette display Boucher’s art at its most sensuous and pleasing.

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PIERRE-ANTOINE QUILLARD (PARIS 1704-1773 LISBON)

L’Île de Cythère (The Island of Cytherea) oil on canvas 23¡ x 19¡ in. (59.4 x 49.3 cm.) $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

Jean Antoine Gros (1740-1793); his sale, Chariot and Le Brun, Paris, 14 April 1778, lot 42, as Tillard.

M. Morel, Paris, his sale; Le Brun, Paris, 3 May 1786, lot 145, as Tillard.

M. Gaubert, his sale; A. J. Paillet, Paris, 17 March 1789, lot 82, as Tillard (for 122 livres). with E. Gimpel and Wildenstein & Co., by 1918. with Knoedler & Co., New York, as Jean Antoine Watteau, where acquired by, Morten F. Plant (1851-1918), and by inheritance to his wife, Mae C. Plant (1881-1955), née Caldwell, later Mrs. Rovensky; [Estate of Mae C. Rovensky], Parke-Bernet, New York, 15-19 January 1957, lot 455, as Jean Antoine Watteau, Acquired by Annie-Laurie Aiken, née Warmack (1900-1984) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

Knoedler Galleries, New York, One Hundred Years: 1846-1946, 1-27 April 1946, no. 95, as Jean Antoine Watteau.

LITERATURE:

M. Eidelberg, 'Autour de nom de Quillard', Bulletin de la Société de l'Histoire d'Art Français, 1979, pp. 132-133, 139-140, notes 20, 22-23.

'International Saleroom', The Connoisseur, March 1957, p. 123, fig. 11, as Antoine Watteau.

C. B. Bailey, 'The Indefatigable, Unclassifiable Art Lover: Saint-Aubin’s Curiosité', in Gabriel de Saint-Aubin 1724-1780, exhibition catalogue, New York and Paris, 2007, pp.

98-99, fig. 54, as 'Fête galante'.

M. Eidelberg, 'Drawings by the Young Quillard', A Watteau Abecedario, an online website, updated June 2022, n.p., fig. 32 (detail).

Despite his having been one of Antoine Watteau’s most dedicated imitators, Quillard remains something of a mystery and no clear account of his relationship with Watteau exists. His first biographer, Père Orlandi (1753), described him as a ‘disciple’ of Watteau who followed the older artist’s manner.

If recent attempts to situate the ten-year-old Quillard as a collaborator in Watteau’s ‘studio’ are not entirely persuasive, Martin Eidelberg’s assertion that Quillard contributed four or five highly characteristic figures to the background of Watteau’s Le Contrat de Mariage (Madrid, Prado) is certainly correct, and it appears that the young artist had access to some of Watteau’s earliest drawings, which he copied. Born in Paris, the son of a cabinet maker, Quillard displayed a precocious talent that was apparently recognized by the abbé de Fleury, tutor of young Louis XV, who awarded the artist an annual pension of 200 livres.

Competing unsuccessfully for the Prix de Rome in 1723 – the recipient was the 20-year-old Boucher – he made a second attempt the following year when the prize was awarded to Carle van Loo. Thwarted in his efforts to pursue the training of a history painter in Rome under the Academy’s aegis, Quillard left Paris for Lisbon in 1726 to accompany the Swiss naturalist Charles-Frédérik Merveilleux, who had been commissioned to write a natural history of Portugal: Merveilleux hired the artist to provide the illustrations for his book. In Lisbon, Quillard’s talents were recognized by King John V, who appointed him court painter in 1727. During the next six years he was active in all aspects of artistic life, producing fêtes galantes in the manner of Watteau and portraits in the emerging Rococo style, as well as painting large altarpieces, state portraits, and ceiling decorations (much of which were destroyed during the Lisbon earthquake of 1755). Quillard died in Lisbon of an unspecified illness, age 29.

Martin Eidelberg has been assiduous over many years in reconstructing Quillard’s oeuvre as both a painter and draftsman: in gathering together a substantial corpus of the artist’s works – which had been, more often than not, misattributed to Watteau or another of his followers – Quillard’s distinctive hand and artistic personality have been revealed. The Aitken L’Île de Cythère was sold several times in the first half of the 20th century as a painting by Watteau depicting that artist’s most celebrated subject. However, it had appeared earlier in several 18th-century Paris auctions where it was correctly identified as by Quillard (or ‘Tillard’, as his name was scrambled by the auctioneers). When it came up for sale in the collection of J-A Gros (father of Baron Gros, the painter) on 13 April 1778, lot 42, paired with a (lost) pendant of bathers on a riverbank, Gabriel de Saint-Aubin made a rapid sketch of it and its companion in the margin of his catalogue and noted – incorrectly – that Quillard was an 'élève de Lancret, mort à Rome'. Both the misspelling of his name and the error regarding the identity of his mentor and place of death suggest how quickly Quillard had been forgotten.

Although it was described in the Gros sale as ‘An Island with a Barque’, its subject clearly reflects the influence of Watteau’s Cythera, a theme which Quillard returned to frequently in his paintings. As in Watteau’s famous reception piece, a boat with Love’s pilgrims sails toward an island filled with other couples who are flirting on the grassy banks and awaiting the barque’s arrival. The setting is sylvan: calm blue waters, sunny skies, distant mountains, grand sheltering trees, a hound chasing elegant swans in flight. Quillard’s reliance on Watteau’s example suggests that this is among his early works, made when the relationship between the two painters was still fresh, circa 1720-1725, and before his departure for Portugal. Despite his dependence on the master, the mood in Quillard’s painting is one of unalloyed pleasure and delight: his happy pilgrims partake of none of Watteau’s nostalgia or melancholy.

A horizontal, red chalk drawing of a fête galante by Quillard in the Musée Saint-Denis, Reims, includes in its lower left-hand corner a study of a boat being rowed by an oarsman who leans back and turns his head sharply over his shoulder to assess how close he is to shore. This compositional study was made in preparation for one of the artist’s rare etchings, but Quillard looked to it again in painting the oarsman in the Aitken L’Île de Cythère.

We are grateful to Martin Eidelberg, who examined the painting in the Aitken collection and confirmed its attribution to Quillard.

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NICOLAS LANCRET (PARIS 1690-1743)

La bergère endormie (The sleeping shepherdess) oil on panel 11 x 8√ in. (27.9 x 22.8 cm.) $200,000-300,000 PROVENANCE:

Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne (1845-1927), Bowood, Calne, Wiltshire, until 1883.

Alfred Charles de Rothschild (1842-1918), London, by 1884, and by whom sold on 29 October 1889 to the following, with Agnew's, London, where acquired on 31 October 1889 by, Sir Edward Cecil Guinness, later 1st Earl of Iveagh (1847-1927), and by descent to his son, The Hon. Arthur Ernest Guinness (1876-1949), and sold to the Trustees of Estate of the Late Earl of Iveagh via Agnew's, London, Aileen Sibell Mary Bushe Plunket, née Guinness, later Stux-Rybar, daughter of the above, (1904-1999), Luttrellstown Castle, Clonsilla, County Dublin; her sale, Sotheby’s, London, 30 June 1971, lot 89, for £60,000 to the following, with Agnews, London, from whom acquired on 27 June 1983 by the following, Jaime Ortz-Patiño (1930-2013), Geneva and London; [Property from the collection of Jaime Ortz-Patiño], Sotheby’s, New York, 22 May 1992, lot 41. with Wildenstein & Co., New York, Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken, née Boyd (1931-2025) from the above in 2006.

EXHIBITED:

Dublin, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Paintings from Irish Collections, 20 May - 25 August 1957, no. 63, exhibited as a pair with no. 64, The Dance.

London, Royal Academy of Arts, France in the Eighteenth Century, 6 January - 3 March 1968, no. 391, exhibited as a pair with no. 392, The Dance.

London, Christie’s, British Art Trade Exhibition: Fanfare for Europe, 4 - 11 January 1973, no. 19.

London, Agnews, Master Paintings: Recent Acquisitions, 18 May - 18 June 1976, no. 11.

London, Agnews, From Claude to Géricault: The Arts in France, 1630-1830, 3 June - 25 July 1986, no. 12.

New York, Wildenstein, The Arts of France: from François Ier to Napoléon Ier, A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York, 26 October 2005 - 6 January 2006, no. 51.

LITERATURE:

C. Davis, A Description of the Works of Art Forming the Collection of Alfred de Rothschild, London, 1884, I, no. 203, unpaginated.

G. Wildenstein, Lancret, Paris, 1924, p. 103, no. 507.

C.J. Holmes, Pictures from the Iveagh Bequest, London, 1928, p. XV, pl. LVI. Heim Gallery, French Paintings & Sculptures of the 18th Century, exhibition catalogue, London, 1968, p. 4, under no. 6, as location unknown.

T. Crombie, ‘Round the Galleries: Fine Arts Fanfares’, Apollo, XCVII, 1973, p. 92, fig. 2.

Advertisement, The Connoisseur, March 1976, p. 33, illustrated.

In Nicolas Lancret’s small jewel of a painting, a young shepherdess has fallen asleep beneath a sheltering tree. A handsome boy reaches over her slumbering form to playfully slip the crook from her hand without awakening her. Another young man, dressed in salmon-pink theatrical costume and a blue beribboned straw hat, raises a finger to warn the young prankster to act slowly and in silence so as to not awaken the girl. An amused couple, also in theatrical costume – his arm around her shoulders – watch from behind the tree as the innocent trick plays out. The theme of adolescents or young adults playing at children’s games was a favorite of the artist: some of the games he depicted remain commonplace today – hide-and-seek, blindman’s buff, see-sawing, cards-playing – others, such as ‘pied-de-boeuf’, have fallen into obscurity.

While Lancret looked to 17th-century French and Netherlandish prints as visual models for his depictions of games-playing – as would Chardin and Fragonard, two French painters of the next generations who also frequently depicted such subjects – he transformed those dry sources into seductive images by means of elegant costuming, fluent brushwork and rich and vibrant coloring. The games he depicted were chosen, as Mary Tavener Holmes has observed, because they offered the 'potential for flirtation'. As she notes, the adolescents “playing these games are mimicking the courtship activities of adults' and, on the edge of adulthood, 'explore their future in the harmless flirtation of an innocent game' (op.cit.). In Lancret’s painting La Malice (or ‘Mischief’, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin), a young girl who has fallen asleep over her open schoolbook is teased by a boy who blows smoke in her face through a long pipe; in The Toy Windmill (National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh), a girl puffs on a pinwheel

to no avail to make it spin, as the boy who is her laughing companion has tampered with it to tease her.

While never a formal pupil of Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), the older master mentored Lancret, who early took up Watteau’s new genre, the fête galante. In fact, Lancret was only the second artist – following Watteau – to be accepted into the Académie Royale as a painter of fêtes galantes, in 1719. The Aitken painting demonstrates how closely Lancret would adhere to Watteau’s new genre, as well as the ways in which it evolved in his hands to reflect his own artistic personality. The verdant garden setting, flirtatious couples, and characters dressed in the costumes of the Commedia dell’Arte all find their origins in Watteau’s paintings, but Lancret introduces a lighter, brighter palette of colors and a greater attention to a more detailed and naturalistic rendering of trees and foliage, the fall of light through the leaves, and enveloping atmosphere than did his teacher. Furthermore, Lancret’s protagonists evince a more innocent playfulness in their flirtation than Watteau’s more erotically mature and psychologically complex couples. The central motif of the sleeping maiden and teasing boy never appears in Watteau’s oeuvre, but reappears with some frequency in Lancret's, notably in canvases in the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris and the Royal Palace in Berlin. Indeed, the sleeping shepherdess is found in another painting by Lancret in the Aitken collection, where she is in almost identical pose, crook in hand, in the painting of Summer in the series of four large panels illustrating The Four Seasons. (Lancret would have established the pose in a life-study drawing, now lost, that he kept in his studio for ongoing reference). A fine figure study drawn in trois crayons for the seated comedian in pink costume appears on a sheet of two studies of male figures in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (inv. no. 97.GB.31), which acquired it in 1997. The distinctive facial types in the Aitken panel are highly characteristic of Lancret’s art and serve as a virtual signature throughout his career, but the exceptional attention to detail and atmospherics, the notable concentration of the small but compact composition, and the exceptionally vivid colors and sensuous handling of paint permit us to date the painting to circa 1730, as suggested by Joseph Baillio (op. cit.) and confirmed by Mary Tavener Holmes (on first-hand inspection).

Given that the earliest recorded owner of this picture is the 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, whose illustrious career was spent mainly in politics and government service, there remains a strong possibility that it could have been acquired earlier in the 19th century by his maternal grandmother Margaret, Baroness Keith and Nairne (1788-1867) and her husband Auguste-CharlesJoseph, comte de Flahaut de la Billarderie (1785-1870), an important diplomat and natural son of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince of Talleyrand (1754-1838). The Flahauts married in 1817 and spent fifty years together during which they maintained houses of considerable grandeur in Paris, London, Vienna and Scotland and amassed a superb collection of French furniture and paintings. Their daughter Emily married the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1843, and, following the death of Lady Keith in 1867, much of the collection was divided between Emily and her sister Georgina. It could have been as a result of this division that the 5th Marquess inherited this painting. Its subsequent history was equally illustrious, it was later sold through the London dealers Agnew's to Alfred Charles de Rothschild (1842-1918) by 1884. It was next acquired by Edward Cecil Guinness (1876-1949), later 1st Earl of Iveagh; passed by inheritance to his son, The Honorable Arthur Earnest Guinness (1876-1949); by descent to his daughter, The Hon. Mrs. Brinsley Sheridan Bushe Plunket, from whom it was again purchased by Agnew in 1971 and sold by the firm to Jaime Ortiz-Patiño. The painting was acquired at the historic Patino auction at Sotheby’s in 1992 by Wildenstein & Co., New York and acquired from the firm in 2006 by Irene Roosevelt Aitken.

We are grateful to Mary Tavener Holmes for her assistance and for endorsing the attribution of the painting to Lancret.

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MICHEL GARNIER (ST. CLOUD 1753-1819 PARIS)

Ils sont D'accord (They are in agreement) signed and dated ‘Mel. Garnier. 1786’ (lower right) oil on canvas 18√ x 15 in. (48 x 38.1 cm.) $100,000-150,000 PROVENANCE:

Anonymous sale; Jean-Louis Picard, Drouot Montaigne, Paris, 22 June 1992, lot 18, where acquired by, Private collection, until, [Property from a Private Collection, Connecticut]; Sotheby's, New York, 6 June 2013, lot 65. with Kunsthandel Röbbig, Munich, by 2016, Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken, née Boyd (1931-2025) from the above in June 2016.

LITERATURE:

C. Blumenfeld, 'La Touche et la note: Quelques idées sur la représentation musiclae dans la peinture sous Louis XVI', Regards sur la musique: Au temps de Louis XVI, J. Duron, ed., Wavre, 2007, pp. 9-10, illustrated.

Despite the comparatively large number of surviving paintings by Garnier, most of which – like the Aitken canvas – are signed and dated, there has been no serious study of the artist, and his biography remains obscure. He was a pupil of the history painter and Premier Peintre du Roi, Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre, and exhibited with some frequency at the official Paris Salons from 1793 to 1814.

An occasional portraitist and still life painter who enjoyed the protection of the duc de Chartres (the future Philippe-Egalité), Garnier was principally a painter of small-scale domestic genre scenes in le goût hollandaise – a fashionable style at the end of the Ancien Régime which imitated the fine finish of the of the 17th-century Dutch ‘fijnschilders’. It was a taste he shared with his compatriots, Marguerite Gérard and Louis-Léopold Boilly, although Garnier’s palette tended to be more decorative and his mood more cheerful; certainly Boilly’s inclination to tart social satire was quite alien to Garnier’s sunny artistic personality.

As with most of Garnier’s paintings, the Aitken picture is a keenly observed illustration of the costumes, furnishings and manners of fashionable society on the eve of the Revolution. In a charming scene of polite seduction, a pretty young woman in a pink gown (layered beneath a white gauze skirt) serenades her companion with her lute; her musical skills evidently extend to mastery of the guitar that sits beside her. Proficiency in playing an instrument was one of the skills required of an educated lady in 18th century France and was intended to provide a decorous diversion for both the hostess and her guests. As she strums her instrument, Garnier’s young lady gazes seductively at her handsome young companion. Wearing a bright, tomato-red frock coat over a stylish gold waistcoat and black breeches, her intended turns away from the book in his hand to concentrate on her flirtatious music-making. He lifts his head and stares into the distance – absorbed in the music – and gestures toward her in admiration. Garnier’s accuracy in reporting the precise appearance of Louis XVI chairs, a silver coffee pot and faience coffee service, and pale wood-paneled walls is prodigious and his mastery of shimmering silk demonstrates his finest ‘Metsu Manner’.

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NICOLAS LANCRET (PARIS 1690-1743) The Four Seasons

oil on canvas Winter 59º x 43¡ in. (150.5 x 110.2 cm.)

Spring, Summer and Autumn: 59 x 37 in. (149.8 x 94 cm.), each a set of four

(4)

$800,000-1,200,000 PROVENANCE:

(Possibly) Commissioned as part of a set of nine paintings by Louis de Melun (16941724), Prince of Epinoy, Duc de Joyese, 1721, for the Hôtel de la Place Royale, Paris.

Pierre-Nicolas Caulet d’Hauteville (d.1775), Paris, by 1763, and (probably) by descent through marriage to, Viscount Pierre de Chézelles, by whom removed from the Hôtel de le Place Royale to Château de Boulleaume, Oise, 1826. with Joseph Duveen, 1st Baron Duveen, by 1926, from whom acquired by, Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934), Paris, and by descent to his grandson, Baron Edmond Adolphe de Rothschild (1926-1997), Pregny-Chambésy, by whom sold on 29 November 1957 to the following, with Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, where acquired on 10 April 1964 by the following, Anne Ford, née McDonnell, later Johnson (1919-1996), later owned with her second husband, Deane F. Johnson (1918-1999); their sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, 9 December 1972, lot 81, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Annie-Laurie Aiken, née Warmack (1900-1984) from the above.

LITERATURE:

G. Wildenstein, Nicolas Lancret, Paris, 1924, p. 120, nos. 738-741.

W. S. Talbot, Catalogue of Paintings (Cleveland Museum of Art), III, European paintings of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, A.T. Laurie and N.C. Wixom, eds., Cleveland, 1982, pp. 86-87.

M. Tavener Holmes, Nicolas Lancret and Genre Themes of the Eighteenth Century, unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, New York University, 1986, appendix, pp. 12-13, no. 13.

M. Tavener Holmes and J. Focarion, eds., Nicolas Lancret, 1690-1743, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1991, pp. 60 and 153, note 1.

R. Akpabio, ‘Five Drawings by Nicolas Lancret at Waddesdon Manor’, Apollo, April 2002, pp. 43 and 45, note 10.

The Aitken Four Seasons form a suite of large arabesque panels that, according to tradition, were commissioned by a member of the family of Louis, Duc de Melun (1694-1724), Prince d’Epinoy and Duc de Joyese, to decorate a room in the Hôtel de la Place Royale, Paris, a residence at 28, Place Royale (now Place des Vosges), owned by the Ducs de Melun from at least 1721 until 1763.

Subsequently purchased in 1763 by Pierre-Nicolas Caulet d’Hauteville (d.1775), the house passed from his family, presumably through marriage, to the family of the Vicomtes Le Sellier de Chézelles. When the property was again sold in 1826, the decorative ensemble– which included five other arabesque panels by Lancret of nearly identical size and format to The Four Seasons– was removed from the building and stored in the home of the Vicomte Pierre de Chézelles, the château du Boulleaume, Oise, before being sold off at the beginning of the 20th century. The complete ensemble of nine panels was purchased by the dealer Joseph Duveen in 1926, divided into two groups, and dispersed. The Four Seasons were purchased shortly thereafter from Duveen by Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934) for his Paris residence; subsequently entering the collection of Deane Johnson (1918-1999), Beverly Hills; before being purchased at auction in 1972 by Russell and Annie-Laurie Aitken. The five remaining panels, depicting adolescent boys and girls engaging in various pastoral amusements, were sold to Commodore and Mrs. Louis Dudley Beaumont, Cap d’Antibes, circa 1935-36, who gifted them to the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1948 (fig 1; inv. no. 1948.176).

The Four Seasons, as well as the five panels now in Cleveland, were likely intended for a garden salon, as Mary Tavener Holmes has noted, where their enveloping landscapes and pastoral themes would harmonize with actual garden views visible through large windows between which the paintings would have been installed. As was the fashion in Régence Paris, the panels would have been inset into elaborate carved and gilded boiserie woodwork – perhaps heightened with mirrors – and their bright palette, white backgrounds, and delicate ornamental surrounds would have created a decor of remarkably light and airy effect.

Spring

Summer

Autumn

This style of room decoration was popularized in the first decades of the 18th century by Claude III Audran (1658-1740), a prominent decorative painter and designer who headed a team of guilders, sculptors and painters who ornamented the interiors of private and royal residences. Sometime around 1705-1709, Audran employed Antoine Watteau to join his equipe to paint the figures that filled the arabesques and other decorative compositions executed by painters specializing in ornamental tracery. Lancret would follow in the steps of Watteau, his most influential mentor, and undertook several such large-scale decorative ensembles the 1720s and early 1730s, very likely working, as Watteau did, in part of Audran’s team. As fashions in interior design changed, most of these rooms were dismantled and destroyed, and few remnants of them survive. In addition to the present Four Seasons and their Cleveland companions– which live on without the architecture for which they were created– one complete salon painted by Lancret and Audran’s workshop for Jean de Boullongne, Controller General of Finances under Louis XV, is preserved intact and today installed in the Musée des Arts Decoratifs, Paris. Only two small, modest arabesque panels

by Watteau survive from his time with Audran: The Faun (or Bacchus) and The Cajoler (both, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes) were made for the hôtel of the Marquis de Nointel circa 1708, and they clearly demonstrate the crucial impact of Watteau and Audran on Lancret’s achievement in the genre. Against plain white backgrounds, Watteau painted delicately brushed, brightly colored images of rustic couples engaged in pastoral amusements, framed by enveloping trees and naturalistic landscape settings, and placed within ornamental tracery composed of flowers, leaves, tendrils and chirping birds. Lancret would adopt all the same elements, but scale them up and develop them into larger and more complete genre scenes that are skillfully and ingeniously integrated into the natural and abstract forms of Audran’s tracery.

branches of a sheltering tree. As she dozes, a young shepherd creeps up behind her to playfully snatch the crook from her hand. Although they represent rustic types, the boy and girl are both dressed in elegant pink and blue silk and satin costumes and straw hats, alluding more to the popular pastorales of the comic theatre than to any realities of agricultural labor. Beside the young couple is a bound bushel of wheat, the seasonal crop traditionally associated with the summer harvest. In Autumn, a handsome young man, tall and upright in his red hunting jacket, is about to call the hunt with his round, brass horn; beneath trees that are beginning to shed their leaves, two young women approach the hunter admiringly. In Winter, Lancret gives us two little boys as they prepare to play a game of leap-frog underneath the bare tree branches of an icy, snowladen wood. Surrounding and framing each of Lancret’s scenes are delicate ornamental tracery which mixes abstract and naturalistic imagery appropriate to the scene and season, with a particular emphasis on the birds that are symbolically associated with each. Spring is adorned with a nest of hungry baby finches, being nurtured by two jays; Summer is surmounted by affectionate turtle-doves circling the air as they head toward one another, with other doves observing them discreetly from at each corner; Autumn is guarded by a hooded falcon readied for the hunt, with two smaller hawks awaiting nearby; Winter is overseen by a stately swan and two mallards. This tracery – including the birds – would almost certainly have been painted by specialists in Audran’s workshop, designed to augment Lancret’s central scenes and create a unified and harmonious decorative effect for the garden salon for which they were created.

Indeed, a close comparison of the tracery in Lancret’s Seasons and Watteau’s small panels made for Nointel demonstrates that these decorative surrounds were all produced by members of Audran’s talented workshop, following the master’s intricate designs.

In The Four Seasons, Lancret personifies each season with charming adolescents, engaging in activities appropriate to the specific time of year.

In Spring, a young maiden displays a wooden birdcage, its door open and former avian occupant released. Empty birdcages were a favored motif in Lancret’s art and– referring back to the Northern print tradition of the 17th century– a widely recognized symbol of lost innocence. The girl’s attentive young companion appears a bit surprised by the sight of the open cage and her eager glance, but his ready flute suggests he understands its meaning. It is Spring, when a young man’s (and woman’s) attention turns to love, and the happy nest of chicks crowning the painting’s ornamental surround alludes to love’s natural consequence. In Summer, a shepherdess naps beneath the

While it is not possible to precisely date Lancret’s Four Seasons, in style they closely match the artist’s surviving decorations for the Hôtel de Boullongne, which are known to date from between 1728 and 1731. Lancret’s grand and theatrical conception of landscape in the Aitken panels, the scale and amplitude of his figures, the ease of the seemingly effortless compositions, the richness and variety of the artist’s palette and sophisticated interplay of dappled sunlight and sheltering shade all indicate that these marvelous panels are mature works executed around 1730, when Lancret was working at the height of his popularity and the peak of his form.

We are grateful to Dr. Mary Tavener Holmes for examining the paintings firsthand and endorsing their attribution to Lancret.

Nicolas Lancret, Wall Panels: The Gardener, Horticulture, The Vineyard, The See-Saw, The Swing, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, inv. no. 1948.176

Winter

These outstandingly sculptural and rich chenets are particularly good reproductions of an eighteenth-century model by an anonymous master bronzier. Two period examples of these chenets are known; one sold from the collection of Anna Thomson Dodge and now in the collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (obj. no. 71.DF.114) and one exhibited at Charlottenborg Palace, Copenhagen in 1935 (see J. Lejeaux, Exposition de l'art français au XVIIIe siècle, Palais de Charlottenborg, 25 August - 6 October, 1935, exh. cat., p. XXX), at that time the chenets were in the collection at the Château de Hautefort. With their military iconography, these chenets were probably intended for use in a masculine interior, possibly the quarters of someone with ties to the Ottoman wars in Europe earlier in the eighteenth century.

ELSIE DELORA KILVERT AND SAMUEL H. KRESS Elsie Delora Kilvert, née Bernardo (1891-1961), was hailed by the Boston Globe upon her 1909 marriage to the cartoonist B. Cory Kilvert as "the prettiest and premier model in New York". By the 1920s, she had become the long-time companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), the retail magnate who assembled one of the most important collections of European art in the twentieth century and helped establish the National Gallery of Art. Mrs. Kilvert accompanied Kress on annual visits to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s and assisted in selecting works to furnish his duplex penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum and just a few blocks north of Mrs. Aitken's apartment. Her contribution to the Kress Collection may even have included its very genesis: a November 1953 profile in Life magazine recounts that his collecting began around 1920, when she began bringing him to art galleries, having determined "to get Sam interested in beautiful things".

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A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU CHENETS

A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD TABOURETS

Modeled as military trophies, one based on Roman armor and the other based on Turkish armor, each on a rocaille base cast with scrolls, acanthus, dragons and animal and satyr masks 15Ω in. (39.5 cm.) wide, the slightly wider (2)

Each shaped rectangular, the channeled rails carved with sprays of flowers and scrolling leaves, the cabriole legs headed by floral sprays issuing from acanthus at the feet, covered in ivory silk damask 17æ in. (45.5 cm.) high, 22 in. (56 cm.) wide, 19 in. (48.5 cm.) deep (2)

$8,000-12,000

$12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE:

PROVENANCE:

Elsie Delora Kilvert (1891-1961), companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), New York.

Her daughter, Audrey 'Chico' Kilvert Taylor (1908-1968), Paris and New York.

Killam Collection.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 22 November 1968.

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 3 January 1967.

19TH CENTURY

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CIRCA 1750

■~221 LEARN MORE Lacroix specialized in the production of small, costly items of furniture, often embellished with intricate marquetry or parquetry, and sometimes sophisticated mechanical devices. His work was distinguished early on by the quality of its inlay, often executed in floral and geometric patterns and in timbers of light tone such as bois satiné and bois citronnier. The maître ébéniste was also among the first cabinetmakers to embrace Neoclassicism, and created furnishings of the highest quality in the new taste. He often achieved its characteristic symmetry and balance by the use of uniform parquetry inlay.

The tables en chiffoniere comprising the present lot and the next lot belong to a small, but well-defined subgroup within Lacroix’s oeuvre. With their Neoclassical top sections featuring pronounced friezes and raised on graceful cabriole legs, these tables are typical of Lacroix’s work in the Transitional style, circa 1765-1770 (see C. Roinet, Roger Vandercruse dit Lacroix, Paris, 2000, p. 66). He produced a number of similar tables of this easily-recognizable outline, with some of them being more richly inlaid and mounted than others. The inlays of these two tables can be found throughout Lacroix’s oeuvre; the ustensiles chinois marquetry is prominently featured on a bonheur du jour sold from the collection of the late Mrs. T.S. Elliot, Christie’s, London, 4 June 2014, lot 531 and on a table sold Christie’s, London, 22 May 2019, lot 272. The trompe l’oeil “woven” parquetry appears on a commode d'entre-deux sold Christie’s, Paris, 6 November 2015, lot 860 and a commode sold Christie’s, London, 3 December 2013, lot 160.

Tables of comparable Transitional form but with more intricate marquetry and mounts include one sold Christie’s, London, 7 July 2005, lot 470. For two parquetry-inlaid examples with Greek-key friezes, see Sotheby’s, London 2 May 2017, lots 140 and 145. The most closely related examples include four with ormolu entrelac friezes, two of which are inlaid with identical parquetry; one sold Christie’s, New York, 19 April 2023, lot 468 and another sold Christie’s, London, 6 December 2012, lot 38; one with very similar pictorial marquetry, sold Christie’s, London, 6 December 2012, lot 39; and one with a differently inlaid veneer, sold Christie’s, Paris, 23 April 2013, lot 310. Two further closely related examples are one with marquetry entrelac frieze sold Christie’s, Paris, 22 March 2017, lot 28; and one displaying very similar ustensiles chinois sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 5 November 2014, lot 189.

A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND PARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

BY ROGER VANDERCRUSE, CALLED LACROIX, CIRCA 1765

Shaped rectangular, overall with trellis parquetry panels, the frieze drawer enclosing a leather-lined surface and fitted implements, over a tambour shutter opening to three small drawers, on cabriole legs joined by an undertier and terminating with sabots and castors, stamped twice at the underside 'JME RVLC JME', the upper drawer with paper label inside inscribed '4015' 29 in. (74 cm.) high, 18Ω in. (47 cm.) wide, 13æ in. (35 cm.) deep $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE:

Anonymous sale; Ader Picard Tajan, Galerie Charpentier, Paris, 6 December 1952, lot 101.

Collection of J. Charles Levy, 19 rue de Milan, Paris.

With Jacques Perrin, Paris at The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show, New York, October 2003.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show, New York, October 2003.

LITERATURE:

G. Janneau, Le Mobilier Français: Le Meuble d'Ebénisterie, Paris, 1974. p. 130, fig. 141.

Exhibition catalogue, The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show, New York, October 2003, p. 105.

Roger Vandercruse (1728-1799), known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.

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A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

BY ROGER VANDERCRUSE, CALLED LACROIX, CIRCA 1765

Shaped rectangular, overall with marquetry panels depicting vases, writing utensils, tea articles and flowers, the frieze drawer enclosing a leather-lined surface and fitted for writing implements, over a tambour shutter opening to three small drawers, on cabriole legs, stamped 'RVLC JME' at the underside, the upper drawer with paper label inside inscribed '4810', the back of this drawer and the underside of the carcase each applied with a label inscribed '9432', the middle drawer with an old paper label inscribed 'Manning Bonn' 28º in. (72 cm.) high, 18Ω in. (47 cm.) wide, 13º in. (34 cm.) deep $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (19102002) from the above, 8 November 1967.

Roger Vandercruse (1728-1799), known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.

detail of top

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND KINGWOOD ENCOIGNURES

BY ADRIEN FAIZELOT-DELORME, CIRCA 1750

Each with a shaped profile, its campan mélangé marble top concealing a secret compartment in the top of the carcase, the cabinet door below opening to three fixed shelves, on short cabriole legs with sabots, each stamped twice 'DELORME' 33Ω in. (85.5 cm.) high, 12º in. (31.5 cm.) wide, 12º in. (31.5 cm.) deep (2) $5,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, January 1968.

Adrien Faizelot-Delorme (d. 1783), maître in 1748.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD CHAISES

BY FELIX LEROY, CIRCA 1745

Each shaped backrest and seatrail carved with rocaille, cabochons and leaves, on cabriole legs terminating in acanthus, the back with incised decoration, covered in ivory silk damask, one stamped 'F. LEROY', one with Rosenberg & Stiebel inventory label embossed '5331' 35 in. (89 cm.) high (2) $3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

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Anne Ford Johnson (1920-1996), New York.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 7 November 1973.

Felix Leroy, maître in 1749.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU THREE-BRANCH CANDELABRA

IN THE MANNER OF JUSTE-AURELE MEISSONNIER, CIRCA 1745-1749 Each cast all-over with scrolling rocaille, acanthus, cartouches and architectural elements, the candle-arms removable allowing conversion into candlesticks, struck numerous times with the 'C' couronné poinçon 17 in. (43.5 cm.) high

(2)

$30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

Mrs. Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice (1861-1937), 901 Fifth Avenue, New York.

Elsie Delora Kilvert (1891-1961), companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), New York.

Her daughter, Audrey 'Chico' Kilvert Taylor (1908-1968), Paris and New York.

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 January 1967.

EXHIBITED:

Memphis, Dixon Gallery, Louis XV and Mme. de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, 11 March - 15 April 1990.

New York, Rosenberg & Stiebel, 3 May - 15 June 1990.

LITERATURE:

M. C. Kathrens, American Splendor: the Residential Architecture of Horace Trumbauer, New York, 2002, p. 253.

The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark applied to alloys containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749.

JUSTE-AURELE MEISSONNIER The candelabra are a tour-de-force conceived entirely of swirling forms, characteristic of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750) one of the greatest proponents of the genre pittoresque, the earliest exuberant shout of the Rococo style. Meissonier and the genre pittoresque spurned symmetry and order and instead drew from nature, spinning its forms into romantic fantasy. The Italianborn son of a silversmith and sculptor, the young Meissonier moved from his native Turin to Paris in 1718, and in 1724 received his maître orfèvre warrant from Louis XV. His broader role at the court was reflected by his appointment in 1726 as successor to Jean Bérain II as dessinateur de la Chambre et du Cabinet du Roi, a position which provided him with a sizable regular income until his death, and positioned him to influence elite taste. His engraved designs were among the most influential of the period, remarkable for their organic and fluid forms and encompassing boiseries, bronzes d'ameublement, architectural schemes and spectacularly imaginative ideas for argenterie.

THE COLLECTION OF MRS. HAMILTON RICE A philanthropist and South American explorer of the Gilded Age, Mrs. Eleanor Elkins Widener Rice (1861-1937) amassed a singular collection of French decorative art across three celebrated homes designed by Horace Trumbauer.

With her marriage in 1883 to the Philadelphia traction magnate, George D. Widener (1861-1912), she joined one of the country’s premier art collecting families; the paintings assembled by her father-in-law and brother-in-law, Peter A.B. Widener (1834-1915) and Joseph Widener (1872-1943), went on to form the nucleus of the National Gallery of Art in Washington. After the tragic loss of George and their younger son, Harry, on the maiden voyage of the Titanic, Eleanor remarried in 1915 to physician and Harvard professor Dr. Alexander Hamilton Rice, Jr., whom she would accompany on numerous South American expeditions, and with whom she would later construct a famed New York townhouse, her last commission from Trumbauer.

The New York house, commissioned in 1921, stood at 901 Fifth Avenue and was filled with French furniture and decorations, with several of the rooms originating from various Parisian hôtels. Although the architectural plan was generally executed in a restrained Louis XVI manner, the interior decoration supplied by Joseph Duveen embodied a much broader scope of the French decorative arts, including a Royal Louis XIV carpet in the Grand Salon and a French Gothic style for the library. The present candelabra were given pride-ofplace atop a Louis XV-style bureau plat at the base of the main staircase. See M. C. Kathrens, American Splendor: the Residential Architecture of Horace Trumbauer, New York, 2002, pp. 191-201.

ELSIE DELORA KILVERT AND SAMUEL H. KRESS Elsie Delora Kilvert, née Bernardo (1891-1961), was hailed by the Boston Globe upon her 1909 marriage to the cartoonist B. Cory Kilvert as "the prettiest and premier model in New York". By the 1920s, she had become the long-time companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), the retail magnate who assembled one of the most important collections of European art in the twentieth century and helped establish the National Gallery of Art. Mrs. Kilvert accompanied Kress on annual visits to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s and assisted in selecting works to furnish his duplex penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum and just a few blocks north of Mrs. Aitken's apartment.

Her contribution to the Kress Collection may even have included its very genesis: a November 1953 profile in Life magazine recounts that his collecting began around 1920, when she began bringing him to art galleries, having determined "to get Sam interested in beautiful things".

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A ROYAL LOUIS XVI GILTWOOD PLIANT

Louis XIV, whose Garde Meuble contained well over 1,000 stools at Versailles.

Marie Antoinette herself was well aware of this custom, and was keen to decorate her private apartments with pliants and tabourets of the latest fashion.

The rectangular seat on curved X-supports carved with fluting, beading, herringbone and fruiting ivy, on lion's-paw feet joined by stretchers each carved with a ribbon-tied ivy wreath, covered in tan silk embroidered with flowers, each end inscribed in black 'No 27', one end with partial Chatard & Chaudron label 18 in. (46 cm.) high, 27æ in. (70.5 cm.) wide, 20 in. (51 cm.) deep

THE REFURBISHMENT OF COMPIEGNE AND FONTAINEBLEAU Although Compiègne was already a prominent Royal residence under Louis XIV, who enjoyed it as a seat for hunting and favored it for military camps, it was not until in 1751, under the reign of Louis XV, that a large-scale renovation was launched under the supervision of Ange-Jacques Gabriel (1698-1782), the King's principal architect. Work halted, however, during the Seven Years' War, and was not completed until the eve of the Revolution. In 1776, Jérôme Charles Bellicard (1726-1786), Contrôleur des Bâtiments, retired and was replaced by Gabriel’s pupil, Louis Le Dreux de la Châtre (1721-1792), who designed the central wing with the cour d’honneur and the Queen's wing, site of the salon des jeux. With the appointment of Thierry de Ville d'Avray (1732-1792) as director of the Garde Meuble de la Couronne in 1784, the refurbishment of the newly constructed interiors at Compiègne and Fontainebleau could begin, supervised by the sculptor Jean Hauré (active 1774-1796). The Queen herself took great interest in the projects, and ordered that her cabinet intérieur, grand cabinet and bedroom at Fontainebleau also be renovated and refurbished.

ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN-BAPTISTE-CLAUDE SENE, THE CARVING BY NICOLAS FRANÇOIS VALLOIS, THE GILDING EXECUTED BY LOUIS-FRANÇOIS CHATARD & CHAUDRON, 1786

$120,000-180,000 PROVENANCE:

From a set of forty pliants ordered by Jean Hauré on 1 May 1786 and delivered to Queen Marie-Antoinette later that year, for the salon des jeux at the château de Compiègne.

Possibly one of twenty-four pliants transferred from Compiègne to the château de Fontainebleau in October 1786.

With René Weiller, Paris.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 January 1968.

Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené (d. 1803), mâitre in 1769.

Of outstanding historical value, this spectacular pliant was part of a large commission comprising around one hundred pieces of furnishings delivered to the royal châteaux of Compiègne and Fontainebleau in the 1780s. Intended for Marie Antoinette’s salons des jeux at these residences, sixty-four of these stools were ordered, forty for Compiègne and twenty-four for Fontainebleau, at the cost of 726 livres each. Stools of all types were used extensively at the French royal court by courtiers, who were not allowed to sit on a chair in the presence of the ruler. This long-standing tradition became the rule under the reign of

Portrait of Queen Marie-Antoinette by Elisabeth-Louise Vigée Le Brun, 1785

THE SALON DES JEUX AT COMPIEGNE In 1786, work began on refurbishing Compiègne. On 1 May of that year, the Garde-Meuble placed an order for forty pliants, twelve tabourets and two screens from Jean-Baptiste-Claude Sené to be delivered to Marie Antoinette’s salon des jeux. Sené was entrusted with the menuiserie, Nicolas François Vallois with the carving, Louis François Chatard with the painting and gilding, and Claude François Chapin with the upholstery, which was to be executed in silk taffetas chiné gros de Tour... dessein à arbres, berceaux et rose tremiere, manufactured by Pernon in Lyon (see P. Verlet, Le Mobilier Royal Français, vol.

I, Paris, 1990, p. 84). For the suite, Sené was inspired, unsurprisingly, by ancient models and both the pliants and the tabourets follow the form of antique curule chairs, a model of which the Queen was particularly fond. Indeed, the

The Salon des Jeux at Compiègne with other pliants from the set

new tabourets very much resemble the lower section of Georges Jacob’s iconic bergères made after Hubert Robert’s design and delivered for Marie Antoinette’s laiterie at Rambouillet.

In the fall of 1786, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI stayed at the château de Fontainebleau, where work was yet to be completed, and the grand cabinet still unfurnished. To remedy the situation, on 1 October, Hauré ordered that the twelve tabourets, the two screens and twenty-four of the forty pliants at Compiègne be transferred to Fontainebleau. An inventory of Fontainebleau from later that year lists these newly-arrived furnishings were placed in the grand cabinet del la Reine, which was transformed into her salon des jeux earlier that year. After the transfer, Hauré placed a second order with Sené for an additional twenty-four pliants, twelve tabourets and two more screens to refurnish the games room at Compiègne (see ibid., p. 85). As the Aitken stool is numbered '27,' we can ascertain that it was executed as part of the original order of forty for Compiègne placed by Hauré on 1 May 1786, and not the second order of twenty-four placed later that year for Fontainebleau. It is not, however, possible to determine whether the pliant was transferred to Fontainebleau in October that year, or is one of the sixteen that remained at Compiègne.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY Both suites remained in place until the Revolution. Part of the Compiègne set was subsequently dispersed and sold in Paris on 2 May 1797, while the rest was eventually transferred to Fontainebleau, where twelve of the pliants were placed in the Emperor's bedroom in April 1806. For the rest of the nineteenth century, the remaining twenty-four pieces of the entire set remained at Fontainebleau, where they are still kept today (inv. F595C). Outside of Fontainebleau, a number of surviving pieces from the suite are known. Those in institutional collections include a pair of stools in the Cleveland Museum of Art (inv. no. 1954.385); a pair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York in New York (obj. no.

1977.102.9); a pair formerly in the collection of Anna Thomson Dodge and now at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (obj. no. 71.DA.94); and a pair in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (inv. no. 1986-26-85). Stools from the set sold at auction include a pair from the collection of Juan de Beistegui sold Christie’s, Paris, 10 September 2018, lot 56; three from the Akram Ojjeh Collection sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 24-25 June 1979, lots 40 and 41; and a final set of three (together with a later copy) sold Sotheby’s, London, 6 July 2010, lot 20, which are now in the appartement intérieur du Roi, nouvelle chambre at Versailles.

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FRANÇOIS-HUBERT DROUAIS (PARIS 1727-1775)

Portrait of Bernard Marie Joseph Pierre Dufort, Comte de Cheverny (1757-1799), half-length, in a red and gold coat signed and dated ‘Drouais / 1772’ (lower left) oil on canvas 27√ x 22Ω in. (70.8 x 57.2 cm.) $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

The father of the sitter, Jean Nicolas Duford, Comte de Cheverny (1731-1802), Paris; and by descent to the sitter.

M. de Cavarry, Marseilles, France.

Acquired by The Ethel Morrison Van Derlip Foundation for the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, MN, 1929.

Private collection, U.S.A., by 1960. with Newhouse Galleries, New York, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Annie Laurie Aitken, née Warmack (1900-1984) from the above in 1976.

LITERATURE:

International Studio, June 1917, LXVI, illustrated on front cover.

'A Portrait by Drouais', Bulletin of the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Arts, January 1929, pp. 4-6, illustrated on the cover.

The Connoisseur, March 1965, illustrated on the cover.

François-Hubert Drouais’ portrait of Bernard Dufort, Comte de Cheverny was likely painted either shortly before or in commemoration of the sitter’s fifteenth birthday. He is shown adorned with the red rosette of the Order of Saint Louis—a distinction that foreshadows the military career that lay ahead.

Dufort entered the Liancourt regiment of Dragoons around 1771, and in 1778 his father secured him a commission in the Bourbon Dragoons cavalry regiment.

He married Élizabeth Cabeuil in 1785, and died in 1799 at the age of forty-one, following a prolonged illness of the throat.

The portrait was painted when Drouais’ career was at its zenith. Appointed official painter to the king in 1762, he had established himself as one of the most sought-after portraitists at the French court. His celebrated likeness of Madame de Pompadour, painted in 1764 (London, National Gallery, inv. no. NG6440), remains one of the defining images of the period. To be painted by Drouais was a mark of courtly favor and social ambition. When Madame du Barry ascended rapidly to the position of maîtresse-en-titre to Louis XV in 1768, she sat for Drouais almost immediately upon her arrival at Versailles, and continued to do so annually until 1774.

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ALEXANDER ROSLIN (MALMÖ 1718-1793 PARIS)

Portrait of Abel-François Poisson (1727-1781), Marquis de Marigny, three-quarter-length, in a red suit signed and dated ‘Roslin. Sued. 1762’ (on the molding, center right) oil on canvas 15¬ x 11æ in. (39.7 x 29.8 cm.) $150,000-250,000 PROVENANCE:

Commissioned by the Marquis de Marigny, and hung in his bedroom at the Château de Ménars, by 1779, and later transferred to his hotel in the Place des Victoires.

Jacques-Victor, Comte de la Béraudière (1819-1885); his sale, Chevallier and Escribe, Paris, Béraudière, 29 May 1885, lot 70, where acquired by the following, M. de Villeneuve.

Private collection, France, by 1957.

Comte and Comtesse d’Harcourt.

Anonymous sale, Drouot Montaigne, Paris, 17 March 1989, lot 29.

Private collection, United States of America. with Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, by 2002, Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken, née Boyd (1931-2025) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

Hôtel de la Monnaie, Paris, Diderot & l'art de Boucher à David: Les Salons 1759-1781, 5 October 1984 - 6 January 1985, no. 104.

Memphis, Dixon Gallery and Gardens; New York, Rosenberg and Stiebel, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, 11 March - 15 April 1990; 3 May - 15 June 1990, no. 7.

Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Prized Possessions: European Paintings from Private Collection of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 17 June-16 August 1992, no.

124.

The porphyry vase from the Marquis de Marigny’s collection visible in this portrait, now in the collection of the Musée du Louvre, Paris © GrandPalaisRmn (musée du Louvre) / image GrandPalaisRmn.

LITERATURE:

F. Engerand, Inventaire des tableaux commandés et achetés par la Direction des Bâtiments du Roi (1709-1792), Paris, 1900, pp. LVI and 432.

A. Marquiset, Le marquis de Marigny (1727-1781), Paris, 1918, pp. 208-209, note 1, pp.

228 and 229, no. VI. G.W. Lundberg and C. Mauricheau-Beaupré (eds.), Les artistes suédois en France au XVIIIème siècle, exhibition catalogue, Versailles, 1945, p. 97, under no. 255.

G.W. Lundberg, Roslin Liv och Verk, Malmö, 1957, I, p. 66, illustrated; II-III, p. 29, no. 132.

J. Chouillet, ed., Diderot et l’art de Boucher à David, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1984, p. 352 under no. 104, illustrated.

P. Sutton, Prized Possessions: European Paintings from Private Collection of Friends of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, exhibition catalogue, Boston, 1992, pp. 70, 200-201, pl. 88.

'Madame de Pompadour et les Arts', Connaissance des Arts, no. H.S. 113, 2002, p. 54, illustrated.

A.R. Gordon and C. Ayçaguer-Ron, eds., The Houses and Collections of the Marquis de Marigny et de Menars, Los Angeles, 2003, pp. 92, 98 (note 531), 128, 317 (no. 1107) and 579, illustrated pl. 1.

X. Salmon, in, Alexander Roslin, M. Olausson, ed., Stockholm, 2007, p. 138, under no.

44, note 59.

X. Salmon, in, Alexandre Roslin (1718-1793): Un portraitiste pour l’Europe, Versailles, X. Salmon and M. Olausson, eds., exhibition catalogue, Stockholm, 2008, pp. 150-152, under no. 40, fig. 1.

This small, meticulously finished portrait of the Marquis de Marigny at his desk is a reduced version of a large-scale – roughly life-sized – portrait of Marigny by the Swedish portraitist Alexandre Roslin that was exhibited to acclaim at the Paris Salon of 1761. Following the success of the 1761 portrait, two further versions were commissioned from the artist by the Bâiments (the Royal buildings administration) in 1762, one large, one small. The large version ordered in 1762 was destined for the Academie Royale d’Architecture, and is today in Versailles (transferred from the Academie under Louis-Philippe). The other is the smaller Aitken version – which is signed and dated ‘Roslin. Sued. 1762’ on the molding, center right – and described in the Bâtiments archives as 'peint en petit et d’une exécution très soignée et très jolie'. This ‘elegant’ and ‘pretty’ little painting was made for Marigny himself to hang in the bedroom of his château at Ménars, as recorded in instructions he issued in 1779 for its transfer to his Paris hôtel particulier: 'The small portrait of me by Roslin which is in my bedroom at Ménars, to be put in the little room with the ottoman sofa at Place des Victoires in Paris' (Marquiset, 1918, pp. 208, 228-229). The other surviving large-scale version of the portrait is in the Musee des Beaux-Arts, Besançon and is likely the original Salon version from 1761.

Abel-François Poisson de Vandières, Marquis de Marigny (1727-1781) was one of the preeminent figures of the age of Louis XV. As the younger brother of Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, Madame d’Étiolles and later Marquise de Pompadour (1721-1764), maîtresse-en-titre of the king, Marigny profited handsomely from his sister’s meteoric rise at court. When Madame de Pompadour moved into rooms at Versailles in 1745, her 18-year-old brother followed, and quickly attracted the favor of the king. As the royal mistress consolidated power over domestic and foreign policy, she also became a leading patroness of the arts. When Philibert Orry (1689-1747) retired as director of the Bâtiments du Roi in 1745, Pompadour arranged for Le Normant de Tournehem (1684-1751), her uncle by marriage, to assume the post with the understanding that her younger brother would inherit it as soon as he was sufficiently trained and experienced. In preparation for his future role, Marigny launched himself on an extended trip through Italy (1749-1751) under the tutelage of the art critic Abbé Le Blanc, the architect Jacques-Germain Soufflot and the draftsman Charles-Nicolas Cochin. Upon his return to France, and with the guidance of Premier Peintre du Roi, Charles Coypel, he selected works from the royal collections for exhibition at the Palais du Luxembourg, creating what was, in effect, the first public art museum in France. With the death of Le Tournehem in 1751, Marigny became at age 24 the Directeur Général des Bâtiments, Jardins, Arts, Académies et Manufactures Royales – Minister of Arts for Louis XV.

He held the position until 1773 – almost a decade after the death of his sister – and in many ways transformed Paris into the city we know today: planting the gardens of the Champs-Elysées, supervising construction of the École Militaire, and directing construction of the Place Louis XV (today the Place de la Concorde), the Panthéon (designed by Soufflot), the Théâtre-Français (today the Odéon), and completing construction of the Louvre. A diligent and visionary administrator, his advocacy for the ‘rebirth’ of classical painting, architecture and design in France was a driving force behind the rise of the French Neoclassical movement. He assumed the title of Marquis de Marigny in 1754, married in 1767, and died suddenly in Paris in 1781, aged 54.

Conceived to present Marigny as a man of advanced taste and the steady hand at the helm of the reform movement for the arts in France, Roslin’s painting portrays his sitter at work. He wears an opulent gold-embroidered red velvet frock coat and breeches, with the blue satin sash of the chivalric Order of the Saint-Esprit across his chest. Seated at his writing table, which is in the most advanced and fashionable ‘style goût grec’, he turns toward the viewer and away, momentarily, from the architectural plans and designs for his most celebrated achievements: the new Colonnade and façade of the Louvre. Behind these plans are volumes of verse and Palladio’s architecture, alluding to his literary tastes and vocation. Beside his chair is a large porphyry vase with neoclassical giltbronze mounts ‘à la grecque’, which is today in the decorative arts collections of the Louvre. On the wall above the desk is a painting identifiable as L’Accordée de Village (‘The Village Betrothal’) by Jean-Baptiste Greuze (1725-1805), one of the first important works by the artist to infuse a humble genre scene with the heroic stature of history painting. Greuze’s painting proved the sensation of the Salon of 1761, although it was late in coming and only arrived in time to hang for the final two weeks of the exhibition. A letter from Cochin to Marigny (17 September 1761) makes evident that Marigny had purchased the painting before it was even finished: 'Today, M. Greuze completes the picture he is doing for your collection; he will still have it at his studio tomorrow and the day after. I have the honor of informing you of this, so that if you should have any curiosity to see it before it is exhibited at the Salon, you can satisfy it. As soon as it is dry, he will have it taken to the Salon'. It is telling that in Roslin’s first version of Marigny’s portrait – which was also exhibited in the same Salon but completed in advance of L’Accordée de Village – the picture frame above the sitter’s head reproduces a different, unidentifiable painting; only in the Aitken version – painted in the following year – was Greuze’s masterpiece available to be included as the great trophy of Marigny’s cabinet.

229 LEARN MORE

MAURICE-QUENTIN DE LA TOUR (SAINT-QUENTIN 1704-1788)

Portrait of Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet, le Maréchal and Duc de Belle-Isle, half-length; and Portrait of MarieCasimire-Thérèse-Geneviève-Emmanuelle de Béthune, la Maréchale de Belle-Isle, half-length pastel on blue paper, mounted on canvas 24 x 20º in. (61 x 51.5 cm) each

2 (2)

$400,000-600,000 PROVENANCE:

LITERATURE:

Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet Louis Patiot (1704-1786); by descent to his great-grand nephew Louis-Charles-Emile Thiériet (1820-1898), Thionville.

Jacques Doucet (1853-1929), Paris; Georges Petit, Paris, 5-8 April 1912, lot 76 (to Jules Strauss for Louis Hirsch).

Louis Hirsch (1862-1932) and Alice Hirsch née Hermann (1874-1965), Paris, by whom deposited at the Banque de France for safekeeping.

Confiscated by the Devisenschutzkommando from the above and relinquished to the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg at the Jeu de Paume, 12 March 1941 (ERR no. HIR 12).

Transferred to Füssen, Germany, 16 October 1941.

Recovered by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section from the salt mine at Altaussee, Austria (Aussee no. 473/3) and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, 26 June 1945 (Mü. no. 550/3).

Repatriated to France, 19 September 1946.

Restituted to the Hirsch family, 14 January 1947; then by descent.

Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, Monaco, 18 June 1992, lot 60.

Phoebe Cowles, San Francisco; Christie's, New York, 23 January 2004, lot 63.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet E. Dréolle de Nodon, Éloge biographique de Maurice-Quentin de la Tour, Paris, 1856, pp. 83, 123, and 139.

L. Leclerc, 'Notice sur Mme la Maréchale Duchesse de Belle-Isle', Mémoires de l'Académie impériale de Metz, 1864, 2 série, p. 235.

E. and J. de Goncourt, L'Art du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1873, I, p. 273 E. Bellier de La Chavignerie and L. Auvray, Dictionnaire général des artistes de l'école française, Paris, 1882, I, p. 919.

E. Dilke, French Painters of the XVIIIth Century, London, 1899, p. 164.

M. Tourneux, 'Collection de M. Jacques Doucet. Pastels et Dessins', Les Arts, no. 36 (December 1904), pp. 7, 14.

M. Tourneux, Les grands artistes leur vie - leur oeuvre. La Tour, Paris, 1904, p. 46.

L. Roger Milès and A. Besnard, Maitres du XVIIIe siecle. Cent pastels par Boucher, Rosalba Carriera, Chardin, Cotes, Coypel, Ducreux, Frey, Greuze, Guerin, Hall, Hoin, Labille-Guiard, La Tour, Lenoir, Liotard, Nattier, Perronneau, Roslin, Russell, Louis Vigee, Paris, 1908, p. 30, ill.

P. André Lemoisne, 'Exposition de cent pastels et de bustes du XVIIIe siècle. Organisée par Mme la Marquise de Ganay, au profit de la Société de secours aux blessés', Les Arts, October 1908, pp. 22-23.

H. Lapauze, Les pastels de Maurice-Quentin de La Tour du Musée Lécuyer à SaintQuentin, Paris, 1919, p. 15.

E. Dacier and P. Ratouis de Limay, Pastels français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris and Brussels, 1927, no. 49, ill.

A. Besnard and G. Wildenstein, La Tour. La vie et l'oeuvre de l'artiste, Paris, 1928, pp. 43 and 46, no. 20, ill.

A. Leroy, 'Quentin de La Tour's portraits of French military commanders', Connoisseur, February-March 1940, p. 51.

P. Ratouis de Limay, Le pastel en France au dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1946, p. 211, no. 81.

C. Fregnac, Merveilles des châteaux de Normandie, Paris, 1966, p. 201.

N. Mitford, Madame du Pompadour, New York, 1968, p. 242, ill.

A. de Maurepas, 'A cinquante lieues de Paris: Le journal inédit des frères Belle-Isle pendant leur exil à Nevers et en Bourbonnais', in Etudes Bourbonnaises, 13 series, no.

267, 1 trimester, 1994, ill.

C. Debrie and X. Salmon, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. Prince des pastellistes, Paris, 2000, pp. 130-1, ill.

X. Salmon, Le voleur d'âmes: Maurice Quentin de la Tour, exhib. cat., Musée national des chateux de Versailles et de Trianon, Versailles, 2004, pp. 14, 17, 41, 160.

A. Crichton-Stuart, 'Verisimilitude. Five masterpieces from the collection of Phoebe Cowles, spanning the 16th to 18th centuries', Christie's Magazine, January-February 2004, pp. 32-33.

N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London, 2006, pp. 282-283.

N. Jeffares, review of 'Pastel portraits. Images of 18th-century Europe', Burlington Magazine, CLIII, no. 1300, (July 2011), p. 500.

D. Bischoff, 'New Met exhibit recalls pastel boom of 1700s through European portraits', Star Ledger, 22 May 2011.

'Pastel Portraits, Images of 18th Century Europe. Presented by Metropolitan Museum of Art', One Art World, 23 May 2011.

S. Surreaux, 'La distinction d’une élite sociale par l’habit au siècle des Lumières. Les maréchaux de France et leur garde-robe', Apparence(s), 2012, pp. 7-8 and 17, ill.

A. James-Sarazin and J.-Y. Sarazin, Hyacinthe Rigaud. 1659-1743, Dijon, 2016, II, p.415.

L. de Meaux, Une grande famille russe. Les Gunzburg. Paris-Saint-Pétersbourg, XIXeXXe siècle, Paris, 2018, p. 404.

X. Salmon, Maurice Quentin de La Tour. L'Oeil absolu, Paris, 2024, pp. 293-295, 533, ill.

N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, published online at www.pastellists. com, no. J.46.1272, ill (consulted in November 2025).

La Maréchale de Belle-Isle Louis Patiot (1704-1786); by descent to his great-grand nephew Louis-Charles-Emile Thiériet (1820-1898), Thionville.

Jacques Doucet (1853-1929), Paris; Georges Petit, Paris, 5-8 April 1912, lot 77 (to Jules Strauss for Louis Hirsch).

Louis Hirsch (1862-1932) and Alice Hirsch née Hermann (1874-1965), Paris, by whom deposited at the Banque de France for safekeeping.

Confiscated by the Devisenschutzkommando from the above and relinquished to the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg at the Jeu de Paume, 12 March 1941 (ERR no. HIR 11) Transferred to Füssen, Germany, 16 October 1941.

Recovered by the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section from the salt mine at Altaussee, Austria (Aussee no. 473/2) and transferred to the Munich Central Collecting Point, 26 June 1945 (Mü. no. 550/2).

Repatriated to France, 19 September 1946.

Restituted to the Hirsch family, 14 January 1947; then by descent, Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 19 May 1994, lot 89.

Anonymous sale; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 26 June 1996, lot 24.

Private collection.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet Paris, Salon de l'Academie Royale, 1748, no. 81.

Paris, Galerie Georges Petit, Exposition de cent pastels du XVIIIe siècle, 1908, no. 40.

Paris, Hôtel Jean Charpentier, Exposition de pastels français du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, 1927, no. 42.

Paris, André J. Seligmann, Exposition du pastel français du XVIIe siècle à nos jours, 1933, no. 28.

Paris, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Le siècle de Louis XV vu par les artistes, 1934, no. 63.

Paris, Palais National des Arts, Chefs d'oeuvre de l'art français, 1937, no. 181.

Paris, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, De Watteau à Prud'hon, 1956, no. 55.

New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Pastel Portraits. Images of Eighteenth Century Europe, 2011, no. 16, ill.

La Maréchale de Belle-Isle Paris, Hôtel Jean Charpentier, Exposition de pastels français du XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, 1927, no. 43.

Paris, André J. Seligmann, Exposition du pastel français du XVIIe siècle à nos jours, 1933, no. 29.

Paris, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Le siècle de Louis XV vu par les artistes, 1934, no. 119.

Paris, Palais national des arts, Chefs-d’oeuvre de l’art français, 1937, no. 182.

Paris, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, De Watteau à Prud'hon, 1956, no. 56.

La Maréchale de Belle-Isle L. Leclerc, 'Notice sur Mme la Maréchale Duchesse de Belle-Isle', Mémoires de l'Académie impériale de Metz, 1864, 2 série, p. 235.

E. Dilke, French Painters of the XVIIIth Century, London, 1899, p. 164.

M. Tourneux, 'Collection de M. Jacques Doucet. Dessins et pastels', Les Arts, no. 36 (December 1904), pp. 8, 14.

E. Dacier and P. Ratouis de Limay,Pastels français des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, Paris and Brussels, 1927, no. 48, ill.

A. Besnard and G. Wildenstein, La Tour. La vie et l'oeuvre de l'artiste, Paris, 1928, no. 21, ill.

E. Launay, Les frères Goncourts. Collectionneurs de dessins, Paris, 1991, p. 347, under no.169.

C. Debrie and X. Salmon, Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. Prince des pastellistes, Paris, 2000, pp. 130-1, ill.

N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, London, 2006, p. 283.

X. Salmon, Maurice Quentin de La Tour. L'Oeil absolu, Paris, 2024, p. 295, ill.

N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, published online at www.pastellists. com, no. J.46.1291, ill (consulted in November 2025).

The portrait of Charles-Louis-August Fouquet is one of the most brilliant pastels by Maurice-Quentin de La Tour. It was exhibited by the artist at the 1748 Salon. By then, he was France's foremost portraitist, contributing fifteen pastel portraits to the Salon of that year. These not only included portraits of King Louis XV, his wife and the Dauphin, but also of France's three leading Maréchals: Belle-Isle, Saxe and Lowendal (the portraits of Louis XV and Marie Leczinska are now in the Louvre, as well as those of the Dauphin and of Saxe, while that of Lowendal is in a private collection; see C. Debrie and X. Salmon, op. cit., figs. 35-6, 37, 54 and A. Besnard, op. cit., no. 296, ill.). With this group of portraits, the most powerful figures in France all sat for La Tour at a key moment in political events. In August 1748, France was in the midst of preparing the peace treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was signed on October 18th. The treaty would end the wars of succession in Austria and had been achieved through the victories of the three great generals and Louis XV, all of whom were depicted by La Tour.

Charles-Louis-Auguste Fouquet, Count and later Duke of Belle-Isle was one of Louis XV's most important generals. Despite being the grandson of Louis XIV's disgraced Minister of Finance, Nicolas Fouquet, Charles-Louis-Auguste rose through the ranks of the French military. In 1741, he reached the highest military rank, that of Marechal. In the following years, his military victories in the wars of succession led to the elevation of his family’s title to Duke and Dutchess of Belle-Isle in 1748. He was made ministre d'État in 1756 and occupied the position until his death in 1761.

La Tour’s portrait of the Duke of Belle-Isle is a historical document of the crossing paths of two men at the peaks of their respective careers. La Tour chose to depict Belle-Isle in a conventional half-length pose, turned threequarters towards the viewer. He is adorned with his various military decorations, including the badges of the chivalric orders of Saint Esprit and the Golden Fleece.

The skill of this portrait lies in La Tour's mastery at combining the authority and rank of the sitter with an immediacy in his direct glance, which makes Belle-Isle not only present but also very much alive. Indeed he looks out at the viewer with knowing eyes and an almost imperceptible, very faint smile - the expression of somebody conscious of his many achievements. In fact the fundamental quality of La Tour's art lies in his ability to suggest the temperament and psychology of his subjects by means of their facial expression, and thereby to translate their inner thoughts onto paper: 'I penetrate into the depths of my subjects without their knowing it, and capture them whole' as he himself put it (see J. Turner ed., The Dictionary of Art, New York, 1996, p. 841). The style of this pastel is typical of La Tour; his broad and dynamic strokes applied freely, taking the use of pastels to the limits of their technical potential. He excels in rendering the opulence of Belle-Isle's velvet overdress, the intricateness of its golden embroideries, the shimmering quality of his satin sash and silk necktie, and the elaborate metalwork of his decoration.

Quentin de La Tour also made the portrait of Belle-Isle's second wife, MarieCasimire-Thérèse-Geneviève-Emmanuelle de Béthune. While the Maréchal's portrait exudes all the swagger and confidence of a man of power, his wife's portrait is more subdued and elegant, albeit with all the accoutrements her status affords, and is an equal expression of the artist's virtuosity in this most difficult of media, pastel. The Maréchale is depicted half-length, sitting erect on a Louis XV fauteuil. She wears a sumptuous blue dress adorned with fur and lace trim, with a grosgrain ribbon tied at her neck. Each fold of lace and tuft of fur is delineated with individual strokes of pastel; the strong lines of pastel that define the Duke’s face are replaced instead with a soft, almost blurred quality that imbues the Maréchale with an impression of gentility. Her coiffure is a series of modest curls, and her gaze is direct with just a hint of a smile.

The two portraits have remained together for much of their history, often hung next to each other, as was the case when they were in Jacques Doucet’s collection, displayed in the Grand Salon of his apartment (see J. Trey, Jacques Doucet et Moïse de Camondo. Une Passion pour le XVIIIe Siècle, exhib. cat., Paris, Musée Nissim de Camondo, 2023). The two works were separated from 1992 until 2016 when Irene Aitken reunited them in her collection.

230 LEARN MORE

JEAN-MARC NATTIER (PARIS 1685-1766)

Portrait of Marie Thérèse Marsollier, Marquise de Chamilly (c. 1735-1784), half-length, in a blue-gray dress signed and dated 'Nattier / pinxit 1757' (center left) oil on canvas 24º x 20 in. (61.6 x 50.8 cm.) $60,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

Marquis Dodun de Keroman, Château de Saint-Pierre du Fresne, Calvados.

(Possibly) Marquis Dafosse, Château de Saint-Pierre-du-Fresne, Calvados. with Wildenstein, Paris.

Albert H. Wiggin (1868-1951), New York, and by descent to his daughter, Muriel Selden, née Wiggin (1897-1966), Greenwich, and by inheritance to her husband, Lynde Selden (1891-1972), Greenwich.

Anonymous sale; Parke-Bernet, New York, 4 April 1973, lot 149, where acquired by, Lawrence Levitt, New York. with Barbara Divver Fine Art, New York, by 1991.

Private collection, New York.

[Property of a Private Collector]; Sotheby’s, New York, 28 January 1999, lot 287, described as ‘Portrait of Manon Balletti’, with incorrect dimensions and provenance, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Irene Roosevelt Aitken, née Boyd (1931-2025) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, Colnaghi, The French Portrait: 1550-1850, 10 January - 10 February 1996, no.

13.

LITERATURE:

A. Wintermute and D. Garstang, The French Portrait: 1550-1850, exhibition catalogue, New York, 1996, pp. 48, 51 and 97, plate 13.

X. Salmon ed., Jean Marc Nattier, 1685-1766, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, p. 206, under no. 54, fig. 2.

ARTnews, XCVIII, no. 6, June 1999, p. 106, illustrated on the cover.

H. Wine, National Gallery Catalogues: The Eighteenth Century French Paintings, London, 2018, pp. 352, 359, under NG 5586, note 6.

K. Baetjer, French Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art from the Early Eighteenth Century through the Revolution, New York, 2019, under cat. no. 17, p. 87, note 4.

Marie-Thérèse Lorimier de Chamilly, née Marsollier (1738-1787), was twice painted by Jean-Marc Nattier. In the first portrait (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 45.172; fig. 1), dated 1749 and exhibited at the Paris Salon the following year, eleven-year-old Marie-Thérèse holds an open tortoiseshell and brass marquetry toilet casket made in the style of Boulle from which her mother, Marie-Catherine Marsollier, selects ornaments for the girl’s hair.

This grand, life-size double portrait – among the most celebrated of Nattier’s career – presents the mother and daughter at their opulent toilette, draped in swaths of silk and satin and seated before a gilt-framed mirror in a palatial marble interior; it is an extravagant image meant to dazzle and impress. The present portrait, painted in 1757, is of an entirely different order. Executed less than a year after her mother’s death and shortly after her own marriage, the nineteen-year-old newlywed is depicted with a quiet modesty appropriate to her new station, in a bust-length format that showcases her gentle beauty and tender character; only the unguarded directness of her gaze bridges the decade between the two portraits.

Born in Paris in 1738, Marie-Thérèse was the daughter of Marie-Catherine Marsollier, née Leleu (c.1716-1756) and René Marsollier, a wealthy silk merchant with business premises in the rue Saint-Honoré. According to an account written by the duc de Luynes just after her death, Madame Marsollier had married below her social station, a fact that never ceased to embarrass her. In an effort to placate his wife, Marsollier purchased the title of Secrétaire de Roi, elevating the couple to comte and comtesse de Neubourg. Nevertheless, it was said that she never entered her husband’s shop and would not set foot in the street in which it was located, leading her to be mocked as the ‘duchesse de velours’, or ‘Velvet Duchess’.

Whatever his social inferiority, as head of a firm that had supplied silk and luxury textiles to the court and aristocracy of Paris for four generations, René Marsollier amassed a great fortune (calculated at 1,500,000 livres) and, upon his death in 1763, Marie-Thérèse inherited all of it, leaving the young woman among the wealthiest heiresses in France. In 1756 she married ClaudeChristophe Lorimier de Chamilly (1732-1794), later a valet de chambre to Louis XVI, and the couple had three children: Etienne (who died in infancy), Claude-René (1759-1837) and Octavie (1762-1849). Octavie would marry Louis, marquis de Pernon and both of Nattier’s portraits of her mother passed by descent through that family line until around 1910. Marie-Thérèse predeceased her husband in 1788 from unknown causes. Claude-Christophe, whose position at court brought him under suspicion after the arrest of the royal family in 1792, was imprisoned in the Luxembourg in February 1794, condemned as a counterrevolutionary and executed in June of that year.

If Nattier’s grand double portrait in the Metropolitan Museum was meant to emblematize Madame Marsollier’s wealth and status to a court nobility that she believed looked down on her, the present portrait of her daughter is instead intimate and reflective. Dispensing with the trappings of wealth and position that he was master at rendering, Nattier concentrated instead on his sitter’s beauty, and candid gaze, enveloping her with a warm sfumato that heightens the creaminess of her skin. Nattier’s soft atmospheric effects help to convey the gentleness of the young woman’s character.

In 1757, the year he painted the present portrait, Nattier also painted Manon Balletti (The National Gallery, London, inv. no. NG5586; fig. 2), Giacomo Casanova’s lover. Nattier’s well-known portrait of Balletti is virtually identical in size, format and composition to the Aitken portrait – in both, the vestal-like costumes decorated with strings of pearls are exactly the same, as is the silvery blue-gray palette, and both women wear identical muslin veils attached to their hair with a spray of flowers (a fashion introduced by Mme. de Pompadour a decade earlier). The only notable difference between the two is that Balletti wears a pink rose in her corsage rather than Mlle. Marsollier’s violet and blue bow. It was commonplace for Nattier to repeat his portrait compositions with only minor variations, allowing him to work more rapidly than entirely original compositions would have demanded.

A copy (or replica) of the present painting executed in oval format was sold at Fischer, Lucerne, 24-28 May 1982, lot 132.

Fig. 1 Jean-Marc Nattier, Madame Marsollier and her daughter, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

231 LEARN MORE

ALEXANDER ROSLIN (MALMÖ 1718-1793 PARIS)

Portrait of the architect Jean-Rodolphe Perronet (17081794) and his wife, seated at a table with architectural models, a sketch oil on canvas 13 x 16¿ in. (33 x 40.9 cm.) $150,000-250,000 PROVENANCE:

Louis-Auguste de Schwiter, later Baron de Schwiter (1805-1889), Paris; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 3 May 1886, lot 32.

M. Audouin; his sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 18 January 1892, lot 62.

Henri Lacroix, Paris (?-1901); his deceased sale, Hotel Drouot, Paris, 18-23 March 1901, lot 60 (3,000FF) where acquired by the following, with Feral, Paris.

John Postle Heseltine (1843-1929), London, by 1908.

André Lazard (1869-1931), Paris, by 1929.

Marie Catherine Germaine Decazes de Glücksbierg, neé Couturié, later Vicomtess de Nouë (1885-1968), by 1935. with Eugene V. Thaw, New York.

Hans Henrich August Gábor Tasso Thyssen-Bornemisza de Kászon, Baron Thyssen Bornemisza (1921-2002), Lugano. with Åmells Konsthandel AB, Stockholm, by March 2007. with Adam Williams Fine Art, New York, Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken, née Boyd (1931-2025) from the above in 2013.

EXHIBITED:

Moscow, Pushkin Museum, Old Master Paintings from the Thyssen Bornemisza Collection, 1987, no. 40.

Siberia, Novosibirsk Picture Gallery, Shedevrui Zapadnoevropeiskoi Zhivopisi XVI-XVII vv. iz Sobraniya Thyssen-Bornmisza, 1988.

Stockholm, Nationalmuseum; Versailles, Château de Versailles, Alexander Roslin, 27 September-13 January 2007; 18 February-18 May 2008, no. 69.

LITERATURE:

(Possibly) Fidière, 'Alexander Roslin', Gazette des Beaux Arts, 1898, p. 114.

J.P. Heseltine, Ten Little Pictures in the Collection of J.P.H., London, 1908, unpaginaned, no. 7, illustrated.

H. Mireur, Dictionnaire des ventes d'Art, VI, 1912, p. 320.

A. Marquiset, Le Marquis de Marigny 1727-1781, Paris, 1918, p. 229.

G.W. Lundberg, in, Künstlerlexicon, XXIX, H. Vollmer, ed., Leipzig, 1935, p. 26.

G. Lundberg, 'Kring några mindre kända Roslin porträtt i Frankrike',Tidskrift för Konstvetenskap, 1936, p. 13, fig. 3.

G.W. Lundberg, Roslin liv och verk, Malmö, 1957, III, p. 28, no. 125.

X. Salmon. and M. Olausson, Alexander Roslin, exhibition catalogue, Stockholm, Versailles, 2007-2008, pp. 74-75, 143, 172, no. 69, illustrated.

Alexandre Roslin was among the most successful portraitists in 18th-century Europe. Born in Malmö, the son of a naval physician, he moved to Stockholm aged 16 to study under the court portraitist Georg Engelhard Schröder, before being appointed Court painter to Frederick, Margrave of BrandenburgKulmbach in Bayreuth in 1745. In 1747, Roslin received permission to travel to Italy, where he remained for four-and-a- half years, and was introduced to the large and progressive international art community that convened in Rome. In Naples, the artist befriended the French ambassador, who introduced him to the Bourbon court in Parma (where he painted members of the family of Philip, Duke of Parma). He never returned to Bayreuth and would not see his native Sweden again for almost 30 years.

Roslin arrived in Paris in 1752 and quickly ingratiated himself in the French art world, aided by the connections he had made in Italy. Within a year he was agrée at the Académie Royale – despite the obstacles of being foreign and Protestant – and exhibited five portraits at the Salon, including those

of François Boucher’s wife and Carle Van Loo’s daughter (both painters had become his close friends). He was elected a full member of the Académie in November 1753 with the submission of portraits of the painters Étienne Jeaurat and Hyacinthe Collin de Vermont (both, Louvre). A favorite of the Paris aristocracy, his success was based on his remarkable technical skills in rendering the appearance and textures of luxurious fabrics and jewels, as well as his gift for rendering a flattering likeness of lively character and personality.

Throughout the 1750s and 1760s Roslin gained major clients among the nobility and royal family, receiving portrait commissions from the duc d’Orléans, the Dauphin, two of the daughters of Louis XV, and the Marquis de Marigny, Director of the Bâtiment and brother of the Marquise de Pompadour (see lot 228). He married the gifted pastellist Marie-Suzanne Giroust (1734-1772) in 1759 and was granted accommodations in the Louvre in 1772. Roslin departed Paris during the summer of 1774 – two years after his wife died giving birth to their sixth child – to spend four years travelling Europe. During this journey he made his first return to Sweden – where he had been elected to the Swedish Academy the previous year – before moving on to St. Petersburg (where he painted Empress Catherine the Great), Warsaw and the court of Stanislaus II Augustus, and the Habsburg court in Vienna. He returned to Paris in 1778 and died there five years later, age 75.

The present double portrait is a small-scale version of one of Roslin’s most famous and beloved compositions. Large in size – 163 x 202 cm. – that painting has traditionally been said to depict the French architect Jean-Rodolphe Perronet (1708-1794) and his wife (1759; Göteborgs Konstmuseum). Painted at the height of Roslin’s Paris career – it is signed and dated ‘Alex Roslin le Suédois 1759’ – it is one of the artist’s largest and most ambitious works, as well as among his most affectionate. Perronet is depicted standing in a comfortable, well-appointed salon, smiling toward the viewer. In his outstretched hands he hold the tools of his profession: an architectural model and set of compasses.

He wears a dark red frock coat, densely embroidered with gold thread; beneath it he wears a saffron-colored waistcoat embroidered with flowers. His wife sits beside him wearing a fashionable pink gown bordered at the sleeves by layers of lace and a small lace ruff and bow around her neck. (Her costume is markedly similar to that worn by Madame de Pompadour in Boucher’s portrait of the royal mistress in The Wallace Collection, London, also painted in 1759.)

Madame Perronet holds a tray of corals and seashells on her lap. A chalk holder, smoker’s kit and faience coffee service sit on the Louis XV-style writing table.

The couple smiles warmly and the scene is one of contentment and haute bourgeois domestic comfort.

Jean-Rodolphe Perronet was a French architect and structural engineer from Suresnes, near Paris. His father was a Swiss Guardsman and later a wine merchant. Perronet apprenticed from age 17 in an architectural practice in Paris, where he rose to head a team that designed and constructed the city’s sewers, embankments and banlieue’s roads. In 1747, Perronet was named director of the Bureau des dessinateurs du Roi (Royal Office of Designers), where he trained bridge and road engineers and oversaw their projects. In 1750, he was promoted to inspecteur général of roads and bridges and in 1763 Premier ingénieur du Roi. Between 1750 and his death in 1794, age 85, Perronet was responsible for building 2500 kilometers of roads in and around Paris as well as stone arch bridges in Orléans, Mantes, Neuilly-sur-Seine, and Nemours, among many others. His final accomplishment was his most famous and lasting, the Pont Louis XVI in Paris (today, Pont de la Concorde), completed in 1791.

The Aitken version of the Perronet portrait matches the large version in almost every detail. Because of its small size and looser, brushier handling, it has generally been described as a sketch, or study for the large, more tightly finished canvas, but it is possible that it is, instead, a reduced replica of the finished painting made for an unknown collector, or for retention in the artist’s studio. Regardless, it is both delightfully refined in its details and exceptionally free and painterly in execution, with the bright palette and sparkling effects of light for which Roslin was admired throughout Europe. No doubt this was its principal appeal to the illustrious art collectors who owned it in the 19th and 20th centuries, including Delacroix’s patron, Louis-Auguste, Baron de Schwiter (1805-1889); John Post Heseltine (1843-1929); the banker André Lazard (18691931); and Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921-2002).

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STUDIO OF JEAN-MARC NATTIER (PARIS 1685-1766)

Portrait of Charlotta Sparre (1719-1793), later Countess von Fresen, half-length, in a leopard skin cloak oil on canvas 29¿ x 23Ω in. (74 x 59.7 cm.), an oval $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

(Possibly) Count Carl Gustaf Tessin (1695-1770), Stockholm, uncle of the sitter. with Jacques Seligmann & Co., New York, until sold 31 December 1929 to the following, Ada Gruver Sorg-Walser (1882-1956), New York. with Gustave Pierre Bader, New York and Paris, by 1957, his deceased sale; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 9-10 November, 1962, lot 195, as Jean-Marc Nattier, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Annie-Laurie Aiken, née Warmack (1900-1984) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, World’s Fair, Masterpieces of Art. European and American Paintings 15001900, May to October 1940, no. 223, as Jean-Marc Nattier.

LITERATURE:

'Kommende Auktionen bei Parke-Bernet, New York', Die Weltkunst, March 1962, p. 28, illustrated, as Jean-Marc Nattier.

'Sale Room Prices', Apollo, February 1963, pp. 165-166, fig. 5, as Jean-Marc Nattier.

X. Salmon, Jean Marc Nattier: 1685-1766, exhibition catalogue, Paris, 1999, pp. 142 and 144, under no. 32, fig. 1, as Jean-Marc Nattier or copy after Jean-Marc Nattier.

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CIRCLE OF ALEXANDRE-FRANÇOIS DESPORTES (CHAMPIGNEULLES 1661-1743 PARIS) Le chasseur de perdreau (The partridge hunter) oil on canvas 33Ω x 27 in. (85 x 68.6 cm.) $15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE:

with Galerie Lucien Vigneau, Paris, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Annie-Laurie Aiken, née Warmack (1900-1984) from the above in May 1971.

This half-length portrait depicts a young man, holding a hunting rifle with his spaniel holding a partridge in its mouth. The sitter's collarless hunting coat, with gold embroidered trim, and carefully curled wig, suggest a date of circa 1730.

234 LEARN MORE

JEAN-JACQUES LAGRENÉE (PARIS 1739-1821)

Hebe pouring nectar for Jupiter, a sketch oil on canvas, laid down on board, an oval, now set into a Louis XV style parcel-gilt and cream-painted mirror the painting: 28 x 40º in. (71 x 102.3 cm.) overall: 86 x 48æ in. (218.5 x 124 cm.) $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

with Galerie Dulac and Lachaise, Paris; their sale, M. Chariot and P.A. Palliet, Paris, 30 November 1778, lot 224 (for 100 livres).

Jean-Baptiste Guillaume, Abbé de Gevigney (1729-1802), Paris; his sale; Paris, 1-29 December 1779, lot 590.

Art market, Paris, circa 1960. with Galerie Cailleux, Paris, by 1963, Acquired by Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) and Annie-Laurie Aiken, née Warmack (1900-1984) from the above on 8 April 1969.

LITERATURE:

M. Sandoz, Les Lagrenée II, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée 1739-1821, Paris, 1988, pp. 246-247, no. 178B, illustrated, pl. XIII.

Lagrenée’s Hebe Pouring Nectar for Jupiter is a large oil sketch (or modello) for a vast oval ceiling painted by the artist in 1772 as part of the decorative scheme of the residence of Marc-René de Voyer d’Argenson, marquis de Voyer (17221782) on the rue des Bons-Enfants, near the Palais-Royal; Lagrenée’s finished painting is today in the collections of the Banque de France, Paris.

The rebuilding and redecoration of the marquis de Voyer’s hôtel particulier is exceptionally well documented. The Hôtel de Voyer d’Argenson, formerly known as the Hôtel de la Chancellerie d’Orléans, had been constructed at the beginning of the 18th century. By 1752, it was the property of Marc-Pierre de Voyer de Paulmy, comte d’Argenson, Secretary of War and former chancellor to Louis, duc d’Orléans. When the comte d’Argenson fell into disgrace and went into exile in February 1757, the house was taken over by his son, the marquis de Voyer. Between 1762 and 1772, the marquis de Voyer had the building renovated and fashionably decorated in the emerging neoclassical style by the architect Charles de Wailly (1730-1798). As was customary, the architect was responsible for all aspects of both the interior and exterior decoration, providing academicians and guild members alike with instructions and designs and reviewing and approving their work. De Wailly hired the sculptor Augustin Pajou (1730-1809) to create carved decorations, the bronze founder Pierre Gouthière (1732-1813) for cast bronze embellishments and the architect François-Joseph Bélanger (1744-1818) to design the arabesques. He also proposed ceilings depicting pleasing mythological subjects to be painted by members of the Académie for several of the principal rooms. Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) was assigned the ceiling of the dining room, Louis-

Marquis Marc-René de Voyer d’Argenson (1721-1782) © GrandPalaisRmn / Mathieu Rabeau

Jacques Durameau (1733-1796) that of the marquise’s bedroom, and Gabriel Briard (1725-1777), the ceiling of the vestibule. Fragonard’s ceiling was the first to be done; he started work on 7 April 1767, once the arabesque surrounds were in place. It was another two years before Durameau finished his ceiling depicting The Awakening of Aurora (which de Wailly speculated the patron would prefer to Fragonard’s work). Briard’s Labors of Hercules was the last of the three ceilings to be completed. In July 1772, once all the rooms were finished, Fragonard’s ceiling was painted over and replaced with Lagrenee’s canvas ceiling depicting Hebe Pouring Nectar for Jupiter. Apparently, de Wailly knew his client’s taste quite well. There is no record of Fragonard’s reaction to his work being destroyed, but, as Colin Bailey has wryly noted, 'he certainly could not have been pleased'. There is also no record of what Fragonard’s composition looked like, although it has been speculated that it may have resembled his Group of Putti (c. 1767; Louvre), which Diderot famously described as 'a nice big omelet of children in the sky'.

When the Hôtel de Voyer d’Argenson was demolished in 1923 for the construction of the rue du Colonel Driant, the rooms were dismantled, inventoried and stored – for almost a century – in warehouses of the Banque de France, which had committed to rebuilding it on another site at the bank’s expense. In 2021, the rooms finally reopened, fully restored and installed on the first floor of the Hôtel de Rohan, with substantial support from the World Monuments Fund.

Lagrenée’s expansive and colorful dining room ceiling closely follows the design that he laid out in the Aitken modello: in both, the protagonists are viewed from below, with Jupiter seated on a cloud above Olympus, his elbow resting on a blue cloth draped over an elaborately carved, gilded table. Hebe, Jupiter’s daughter and cup-bearer to the Gods, flies toward him, her head wreathed in

flowers. She holds a large golden ewer from which she pours nectar into the golden cup that her father extends to her. The principal difference between the oil sketch and the finished painting is that greater prominence is given to Jupiter’s eagle in the Aitken sketch, while his presence is diminished in the ceiling, and he bears a playful putto on his winged back. Unsurprisingly, the sketch is much more loosely, briskly painted than the final ceiling, which is executed with a more precise, neoclassical polish. The Aitken sketch itself is documented shortly after it was completed, having appeared at auction in Paris as early as 1778, and again one year later, where it was clearly described and identified as an ‘esquisse terminée’.

Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, known as Lagrenée the Younger, was a student of his more famous older brother, Louis Lagrenée (1724-1805). He travelled with his brother to Russia in 1760, where Louis had been appointed court painter to Empress Catherine the Great. After returning to Paris in 1762, Jean-Jacques was awarded a pension at the French Academy in Rome, where he lived from 1763 to 1768; while in Rome he established a reputation as a painter of decorative ceiling paintings, winning a commission in 1768 from the Roman Senator Abbondio Rezzonico to decorate his Roman residence, the Palazzo Senatorio.

Jean-Jacques was provisionally accepted into the Académie Royale upon his return to Paris the following year and formally received for full membership in 1775 with the submission of his ceiling decoration, Winter, which he painted for the Galerie d’Apollon in the Louvre. His ceiling for the theatre at the Petit Trianon depicting Apollon, les Grâces et les Muses was unveiled in 1779. As artistic director of the Sèvres porcelain factory between 1785 and 1800, he created numerous designs, including the famous Etruscan service for MarieAntoinette’s dairy at Rambouillet. He was more specialized than his brother in history painting and exhibited regularly at the Salons until 1804, after which he seems to have largely retired from painting.

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A PAIR OF EARLY LOUIS XV ORMOLU THREE-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS ATTRIBUTED TO JACQUES CAFFIERI, CIRCA 1735-1740

Each with a scrolled foliate standard, the scrolling candle-arms pierced and cast with acanthus, gadrooning, berries and flowers, terminating in fluted and swirling nozzles and drip-pans 22º in. (57 cm.) high, 15Ω in. (39.5 cm.) wide (2) $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

The Property of a Nobleman; Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1966, lot 117.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 June 1968.

Designed in the Louis XV pittoresque style popularized by Juste-Aurèle Meissonier and Nicolas Pineau, these wall-lights can be attributed to the sculpteur, fondeur et ciseleur du roi Jacques Caffiéri (1678-1755, mâitre in 1715). With their distinctive pierced branches and dense, flower-embellished backplates, they display close similarities with the suite of four supplied to Madame Infante, Louise-Elizabeth of France, duchesse de Parma for the

Palazzo di Colorno. Now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (C. Bremer-David, Decorative Arts, An Illustrated Summary Catalogue of the Collections of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1993, no. 168, p. 103), these latter wall-lights were almost certainly amongst the thirty-four wagons of furnishings and fineries brought back to Colorno from the duchesse's second trip to Paris between September 1752 and September 1753.

While Madame Infante is known to have purchased much directly from the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux, as well as from the ciseleur, doreur sur métaux du Roy Antoine Lelièvre, it was Caffiéri who was most extensively patronized on this commision. As Peter Hughes has argued in The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture III, London, 1996, no. 266, pp. 1310-1315, however, some of the gilt-bronze objects may actually originally have been commissioned by Louis XV for his own use a few years before and given by him to his eldest daughter; this hypothesis is based particularly upon the ormolu chandelier, also from Colorno, now in the Wallace, which is signed and dated CAFFIERI A PARIS 1751 and was, therefore, commissioned before their arrival in Paris.

Comparable wall-lights include a pair with similar pierced branches sold Christie’s, New York, 2 November, 2000, lot 7 and a less complex pair struck with Colorno inventory marks, sold Christie’s, London, 29 October 2025, lot 138.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN VASE

THE PORCELAIN QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795), THE ORMOLU MOUNTS CIRCA 1750 The fanghu-form vase carved with archaistic dragons, birds and stiff leaves, the pierced rocaille rims issuing bifurcated scrolling handles cast with bulrushes and trailing flowers and berries, the pierced base cast with acanthus scrolls 15æ in. (40.5 cm.) high $100,000-150,000 PROVENANCE:

Acquired from Arnold Seligmann, Paris by Henry Walters (1848-1931) in 1926; His wife, née Sarah 'Sadie' Wharton Green (1859-1943); Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 26 April-3 May 1941, lot 679.

The Property of a Lady; Christie’s, London, 30 May 1968, lot 25.

With S.J. Phillips, London.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

LITERATURE:

C. Oglesby, French Provincial Decorative Art, New York, 1951, p. 159, fig. 226.

Christie's Review of the Year 1967-1968, London, 1968, p. 275.

THE WALTERS COLLECTION Although Sarah 'Sadie' Wharton Green Walters (1859-1943) did not marry the noted American railroad magnate, yachtsman, art collector and philanthropist Henry Walters (1848-1931) until 1922, she and her first husband, Pembroke Jones, had lived with Henry as a close friend since the turn of the century, traveling the world and assembling a magnificent art collection. With the death of his father in 1894, Henry Walters inherited the core of the collection that survives today as the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Henry added to it, housing it in a purpose-built Renaissance style mansion in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore and opening it to the public in 1909 as the Walters Art Gallery. Upon his death in 1931, the house and contents were bequeathed to the City of Baltimore. As Henry’s younger widow, Sadie continued the family tradition of buying art and antiques, her taste running to eighteenthcentury French decorative arts. In 1941, an eight-day two-part single-owner sale was held at Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York, to disperse the bulk of her collection. The sale ran to a total of 1,456 lots, with the present vase offered as lot 679.

THE PORCELAIN Chinese art of the eighteenth century reflected a popular fascination with imitating one material in another, here expressed in the reproduction of an ancient bronze shape in a ceramic medium. The fanghu form of the current vase originated as a square wine jar, and first achieved popularity during the Western Zhou period (c. 1046 BC–771 BC), over 2,000 years before the present vase was conceived and fired. During the reign of the Qianlong Emperor, vases of this antiquarian shape were made with various monochrome glazes, including a Ge-type glaze, as seen on a vase illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Japan, 1987, no. 960; a flambé glaze found on two vases sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29 May 2013, lot 2279 and 1 June 2011, lot 3716; and a Ru-type glaze on a vase also sold at Christie's, Hong Kong, 31 May 2017, lot 3203.

Mrs. Henry Walters (1859-1943)

THE MOUNTS Framing the archaistic vase is a set of sumptuous ormolu mounts in the rocaille symétrisé style, with the dynamic but overall symmetrical rim and base mounts reflecting the influence of Jean-Claude Chambellan Duplessis (1699-1774).

Duplessis was artistic director at the Vincennes and Sèvres factories from 17481774, and pioneered the novel style in reaction to the fanciful asymmetry of early rococo. A very similar scheme appears on a pair of Chinese celadon vases in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York (obj. no.

1984.471.3, .4), which were formerly in the collection of Edith Chester Beatty, London. The handles relate closely to a model invented in Paris during the reign of Louis XV, which was cleverly employed to convert Chinese vases into ewers. A number of examples of this type are recorded in notable collections in the eighteenth century. Lazare Duvaux, the most important dealer of mounted porcelains in Paris, sold what appear to have been one such pair of mounted celadon ewers to Madame de Pompadour on 6 December 1751, for the huge sum of 1,680 livres. Madame de Pompadour's pair were described as ‘Deux autres vases en hauteur de porcelaine céladon ancienne, montés en forme de buire, en bronze ciselé dorés d'or moulu'. On 3 August of the same year, he sold to the comte du Luc: ‘Deux buires de porcelaine Céladon, garnies en bronze doré d'or moulu, 720 Livres’. A further pair of ewers specifically described as being in celadon porcelain were sold in the collection of the celebrated connoisseur Jean Gaignat in 1769, when they were described as ‘Deux très jolis Vases même porcelain celadon à côtes, d’une couleur douce & un émail très brillant, d’environ 11 pouces, également garnis en formes de buires ; les ornemens très bien ciselés en bronze doré’. These ewers are illustrated in the celebrated copy of this catalogue annotated by Gabriel de Saint-Aubin. Other ewers with this type of handles include the pair from the collection of Mrs. Charles Wrightsman, sold Sotheby's, New York, 5 May 1984, lot 136 and more recently sold Christie’s, New York, 12 December 2024, lot 40; a pair in the Jones Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum (acc. no. 818-1882), and two pairs in the Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor (acc. nos. 2166.1-2 and 2671.12); a further related pair of ewers was sold from the collection of Alexandrine de Rothschild; Sotheby's, London, 18-19 May 1967, lot 137.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN EWERS ALMOST CERTAINLY SUPPLIED BY LAZARE DUVAUX, THE PORCELAIN QIANLONG PERIOD (1735-1795), THE MOUNTS CIRCA 1750-1755

Each porcelain body modeled and carved as a leaping carp, its open mouth issuing a high loop handle cast with acanthus, bulrushes and scrolls, continuing to a base naturalistically modeled with coral, shells, sea sponges, acanthus and scrolls 12Ω in. (32 cm.) high

(2)

$300,000-500,000 PROVENANCE:

Adolphe Niel (1879-1966) and Victoire de Gasquet James (1883-1962), Comte and Comtesse Niel, 44 Avenue Gabriel, Paris; Thence by descent until sold Palais d'Orsay, Paris, 30 November 1978, lot 75.

With S.J. Phillips, Partridge and Etienne Lévy.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, January 1979.

THE MODEL: 'POISSONS DE PORCELAINE CELADON' This celebrated model is first recorded in the Livre-Journal of the marchandmercier Lazare Duvaux in 1750. On 16 October, Louis XV's mistress Madame de Pompadour, (née Antoinette Poisson) acquired '621. Du 10 Mme la Marq. de Pompadour..Quatre morceaux de porcelaine céladon, dont deux en forme de cornets & deux poissons, le tout garni en bronze doré d'or moulu'. In 1752, the marquise bought a further deux poissons céladon (cabinet de Versailles) and the taste rapidly spread throughout the most fashionable collectors a Court, particularly among amateurs such as M. Gaignat, Jean de Juliennne and Blondel d'Azincourt.

The enduring popularity of the model throughout the second half of the eighteenth century is confirmed both through Duvaux's Livre-Journal and the comparatively high proliferation of this model in eighteenth-century sale catalogues and inventories. Indeed, even as the ancien régime was crumbling, Louis XVI's Commander-in-Chief of the ill-fated Swiss Guards, the Baron de Besenval, was immortalized in Henri-Pierre Danloux's 1791 portrait contemplating a mounted celadon garniture upon his mantelpiece, including a ewer that appears to be of precisely the same model as the present lot.

Duvaux's Livre-Journal reveals the discrepancy in cost between the varying models and the quality of the ciseleur, although the cost of the porcelain itself far exceeded that of the ormolu mounts. Thus, the pair acquired by Watteau's great patron Jean de Julienne's from Duvaux on 27 June 1753, and described as 'Deux poissons de porcelaine céladon, formant des cruches, montés en bronze doré d'or moulu', cost 960 livres. When M. Gaignat acquired 'Deux poissons d'ancienne porcelaine céladon, garnis en bronze doré d'or moulu, form de buire', in 1751, his pair cost 1,200 livres and was depicted by Gabriel de SaintAubin as marginalia in one of his sale catalogues. The pair acquired by Blondel d'Azincourt, the Intendant des Menus-Plaisirs and a most exacting patron, 17 October 1755 cost almost double the first: 'M. d'Azincourt..Deux poissons aussi céladon montés en buires, 1800 l'. A pair mounted as ewers was also sold to the ‘Prince de Turenne’ on 13 December 1754 and to ‘Monseigneur le Duc d’Orléans’ on 20 March 1756.

A clearer understanding of the relative costs of such elaborate ormolu mounts vis-à-vis the porcelain can be gleaned again from Duvaux, who in 1752 supplied Madame de Pompadour with 'Quatre pieds à contours en cuivre ciselé doré d'or moulu pour deux petits vases de porcelain brune & deux poissons céladon (Cabinet de Versailles), [42 l]'.

A sublime reflection of the pittoresque fantasy in the full-blown Rococo style, this form of ewer was only ever intended as ornamental. Although distinctive, categoric identification of this model in eighteenth-century sales records is near-impossible owing to both the brief descriptions and the fact that three closely related models were executed, all presumably by the same bronzier working for Duvaux.

Le Baron de Besenval dans son salon de compagnie, National Gallery, London

These three models comprise: VASES OF THE PRESENT 'BARON DE BESENVAL' MODEL, WITH THE FISHES' MOUTHS AS SPOUTS: - a pair, previously in the Rodolphe Kann Collection, Paris and the Bromberg Collection, Hamburg, later sold from the Wildenstein Collection at Christie's, London, 14-15 December 2005, lot 45 (£456,000), and subsequently sold Christie's, London, 8 July 2021, lot 5 (£562,500), the latter sale being subject to a settlement agreement between the owner and the heirs of Henry and Hertha Bromberg - a pair sold from the collection of Consuelo Vanderbilt, Sotheby's, New York, 9 December 1994, lot 136 - a pair at Harewood House, Yorkshire - a garniture of three in the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon (Isabel Pereira Coutinho, Gulbenkian Museum, 1998, no. 100, p. 126) - a pair in the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (1927.165-6) - a pair sold by Lord Robert Crichton-Stuart, Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 1959, lot 114 VASES OF THE 'WIDENER' MODEL, WITH THE TAILS AS THE SPOUTS: - a pair from the Hastings Collection at Melton Constable, Norfolk, previously in the Collection of Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; and now in the Widener Collection at the National Gallery of Art, Washington (discussed in Sir Francis Watson, 'Mounted Oriental Porcelain', Exhibition Catalogue, Washington, 1986, no. 32) - a pair in the Royal Collection (RCIN 360), their bodies made in different kilns but matched as a pair presumably by the same marchand-mercier at the time of their mounting, possibly acquired by the Prince Regent in 1818 - a pair sold Christie's, New York, 7 February 2025, lot 22 - a pair sold (without dating) from the Basil and Elise Goulandris Collection at Christie’s, London, 11 June 1992, lot 64 VASES IN THE FORM OF PAIRED CARP: - the central vase of the Gulbenkian Garniture cited above - that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated in J. Lunsingh Scheerler, Chinesisches und Japanisches Porzellan in europaîschen Fassungen, Wurzburg, 1980, p. 336, fig. 329) - those offered anonymously at Sotheby's, New York, 3 May 1986, lot 40

The carp ewers previously in the collection of Rodolophe Kann

THE COMTE AND COMTESSE NIEL Born Victoire Gasquet James, the Comtesse was one of the four heirs of both her mother Elizabeth Bleeker Tibbits Pratt’s immense New York Pratt banking fortune and her father Amedee de Gasquet James’ equally large New Orleans fortune. During her childhood, the Comtesse, her parents and siblings led a Henry Jamesian existence moving from grand house to grand house in France and America. However, in 1911, after the Comtesse’s father died, her mother married the Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh-Schwerin, Raymond Abel de Libran.

In 1921 the Cometesse married the Comte de Niel and settled into married life at No. 44 Avenue Gabriel. In the early fifties they began to collect and study books, pictures, souvenirs, bibelots and furniture that had once been owned by the French royal family in the latter half of the 18th century. These rare and precious survivals of the Revolution and Republic were discovered with the help of the leading antique dealers of the post-war era such as Cailleux, Fabius and Wildenstein. The objects were obtained from other collectors, as well as from the descendants of aristocratic families, and discovered in the sale rooms of the time. From 1954, the couple began to give generously to the Royal Palace of Versailles; they were celebrated for refusing to lend any part of their collection, preferring instead to donate Royal pictures, furniture and works of art outright.

Treasures made for and belonging to Madame du Barry, Marie Antoinette and Louis XV, presumed lost during the Revolution, now found their way back to the palace for which they had been originally destined. Over the years the Comte and Comtesse became by far the most important patrons of Versailles and other public collections in France. Of their remaining collection, a group of 130 lots of French fine and decorative art was sold Comte et Comtesse Niel: A Shared Passion, Christie's, Paris, 16 April 2012.

The Comte and Comtesse Niel.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XIV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN POTS-POURRIS THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1710, THE PORCELAIN MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Each globular body and pierced circular cover carved with fluting, the ormolu pinecone finial flanked by chimera-form handles issuing from foliate shell-form clasps, on triple dolphin supports joined by a tripartite stretcher 9 in. (23 cm.) high (2) $80,000-120,000 PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Constantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 19 March 1968.

LITERATURE:

R. Constantino, How to Know French Antiques, New York, 1961, p. 63.

B. Crumb, 'A La Kings', The New York Times Magazine, 25 February 1968, pp. 82-83.

These charming and rare vases, with their subtle ribbed Ming porcelain bodies, date from the earliest phase of the taste for mounting precious celadon porcelains in gilt bronze mounts, during the late Louis XIV and Régence periods, and thus relate closely to the earlier silver-mounted wares of the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The distinctive dolphin feet, hooked stretcher, dragon handles and pendant shells to the base rim relate them to a small group with these features, including a white Dehua vase in the British Royal Collection (RCIN 100989; illustrated in J. Ayers, Chinese and Japanese Works of Art in the Collection of her Majesty the Queen, London, 2016, vol.

I, cat. 169, pp. 82-83) as well as a famille verte vase mounted as a fountain (illustrated in G. Wannenes, Objets Montés, Milan, 2004, p. 97).

In light of the period when these items were created, it is tempting to link the prominent imagery of dolphins to the Grand Dauphin, heir to the throne of Louis XIV and an avid collector, who ranked among one of Boulle’s most significant clients. However, given the lack of any firm documentary evidence, although clearly emanating from the same workshop, it may be more likely that they were instead created as an homage to the Dauphin, who died just before his father in 1711. Interestingly, a similarly mounted vase, but in red, blue and white porcelain, features in a 1741 portrait Jacques-André-Joseph Aved of Madame Antoine Crozat, marquise du Châtel, now in the Musée Fabre, Montpellier (see Ayers op. cit., p. 83).

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU CHINOISERIE CARTEL CLOCK THE MOVEMENT BY CHARLES VOISIN, CIRCA 1750, THE DIAL RESURFACED

The case cast with rocaille, foliage, branches and scrolls, surmounted by a seated figure holding a parasol, the white enamel dial with black Roman numeral hours and Arabic chapters, the movement and the resurfaced dial each signed 'CHARLES VOISIN / A PARIS', the door at the back inscribed in red '2362’ on both sides 21æ in. (55.5 cm.) high $12,000-18,000 PROVENANCE:

With Frank Partridge, London.

Estate of Harold Young; Sotheby's, New York, 9 June 2014, lot 84.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

Charles Voisin (1686-1760), mâitre in 1710.

This model of cartel au Chinois features in the famous interior of countess Tessin's closet at Åkerö slott by Olof Fridsberg (172895). Now conserved in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, the interior composition is clearly inspired by the advertising sign of the marchand-mercier Gersaint. The model was executed from circa 1745-1749, as evidenced by the presence of the C couronné poinçon on several known examples, such as those sold DrouotMontaigne, Paris, 29 April 1998, lot 33; Christie's, Geneva, 8 May 1973, lot 17; and Sotheby's, London, 29 April 1965, lot 46.

Although few examples are categorically recorded in eighteenthcentury inventories owing to the paucity of descriptions, an example of this model, with movement by the horloger Filleul was delivered to Marie-Thèrése-Raphaelle d'Espagne, Dauphine of France. This was sold anonymously at Christie's Monaco, 13 December 1997, lot 105. Further clocks of this model include one in the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris (see A. Gruber, L'Art Décoratif en Europe, Classique et Baroque, Paris, 1992, p.308); another with movement by Gosselin (see P. Kjellberg, Encyclopédie de La Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p.107); another illustrated in H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, vol. 1, p. 118; an example was sold Christie's, Monaco, 13 December 1998, lot 336; and one sold from the Wildenstein Collection; Christie’s, London, 14-15 December 2005, lot 111.

A cartel au Chinois of this model depicted in Countess Tessin’s apartments at Åkerö slott.

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A FRENCH ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND AMARANTH COMMODE

BY HIPPOLYTE-EDME PRETOT, MID-19TH CENTURY, REMOUNTED AND LARGELY REVENEERED Of bombé form, the brèche d'Alep marble top above two drawers mounted with pierced ormolu cartouches, pulls and rocaille escutcheons, the pierced angle-mounts over cabriole legs with scrolling acanthus sabots, stamped 'PRETOT' and spuriously stamped 'B.V.R.B. JME', the underside inscribed 'J KIM 18' 34 in. (86.5 cm.) high, 55 in. (140 cm.) wide, 25º in. (64.5 cm.) deep $10,000-20,000 PROVENANCE:

Comte Charles de Rohan-Chabot (1925-1994), château de Conde, Sur-Iton, Eure (according to the Ruth Constantino invoice, but not included in his 1953 sale at ParkeBernet Galleries).

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 16 August 1967.

LITERATURE:

Grosvenor House Handbook, 1986, p. 173 (Sotheby's advertisement).

The ébéniste Hippolyte-Edmé Pretot (1812-1855) is recorded at 16, rue de l'Abbaye in 1836 and 11bis, rue Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1841. From 1846 he was located at 3 and 5 rue du Harlay. He presided over an active Parisian atelier which exhibited at the 1849 Exposition Nationale and the London exhibition of 1851, being awarded a second class medal for his inlaid work at the latter.

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A RARE AND IMPORTANT LOUIS XIII SAVONNERIE CARPET PROBABLY CHAILLOT WORKSHOP, CIRCA 1640-1650

The field woven with naturistically-drawn flowers and bouquets, centered by a ribbontied medallion enclosing a coat-of-arms with a tower, the border with meandering ribbons and flowering garlands, the corners and long sides with six cartouches woven alternately with the towers and cypher 'NDC', the outer guard-border alternating the crest and cypher with acanthus leaves Approximately 19 ft. 4 in. (5.89 m.) by 11 ft. 10 in. (3.61 m.) $600,000-1,000,000 PROVENANCE:

Possibly commissioned for a member of the Castellane or the Castille family.

Francis Guérault (1874-1930), Paris; Alphonse Bellier, Paris, March 21–22, 1935, lot 129.

With René Weiller, Paris.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York, acquired from the above.

Acquired by Henry Ford II (1917-1987), Grosse Pointe, Michigan, from the above, 21 January 1964.

Returned to Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York by the above, 16 May 1966.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 2 January 1970.

LITERATURE:

M. Campana, European Carpets, London, 1969, p. 94, fig. 43.

C. Lehmann, Comment installer son intérieur en Louis XIlI ou Louis XIV, Paris, 1969. p.

59, fig. 101.

P. Verlet, Savonnerie: The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Fribourg, 1982, p. 167, fig. 103.

Of particularly rare and large size and in an excellent state of preservation, this impressive carpet belongs to an early group of French Savonnerie carpets woven at the Chaillot workshop between Louis XIII’s death in 1643 and Louis XIV's full assumption of power in 1661. When produced after 1643, they are still frequently referred to as Louis XIII carpets, primarily to distinguish them from the more prevalent and well-known Louis XIV examples woven during the latter king's majority, for the galerie d’Apollon and the grande galerie at the palais du Louvre.

The French luxury carpet industry flourished in the seventeenth century, due in large part to its promotion by Royal policy. The genesis of the Savonnerie factory traces to Henri IV (r. 1589-1610), who, recognizing the economic drain caused by importing carpets from Turkey and India, prohibited the entry of Eastern carpets into France. Seeking simultaneously to encourage domestic French carpet production, on January 4, 1608 he granted a workshop space in the basement of the Louvre, below the grande galerie, to Pierre Dupont, tapissier ordinaire en tapis de Turquie et façons de Levant (see P. Verlet, The James Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Savonnerie, London, 1982, p. 28). One of Dupont's apprentices, Simon Lourdet, quickly became so proficient in the trade that he ingratiated himself to the Queen, Marie de Medici, who allowed him to install another workshop in the former soap factory, or Savonnerie, at Chaillot. The name 'Savonnerie' thence became synonymous with French pile-woven carpets. A partnership agreement between Dupont and Lourdet was signed on September 5, 1626 to share the profits and expenses of the two workshops, and until 1664, both produced carpets of very similar design.

Carpets from this period share in common many features, foremost the black or dark blue, or sometimes brown, ground color woven with millefleurs: sprays of colorful, naturalistic and identifiable flowers, including lilies, carnations, ranunculus and tulips, which were considered the most fashionable and exotic flower. It is not known who designed or provided the models for these carpets, but the overall concept is based on Persian, Indian and Turkish carpets, combined with the European taste for flowers. Contemporaneous designs for embroidery and tapestries are very similar in character, and Dupont was known also to have worked as an embroiderer. The flower-filled ground of these early carpets, by contrast, probably originates in Europe, with the tradition of earlier millefleur tapestries, and much of their direct inspiration can be found in still-life paintings from both the Netherlands and France, including the works of Jacques Linard (1598-1645), Paul Androuet de Cerceau (1623-1710) and Georges Baussonnet (1577-1644). The drawings of Baussonet in particular, dated between 1592 and 1636, feature flowers quite similar to the accurate depiction of specimens in these carpets (see ibid., fig. 101). The strong similarities and repetitious designs of the Louis XIII carpets from this period suggest that the designs available at this relatively young workshop were, to some degree, limited. It also suggests, however, that they were gained popular success and found favor with the court.

In most cases, the field is centered by a bouquet or a flower-filled wreath, but on the Aitken Savonnerie the middle is unusually, though not uniquely, woven with a cartouche enclosing a château fort of three towers encircled by crossed S letters. Although it has not been proven with absolute certainty, the heraldic device featured here is likely that of either the de Castellane or of the de Castille family. A wide and defined border surrounds the field containing similar flowers and floral arrangements, creating a brilliant millefleurs effect.

The guard borders outlining the main border are typically drawn from elements of the antique or from borders used in contemporaneous tapestries. In this case, the outer guard border is further woven with a fort as it appears in both the Castellan and the Castille coats-of-arms and the cipher NDC. Both the Castellane and the Castille families were ancient noble dynasties, with the former originating in Provence, the latter in Île-de-France. The fort with three towers is the central and sole motif in both families’ coat-of-arms.

The field of the Castellane coat-of-arms is always red, whereas the that of the Castille family is either red or blue, depending on the branch. By the time

the Aitken Savonnerie was woven, the Castellane family had split into several branches. There are three notable members of the family that could have been the original owners of this carpet: Scipion de Castellane, seigneur de Novejan (d. 1681), Horace de Castellane, baron de Norante et de Chaudon (1615-1674) and François de Castellane, comte de Grignan (1632-1714). François de Castellane held the prestigious titles of lieutenant général au gouvernement de Provence and seigneur of the château d’Entrecasteaux. Although the cipher NDC does not correspond with his name, it is possible that it was François de Castellane who acquired, or was gifted, this carpet. Production of Savonnerie carpets at this time was reserved for the order of the King, the Royal family and as dignitary gifts to foreign diplomats and to his loyal courtiers. The Castellane were well-connected at court and enjoyed the King’s favor, which could have afforded them access to such a prestigious and costly object, marked with their coat-of-arms and cipher. In fact, Françoise de Sévigné, an icon of the era, was comtesse de Grignan and thus a member of the Castellane family by marriage.

During the eighteenth century, various branches of the Casetllane became even more influential, playing an important role at court and receiving the privilege of Honneurs de la Cour nine times between 1750 and 1787. The family produced numerous high-ranking officials of the ancien régime, including Michel-Ange de Castellane (1703-1782), French ambassador to the Sublime Porte; Henri-César de Castellane-Majastre (1733-1789), Chef d’Escadre of the royal navy; and Boniface de Castellane (1758-1837), representative of the Second Estate at the Estates General of 1789.

Among members of the Castille family, we do find two people in the midseventeenth century, whose initials are NDC: Nicolas de Castille (d. 1658) and his brother Nicolas Jeannin de Castille (c. 1616-1691), sons of Pierre de Castille and Charlotte Jeannin. Nicolas de Castille was a man of the cloth and served as abbot at various monasteries. Little is known about his life and he died without an heir. Nicolas Jeannin Castille, on the other hand, had an illustrious political career and held a number of official positions, including Commandeur et Greffier des Ordres du Roi, Trésorier de l'Epargne and Conseiller au Parlement de Paris, suggesting that he was highly favored at court and enjoyed the trust of the King. However, his coat-of-arms featured the château fort on a blue field that he later during his life amended with the Jeannine heraldic device of a silver crescent issuing a golden flame. As mentioned above, early Savonnerie carpets were commissioned by the court for specific people and it is plausible that this carpet was woven for Nicolas Jeannin de Castille before he took his mother’s name and coat-of-arms. The distinctive crossed S letters in the coatof-arms of this carpet further adds to the mystery of its provenance as it is not

Detail of an early Savonnerie carpet woven with the cypher of CharlotteMarguerite de Montmorency, Princesse de Condé (1594-1650) Mobilier National, © Isabelle Bideau

featured in either the Castellan or the Castille coat-of-arms. To this day, there is no consensus on the meaning of this symbol; some interpret it as a monetary sign, others as a sign of fortitude or love.

In the twentieth century this carpet belonged to the collector and dealer Francis Guérault (1874-1930), who owned shops in both Paris and Rennes. A photograph taken of his Paris gallery located at 3 rue Roquépine shows the Aitken carpet in situ. Guérault’s collection of eighteenth-century fine and decorative art was auctioned five years after his death. Henry Ford II acquired the carpet in 1964 from Rosenberg & Stiebel for his legendary home in Grosse Pointe, Michigan; the New York dealers had in turn sourced it from the Parisian antiquaire and their frequent business partner, René Weiller. When Ford acquired the carpet, his correspondence with Rosenberg & Stiebel records a belief that it had been "Made for Diane de Poitiers, Château d'Anet". Ford returned the carpet to the dealers in 1966 based purely on his personal taste: he had acquired a carpet "more light and gay", which he believed better suited his interiors. Four years later, Rosenberg & Stiebel sold the carpet to Russell and Annie Laurie Aitken.

Today only three surviving early Savonnerie carpets woven with family crests or ciphers are known. These are preserved at the Mobilier National, with two displaying arms of the Barberini and Thou families, and the third woven with the cipher of Charlotte-Marguerite de Montmorency, Princesse de Condé. A fourth carpet of similar age featuring a family crest, motto, and the cipher PCD (?) is in the collection of the Musée Jacquemart-André, Paris, but its weaving origins are disputed—it is now attributed to an anonymous workshop that was run by former employees of the Savonnerie (see Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais, Un temps d'exubérance: Les Arts Décoratifs sous Louis XIII et Anne d’Autriche, exh. cat., Paris, 2002, p. 189, no. 110).

Most of these so-called Louis XIII carpets, with a few exceptions, are small in size. The smaller carpets were perhaps intended as table carpets rather than floor coverings. Within this prized group, there are very few large-format Louis XIII carpets, and most among them are no longer in private hands, but instead in the collections of key museums or institutions. Smaller carpets of this type periodically appear on the open market, but none comparable in size to the Aitken Savonnerie. Similar smaller carpets include one sold Christie’s, Paris, 20 November 2024, lot 8 (€441,000); another sold Christie’s, New York, 15 June 2021, lot 86 ($400,000); and one with a similar millefleurs design sold Christie’s, London, 4 July 2019, lot 8 (£299,250). The two closest carpets in size are currently in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (obj. nos. 1976.155.113 and 1983.268).

An early Savonnerie carpet sold Christie’s, Paris, 20 November 2024, lot 8, now at the Mobilier National

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A VINCENNES PORCELAIN GILT WHITE ECUELLE, COVER AND STAND (ECUELLE ‘RONDE’ ET PLATEAU ‘ROND’, 2EME GRANDEUR) MADE TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF A ROYAL GRANDSON

CIRCA 1752-1753, BLUE INTERLACED L'S SURMOUNTED BY A DUCAL CROWN AND ENCLOSING A FLEUR-DE-LYS TO BOWL AND STAND, DESIGNED BY JEANCLAUDE DUPLESSIS Richly gilt and chased with vignettes of the Arts and Sciences including Painting, Music, Literature, Geography, Medicine, Culinary Arts, Military Arts, Fishing and Gardening within a decorative half sun-burst and scroll band edging the rims, the fringed flag seen in the military trophy on the side of the bowl chased with the French royal cypher of interlaced L’s also associated with the porcelain manufactory, the center of the stand gilt and chased with two upturned dolphins emblematic of the newborn dauphin within a trellis arch 8Ω in. (21.5 cm.) diameter, the dodecagonal stand (3) $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

Very possibly the gilt-decorated example of the 2nd size delivered to Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (Mme de Pompadour) on 28 December 1752 at a cost of 192 livres (Registre de Ventes XVIII Siècle, 1août 1752 – 30 juillet 1756, Ventes à Crédit depuis le 18bre 1752 jusqu’au 10 7bre 1753, p. 5).

With S.J. Phillips, London, 1960s.

Acquired from the above by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

Jean-Martial Frédou (1710–1795) Portrait of Louis-Joseph Xavier de France, duc de Bourgogne (1751-1761)

The present broth bowl was almost certainly made to celebrate the birth on 13 September 1751 of the dauphin Louis Joseph Xavier, duc de Bourgogne. Eldest son of Louis Dauphin (1729-1765) and Marie-Josephe de Saxe (1731-1767) and the first surviving grandson of Louis XV (1710-1774), the royal prince sadly died of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of nine. His three younger brothers, the ducs de Berry, de Provence and d’Artois, later became kings of France as Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. It is not possible to confirm exactly when the present écuelle with decoration related to the birth of the baby prince was made, as the earliest surviving production records for the royally supported Vincennes manufactory date to the year after his birth. The sale to Mme de Pompadour on 28 December 1752 of an écuelle, cover and stand of the 2nd size at a cost of 192 livres for the set, its decoration described as gilt white (blanc et or) gives us a clue. In Dame Rosalind Savill’s magnum opus Everyday Rococo – Madame de Pompadour & Sèvres Porcelain, London, 2021, vol. I, pp. 251-Fig. 9.33, 252, this purchase by Mme de Pompadour is described as perhaps intended as a gift to the marquise’s father. However, the high cost of the piece warranted by the richness of its decoration, the decorative elements of a dolphin and of a flag incised with the royal cypher of interlaced Ls, and the rare factory mark found on both bowl and stand that combines the same cypher with a fleur-de-lys and a ducal crown point to it being intended more likely as a gift to the king.

The king himself is known to have purchased a gilt-decorated écuelle, cover and stand a few days earlier. In entry 1306 of his Livre Journal, Lazare Duvaux describes the delivery to Louis XV (S.M. le Roy) on 24 December 1752 of a selection of gilt white Vincennes porcelain pieces including an écuelle, cover and stand, the porcelain presented in a fitted lacquer box lined in pink moiré silk. Rosalind Savill has identified this ensemble as a gift from the king to Queen Barbara of Spain [op cit, p. 255].

In the inventory of the entire stock of the Vincennes manufactory dated 1 October 1752, one can see the full range then in production. Included are many écuelles. The form, designed by Jean-Claude Duplessis, was intended for use by

a lady or a gentleman in the bedroom or boudoir rather than in the dining room.

Broth bowls, covers and stands can be identified in different sizes and with variations in the shape and size of the stand and in the handles and finials.

Rosalind Savill has suggested that écuelles with fish finials may have been intended for serving fish bouillon on Fridays or during religious holidays.

Regardless, decoration on écuelles with fish finials is always of the highest quality, often depicting fish or waterfowl. The same is true of the present gilt-trophy decorated example. She suggested the likelihood that the present example was made in celebration of the newborn royal prince to Mrs. Aitken when she visited her apartment in April 2002.

See also Rosalind Savill, The Wallace Collection, Catalogue of Sèvres Porcelain, London, 1988, vol. II, pp. 642; and Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, vol. III, pp. 933-937, no. 262.

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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A PAIR OF SEVRES PORCELAIN BLEU LAPIS WINE GLASS COOLERS (SEAUX ‘A LIQUEUR ROND’) CIRCA 1761, BLUE INTERLACED L'S ENCLOSING DATE LETTER H ABOVE THE PAINTER’S MARK FOR F.-J. ALONCLE TO EACH, ONE INCISED ND

Each painted front and back with two birds in a landscape vignette reserved on the mottled dark blue ground within a lobed gilt ciselé cartouche of foliate scrolls issuing flowers, a loose bouquet of similar flowers beneath each foliate scroll and shell handle 7 in. (17.8 cm.) wide overall (2) $6,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

Laura Bache Kayser Bayer, Countess de Sala (1874-1961); Sotheby Parke-Bernet Inc., New York, The Countess Sala Collection of French Furniture Bronze Dore, Paintings, Sculptures, Porcelains, Silver, Tapestries, Rugs, 18 November 1961, lot 167.

Acquired from the above by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

François-Joseph Aloncle is recorded at Sèvres as a painter specializing in birds 1758-1781.

For another pair in the British royal collection, similarly marked and decorated, see Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Royal Collection Publications, 2009, vol. II, cat. no. 141, pp. 581-582.

Dated 1761, the decoration on all four coolers is very close to that found on a selection of Sèvres porcelain acquired by Louis XV’s son-in-law Filippo, Duke of Parma and delivered not long before his death on 18 July 1765. The biggest difference is found in the gilt cartouches enclosing the vignettes of birds in landscapes, those on the Parma service including diaper pattern panels at the sides not found on the present coolers.

See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, Privately Printed, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, vol. II, no. 65-2, pp. 357-358. Also Christie’s Paris, Le Goût Français, 4 May 2016, lot 226 for the ice pails, covers and liners and lot 227 for two triangular dishes from the Parma service, now in a private collection.

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A VINCENNES PORCELAIN GOLD-MOUNTED EWER AND HINGED COVER (BROC COUVERT, 3EME GRANDEUR) CIRCA 1752-1756

Painted with flowers beneath a blue enamel feathered border, the gold hinge stamped with Paris discharge mark for 1750-1756 7º in. (18.4 cm.) high $5,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

Mr. & Mrs. Deane Johnson, Bel Aire, CA; Sotheby Parke-Bernet, Inc., New York, Highly Important French Furniture, Decorations, and Extremely Fine Continental Porcelain, 9 December 1972, lot 4.

With James A. Lewis & Sons, New York.

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

S.J. Philips, London, purchased at the Winter Antique Show, Park Avenue Armory, 26 January 1976.

Acquired from the above by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

LITERATURE:

Svend Eriksen and Geoffry De Bellaigue, Sevres Porcelain: Vincennes and Sevres 17401800. p. 232-233, illus.

Helen Harris, "A Shop Fit for a Czar", Town & Country, vol. 129, Issue 4638, December, 1978, pp. 156-157, 198.

Please see christies.com for further information regarding this lot.

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TWO SEVRES PORCELAIN GLASS COOLERS (SEAUX ‘CRENELES’)

1759 AND 1761, BLUE INTERLACED L'S MARKS TO BOTH, ONE WITH DATE LETTER F, PAINTER’S MARK FOR VAVASSEUR BELOW, INCISED LOWERCASE CN; THE OTHER WITH DATE LETTER H, AS YET UNIDENTIFIED PAINTERS MARK OF AN ERMINE BELOW, INCISED SCRIPT B.P AND A QUARTERED LOZENGE

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Each oval with crenelated rim and foliate side handles, painted with loose bouquets scattered above a wide shaped camaieu bleu diaper-pattern band surmounted by a further band of foliate scrolls centering shells, concentric blue-line-and-gilt-dash and gilt line rims and footrims 12Ω in. (31.8 cm.) and 12 in. (30.5 cm.) long, overall (2) $3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

With Pierre de Regaini, 6 rue du Beaune, Paris, 16 April 1971.

Acquired from the above by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

Please see christies.com for further information regarding this lot.

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A PAIR OF SEVRES HARD-PASTE PORCELAIN LARGE BOTTLE COOLERS (SEAUX ‘ORDINAIRE’, 1ERE GRANDEUR)

A ROYAL SEVRES PORCELAIN GLASS COOLER FROM THE SERVICE 'A PERLES ET BARBEAUX' (SEAU A VERRE)

CIRCA 1780, CROWNED INTERLACED L'S MARKS

1781, BLUE INTERLACED L'S ENCLOSING DATE LETTERS DD, PAINTER’S MARK FOR NOEL

Each richly painted with a continuous arched looped flower garland, the widest arch enclosing a loose bouquet, a smaller bouquet below the foliate scroll and shell handles, gilt laurel and foliate scrolls suspending harebells echoing the garland below the molded rim 10 in. (25.5 cm.) wide, overall (2)

Painted below the rim with a wide band of scattered cornflower sprigs between narrower gilt-edged olive-green ribbons realistically painted with trompe l’oeil pearls alternate with tiny gold beads, the foliate scroll and shell handles enriched in gilt, gilt filets along the rim and foot rim 6¬in. (17 cm.) wide overall

$5,000-8,000

$15,000-20,000

PROVENANCE:

PROVENANCE:

Xavier Roger Marie, comte de Chavagnac (1886-1918), by tradition.

With Bensimon, 20 rue Royale, Paris, 18 May 1973 (described as “flower stands” on the shipping paperwork).

Acquired from the above by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

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Marie-Antoinette, Queen of France, delivered 2 January 1782.

La Princess de Broglie.

Collection Dillée; Sotheby’s, Paris, Les Dillée : Une Dynastie D’experts Et De Collectionneurs, 18 March 2015, lot 76.

With Michele Beiny, Inc., New York, 2018.

Acquired from the above by Irene Roosevelt Aitken.

LITERATURE:

Christian Baulez, “Vers un Retour de Sèvres”, Revue du Louvre, December 1991, pp.

69-70.

David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, privately printed, Little Berkhamsted, 2005, vol. III, no. 81-13, pp. 645-646.

A fairly comprehensive dinner and dessert service of some 295 pieces, made at a total cost of 12,420 livres, the Service à Perles et Barbeaux may have been used as a principal service at one of the lesser royal châteaux, perhaps Trianon where the queen had two vast dining-rooms. The present small glass cooler is one of twenty-four seaux included in it at a cost of some 48 livres each, recorded in the Sèvres Sales Registers for 2 January 1782 as having been featured in the end-of-year sale the previous year.

A part service with very similar decoration, and probably part of the same Royal service, was sold Christie’s London, 28 June 1893, lots 373 and 374 (Lord Revelstoke). This same group reappeared on the market over eighty years later in an auction organized by Etude Ader at Palais Galliera, 29 November 1976, lot 384. Pieces from the service have since appeared sporadically at auction. The Victoria and Albert Museum, the musée du Louvre and the Palais de Versailles each retain examples of the service in their collection.

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SEVRES PORCELAIN CARMINE-GROUND GLASS COOLER (SEAU A VERRE A DRAPERIE)

CIRCA 1770, GILT INTERLACED L'S ABOVE SCRIPT LG MARK FOR E.-H. LE GUAY Of typical bucket form, applied with a heavy swag of white drapery gilt with foliate scrolls, flowers and diaper patterns, edged with a thick richly chased gilt fringe and suspended from a rosette-form curtain holdback on the rich carmine ground, the ends of the swag crossing and suspended on either side of the embrasse de rideau, the molded rim gilt with a laurel vine, gilt rim and foot rim 5æ in. (14.5 cm.) wide, overall $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

Almost certainly one from the pair purchased by Charles Henri Nicolas Othon, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1745-1809) on 7 March 1782 at a cost of 84 livres each.

With Adrian Sassoon, London.

With John Whitehead, London.

Alistair Clarke, London, 1990s.

With John Whitehead, London.

Acquired from the above by Irene Roosevelt Aitken at the International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, London, 15 June 2001.

LITERATURE:

John Whitehead, The French Interior in the 18th Century, p. 62, illus.

International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, Handbook, London, 2001, Illus.

John Whitehead, French Porcelain: International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, Stand A4, June 2001, no. 60

Possibly the only extant example of this form, the present glass cooler is almost certainly one of the pair listed in the factory’s sales records as 2 seaux a verre à draperie delivered 7 March 1782 to the Prince of Nassau at cost of 84 livres each or 168 livres for the two. Also noted is their return two years later for reimbursement at the same price: Rendu le 1er Juillet 1784 – 168 On his invoice for the purchase, John Whitehead posits that the gilt white fauxdrapery applied to the dark ruby glass cooler may represent the white damask napkin that would have been draped around the body of a silver cooler in order to absorb condensation.

A beau bleu vase 'bouteille en écharpes', its belly similarly draped, is in The Wallace Collection, London, inv. no. C279. Here, the draped fabric is skimpy in comparison with that found on the present seau, but the conceit of two pieces of fabric draped around a curved object, supported at the sides by gilt curtain tiebacks is the same.

Etienne-Henri Le Guay père is recorded at Vincennes-Sèvres at first as a painter specializing in friezes and later as a gilder 1748-49 and again 1751-1797.

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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, TULIPWOOD AND MARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

BY NICOLAS PETIT, CIRCA 1775

Rectangular with outset corners, overall with marquetry panels depicting vases, writing utensils, books, music and flowers, the fitted frieze drawer with a leather-lined writing surface, over a tambour shutter, on guttae-headed square tapering legs and block feet, stamped 'N. PETIT' twice, an old label inside the drawer inscribed in black '3399' 29æ in. (76 cm.) high, 18Ω in. (47 cm.) wide, 13 in. (33.5 cm.) deep $12,000-18,000

PROVENANCE:

Comte Alain de Montaigu.

With Perrin, Paris at The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show, New York.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above, 26 October 2000.

EXHIBITED:

New York, The International Fine Art & Antique Dealers Show, 19-26 October 2000.

Nicolas Petit (1732-1791), maître in 1761.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED GREY BARDIGLIO MARBLE PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS POSSIBLY AUSTRIAN, CIRCA 1792

One depicting Emperor Francis Il of Austria (1768-1835) wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece and the Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, the other depicting his second wife, Maria Theresa of Naples (1772-1807), each molded circular frame with ormolu banding and a conforming hanging-loop 6æ in. (17.5 cm.) high, overall (2) $5,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

An identical pair of portrait silhouettes are at Waddesdon Manor (see T. Hodgkinson, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor, Sculpture, London, 1970, nos. 44-45).

Hodgkinson concludes that the portraits probably date from 1792, when Francis II became Holy Roman Emperor on the death of his father Leopold II; only then was he entitled to wear the insignia of Grand Master of the Order of Maria Theresa, his grandmother. Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily was the Emperor's double first cousin, whom he married in 1790 as his second wife, and who was mother to all of his children.

An identical pair of portrait silhouettes was sold 'The Gothick Pavilion: Byron to Beaton', Christie’s, London, 9 December 2010, lot 81. With a number of these portrait roundels surviving in various collections, it is possible that they were originally made to commemorate the coronation of Francis II.

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A LOUIS XVI STYLE GILTWOOD NICHE A CHIEN 20TH CENTURY

Rectangular with an arched roof, carved overall with leaves, ribbons, beading and roses, the padded sides covered blue with grey-blue silk in the chinoiserie taste, the padded interior in white silk, on turned fluted toupie feet, stamped spuriously 'G. IACOB' 16æ in. (43 cm.) high, 13º in. (34 cm.) wide, 13º in. (34 cm.) deep $2,000-3,000 PROVENANCE:

With The Antique Company of New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 16 August 1968.

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A PAIR OF LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU AND PATINATEDBRONZE CHENETS IN THE MANNER OF QUENTIN-CLAUDE PITOIN, CIRCA 1765-1770

Modeled as a seated lion and boar, each on a footed plinth base centered by a satyr mask flanked by oak and acorn sprays 12Ω in. (32 cm.) high, the slightly taller $12,000-18,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 14 January 1971.

(2)

The figure of the boar on this pair of chenets closely relates this lot to the oeuvre of the bronzier Quentin-Claude Pitoin (c. 1725-1777). Pitoin’s most well-known chenets, modeled as a boar paired with a recumbent stag, were supplied by him for Madame du Barry's salon octagone at Fontainebleau in 1772 (see P. Verlet, Les Bronzes Dorés Français du XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 1987, pp.

57-59). The pair was later placed by Louis XVI in his library at Versailles, and thereafter at the Palais des Tuileries. Both Pitoin and the bronzier responsible for these chenets were clearly influenced by the ancient Porcellino sculpture that was discovered in Rome some two centuries earlier, alongside other figures making up a hunting scene. The marble boar is documented in a Roman guide from 1556, but by 1568 had been moved to Florence as a gift from Pope Pius IV to Cosimo de’ Medici, who subsequently installed it in the Uffizi by 1591, where it remains (inv. 1914 n. 63). Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was widely admired as one of the most impressive and naturalistic work of ancient sculpture. Pietro Tacca and Antonio Susini both executed the figure in bronze and it quickly became an immensely popular subject among Grand Tourists in the 1700s. Tacca’s rendition even eclipsed the ancient original in popularity, making it an enduring subject for gilt and patinated works of contemporaneous decorative art.

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A PAIR OF ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CRACKLEGLAZED (GE-TYPE) PORCELAIN BRUSH-POTS

THE ORMOLU PROBABLY MID-18TH CENTURY, THE PORCELAIN OF A LATER DATE Each porcelain body of cylindrical form, the scrolling rim-mount issuing bifurcated scrolling foliate handles cast with berries, on a pierced scrolled base, the ormolu struck numerous times with spurious 'C' couronné poinçon marks 8æ in. (22.5 cm.) high (2) $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With Partridge, London.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above, 22 October 1997.

HAREWOOD HOUSE AND THE TASTE FOR CHINESE PORCELAIN

T

he porcelain collection of the Earls of Harewood was considered one of the finest in England, and still includes a significant amount of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, now displayed in the Gallery at Harewood House, Yorkshire. An 1838 inventory 'List of China, Harewood House, London', that was later transferred to Yorkshire, reveals that among the house collections were 97 pieces of Chinese porcelain described as 'Green' or 'Mandarin' and 15 pieces of ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, including two sets of 'Three large Green Mandarin Jars with Ormolu mountings' in the 'Little Drawing Room' (WYAS, WYL250/3/Acs/519). These two superb vases belonged to this group, and were sold directly from Harewood at Christie’s in 1965. They can clearly be seen in an early 20th century photograph of The Gallery at Harewood, illustrated here. The Gallery was the glorious culmination to the parade of rooms on the piano nobile, designed by Robert Adam (1728-92) for Edwin Lascelles, 1st Baron Harewood (1713-95), in the mid-1760s, and as such it was the most impressive, displaying an ‘exceptional degree of costly enrichment’. In the earliest guide book to Harewood House, dated 1819, John Jewell described this magnificent room as: ‘This room extends over the whole west end of the house, and is seventy-six feet six inches, by twenty-four feet three inches, twentyone feet three inches high; it is truly elegant, and presents such a show of magnificence and art, as eye hath seldom seen, and words cannot describe’.

Edward ‘Beau’ Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (1740-1820)

Although it is not documented, it is likely that these vases were acquired by Edward, Viscount Lascelles (d. 1814), eldest son and heir of the 1st Earl. Known as 'Beau' for his physical resemblance to the Prince of Wales, his reputation as a collector was already recognized during his lifetime, when a contemporary diarist noted, 'Young Mr. Lascelles has a taste for the arts' (C. Kennedy, Harewood, The Life and Times of an English Country House, London, 1982, p. 124). Beau Lascelles patronized the London antique dealer, Robert Fogg of Golden Square and Regent Street, buying in 1807 a quantity of Sèvres wares and 'a pair of sea green China Jars' for the sum of £600 (Mary Mauchline, Harewood House, London, 1974, p.117). Fogg, who described himself as 'Chinaman to the Prince Regent', was among of the preeminent antique dealers of the Regency period, cultivating a roster of the era's most prestigious clients. These included George IV, to whom Fogg sold two 12-foot pagodas comprised of Chinese porcelain plaques for the Brighton Pavilion at a cost of £420, and the antiquarian William Beckford (d. 1844), who acquired 'sea-green bottles incredibly decorated with bronze' from Fogg in July 1814. In 1837, the diarist Thomas Raikes (d. 1848) remarked upon the 'finest collection of old china in England' in the Hanover Square property of Lord Harewood that 'Fogg, the chinaman has in vain offered Lord Harewood immense sums' but which having belonged to Beau Lascelles, was retained by the family as a souvenir of him (T. Raikes, A Portion of the Journal kept by Thomas Raikes from 18311847, vol. 3, p. 184).

A further possibility is that this vase was acquired by Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (d. 1820) who was furnishing Harewood House and Roxburghe House (later also named Harewood House) in Hanover Square, London. Entries in the 1st Earl's personal accounts record that Fogg was supplying 'China Wares' (WYAS WYL250/3/Acs/190, 8 April 1801, 'To paid Fogg for Glass & China Wares'). Furthermore, in 1807, an invoice raised by Fogg for the 1st Earl lists a pair of 'Sea Green Vases with white rais'd flowers Mounted' for £168 (WYAS WYL250/acc4111). In 1810, the personal accounts show that the 1st Earl spent an impressive £1,400 with Fogg (C. Kennedy, op.cit., p. 124).

THE VASES As much as the Aitken vases reflect the English collecting taste of the early nineteenth century, they embody even more the decorative taste of Paris in the mid-eighteenth century, when they were set into their magnificent ormolu mounts. The French practice of mounting Asian ceramics in European metalwork, recorded as early as the fourteenth century, took on a new life in the eighteenth century, as gilt bronze replaced silver as the preferred mounting medium, and mounts themselves took on new and more complex, sculptural forms.

Just as the marchand-merciers of Paris were responsible for the supply of Asian porcelain to their networks of clients, so too did they maintain close networks within the guilds of bronze casters and chasers (fondeurs-ciseleurs) and gilders (doreurs), who could produce mounts to enrich their wares. By framing the precious Chinese porcelain in sumptuous gilt-bronze, these craftsmen transformed them into entirely new objects, aligning them with the latest tastes of the era's most elite collectors. As Carolyn Sargentson notes, the practice of mounting porcelains allowed them to move beyond being seen as foreign novelties, integrating them instead into “the French canon of good design and craftsmanship” (C. Sargentson, Merchants and Luxury Markets, London, 1996, p. 62).

The two present spectacular vases from Harewood shed a fascinating light on the practices of the Parisian marchand-merciers. The gilt bronzes clearly originate from the same workshop, but each has been cleverly adapted to the unique contours of its specific Chinese porcelain vase. A close inspection has also revealed the strong possibility that the base of the taller vase was cast from the base of the other, suggesting that the smaller of the two vases, was supplied first. This invites us to speculate either that the same, or another, client requested a further mounted vase of the same design, for which the mounts then had to be adapted to accommodate a related, but different porcelain shape—demonstrating all the more the ingenuity of the marchand-merciers.

The gallery of Harewood House showing lot 255 and 256 in situ, circa 1908

Drawing for a related vase in the Saxe Teschen album

The mounts of each vase, with their distinctively asymmetrically pierced bases and elaborate scrolling handles, form part of a distinct group of mounted vases from an as yet unidentified workshop. Other examples include a vase with virtually identical base and body of powder-blue porcelain, sold Christie’s, New York, 12 December 2024, lot 50 ($201,600) and a vase in crackle-glazed porcelain with companion ewers in the Louvre Museum, Paris (illustrated in D. Alcouffe, Gilt Bronzes in the Louvre, Dijon, 2004, pp. 91-93, cat.

41-42). It is also interesting to note a further related vase in crackle-glazed porcelain, with similar high arching handles, illustrated in the celebrated Saxe-Teschen album, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (F. Watson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain, Washington, 1986, p. 126) which is thought to have been created as a presentation album from the marchand-mercier Dominique Daguerre either to showcase works of art already in the collection of the Duke and Archduchess of Saxe-Teschen or to provide an illustrated offering of pieces available in his stock. The album combines pieces in the latest Neoclassical fashion with others in the earlier Louis XV pittoresque style, showing that such richly mounted vases clearly remained in favor with sophisticated collectors, even in the 1780s.

Harewood House

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN VASE

THE MOUNTS CIRCA 1750, THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722) The vase of gu form, carved all-over with chilong dragons flying amid clouds, the foliate scrolling rim issuing acanthus-cast bifurcated handles, on a pierced and scrolled spreading base 20Ω in. (52.5 cm.) high $200,000-300,000 PROVENANCE:

Either acquired by Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (1740-1820), or his eldest son, Edward 'Beau', Viscount Lascelles (1764-1814) for Harewood House, Yorkshire; Thence by descent to George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (1923-2011); Christie's, London, 1 July 1965, lot 50.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 25 February 1969.

EXHIBITED:

London, The Royal Academy, Burlington House, London Exhibition of French Art from 1200-1900, 4 January - 12 March 1932, no. 603.

Memphis, Dixon Gallery, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, 3 May - 15 June 1990, no. 35.

LITERATURE:

Harewood House 1892 Inventory, p. 32, in the West Hall.

P. Macquoid, The History of English Furniture (Volume IV): The Age of Satinwood, 1770-1820, London, 1904, p. 127, fig. 117.

'Harewood House, Yorkshire, the Seat of the Earl of Harewood', Country Life 36, no. 913, 4 July 1914, p. 24.

C. Batigne, exhibition catalogue, London Exhibition of French Art from 1200-1900, London, The Royal Academy, Burlington House, 1932, p. 307, no. 603.

P. Hunter-Stiebel, exhibition catalogue, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, Memphis, Dixon Gallery, 1990, pp. 50-51 and 93, no. 35, fig. 51.

D. Gimelson, 'French Rococo Decorative Arts', The Magazine Antiques, p. 704, fig. VIII.

The Harewood House 1892 Inventory

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN VASE THE MOUNTS CIRCA 1750, THE PORCELAIN 18TH CENTURY

The vase of gu form, incised all-over with archaistic motifs, the foliate scrolling rim issuing acanthus-cast bifurcated handles, on a pierced and scrolled spreading base 18æ in. (48 cm.) high $200,000-300,000 PROVENANCE:

Either acquired by Edward Lascelles, 1st Earl of Harewood (1740-1820), or his eldest son, Edward 'Beau', Viscount Lascelles (1764-1814) for Harewood House, Yorkshire; Thence by descent to George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood (1923-2011); Christie's, London, 1 July 1965, lot 50.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 25 February 1969.

EXHIBITED:

London, The Royal Academy, Burlington House, London Exhibition of French Art from 1200-1900, 4 January - 12 March 1932, no. 603.

Memphis, Dixon Gallery, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, 3 May - 15 June 1990, no. 35.

LITERATURE:

Harewood House 1892 Inventory, p. 32, in the West Hall.

P. Macquoid, The History of English Furniture (Volume IV): The Age of Satinwood, 1770-1820, London, 1904, p. 127, fig.

117.

'Harewood House, Yorkshire, the Seat of the Earl of Harewood', Country Life 36, no. 913, 4 July 1914, p. 24.

C. Batigne, exhibition catalogue, London Exhibition of French Art from 1200-1900, London, The Royal Academy, Burlington House, 1932, p. 307, no. 603.

P. Hunter-Stiebel, exhibition catalogue, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour: A Love Affair with Style, Memphis, Dixon Gallery, 1990, pp. 50-51 and 93, no. 35, fig. 51.

D. Gimelson, 'French Rococo Decorative Arts', The Magazine Antiques, p. 704, fig. VIII.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN POT-POURRI VASE AND COVER

THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU MOUNTS CIRCA 1755 The porcelain carved all-over with scrolling peonies and foliage, the domed cover pierced and mounted with a flowering finial, the body with a pierced ormolu rim cast with scrolling leaves, flanked by vigorously scrolling handles cast with acanthus and berries, on a foliate scrolling base 11 in. (28 cm.) wide $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

Anonymous sale; Christie's, Monaco, 17 June 2000 lot 408.

Partridge; Christie's, New York, 17 May 2006, lot 5.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

LITERATURE:

Partridge, French & Continental Furniture & Works of Art, 2001 catalogue, London, pp.

6 and 52-53, cat. no. 20.

With its vigorous and naturalistically-modeled scrolling foliage, this pot-pourri vase reflects the Louis XV pittoresque style promoted by marchands-merciers such as Lazare Duvaux. As his Livre-Journal testifies, Duvaux sold vases of this general form as early as 6 December 1751 to the marquise de Pompadour, as well as Deux pots pourris céladon, montés en bronze doré d'or moulu 288 livres to the comtesse de Bentleim on 15 December 1756. He is also known to have employed the bronzier Jean-Claude Duplessis to mount Chinese porcelain, such as the vase sold to the marquise de Voyer on 21 August 1753: La Monture en cuivre ciselé d'un vase du porcelaine bleu, payée à M. Duplessis.

A firm attribution of the present object to a specific bronzier, however, is not at present possible, as both Thomas Germain and Jacques Caffiéri have also been suggested as possible authors of this form of mounted vase.

Related ormolu-mounted celadon porcelain pots-pourris, stamped with the C couronné poinçon but of slightly larger size, include the single vase sold by the Trustees of the Luton Hoo Foundation, Christie's, London, 9 June 1994, lot 32; a pair in the J. Paul Getty Museum (see F.J.B. Watson and G. Wilson, Mounted Oriental Porcelain in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, 1982, no. 10, pp. 5357); and a pair in the Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco (see D. F. Lunsingh Scheuleer, Chinesisches und japanisches Porzellan in europaïschen Fassungen, Braunschweig, 1980, p. 323, no. 304).

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A PAIR OF FRENCH GILTWOOD PLIANTS

AFTER THE MODEL ATTRIBUTED TO FOLIOT OR TILLIARD, 19TH/20TH CENTURY In the early Louis XV style, each with a rectangular blue velvet cushion with tassels above pierced scrolling X-shaped supports centered by paterae and carved with flowerfilled entrelacs, joined by runners carved with shells, flowers and foliage and terminating in scrolls, each with a spurious Versailles brand of crowned interlaced 'V's 22 in. (56 cm.) high (over loose cushion), 24Ω in. (62.5 cm.) wide, 18º in. (46.5 cm.) deep (2) $10,000-20,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Winston Frederick Churchill Guest (1906-1982), New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 2 December 1967, lot 130.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

These pliants, or folding stools, richly ornamented with lush foliage, treillages and flower-filled entrelacs, are faithful reproductions of those delivered to the Garde Meuble de la Couronne circa 1735-1740 for use in the State Apartments.

The maker, or makers, of those stools is not known, but Royal furniture in that era was supplied to the court by the best furniture makers, including members of the Foliot and Tilliard dynasties. A pliant of this model is also depicted in the 1751 portrait of Louis XV by Carle Van Loo. Folding stools of this type were employed almost exclusively at the royal court, and their use was strictly regulated by the hierarchical dictates of etiquette, whereby courtiers were required to be seated on stools in the presence of the King or Queen, who alone were permitted a chair with arms, emblematic of the power of the throne, a symbolic link extending from as early as the Middle Ages. Thus, the inventory of Louis XIV's mobilier listed no fewer than 1,323 stools at Versailles. The tradition extended right to the end of monarchical rule in France. Even Marie Antoinette, always keen to decorate her private apartments in the latest fashions, furnished her Grand Appartement with pliants and tabourets.

Nine examples of this model are now in Louis XIV's Bedchamber at Versailles, all acquired since 1951, along with two early copies and a modern copy made in 1978 (see D. Meyer, The Furniture of Versailles, Dijon, 2002, vol. I, p. 30, cat. 1.).

The following examples of pliants of this model are recorded, although it is difficult to trace which might be duplicates of examples from earlier sales: - a pair from the collection of Mme. de Polès, sold Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 22-24 June 1927, lot 219 - a pair in the Grellou collection (see P. Devinoy, Le Siège en France du Moyen Age à Nos Jours, Paris, 1948, figs. 81-84), and probably the pair acquired by Versailles in 1951 - a white-painted and parcel-gilt pair from the collection of Lady Baron, sold Sotheby's, London, 17 April 1964, lot 58 - a pair in the Wrightsman Collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, each marked with a Versailles brand (obj. nos. 1971.206.9-10) - a single example, formerly in the Georges Hoentschel Collection, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (obj. no. 07.225.484) - a pair from the collection of Antenor Patiño, sold Palais Galliéra, Paris, 6 June 1975, lot 96, acquired by Versailles - a single stool, lacking gilding and instead with brown and beige decoration, from the collection of Marietta Tree, sold Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 8-9 October 1976, lot 351, probably one of three acquired by Versailles in 1976 WINSTON AND C.Z. GUEST Winston Frederick Churchill Guest, a descendent of the famed English Churchill family, and his wife Lucy Douglas ‘C.Z.’ Guest were passionate collectors, especially of Asian art. Winston was exposed to Chinese culture and Chinese porcelains as a Marine in the Pacific theater during World War II. ‘C.Z.’ Guest was a woman of many talents: an actress, author, designer, gardener, figure skater, equestrian and style icon. Guest’s discerning nature extended into her homes, especially her Long Island residence, Templeton, designed by renowned French firm Maison Jansen and Stéphane Boudin. As a muse, C. Z. Guest was imaged by Warhol, Salvador Dalí and Cecil Beaton.

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A NEAR PAIR OF REGENCE ORMOLU SIX-LIGHT CHANDELIERS

IN THE MANNER OF ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE, ONE CIRCA 1720-1730, THE OTHER CIRCA 1730-1740 Each knopped central stem of hexagonal section and applied with acanthus and female masks, issuing six scrolling candle-arms each cast with three C-scrolls each enclosing a palmette, terminating in palmette and strapwork-cast drip-pans, above a finial cast with scrolls, berries and leaves, minor differences in gilding, chasing and dimensions, the slightly later chandelier with one additional reel-shaped element 26 in. (66.5 cm.) high, 29Ω in. (75 cm.) diameter, the slightly earlier chandelier 27 in. (69 cm.) high, 30 in. (76.5 cm.) diameter, the slightly later chandelier (2) $300,000-500,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 November 1968.

These magnificent ormolu chandeliers, a very rare near pair, are the embodiment of the grandeur and luxury associated with the reign of Louis XIV and the Régence. Because of the immense work, material and artistry required to create these chandeliers, they ranked among the most costly items produced in the ateliers of leading bronziers at the time. The Aitken chandeliers are indeed most closely related to the oeuvre of the single most influential and celebrated craftsmen of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, André-Charles Boulle himself.

Primarily known as a cabinetmaker, Boulle was equally well-versed in drawing, painting, sculpture and the casting of gilt bronzes. As ébéniste du Roi, he was free from the restrictions of guild regulations and was afforded the privilege to work outside his own designated specialty. As a result, his workshop was permitted to produce a variety of gilt bronze objects, including chandeliers, which he began producing circa 1700. His engravings published by Mariette, circa 1720, under the title 'Nouveau desseins...' are an invaluable source of information on of his production. A number of designs for chandeliers were published, and though many of these were not executed to the letter, various combinations and variations of these designs can be identified among Boulle's known chandeliers.

The design of the Aitken chandeliers is most related to three known examples: a six-light model attributed to Boulle sold Christie’s, New York, 23 October 1998, lot 102 from the collection of André Meyer; another formerly in the Riahi Collection, sold 6 December 2012, lot 10; and an eight-light example at the Residenz in Ansbach, Germany. All of these chandeliers share a multi-faceted (hexagonal or octagonal) central socle and turned and berried inverted knops.

The hexagonal socle also features on a Boulle design published by Mariette for a 'grand lustre a huit branches'; while a design by Daniel Marot, from his Nouveau Livre d'Orfèvrie Inventé par Marot Architecte du Roi, published in 1710 but conceptually dating from twenty to thirty years earlier, shows the use of paneled S-scroll arms decorated with husk-trails.

Chandelier designs by André-Charles Boulle

Stylistically, the Aitken chandeliers belong securely in the early eighteenth century, retaining the grandeur of the Baroque era while clearly anticipating the arrival of the Rococo. Their arms are relatively tightly curved, and are cast with acanthus leaves, contrasting with those found on earlier Louis XIV silver models of the 1680s. The use of these consoles carrées clearly indicates a departure from the architectural precision of the Baroque towards Régence sensibilities, suggesting a production after 1720. The arms on these chandeliers are cast en coquille and are particularly close to those on an example by the Boulle workshop dated 1728-30, now at the château de La Roche-Guyon (see M. Deldicque, André-Charles Boulle, Saint-Rémy-en-l'Eau, 2024, pp. 272-79), and another at Drottningholm. The female masks of the upper vases of the Aitken chandeliers also relate to those mounted between the arms on some other Boulle examples, including one in the Royal Palace, Stockholm (documented in situ since the early eighteenth century) and one at the musée du Louvre (OA 5101).

The many similarities above strongly suggest that the model for the Aitken chandeliers was produced at the Boulle atelier. Boulle himself retired in 1715, but left his workshop and entire production to his sons, who were extremely familiar with their father’s practices and continued his legacy for decades.

Early provenance for the Aitken chandeliers is not known, as without specific characteristics the identification of such chandeliers in eighteenth-century inventories or sale catalogues remains tentative. Lustres à six branches de cuivre doré are recorded in eighteenth-century documents but detailed descriptions are rare, rendering it almost impossible to trace the early history of a specific work. Furthermore, many of chandeliers that were recorded in the eighteenth-century were dispersed after the Revolution, only adding to the difficulty and complexity of their research. Single ormolu chandeliers are included relatively frequently in eighteenth-century auction catalogues and also appear periodically on today’s market. Pairs of chandeliers, however, are extremely rarely offered on the art market; the only documented mention of a pair in an eighteenth-century auction catalogue was lot 196 and 197 in the anonymous sale of Comte Guillaume du Barry (separated husband of Madame du Barry), on 21 November 1774 (see H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. II, Munich, 1986, p. 504).

The related chandelier sold from the Riahi Collection at Christie’s in 2012

TECHNICAL ANALYSIS It is uncertain whether the Aitken chandeliers were conceived as a pair. Few pairs and sets of identical, or almost identical, chandeliers are recorded and survive to this day, such as the set of four chandeliers at the Residenz in Ansbach. The Ansbach set furthermore did not originate as a group of four, but instead began with the delivery from France of a single chandelier, after which a

matching group of three were subsequently cast by local court bronziers Joseph Bianchini and Jean Houdan (see ibid, vol. I, p. 55, fig. 1.16.11). This in no way diminishes the artistic value of the three later-cast models, but rather highlights the pragmatic eighteenth-century practice of using existing gilt bronze works as surrogates, when the chef-modèle was not available.

There are a number of subtle differences in size, construction, execution and gilding between the two Aitken chandeliers, which together suggest that one of them is of slightly later manufacture. On the very slightly larger chandelier, every element is sand-cast and finished with leaf gilding, while the other one is smaller and shows signs of lost-wax casting, thus implying that it is most probably an aftercast of a chandelier of this model. Its gilding also differs from that of the slightly larger one, and its surface is chased differently. For one example, the chased panels of the larger chandelier are framed with lines comprise of minute joined dots, whereas the equivalent panels on the smaller chandelier are marked off by sharp smooth lines. The differences in chasing are most apparent in the female masks, which are drawn differently and finished with more texture on the larger chandelier. This also suggests that the masks on the smaller chandelier are not aftercasts of a chandelier of this model. Taken generally, the individual elements of the larger chandelier, such as the drip pans, nozzles and masks, are as a rule more robust and heavier.

The related chandelier at the Residenz Ansbach

Subtle differences are also observable inside each chandelier. At its core, the leaf-gilt chandelier is held together by a central rod that is entirely hammered, typical of the 1720s, whereas the other chandelier’s central inner stem was extruded and subsequently hammered; a technique used from the 1730s onward. Looking closely at the tool-marks on the two rods also reveals that the jaws of the clamps used on the two are clearly different. The lower finials are also attached to the rods of each chandelier differently: the leaf-gilt one is constructed with a plate inside the finial, which does not exist on the other chandelier. Furthermore, on the aftercast chandelier the leaf mounts on the lower socles attach by screwing in from the outside. And finally, this chandelier is also assembled with an extra bobbin-shaped piece below the large central knop, making it slightly taller than the other. XRF testing reveals that the compositions of the two bronze alloys are very similar, with significant commonality to their chemical impurities: the quantities of anitimony, silver and iron being particularly close between the two (each alloy including 0.07% antimony, 0.07-0.08% silver and 0.47-0.52% iron). This suggests that they were produced in the same workshop, sourced ingots from the same supplier.

The very slight metallurgical differences can be explained by the time passed between the production of each chandelier.

Based on the above subtle differences in construction, execution and gilding, but taking into consideration the functionally identical design and very similar metal compositions, the most probable scenario is that both chandeliers were produced by the Boulle workshop, though at different times and using different molds of the same model. The leaf-gilt example was executed as part of the earlier commission from the atelier, using the workshop's chef-modèle, circa 1720. The other chandelier was, around ten years later, also cast at the Boulle workshop mostly after another existing chandelier of this model, but not the Aitken leaf-gilt chandelier itself. Whether the two were matched as a pair circa 1730-1740, or united at a later time, is impossible to ascertain.

The related chandelier with the same distinctive palmette ornament to the arms at Drottningholm Palace

ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE AND BOULLE FILS Born in Paris in 1642, the son of a maître menuisier en ébène, Boulle himself achieved his maîtrise at a young age in 1666, although it is interesting to note that he also trained as a painter early in his career. His remarkable talents as a marqueteur were recognized in his early years, and when in 1672 the apartments at the Louvre of the royal ébéniste Jean Macé became vacant, none other than Colbert, first minister to Louis XIV, recommended him to the king as le plus habile de Paris dans son métier, upon which he was appointed Ebéniste, Ciseleur, Doreur et Sculpteur du Roi. This title reveals how from the very start of his career (and in direct contravention of guild regulations, after the guilds were introduced in 1715), he combined the production of cabinet-work and giltbronzes in his workshop, which at one stage included no fewer than six benches for gilding, casting and chasing mounts alone. Although strict guild regulations ordinarily prevented artists from practicing two professions simultaneously, Boulle's favored position allowed him protected status and exempted him from the guild rules. This resulted in a remarkable degree of artistic unity in his oeuvre. It is fascinating to note in this respect that the celebrated Italian baroque sculptor, Bernini, himself visited Boulle's workshops during a trip to Paris in 1665 and advised him on his designs. Boulle's unique ability, aided no doubt by his early training as a painter, was to synthesize all these influences with his own technical virtuosity, and invent designs that combined all into an integrated whole. As early as 1715, he handed over his workshops to his four sons: Jean-Philippe (1678-1744), Pierre-Benoît (c. 1683-1741), André-Charles II (1685-1749) and Charles-Joseph (1688-1754), all four of whom were then granted the very prestigious Royal title ébéniste du roi. Boulle himself died in 1732.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHANTILLY PORCELAIN POT-POURRI VASE CIRCA 1740

Modeled as a vine-wrapped gourd with a pierced cover, flanked by a tree stump, on a naturalistic base, the cover and footrim with gadrooned ormolu mounts 8æ in. (22.5 cm.) long $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With Brian Haughton, London, at The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, London.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above, June 1998.

EXHIBITED:

London, Winifred Williams, An Exhibition of 18th Century French Porcelain, 1978, no.

30.

London, Brian Houghton Antiques, The International Ceramics Fair and Seminar, 12 - 15 June 1998.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED BLACK AND GILT JAPANESE LACQUER BUREAU DE DAME

BY JACQUES DUBOIS, CIRCA 1745

Shaped rectangular, the ormolu-framed fall-front and all sides inset with black lacquer decorated with gilt landscapes, opening to a fitted red-japanned interior with three drawers lined in nashiji lacquer over a leather-lined writing surface, on cabriole legs, stamped 'I DUBOIS JME' twice, the underside marked '29' in white chalk and with a paper label printed '122', another paper label faintly inscribed in ink ‘…4’ 34Ω in. (88 cm.) high, 20Ω in. (52.5 cm.) wide, 14 in. (36 cm.) deep (when closed) $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

Paul Dutasta, French Ambassador to Switzerland (1873-1925); Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 3-4 June 1926, lot 157.

Acquired from Arnold Seligmann, Paris by Henry Walters (1848-1931) in 1926; His wife, née Sarah 'Sadie' Wharton Green (1859-1943); Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 30 April-3 May 1941, lot 1413.

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Mrs. Gaby Salomon; Sotheby's, London, 17 July 1964, lot 113.

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 22 June 1967.

EXHIBITED:

New York, The National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America, Parke-Bernet Galleries, Art Treasures Exhibition, 24 May - 7 June 1967, no. 134.

LITERATURE:

C. Packer, Paris Furniture by the Master Ebénistes, Newport, 1956, fig. 42.

F. Lewis Hinckley, A Directory of Antique French Furniture: 1735-1800, New York, 1967, p. 49.

Exhibition catalogue, Art Treasures Exhibition, London, New York, The National Antique and Art Dealers Association of America, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 1967, no. 134.

G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, I, London, 1974, p. 282.

THE LACQUERED FURNITURE OF JACQUES DUBOIS With its graceful lines and glittering lacquer panels, this jewel-like bureau de dame exemplifies the oeuvre of Jacques Dubois (1694-1764, maître in 1742).

Relatively little is known about Jacques Dubois’s life, except that he was the half-brother of Noël Gérard, considered one of the most important Parisian ébénistes of the Régence period, in whose workshop it is assumed that he trained. Established in the rue de Charenton, Dubois enjoyed the privilèges of an ouvrier libre and was thus unfettered by the strict guild regulations endured by his fellow ébénistes. He achieved his maîtrise relatively late in life, was elected a juré of the guild and then died suddenly in 1763 having been appointed Jean-François Oeben’s replacement. Study of the inventory after his death reveals that Dubois oversaw a large workshop with twelve workbenches as well as a shop, and the varied list of furniture in his workshop at the time demonstrates his talents were not just in one form. He is known to have

The Aitken bureau shown in situ in the New York residence of Mrs. Henry Walters

developed close relationships with the marchands-merciers Antoine-NicolasJoseph Bertin and Pierre Migeon II and this desk, with its superb Japanese lacquer decoration, would almost certainly have been commissioned through the intervention of one of these fashionable dealers (A. Pradère, French Furniture Makers, Paris, 1989, p. 171).

Despite the variety of forms produced by Dubois, it does appear that he made a specialty of exotic materials, being best known for his use of Asian lacquer to enrich commodes, bureaux and encoignures, in particular a small group of commodes decorated completely with Chinese lacquer and richly adorned with scrolling foliate mounts in the form of a cartouche border. His masterpiece is considered to be an impressive encoignure with a tiered superstructure surmounted by an ormolu clock, ordered by the marchand-mercier Lullier of Warsaw in 1753 for Count Klemens Brenicki (1689-1772), later owned by Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild and now in the J. Paul Getty Museum (obj. no.

78.DA.119).

A number of lacquered pieces were acquired by Madame de Pompadour, including in 1755 a bureau en pente for the château de Choisy, most recently sold Christie’s, London, 13 November 2019, lot 110 (£1,871,250). Of similar style and scale is that sold Christie’s, London, 23 May 2018, lot 211 (£175,000). These three examples, all stamped by Dubois, are all executed with a red japanned interior like the Aitken and Pompadour bureaux, creating a striking contrast with the Japanese lacquer exterior.

THE PAUL DUTASTA PROVENANCE The present desk cabinet once formed part of the extensive and important collection of Paul Eugène Dutasta (1873-1926), French statesman and politician, until sold in Paris in June 1926. Dutasta held the position of French Ambassador in Switzerland between 1918 and 1920 and was elected ‘Secrétaire Général de la Conférence de la Paix’ in Paris after the war in 1919. He acted as representative of the Swiss authorities to Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau and the Allied Powers, and participated in negotiations which led to the drafting of article 435 of the Traité de Versailles which acknowledged the neutrality of Switzerland.

THE WALTERS COLLECTION Although Sarah 'Sadie' Wharton Green Walters (1859-1943) did not marry the noted American railroad magnate, yachtsman, art collector and philanthropist Henry Walters (1848-1931) until 1922, she and her first husband, Pembroke Jones, had lived with Henry as a close friend since the turn of the century, traveling the world and assembling a magnificent art collection. With the death of his father in 1894, Henry Walters inherited the core of the collection that survives today as the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. Henry added to it, housing it in a purpose-built Renaissance style mansion in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore and opening it to the public in 1909 as the Walters Art Gallery. Upon his death in 1931, the house and contents were bequeathed to the City of Baltimore. As Henry’s younger widow, Sadie continued the family tradition of buying art and antiques, her taste running to eighteenth-century French decorative arts. In 1941, an eight-day two-part single owner sale was held at Parke-Bernet Galleries in New York, to disperse the bulk of her collection.

The sale ran to a total of 1,456 lots, with the present vase offered as lot 679.

The related bureau delivered to Madame de Pompadour for the château de Choisy

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A PAIR OF FRENCH ORMOLU THREE-BRANCH WALLLIGHTS LATE 19TH/EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Each with a scrolled foliate standard, its conforming candle-arms centering a perched parrot and terminating in swirling nozzles and drip-pans, the reverse of one wall-light with dotted inscription MOISE AFFIAS, the other with MOISE AFFIAS 1907 26 in. (66.5 cm.) high, 18Ω in. (47 cm.) wide (2) $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, January 4, 1968.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE EXPORT BLUE-GLAZED AND BISCUIT PORCELAIN FIGURE OF A LUOHAN THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1740

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE BLUE-GLAZED PORCELAIN CANDLESTICKS THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1740

The figure modeled reclining against a wine-jug and holding a fly-whisk, an ormolu palm over his head, on a rockwork and pierced-scroll base cast with flowers and leaves 9º in. (23.5 cm.) wide

Each bulbous foliate nozzle and drip-pan on a tree-form stem issuing porcelain flowers, above a figure of a reclining immortal on a naturalistic base cast with rockwork, flowers and rocaille 4æ in. (12.5 cm.) high (2)

$12,000-18,000

$3,000-5,000

PROVENANCE:

PROVENANCE:

The Property of a Lady; Christie's, London, 30 May 1968, lot 7.

With S.J. Phillips, London.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 28 June 1968.

LITERATURE:

Christie's Review of the Year 1967-1968, London, 1968, pp. 272-3.

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With Kraemer, Paris.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, April 1968.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED BLACK-AND-GILT VERNIS-DECORATED COMMODE

BY PIERRE ROUSSEL, CIRCA 1745

Of bombé form, the brèche d'Alep marble top above two drawers flanked by pierced scrolling foliate angle mounts, gilt-decorated overall with figures, landscapes and architecture in the chinoiserie taste, the cabriole legs with pierced sabots, stamped 'ROUSSEL' and 'JME', ‘75962’ inscribed in black on the underside of the upper drawer, a red customs stamp inside the carcase 32 in. (81.5 cm.) high, 38æ in. (98.5 cm.) wide, 21 in. (53.5 cm.) deep $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), New York and Locust Valley, Long Island; ParkeBernet Galleries, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lot 738.

With The Antique Company of New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 26 March 1968.

LITERATURE:

H. Schmitz, Das Möbelwerk: Die Möbelformen vom Altertum bis zur Mitte des 19.

Jahrhunderts, Berlin, 1942, p. 230.

Pierre Roussel (1723-1782), mâitre in 1769.

PIERRE ROUSSEL AND FRENCH VERNIS FURNITURE The technique of vernis Martin, as seen in the present commode, was perfected by four brothers who produced what is considered to be the finest form of European japanning, lending their name to what later became a generic term.

The elder brothers, Guillaume Martin (d. 1749) and Étienne-Simon Martin (d.

1770) were granted a monopoly to produce imitations of Chinese and Japanese lacquer in 1730, and this was subsequently renewed in 1744. Vernis Martin was developed from a varnish called cipolin. Remarkably lustrous and fine in texture, the material is capable of producing an array of colors ranging from greys, greens and blues, further enhanced by gold dust beneath the surface to produce a sparkling finish. The lengthy process requires the application of as many as forty layers to the surface, each of which is then polished to result in the required depth and finish. There were undoubtedly several workshops of vernisseurs in Paris, although little is known about their work. The inventories of the marchand-merciers rarely give an indication of the suppliers of these japanned items and their work was not marked. One commission of the Martin brothers which is documented, however, is the supply of the paneling for the apartments of the Dauphine at Versailles in 1749, attesting to its popularity among the elite.

Pierre Roussel worked at 'L'image de Saint Pierre', rue de Charenton in the Faubourg Saint-Antoine. The prince de Condé was one of his patrons, with furniture being supplied for the palais Bourbon and chateau de Chantilly. An inventory taken following Roussel's death throws light on the large scale of his activities, with three workshops, a shop and a large stock, including fifty commodes, several of which were en façon de lac. A related vernis martin commode, although of smaller proportions, was sold Sotheby's, New York, 6 November 2008, lot 75.

THELMA CHRYSLER FOY Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), elder daughter of Walter Chrysler, was a celebrated society hostess, dubbed by the New York Times as 'the woman of the greatest taste ... in New York'. Famed for her impeccable eye for both art and fashion, she appeared several times on the annual list of the ten best dressed women in the country. Thelma and her husband Byron Foy owned an extensive

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957) Photo: Horst P. Horst / Condé Nast via Getty Images

and well-known collection of French Impressionist art which adorned their homes, furnished lavishly with eighteenth-century French furniture, as was de rigueur at the time. Their collection included works by the best in both fine and decorative arts, such as Carlin, Weisweiler, Oeben, Renoir, Degas, Vuillard, Houdon, Falconet, Clodion and Giovanni da Bologna, to name a few. Thelma’s influence on the next generation of socialites was immense, and many followed her stylistic choices when creating their homes. In fact, Jayne Wrightsman, undoubtedly one of the greatest collectors of eighteenth-century French decorative arts in America, was much inspired by the Foys' collecting. Thelma and Byron shared spectacular residences, including an apartment at 740 Park Avenue, a town house on 91st street originally built by the Vanderbilts, and a country estate in Locust Valley. Parke Bernet offered her extensive collection from both her Park Avenue and Locust Valley residences in a landmark series of auctions 13-23 May 1959. Pieces from her estate are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including Picasso’s L'Acteur, a pair of fauteuils

by Chevigny, and a Louis XIV Boulle marquetry bureau plat. A portion of her wardrobe is preserved at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among her sumptuous jewelry was a stunning 54.03 carat pear-shaped diamond necklace that sold Christie’s, New York, 8 June 2021, lot 135.

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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A NEAR PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, TULIPWOOD AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY COMMODES MID-18TH CENTURY, LARGELY REVENEERED AND REMOUNTED

Each of bombé form, the pink and grey marble top above two long drawers decorated sans traverse and mounted with a large rocaille cartouche, on cabriole legs, one stamped 'L. PERIDIEZ' twice and 'JME' once, the other stamped 'L. PERIDIEZ JME', one drawer side inscribed '51554' and '70951', one marble inscribed 'FOY', the other inscribed '70951', stenciled '228', applied with an old Chenue transport label with a faint inscription, and bearing a purple customs stamp, variations to construction and marbles 34Ω in. (88 cm.) high, 41Ω in. (105.5 cm.) wide, 24 in. (61 cm.) deep (2) $15,000-25,000 PROVENANCE:

Madame Jacques Balsan, née Consuelo Vanderbilt and formerly Consuelo SpencerChurchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1877-1964).

With French & Co., New York.

Thelma Chrysler Foy, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lots 729 and 730.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

San Francisco, The de Young Museum (according to the 1959 Thelma Chrysler Foy Parke-Bernet catalogue).

LITERATURE:

C. Packer, Paris Furniture by the Master Ebénistes, Newport, 1956, fig. 79B. F. Lewis Hinckley, A Directory of Antique French Furniture: 1735-1800, New York, 1967, p. 52.

CONSUELO VANDERBILT-BALSAN The daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont, Consuelo Vanderbilt (1877-1964) became a celebrated debutante at her parent's Newport residence, Marble House, where in August of 1895 she met Charles SpencerChurchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough. Under enormous pressure to secure a match with a European noble family, Consuelo wed the Duke that autumn and returned to England and residence at Blenheim Palace. Consuelo was first able to exercise her passion for French furniture when she constructed her London residence, Sunderland House on Curzon Street in 1904. A gift from her father, the house was decorated in the Louis XVI taste. The Duchess made numerous trips to Paris during this period both to furnish her house and visit her father, who had taken residence in Paris in 1903 following his second marriage to Anne Rutherford.

She separated from the 9th Duke in 1905 and was officially divorced in 1920.

The following summer she married the French aviator and her close friend, Jacques Balsan. Consuelo happily settled in France where she lived in the splendid seventeenth-century Saint-Georges-Motel near Eure in Normandy, and a house in Eze overlooking the Mediterranean, until the outbreak of the Second World War. Fleeing to America in 1940, Colonel and Madame Balsan continued to surround themselves with the beautiful objects they collected over the years.

Her paintings and furniture often followed her from her house in Oyster Bay to Casa Alva, a tropical retreat in Hypoluxo Island, Florida, which was decorated with walls taken from Hamilton Palace.

Even at the age of eighty, Madame Balsan continued to collect. When she moved to a new residence, 'Garden Side' in Southampton, New York, she outfitted the house with boiseries from a Louis XV château, and surrounded herself with objects collected over the previous half-century. It was at Garden Side that in February 1963, a year before her death, Madame Balsan was interviewed by Vogue contributing editor, Valentine Lawford. Lawford described the elegant figure seated at her 'tall Louis Seize secrétaire, signed Topino, with a row of shapely members of the famille verte lined up above it.'

THELMA CHRYSLER FOY Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), elder daughter of Walter Chrysler, was a celebrated society hostess, dubbed by the New York Times as 'the woman of the greatest taste ... in New York'. Famed for her impeccable eye for both art and fashion, she appeared several times on the annual list of the ten best dressed women in the country. Thelma and her husband Byron Foy owned an extensive and well-known collection of French Impressionist art which adorned their homes, furnished lavishly with eighteenth-century French furniture, as was de rigueur at the time. Their collection included works by the best in both fine and decorative arts, such as Carlin, Weisweiler, Oeben, Renoir, Degas, Vuillard, Houdon, Falconet, Clodion and Giovanni da Bologna, to name a few. Thelma’s influence on the next generation of socialites was immense, and many followed her stylistic choices when creating their homes. In fact, Jayne Wrightsman, undoubtedly one of the greatest collectors of eighteenth-century French decorative arts in America, was much inspired by the Foys' collecting. Thelma and Byron shared spectacular residences, including an apartment at 740 Park Avenue, a town house on 91st street originally built by the Vanderbilts, and a country estate in Locust Valley. Parke Bernet offered her extensive collection from both her Park Avenue and Locust Valley residences in a landmark series of auctions 13-23 May 1959. Pieces from her estate are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including Picasso’s L'Acteur, a pair of fauteuils

by Chevigny, and a Louis XIV Boulle marquetry bureau plat. A portion of her wardrobe is preserved at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among her sumptuous jewelry was a stunning 54.03 carat pear-shaped diamond necklace that sold Christie’s, New York, 8 June 2021, lot 135.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN VASES AND COVERS

THE PORCELAIN EARLY QIANLONG PERIOD (1736-1795), THE ORMOLU MOUNTS CIRCA 1745-1749 Each porcelain body decorated in underglaze blue with the Three Friends of Winter alongside deer and lingzhi fungus, each stepped cover with a berried foliate finial above a flowerhead and trellis-cast rim and rocaille cabochon-cast outer border, flanked by pierced interlaced handles and on an asymmetrical base cast with rocaille, each base and one cover stamped with the 'C' couronné poinçon 13º in. (34 cm.) high (2) $200,000-400,000 PROVENANCE:

Probably supplied to Louis-Jean Gaignat, Secrétaire du Roi and Receveur des Consignations (1697-1768), before 1768 and sold in Paris, 14 February 1769, lot 95 (1,080 livres, sold together with lot 112).

The Alexander Collection; Christie's, New York, 30 April 1999, lot 40.

The Collection of A. Jerrold Perenchio, Bel-Air, California; Christie's, New York, 14 October 2020, Iot 17.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

LITERATURE:

Probably P. Rémy, Catalogue Raisonné....Qui composent le Cabinet de feu Monsieur Gaignat, Paris, 1768., no. 95 (as depicted in Saint-Aubin's illustrated copy).

The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark employed on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749.

These magnificent vases are probably those included in the Catalogue Raisonné of the collection of Monsieur Gaignat, ancien Secrétaire du Roi, & Receveur des Consignations, drawn up by the menuisier Pierre Remy in 1768. Published in Paris, this catalogue is of particular value to historians and connoisseurs, owing to the extraordinary copy owned by the dessinateur Gabriel-Louis de SaintAubin, who sketched an illustration of each lot into the margins. Listed under no. 95, a pair of vases is described as: Deux Urnes coupes, de forme de seau bouteille, couvertes, de même porcelaine, fond céladon, avec animaux & arbustes en bas-reliefs blancs, lisrs d'un filet bleu.

Cet ouvrage est léger, délicat & peu commun, ce qui les rend très singulières: elles sont deux anses, & garnies en bronze ciselé et doré.

The frontispiece of the Gaignat sale

Lot 95 in the sale, almost certainly the pair in the Aitken Collection

While the sketchy nature of Saint-Aubin's illustration to lot 95 makes it impossible to conclude with absolute certainty that the present Alexander/ Perenchio vases are indeed the very same as Monsieur Gaignat's, numerous details appear to correspond almost exactly. These include the distinctive profile of the stepped lid, the decoration of the porcelain, with its distinctive sinuous blossoming tree painted against a plain background, and the design of the ormolu mounts, with their unpierced collar and the exaggerated kick of their feet. Based on notes made in copies of the catalogue held in the Getty Research Institute and Philadelphia Art Museum, it appears that Gaignat's vases were, for unknown reason, sold alongside lot 112, a pair of Chinese porcelain elephants, for the sum of 1,080 livres. Tantalizingly, though the Philadelphia catalogue records buyers' names for multiple surrounding lots, it does not preserve the name of the buyer of lot 95.

The Gaignat catalogue also carried the following introductory sentence on the frontispiece: ET celui des Porcelaines rares & anciennes, tant du Japon que de la Chine, de Saxe & de France; Effets de Laques, Meubles précieux & Bijoux, par S. Ph. POIRIER, Marchand. The mention of the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier implies an existing and publicized relationship between him and Gaignat, inviting us to speculate that he may have supplied the latter with the present vases. That Poirier was not alone in supplying the Court with these distinctive vases, however, is confirmed in the Livre-Journal of the marchand-mercier Lazare Duvaux. On 10 December 1754, he supplied Madame de Pompadour with Deux autres vases d'ancienne porcelaine verte reliefs bleu, mont en bronze doré d'or moulu, 1,700 l.. The high price and infrequent reference to this distinctive type of porcelain suggests that it was both highly prized and admired in the eighteenth century.

A single pot-pourri vase, its porcelain closely related to the present but more densely decorated, and its mounts in a slightly more fully developed Louis XV style, is in the collection of His Majesty the King at Buckingham Palace (RCIN 2306, published in J. Harris, G. de Bellaigue, O. Millar, Buckingham Palace and its Treasures, New York, 1968, p. 188). Unlike the present pair, however, the Buckingham Palace example is mounted with a pierced collar between its body and the cover, a feature which is not described in the Gaignat catalogue description or illustration. In addition, a pair of pot-pourri vases with closely related decoration to the porcelain, but also with later, more fully Louis XVstyle mounts and a flat lid, are preserved in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, vol. II cat. no. 248 A-B).

Portrait of Louis-Jean Gaignat by Nicolas Lancret

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD, AMARANTH AND MARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE CIRCA 1760

Shaped rectangular with reentrant corners, decorated overall with flowers, a musical trophy at the top, with a leather-lined writing slide at front, a fitted drawer to the right side and two further drawers lower at the front, on cabriole legs joined by an undertier, restorations and replacements to veneers and marquetry, the middle drawer with an old paper label inside inscribed 'B 21' 28 in. (71.5 cm.) high, 12Ω in. (32 cm.) wide, 9æ in. (25 cm.) deep $7,000-10,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 8 November 1967.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS

BY JEAN-BAPTISTE CRESSON, CIRCA 1750

Each with a cartouche-shaped back and serpentine frame carved all-over with flowers, scrolls, rocaille and trailing acanthus, the back with incised decoration, on cabriole legs with scrolling feet, covered in cream embossed velvet, each stamped 'I.B.CRESSON' 36æ in. (93.5 cm.) high (2) $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 21 February 1967.

LITERATURE:

R. Costantino, How to Know French Antiques, New York, 1961, p. 44.

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Jean-Baptiste Cresson (1720-1781), maître in 1741.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD, TULIPWOOD AND BOIS DE BOUT MARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

BY BERNARD II VAN RISENBURGH ('BVRB'), CIRCA 1750

The shaped rectangular top with a bois de bout marquetry floral spray in a strapwork frame, lifting to a fitted interior, the side with one fitted drawer, on cabriole legs joined by a rectangular undertier with conforming marquetry, stamped 'BVRB' and twice 'JME', the interior of the drawer with two faint customs stamps 26º in. (67 cm.) high, 16Ω in. (42 cm.) wide, 12æ in. (32.5 cm.) deep $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

Andrássy Collection (according to the A la Vieille Russie invoice).

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 2 November 1966.

Bernard II van Risenburgh, called ‘BVRB’, maître circa 1730.

With its slender chamfered cabriole legs and the finely-chased foliate mounts adorning its frieze, this elegant table is characteristic of the oeuvre of Bernard II Van Risen Burgh (BVRB) and is closely related to the example depicted in the 1756 portrait of madame de Pompadour by François Boucher (formerly in the Collection of baron Maurice de Rothschild and now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, inv. no. HUW 18). The latter table is recorded in the catalogue of the sale of Boucher's estate in 1771: 1006 - Un vide-poche, fait par Bernard, il est en bois de rose et amarante, le dessus de bois de violette entouré d'un quart de rond, chute, sabots et ornements de bronze doré. Hauteur 25 pouces, longeur 15 pouces 6 lignes, largeur 10 pouces 9 lignes.

This celebrated model belongs to a group of tables all stamped by, or attributed to BVRB, almost identical to one another but displaying minor differences in the shapes of their aprons, design of their ormolu mounts or the marquetry. It is likely that this group of small tables was supplied through the intervention of a marchand-mercier such as Lazare Duvaux, who is known to have delivered furniture by BVRB to madame de Pompadour (see F.J.B. Watson, The Antique Collector, December 1960, p. 227). Indeed, on 27 January 1750 Lazare Duvaux sold to madame Rouillé une petite table à la Pompadour, avec ses cornets en bois satiné a fleurs, 72 livres (see Livre-Journal, no. 432), which could well have represented a table of this model made fashionable by, and even apparently named after, the King’s favorite.

This group can be subdivided into two categories. The first, which includes this lot, with a fixed top, is typically fitted with at least one writing-surface, and the side drawer containing an inkwell. This model was only ever intended for writing, and an example of it is recorded in an inventory of madame de Pompadour's château de Saint-Hubert: Une table à écrire en bois de rose et fleurs de bois de violette ayant par devant un tablette à coulisse couverte de maroquin noir, à droit un tiroir à clef garni d'encrier, poudrier et boite d'éponge.

The second group is typically fitted with a hinged top enclosing various compartments, and a small fitted drawer to the side. This model was used by ladies for arranging ribbons and toiletries.

Related tables by BVRB are in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, New York, 1966, vol. 1, cat. nos. 125 and 126), while those sold at public auction include those sold from the collection of Dr. Peter D. Sommer at Christie’s, London, 4 December 2014, lots 10, 115, 116 and 117; one sold Christie’s, New York, 14 June 2016, lot 380; three sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie's, New York, 2 November 2000, lots 12, 13 and 14; two formerly in the Alexander Collection, sold Christie's, New York.

April 30, 1999, lots 101 and 102; and one sold from the Wildenstein Collection, Christie’s, London, December 14 2005, lot 47.

Portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher showing a related table by BVRB

B.V.R.B. Bernard II Van Risenburgh (c. 1696-1767), known by his initials as BVRB, was one of the most celebrated ébénistes of his era. After gaining his maîtrise in 1730, BVRB established his own workshop independently of his father where his work stood apart from that of his contemporaries with its innovative conception, construction and fine ormolu mounts. He worked almost exclusively for the foremost Parisian marchands-merciers of the mid-eighteenth century such as Thomas-Joachim Hébert, Lazare Duvaux and Simon-Philippe Poirier. They supplied BVRB with the rich and exotic materials such as Japanese lacquer and Sèvres porcelain, which were incorporated into his finest pieces and sold to the most prestigious clientele.

Although BVRB collaborated with different marchands and was constrained by their individual demands, he developed a highly personal and distinctive style, which makes his work instantly recognizable. Perhaps the most significant sign is the exceptional quality of his mounts. Their impeccable ciselure lends them a sculptural fluidity unmatched by his contemporaries and most are unique to his oeuvre. This not only identifies his work but also suggests that unlike other ébénistes, he either designed his own mounts or retained a bronzier for his exclusive use. BVRB is also credited with reviving the great marquetry tradition of Louis XIV masters such as André-Charles Boulle, and especially the development of a particularly refined form of end-cut marquetry known as 'bois de bout' marquetry.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MENNECY PORCELAIN CANDLESTICKS

A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MENNECY PORCELAIN CANDLESTICKS

In the chinoiserie taste, each with a seated 'magot' figure with moustache holding a scrolling branch, a small ormolu bloom in his other hand, on a scrolling rocaille base, some differences in chasing 6º in. (16 cm.) high (2)

In the chinoiserie taste, each with a seated 'magot' figure with moustache holding a scrolling branch, a dragon painted at his back, on a scrolling rocaille base, some differences in chasing, the nozzles 18th century and associated, each with a faint black inscription at underside 6º in. (16 cm.) high (2)

CIRCA 1740

$7,000-10,000 PROVENANCE:

Count Potocki, Łańcut Castle, Poland.

Mrs. Charles E. Dunlap, née Phyllis I. Pollak, The Elms, Newport; Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 3-6 December 1975, lot 255.

With The Antique Porcelain Company, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 December 1975.

CIRCA 1740

$3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

Count Potocki, Łańcut Castle, Poland.

Mrs. Charles E. Dunlap, née Phyllis I. Pollak, The Elms, Newport; Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 3-6 December 1975, lot 256.

With The Antique Porcelain Company, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 December 1975.

With over 300 hundred rooms, Łańcut Castle is a lavish residence in Galicia, South Poland. In the second half of the eighteenth century it was redecorated by Stanislas Lubormirski (1722-1782) and his wife Isabelle Czartoryska (1736-1816) with the help of Vincenzo Brenna, co-architect of Pavlovsk. In 1786, Isabelle purchased marbles in Rome and furniture in Paris, including a table

by BVRB later sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie's, New York, 2 November 2000, lot 10.

The collections at Łańcut were further enriched throughout the nineteenth century, with members of the family buying in London, Paris, and Vienna.

The collection remained at the castle with Alfred III Potocki (1886-1958) until 1944 when 600 cases of paintings, furniture and porcelain were shipped by train to Vienna and then to Paris and New York, where little by little the collection was sold off.

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© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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A NEAR PAIR OF REGENCE GILTWOOD BRACKETS

A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED JAPANESE LACQUER AND CHINESE PORCELAIN ENCRIER

CIRCA 1725, ONE POSSIBLY OF A LATER DATE

Each with a shaped top on a console support carved with shells and scrolling acanthus, slight differences in size and carving 10æ in. (27.5 cm.) high, the slightly larger (2) $3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

Collection of Elizabeth Parke Firestone (1897-1990); Christie's, New York, 22-23 March 1991, lot 870.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

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THE CHINESE PORCELAIN INKWELLS KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722), THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1740 The cartouche-shaped Japanese red lacquer surface gilt-decorated with beasts and flora, its underside with a bird-and-flower scene, supporting two Chinese porcelain 'squirrel and grape' water-droppers mounted as inkwells before a porcelain vase and cover mounted as a pot-pourri, on scrolling foliate feet 10Ω in. (27 cm.) long $5,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

With S.J Phillips, Ltd. London.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, February 4, 1974.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD FAUTEUILS

BY JEAN-BAPTISTE GOURDIN, CIRCA 1745

Each with a cartouche-shaped back and serpentine frame carved all-over with rocaille, flowers, scrolls and trailing acanthus, the back with incised decoration, on cabriole legs with scrolling feet, covered in ivory silk damask, each stamped 'I.GOURDIN' 39Ω in. (100.5 cm.) high (2) $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 11 January 1967.

Jean-Baptiste Gourdin (1723-1781), maître in 1748.

These particularly richly carved fauteuils were executed by Jean-Baptiste Gourdin, son of the celebrated menuisier Jean Gourdin. The Gourdin dynasty is known for the high quality of their output, and these armchairs exhibits the best features of their collective oeuvre. The generous proportions, the wonderfully sculptural quality of the carving and the naturalistic rendering of each motif make this lot an outstanding example of Jean-Baptiste Gourdin’s work.

Comparable seat furniture featuring the same coquille carving to the seat rail

by Gourdin include a pair sold Christie’s, London, 16 July 2010, lot 4 and a set of four fauteuils sold Sotheby’s, Paris, 19 April 2016, lot 63. The Aitken fauteuils are distinguished from the above chairs by the inventive sunflower carving to

the knees, a detail adding to their sculptural impact, and embodying the creative flair of the Gourdins.

Jean Gourdin was appointed maître-menuisier in 1714 and established in the rue de Cléry by the sign of 'Saint Jacques'. Gourdin was patronized by the marquis de Bercy and the duchesse de Mazarin, whose residence on the rue de Varenne was redesigned by Nicolas Pineau circa 1737. Flourishing until 1764, Jean Gourdin employed two stamps during his long career. The first, I.G., served until circa 1748, when his son Jean-Baptiste joined his atelier at the sign of the 'Nom de Jesus', rue de Cléry. Thereafter he used the stamp PERE GOURDIN; his son using the stamp I. GOURDIN. A younger son, Michel Gourdin, maître in 1752, used the stamp M. GOURDIN.

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A GEORGE III GILTWOOD SETTEE CIRCA 1775, LEGS POSSIBLY ASSOCIATED

Serpentine with padded back and loose cushion seat, the cresting draped with a lion pelt whose tails trail to each side of the berried-laurel frame and terminate in lion mask handholds, the seat-rail carved with overlapping piastre on scroll legs carved with pendant flowers and ribbon, the reverse of the legs with deep fluting, on leaf-carved feet, the frame with black-painted inscription '7672 York B' 36 in. (91.4 cm.) high, 72 in. (182.9 cm.) wide $15,000-25,000 PROVENANCE:

Mrs. Seton Porter; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 22 November 1948, lot 173.

Madame Jacques Balsan, née Consuelo Vanderbilt and formerly Consuelo SpencerChurchill, Duchess of Marlborough (1877-1964).

With Dalva Brothers, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above on 16 January 1967.

LITERATURE:

F. L. Hinckley, A Directory of Antique Furniture, New York, 1953, p. 37, fig. 97 (described as Louis XVI from Potsdam, Germany).

L. Wood, The Upholstered Furniture in he Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2008, vol.

II, pp. 624-5.

This unusual settee, with its Nemean lion-pelt of Hercules displayed as nailed drapery across its back, relates to group of seat furniture discussed by Lucy Wood in The Upholstered Furniture in the Lady Lever Art Gallery, 2004, vol.

II, no. 57. A suite thought to have comprised at least ten armchairs from the Cope family seat at Bramshill Park, Hampshire, includes three acquired by Lord Leverhulme in 1905 (now in the Lady Lever Art Gallery) and a further six sold by Sir Anthony Cope, Bt., at Sotheby’s in 1956 (later in the Astor collection at Cliveden; two are now at Berrington Hall, Herefordshire). Two pairs of armchairs, probably from the 1956 Sotheby’s group, were more recently sold

An armchair from the Bramshill suite, with original legs.

(Christie’s, London, 29 October 2025, lot 14).

Armchair in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY, believed to be from the Bramshill suite, but with associated legs (Object No. 36.19)

in The Collection of Ann & Gordon Getty: Wheatland, Christie’s, New York, 19 October 2023, lot 59, and Christie’s, London, 29 October 2025, lot 14. Another armchair, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (36.19), gifted by Archer M. Huntington in 1936 and bearing a Jacques Seligman trade label, is also believed to originate from the Bramshill suite, though it incorporates replaced legs (ibid., fig. 389). These replacement legs, likely taken from a French chair, correspond to those on the Aitken settee.

Within this broader group, six sofas are recorded. Of particular relevance is a pair handled by Mallett at Bourdon House in 1993, which must share provenance with the Aitken settee: their back rails bear the inscriptions 'York 7672A' and 'York 7673,' markings that closely correspond to the '7672 York B' found on the present piece, all evidently twentieth-century inscriptions. The Mallett settees came from an undisclosed source in Northumberland. Their differing seat rails preclude their having been executed en suite with the Aitken settee, and their tapering legs feature arched husk-carved panels above square blocks and ball feet. Another sofa from the group, with square tapered legs, is in a private collection in Los Angeles, while a further example was supplied to Mapledurham House, Oxfordshire. A giltwood sofa with lion-pelt cresting and a hero’s mask on the seat rail, distinguished by its curved ends and scrolled cabriole legs in the form of hairy lion paws, was sold at Christie’s, London, 27 November 2003, lot 59; another, presumably en suite but reduced in length, was sold at Christie’s, London, 12 April 2018, lot 262. The Aitken settee is the only example in the group that does not feature a hero’s mask to the seat rail.

The present settee once formed part of the collection of Seton Porter, a prosperous executive associated with National Distillers and 20th Century Fox, and his wife, Marie. From 1928 to 1939 the Porters resided in the celebrated maisonette apartment at 666 Park Avenue. In 1928, architects William R. Pearsall, J. Laying Mills and F. Burrall Hoffman Jr. were commissioned to remodel and decorate the apartment, and at least four rooms were fitted with imported paneling, including a pine room from Spettisbury Manor. The interiors were published in International Studio Magazine (1931) and in Luxury Apartment Houses of Manhattan (A. Alpern, New York, 1992, pp. 124-126), although the settee is not visible in any of the surviving photographs. The Porters’ whereabouts between 1939 and 1948, when the settee was sold at auction, are unknown.

Madame Balsan with the present settee at her home in Southampton, New York, August 1964.

(Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Toni Frissell Photograph Collection, [LC-DIG-tofr-27165]).

The settee was subsequently owned by the Gilded Age socialite Madame Jacques Balsan, née Consuelo Vanderbilt, daughter of William Kissam Vanderbilt and Alva Smith Belmont. She entered into an ill-fated marriage with Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough, in 1895 and lived at Blenheim Palace until their separation in 1905; the divorce was finalized in 1921.

Soon afterwards she married the French aviator Jacques Balsan, dividing their time between the 17th century Château de Saint-Georges-Motel in Normandy and the Hôtel Marlborough in Paris, the latter illustrated in 1936 in a privately published two-volume work, Collection de Madame et du Colonel Balsan. The Balsans settled permanently in Paris in 1940, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

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A FRENCH ORMOLU, MARBLE AND SEVRES PORCELAIN-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD AND AMARANTH OCCASIONAL TABLE 19TH CENTURY

The circular top and paneled frieze inset with associated eighteenth-century floralpainted Sèvres porcelain elements, the frieze drawer over three stop-fluted supports joined by an undertier set with white marble, on cabriole legs with scrolled sabots, stamped spuriously 'CARLIN' and 'JME' 30Ω in. (77.5 cm.) high, 16 in. (41 cm.) wide, 15Ω in. (39.5 cm.) deep $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With French & Co., New York.

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), New York and Locust Valley, Long Island; ParkeBernet Galleries, New York, 13-16 May 1959, lot 332.

With The Antique Company of New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 11 November 1964.

EXHIBITED:

New York, Art and Antique Dealers League of America, The Lighthouse, Artistic Beauty of the Centuries, 3 - 17 May 1966.

LITERATURE:

Exhibition catalogue, Artistic Beauty of the Centuries, New York, Art and Antique Dealers League of America, 1966, p. 49.

R.H. Rush, Antiques as an Investment, New York, 1968, p. 109.

The design of this table was clearly influenced by the oeuvre of one of the finest cabinetmakers of the eighteenth century, Martin Carlin. Porcelain-inlaid tables, produced by the marchand-merciers, were considered among the most luxurious and fashionable furniture of the Louis XVI period. Small tables or tables en chiffonnière mounted with fashionable and expensive Sèvres porcelain plaques were first developed in the rocaille style by marchandmercier Simon-Philippe Poirier circa 1760 as a collaboration with ébénistes such as BVRB and Lacroix. Carlin perfected this type of furniture and introduced circular tables with porcelain tops and friezes in 1771. Examples of such tables include one in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, formerly in the collection of Alfred de Rothschild at Halton and another in the musée du Louvre (OA 10 467), illustrated in D. Alcouffe et al., Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Dijon, 1993, Vol. I, p. 228, cat. 69. For one of Carlin’s most-recently-sold porcelaininlaid tables comparable to this lot see Rothschild Masterpieces: Le Goût Rothschild; Christie’s, New York, 13 October 2023, lot 347. A closely related 19th century porcelain-mounted gueridon was sold Christie's, London, 2 December 1998, lot 88.

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957) Photo: Horst P. Horst / Condé Nast via Getty Images

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A FRENCH ORMOLU AND MARBLE-MOUNTED KINGWOOD AND TULIPWOOD OCCASIONAL TABLE LATE 19TH CENTURY

The circular top issuing two candle branches and inset with a marble disc painted with flowers, the frieze drawer lined in pale blue silk, on three stop-fluted supports joined by an undertier set with conforming marble, on cabriole legs with ormolu sabots, stamped spuriously 'CARLIN' and 'JME' 37 in. (94 cm.) high, 15Ω in. (39.5 cm.) wide, 15 in. (38.5 cm.) deep $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

Alfred Sussman, Paris.

With Georges de Batz, New York.

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), New York and Locust Valley, Long Island; ParkeBernet Galleries, New York, 13-16 May 1959, lot 333.

With The Antique Company of New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 19 October 1965.

LITERATURE:

Apollo LXXIX, no. 25, March 1964, p. iii. (advertisement for The Antique Company of New York).

THELMA CHRYSLER FOY Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), elder daughter of Walter Chrysler, was a celebrated society hostess, dubbed by the New York Times as 'the woman of the greatest taste ... in New York'. Famed for her impeccable eye for both art and fashion, she appeared several times on the annual list of the ten best dressed women in the country. Thelma and her husband Byron Foy owned an extensive and well-known collection of French Impressionist art which adorned their homes, furnished lavishly with eighteenth-century French furniture, as was de rigueur at the time. Their collection included works by the best in both fine and decorative arts, such as Carlin, Weisweiler, Oeben, Renoir, Degas, Vuillard, Houdon, Falconet, Clodion and Giovanni da Bologna, to name a few. Thelma’s influence on the next generation of socialites was immense, and many followed her stylistic choices when creating their homes. In fact, Jayne Wrightsman, undoubtedly one of the greatest collectors of eighteenth-century French decorative arts in America, was much inspired by the Foys' collecting. Thelma and Byron shared spectacular residences, including an apartment at 740 Park Avenue, a town house on 91st street originally built by the Vanderbilts, and a country estate in Locust Valley. Parke Bernet offered her extensive collection from both her Park Avenue and Locust Valley residences in a landmark series of auctions 13-23 May 1959. Pieces from her estate are now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, including Picasso’s L'Acteur, a pair of fauteuils

by Chevigny, and a Louis XIV Boulle marquetry bureau plat. A portion of her wardrobe is preserved at the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Among her sumptuous jewelry was a stunning 54.03 carat pear-shaped diamond necklace that sold Christie’s, New York, 8 June 2021, lot 135.

A closely related 19th century porcelain-mounted gueridon was sold Christie's, London, 2 December 1998, lot 88.

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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU-MOUNTED AMARANTH, KINGWOOD, PARQUETRY AND MARQUETRY MECHANICAL TABLE A ECRIRE

BY JEAN-FRANCOIS LELEU, CIRCA 1775-1780

The rectangular top centered by a marquetry ribbon-tied bouquet in an oval cartouche on a trellis ground, a push-button at the underside releasing it to slide and extend a leather-lined writing surface, the frieze, the two side drawers and the corners mounted with ormolu fruiting laurel, on tapering fluted legs, stamped 'J.F.LELEU' 28º in. (72 cm.) high, 25Ω in. (65 cm.) wide, 16æ in. (43 cm.) deep $120,000-180,000 PROVENANCE:

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 16 December 1966, lot 88.

Purchased from the above sale by Alexander Schaefer of A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 28 December 1966.

Jean-François Leleu (1729-1807), mâitre in 1764.

THE OEUVRE OF JEAN-FRANCOIS LELEU This beautiful table mécanique, its sliding top combining ‘mosaïque’ parquetry around a vibrant floral bouquet which is a veritable ‘painting in wood’, is a masterpiece by Leleu, one of the most refined and elegant cabinetmakers of the late Louis XV and Louis XVI periods. Leleu masterfully bridged the transition from the last flowering of the naturalistic Rococo style, to the emerging rigorous Neoclassicism of the goût grec. He first worked in the workshop of the great ébéniste Jean-François Oeben (1721-1763), where he perfected both the arts of delicate floral marquetry and the precise and sophisticated geometric parquetry that would characterize his inlay. After the early death of his master, Leleu hoped to be entrusted with the running of the workshop, but was superseded

by Jean-Henri Riesener (1734-1806), another journeyman in Oeben's employ.

Riesener married Oeben's widow and went on to become the court ébéniste of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette. Leleu left the workshop, became maître-ébéniste in 1764 and set up business on his own. While unable to work for the Royal court because of Riesener's position as royal cabinet-maker, Leleu nevertheless attracted an important range of clients both from the ranks

of aristocracy and the newly wealthy banking class, notably the duc d'Uzès, baron d'Ivry, Madame du Barry and the prince de Condé, and the prominent tastemaker financiers Ange-Laurent Lalive de Jully, Jean-Joseph, marquis de Laborde and Micault d’Harvelay, all brothers-in-law through their marriages to three sisters from the Nettine family, Brussels bankers to the court of Vienna (S. Eriksen, Early Neo-Classicism in France, London 1974, pp. 79-81, figs. 127-130; A. Pradère, Les Ebénistes Français de Louis XIV à la Révolution, Paris 1989, pp.

338-340, figs. 396 and 397).

Among his clients were some of the most adventurous pioneers of the Neoclassical style—particularly Madame du Barry, whose extensive patronage exerted a wide influence on the introduction of Neoclassical forms into furniture design—and the baron d'Ivry, for whom Leleu executed many pieces of case furniture between 1765 and 1771. These were supplied for the baron's château d'Hénanville, which had been modernized by the Nicolas Barré, who was also architect to the marquis de Laborde, for whom Leleu supplied furniture for the château du Marais, also designed by Barré, and the château de Méréville, while he is also recorded as restoring the famous goût grec coquiller of Lalive de Jully .

RELATED WORKS BY LELEU Perhaps Leleu's most prestigious and celebrated commission is that for the prince de Condé at the palais Bourbon and the château de Chantilly, to whom he supplied furniture worth more than 60,000 livres between 1772 and 1777. This included two sécretaires à abbatant, two bureaux à cylindre, seven commodes, two writing desks, twenty-seven games tables and eleven screens of various kinds; he also provided a marquetry floor (S. Eriksen, Early Neoclassicism in France, London 1974, p. 201). All of the furniture was in the most advanced taste and although the prince de Condé did not take up residence for a number of years, his initiative, along with that of other discerning connoisseurs, such as the duc de Choiseul and the duc d'Uzès, firmly established this new style amongst Parisian craftsmen (ibid., p. 120).

Among these deliveries, several pieces can be identified, including in the following collections: - Musée du Louvre (inv. OA9589), a commode supplied for the bedroom of the prince de Condé at the palais Bourbon for 2,400 livres on 9 November 1772, previously in the collection of the princesse de Faucigny, (see D. Alcouffe, et. al., Le Mobilier du Musée du Louvre, Dijon 1993, no. 62) - Musée National du château de Versailles et des Trianons, a pair of commodes supplied for the bedroom of the duchesse de Bourbon at the palais Bourbon for 7,470 livres on 1 May 1773 - Wallace Collection, London (inv. no. F246), a commode supplied for the chambre rose at the palais Bourbon for 10,715 livres on 28 December 1772 - Private Collection in France, a bureau à cylindre supplied for the salon rose at the palais Bourbon for 4,760 livres in 1772 This exquisite table, however, most closely relates to two cylinder bureaux, virtually identical to each other, one of which, following the research of Anne Forray-Carlier, has been identified as having been supplied for the Petit Cabinet de l’Appartement Intérieur of the Prince de Condé at Chantilly (later sold Sotheby’s, Monaco, 16 June 1990, lot 943 and now in a private collection).

The other was sold from the collection of the Viennese Rothschilds, Christie’s, London, 8 July 1999, lot 206 (£441,500).

Although the parquetry pattern on the Aitken table is slightly different (the parquetry of the two bureau are filled with lozenges while that on the Aitken table is filled with flowers), the distinct mounts of delicate tendrils, rare in the oeuvre of Leleu, which appears on the upper frieze of the two bureaux, also appears on the frieze and the drawer front of the Aitken table. It is also pertinent to note that the drawer of the Aitken table is lined in blue silk (often seen on the most refined creations of the marchands merciers) a feature seen on both the above bureau—indeed, the bill for the Chantilly bureau specifically mentions that the drawers are ‘garnis de moere bleux'.

LELEU AND STADLER Intriguingly, both cylinder bureaux bear the name of the cabinet-maker Stadler.

The rolltop desk sold at Sotheby's was inscribed in chalk 'Stadler' under the central drawer, while the Rothschild bureau bears a label hidden at the back of the carcase behind the top left drawer, inscribed 'Stadler et benistre rue Roialle saint paulle'. Charles-Antoine Stadler was still a free craftsman when he married the daughter-in-law of Jean-François Leleu on 19 February 1767, but received his maîtrise on 13 November 1776, one month after the death of his spouse. The inventory drawn up on 7 October 1776 lists three work-benches, but also work completed for his father-in-law which amounted to 834 livres. It appears that he specialized in the production of marquetry, not only because the tools described would indicate this, but also because of the table described in his workshop: une table, le dessus fleurs et mosaïque 336 livres. Tantalizingly, this brief description could in fact refer to the top of the Aitken table, with its combination of ‘mosaïque’ parquetry and flowers.

The related cylinder bureau sold from the collection of the Viennese Rothschilds.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU CARTEL CLOCK

BY JEAN-BAPTISTE-ALBERT BAILLON, CIRCA 1750

Cartouche-shaped, the circular white enameled dial with Roman numeral hours and Arabic chapters, surmounted by a putto seated under a palm and flanked by scrolls, oak and berried leaves issuing from rockwork at the base, the dial signed 'JN. BAPTISTE BAILLON', the movement signed 'J.Bte.Baillon A Paris / No 3717' and etched 'MAGO', the bezel surrounding the glazing etched 'Normant' 29Ω in. (75 cm.) high $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With Kraemer & Cie., Paris.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, May 1968.

Jean-Baptiste-Albert Baillon, maître in 1727.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV STYLE ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN VASES, NOW MOUNTED AS LAMPS

THE PORCELAIN MING DYNASTY (1368-1644), THE MOUNTS 19TH/20TH CENTURY Each baluster vase carved with lotus and bands of leaves, applied with ring handles at the neck, on a pierced ormolu scrolling foliate base, wired externally for electricity, together with two lamp shades 25 in. (63.5 cm.) high, to finials (2) $2,000-3,000 PROVENANCE:

Probably the collection of Howard Black.

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 15 January 1969.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU THREE-BRANCH WALLLIGHTS IN THE MANNER OF JACQUES CAFFIERI, CIRCA 1750-1755

Each with a scrolled foliate standard cast with trailing flowers, the conforming candlearms with acanthus scrolls, berries and pierced rocaille, terminating in swirling nozzles and drip-pans 23 in. (58.5 cm.) high, 19Ω in. (50 cm.) wide (2) $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 30 January 1973.

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■283 LEARN MORE

A PAIR OF SILVER-GILT AND MEISSEN PORCELAIN TWIN-BRANCH CANDELABRA

A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MEISSEN PORCELAIN POT-POURRI VASES

THE PORCELAIN FIGURES CIRCA 1745, THE FLOWERS 18TH CENTURY AND LATER, THE MOUNTS FRANCE, 19TH CENTURY Each with a figure in the Chinoiserie taste, one a man with a parasol the other a woman with a child on her back, standing on a base of scrolls and foliage, the backs with leafy branch-form stems applied with porcelain flowers rising to leaf-form drip-pans and sconces, with removable nozzles, marked throughout with mark resembling the Paris small decharge for 1744-1750 6√ in. (17.4 cm.) wide 24 oz. 4 dwt. (753 gr.) gross weighable silver (2) $5,000-8,000

CIRCA 1745, BLUE CROSSED SWORD MARKS

Each painted overall with deutsche Blumen, its circular lid with flower finial, the pierced rim-mount issuing bifurcated scrolling foliate handles cast with flowers, on a pierced scrolled spreading base, slight differences to the mounts 9 in. (23 cm.) high (2) $15,000-25,000 PROVENANCE:

Partridge; Christie's, New York, 17 May 2006, lot 78.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

PROVENANCE:

With S.J. Phillips, London.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 February 1974.

283

For a virtually identical pair, possibly the same as the present lot, see P. Kjellberg, Objets Montés du Moyen-Âge à nos Jours, Paris, 2000, p. 76.

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A PAIR OF EARLY LOUIS XV ORMOLU TWO-BRANCH WALL-LIGHTS POSSIBLY FOR THE GERMAN MARKET, CIRCA 1730

Modeled as term figures of a Turkish man and woman, each supporting scrolling branches with swirling foliate nozzles and drip-pans, on a scrolled and pierced base cast with flowers, acanthus, rocaille and gadrooning 23Ω in. (60 cm.) high (2) $20,000-40,000 PROVENANCE:

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 22 November 1968.

These wall-lights of outstanding quality relate to the oeuvre of Gilles-Marie Oppenord (1672-1742), whose appliqués with asymmetrical arms often feature human figures as the dominant decorative element, as seen in Oeuvres de Gille Marie Oppenord ... contenant différents fragments d'architecture, et d'ornements, Paris, circa 1725. Oppenord’s designs for bronzes d’ameublement were executed by some of the most talented bronziers of the Régence and early Louis XV periods, such as Charles Cressent (1685-1768), who headed one of the most important workshops in Paris between 1719 and 1757. Cressent is known to have executed a number of related wall-lights, such as those illustrated A. Pradère, Charles Cressent, Dijon, 2003, p. 209.

These wall-lights are products of a lesser-known facet of the West’s fascination with the East: the taste for Turquerie or Turquoiserie. Less widespread and shorter lived than Chinoiserie, the fashion for anything Turkish, or Turkishinspired, was curiously the result of the decline of the Ottoman Empire as it was pushed out of Central Europe at the end of the seventeenth century, and ceased to be perceived as a threat to Christian Europe. Turquerie influenced every branch of the arts from music and fashion to painting and the decorative arts. In a manner similar to Chinoiserie, Turquerie took considerable liberties with authentic Turkish motifs, adapting them freely and inventively to fit the West’s own taste and needs. To achieve a 'Turkish look,' lighthearted figures in Turkish-inspired costume were often simply incorporated into the decoration of an object, as in this lot. Occasionally, entire new forms were invented based on real, or imagined, Turkish prototypes, such as was the case with the novel bed design, the lit à la Turque.

Turquerie began in the final years of Louis XIV’s reign, when France was allied with the Ottoman Empire against the Habsburgs, and gained greater momentum after the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, before flourishing from the second quarter of the eighteenth century until the outbreak of the Revolution.

Turquerie was particularly popular in the lands of the Holy Roman Empire, where the Ottoman threat had been imminent, and a number of German princely residences were decorated with Turkish motifs, such as the wall-lights in the Great Galerie at Schleißheim, celebrating the victories of the Bavarian Prince-Elector Max Emanuel (see H. Ottomeyer and P. Pröschel, Vergoldete Bronzen, vol. 1, Munich, 1986, p. 64, fig. 1.9.15). Interestingly, as a result of the increased travel, mutual curiosity and cultural exchange between Europe and the Porta, Ottoman artists of the early-mid 1700s were also influenced by European Baroque and Rococo, as evidenced by their output during the Tulip period.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED KINGWOOD AND TULIPWOOD BUREAU PLAT MID-18TH CENTURY, PARTIALLY REMOUNTED

The shaped rectangular top inset with a tooled green leather surface, above three drawers opposed by dummy drawers, the pulls 18th century and associated, stamped with the 'C' couronné poinçon, the ends mounted with 19th century ormolu masks, on cabriole legs mounted with pierced chutes extending to pierced sabots, spuriously stamped 'I.B. SAUNIER', two small paper labels to the underside each inscribed '6371' 29æ in. (76 cm.) high, 64º in. (163.5 cm.) wide, 34º in. (87 cm.) deep $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE:

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 31 December 1964.

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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A PAIR OF REGENCE ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CELADON PORCELAIN VASES AND COVERS THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1720, THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The porcelain bodies and covers each carved all-over with scrolling and flowering foliage, surmounted by a berried knop on a stepped and gadrooned mount, flanked by winged siren-form figural handles, on a circular base cast with stiff leaves, the ormolu to the covers largely replaced in the 19th century 13 in. (33.5 cm.) wide (2) $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 4 February 1969.

The highly sculptural, mermaid-form handles to these vases echo the grandeur of Baroque sculpture, and make this lot particularly desirable and rare. Only a handful of identical, or very similar, works are known today; - a pair in celadon porcelain sold from the collection of Mme. C. Lelong, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1 May 1903, lot 212

- another celadon pair in a Swiss private collection, sold Christie's, Paris, 16 May 2017, lot 40 - a pair illustrated in D.F. Lunsingh Scheurleer, Chinesisches und japanisches Porzellan in europaïschen Fassungen, Wurzburg, 1980, p. 332, fig. 322 - a pair sold Palais Galliéra, Paris, 7 June 1974, lot 47 - a pair sold Christie’s, Monaco, 5 December 1992, lot 79 The Musée du Louvre and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs de Paris also hold Chinese famille verte porcelain vases with this type of handles in their collection; the Louvre pair hailing from the French Royal Collections at the Palais des Tuileries (inv. OA 5492), while the other example entered the Musée des Arts Décoratifs (inv. 21001) as part of the Pannier donation in 1918. A grey celadon pair is preserved in the British Royal Collections, acquired by George IV and now placed in the King’s Drawing Room at Windsor Castle (RCIN 39203).

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A THREE-PIECE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED POWDER-BLUE GROUND CHINESE PORCELAIN MATCHED GARNITURE

THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU OF THE PAIR OF VASES CIRCA 1745-1749, THE ORMOLU OF THE SINGLE VASE CIRCA 1750-1755 Comprising a pair of lidded vases and a larger central vase, painted with bird-and-flower scenes and precious objects in shaped panels, each with scrolling foliate handles and pierced scroll bases, the pair of vases with traces of gilt decoration, their mounts struck with the 'C' couronné poinçon, slight variations in their proportions 12Ω in. (32 cm.) high, the central vase (3) $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

With Galerie Marcel Bissey, Paris.

Giuseppe Rossi (1914-1989); Sotheby's, London, 11 March 1999, lot 805.

Partridge; Christie's, New York, 17 May 2006, lot 70.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

Pelham Gallery and Étienne Lévy, East and West: Masterpieces of Lacquer Furniture, Paris, September 2000, no. 28

The 'C' couronné poinçon was a tax mark employed on any alloy containing copper between March 1745 and February 1749.

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A PAIR OF ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHANTILLY PORCELAIN MODELS OF SEATED MAGOTS THE PORCELAIN CIRCA 1740, THE MOUNTS THIRD QUARTER 19TH CENTURY, MARKED FOR ESCALIER DE CRISTAL, PARIS

Each robed figure modeled smiling, his hair in a topknot, a large fluted urn between his knees 7 in. (17.7 cm.) and 6¬ in. (16.7 cm.) high (4) $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

With Brian Haughton Antiques, London.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above, 29 September 1999.

This Chantilly model, based on blanc de chine figures of Buddha of earlier date, does not come up often for sale, and most known examples are in museum collections and have enameling. A pair is therefore a true rarity, and one of the few known enameled pairs is in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, obj. no. 85.DI.380. Other single polychrome-decorated examples of this model include the example in the Mrs. Charles Dunlap collection, exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Masterpieces of European Porcelain, 1949, cat. no. 113; the example in the Jack and Belle Linsky Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, object no. 1982.60.270a, b; the example at Sèvres, Manufacture et musée nationaux, inventory no. MNC18713 and another in the Musée de Cluny, illustrated by W.B. Honey, French Porcelain of the 18th Century, p. 15 and pl. 28b. A further related single example, previously in the collection of Alfred Wenz, was sold from a private European Collection; Christie's, Paris, 18 November 2025, lot 3 (€57,150).

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU MANTEL CLOCK

THE CASE CIRCA 1750, THE MOVEMENT AND DIAL CIRCA 1820-1830 The drum-shaped case flanked by a reclining figure of a lady in Chinese costume on a scrolling foliate and rockwork base, a palm curving over the whole, the later white enameled dial inscribed 'MUSSON A PARIS' 12Ω in. (32 cm.) high, 14Ω in. (37 cm.) wide $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE:

Marquesa Margaret Rockefeller de Larrain (1897-1985), New York; Sotheby's, New York, 15 November 1980, lot 77.

Property of a Private Collector, New Jersey; Sotheby’s, New York, 27 October 2001, lot 171.

Property from the Estate of Harold Young; Sotheby's, New York, 9 June 2014, lot 79.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, The Frick Collection, French Clocks in North American Collections, 2 November 1982 - 30 January 1983, no. 56.

LITERATURE:

W. Edey, exhibition catalogue, French Clocks in North American Collections, New York, The Frick Collection, 1982, p. 60, no. 56.

The elegantly reclining figure on this clock is identical to that on a pair of chenets in the Palazzo del Quirinale, Rome, almost certainly originally supplied to Madame Infante, Louis-Elizabeth of France, Duchesse de Parme, for the Palazzo di Colorno. These chenets were likely to have been supplied by the celebrated bronzier Jacques Caffieri, who delivered superb bronzes d'ameublement to Madame Infante for Colorno, including the celebrated chandeliers now in the Wallace Collection. It is also interesting to note that in the inventory taken at Caffieri's death in 1755, a pair of chenets was described as un autre modèle de garniture de gril représentant un Chinois et une Chinoise (see A. González-Palacios, Il Patrimonio Artistico del Quirinale: Gli Arredi Francesi, Milan, 1995, p. 271, cat. 71).

Other clocks of this model include one sold from the Elizabeth Parke Firestone Collection, Christie's, New York, 22-23 March 1991, lot 873; another, previously in the collections of Georges Wildenstein and Akram Ojjeh, sold Christie's, London, 12 December 2002, lot 44; one sold from the collection of Ilhamy Hussein Pacha, Ader, Tajan, Paris, 15 March 1993, lot 442; a further example is illustrated in P. Kjellberg, La Pendule Française, Paris, 1997, p. 117, ill. G.; and finally one with a patinated bronze figure, sold from the Saunderson Collection, Christie’s, New York, 21 October 2005, lot 438.

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A PAIR OF ITALIAN GILTWOOD WALL-TROPHIES 19TH/20TH CENTURY

Each carved with a helmet and military trophies entwined with ribbons and flowers 41Ω in. (105.5 cm.) high, 10 in. (25.5 cm.) wide (2)

PROVENANCE:

New York Art Market, 1960s.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

$3,000-5,000

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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A LOUIS XV TULIPWOOD AND PARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

BY ROGER VANDERCRUSE, CALLED LACROIX, RETAILED BY SIMON-PHILIPPE POIRIER, CIRCA 1765 Decorated overall with flowered trellis, with sliding top above a fitted frieze drawer with a leather writing surface, on cabriole legs with scrolled acanthus sabots, the underside stamped 'RVLC' and 'JME' twice, inscribed in ink 'Poirier Md. rue St. Honoré' and applied with a plaque debossed ‘Audrey Kilvert-Taylor 64 Av. Foch Paris’, a paper label inside the drawer inscribed 'C 10274 Mrs. Kilvert’ 25Ω in. (65 cm.) high, 29 in. (74 cm.) wide, 13Ω in. (34.5 cm.) deep $12,000-18,000 PROVENANCE:

With Duveen, London.

Elsie Delora Kilvert (1891-1961), companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), New York.

Her daughter, Audrey 'Chico' Kilvert Taylor (1908-1968), Paris and New York.

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 18 May 1966.

Roger Vandercruse (1728-1799), known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.

ELSIE DELORA KILVERT AND SAMUEL H. KRESS Elsie Delora Kilvert, née Bernardo (1891-1961), was hailed by the Boston Globe upon her 1909 marriage to the cartoonist B. Cory Kilvert as "the prettiest and premier model in New York". By the 1920s, she had become the long-time companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), the retail magnate who assembled one of the most important collections of European art in the twentieth century and helped establish the National Gallery of Art. Mrs. Kilvert accompanied Kress on annual visits to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s and assisted in selecting works to furnish his duplex penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum and just a few blocks north of Mrs. Aitken's apartment.

Her contribution to the Kress Collection may even have included its very genesis: a November 1953 profile in Life magazine recounts that his collecting began around 1920, when she began bringing him to art galleries, having determined "to get Sam interested in beautiful things".

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV GILTWOOD BERGERES MID-18TH CENTURY

Each with a rounded backrest, carved at the cresting, shaped seat rail and above the cabriole legs with roses and trailing leaves, the backs with incised decoration, covered in cream embossed velvet, the undersides stamped 'BOUCAULT', possibly spuriously, and with old red-painted Carnegie Museum accession numbers '70.32.53' and '70.32.54' 38 in. (97 cm.) high (2) $8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Ailsa Mellon Bruce (1901-1969).

Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh; Sotheby's, New York, May 8, 2009, lot 135.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

Pittsburgh, Carnegie Museum, accession nos. 70.32.53 and 70.32.54.

LITERATURE:

D.T. Owsley, 'The Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection of French Furniture', Antiques, December 1972, p. 1081, fig.

5.

D.T. Owsley, 'French Furniture: Régence to Louis XVI’, Apollo XCVIII, no. 138, August 1973, p. 85, fig. 3.

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A PAIR OF LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED MEISSEN 'MAIBLÜMEN' PORCELAIN VASES

THE PORCELAIN CIRCA 1745, ONE WITH VERY FAINT BLUE CROSSED SWORD MARKS, THE ORMOLU MOUNTS CIRCA 1750-1755 Each vase applied allover with blue mayflowers, the front and back painted with scenes in the manner of Watteau, the rim with a scrolling mount issuing bifurcated and pierced handles cast with flowering and fruiting vines, on a pierced scrolled base, the undersides with faint Dusseldorf customs stamps 14Ω in. (37 cm.) high (2) $60,000-100,000 PROVENANCE:

Madame Camille Lelong, née Laurentine-Françoise Bernage (1840-1902), Paris; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 29 April 29-1 May 1903, lot 202 (a set of four).

Madame Christiane de Polès, (1892-1936), Paris; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 22-24 July 1927, lot 170 (a pair).

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 19 January 1971.

LITERATURE:

R.R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, 1961, pp.

104-105.

S. Bennett and C. Sargentson, ed., French Art of the Eighteenth Century at the Huntington, Cumberland, 2008, p. 160.

With their prominent swirling ormolu handles and distinct flower-encrusted bodies centered by charming painted scenes, these wonderful, quintessentially Rococo vases belong to a distinct group of Louis XV ormolu-mounted Meissen porcelain wares. Such rich and exquisite Maiblümen vases decorated with Watteauesque subjects were produced only in limited numbers and are rarely found mounted. Related examples of this group include: - an identical pair that were sold together with the present lot, forming a set of four, from the collection of Madame C. Lelong, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 2730 April and 1 May 1903, lot 202, now in the Huntington Collection, Pasadena (see R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, 1961, p. 105, fig. 99) - three vases almost certainly formerly in the collection of Nicolas Beaujon, banquier de la Cour, one of which was most recently sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie’s, New York, November 2, 2000, lot 16 - a pair of ewers in the Wallace Collection, London (see P. Hughes, The Wallace Collection Catalogue of Furniture, III, London, 1996, no. 278, pp. 1353-1361)

Detail of this lot.

- a garniture of three vases in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London (inv. nos.

832, 832A, 832B-1882) (see F. Litchfield, Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1900, p. 14 and O. Brackett, Catalogue of the Jones Collection, Part 2, London, 1924, pl. 38, no. 181 - a pair of vases in the Cleveland Museum of Art, Ohio (acc. no. 44.239 and 230) - and a pair of pot-pourri vases, struck with the C couronné poinçon (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, vol. II, New York, 1966, nos. 267 A-B, pp.

474-475) The Beaujon garniture comprised of the vase sold in 2000 and two further vases ronds en pot-pourri that was acquired by the marchand Boileau for 242 livres. This comparatively low price is explained by the fact that in 1787 the garniture's rocaille mounts were considered démodé. In 1771, another garniture of this type is described succinctly in the possession of the duc de Bouillon: Une urne et deux buires de porcelaine de Saxe à cartouches, à miniatures, fond bleu moucheté de blanc et montées en bronze doré. As this garniture was undoubtedly the creation of a marchand-mercier, it is intriguing to note an entry in the Livre-Journal of Lazare Duvaux, dated 1 September 1750. This records Un pot pourri de Saxe peint de sujets de Watteau, garni en bronze doré d'or moulu, which he sold to the marquise de Pompadour for 120 livres (see F.J.B. Watson, The Wrightsman Collection, Vol. II, New York, 1966, no. 267 A-B, pp. 474-75).

MADAME LELONG Madame Camille Lelong, née Laurentine-Françoise Bernage (1840-1902) was a distinguished Parisian collector and dealer in art and antiques. Mme. Lelong owned the Hôtel Rouillé de Meslay on the Quai de Béthune, a quaint street along the southern edge of the Île Saint-Louis (see G. Riat and A. Teixeira de Mattos, ‘Paris Sales’, The Burlington Gazette, London, August 1903, vol. 1, no. 5, pp. 153-155). Armed with a keen eye, charm and self-assuredness, Mme. Lelong acquired a vast amount of magnificent works, including a great number of eighteenth-century furniture. Her death in 1902 was followed by a number of sales of her collection in the spring and summer of 1903 by Galerie Georges Petit that were written about extensively both in France and abroad, and were very popular—part of the burgeoning trend of fashionable society auctions, which performed extremely well and drove up prices. Mme. Lelong’s sale was so extensive and of such high caliber, that in 1903 French art historian Émile Dacier predicted that: “Undoubtedly, most of [the objects] will take their place in a few palaces on Fifth Avenue, but we would be hard pressed to regret it beyond measure; since they will tell grandsons of billionaire trustmen how we too have been rich, rich in grace, distinction, elegance, refinement, rich in taste, rich in spirit” (see E. Dacier, 'L’antiquaire de l’île Saint-Louis', Revue de l’art ancien et moderne, April 1903, p. 254).

The related vase at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED TULIPWOOD SECRETAIRE À ABATTANT

BY RENE DUBOIS, CIRCA 1765

The marble top over a frieze drawer mounted with Vitruvian wave, over a fall-front opening to a fitted interior above a cabinet door, the angle mounts cast with satyr masks and the sides mounted with swirling foliate bosses, the back stamped 'I. DUBOIS JME' twice, inscribed in red chalk '50 RH / 65' and applied with a plaque engraved 'AUDREY KILVERT TAYLOR / 64.AV.FOCH / PARIS', the top and marble both also inscribed '65' in red chalk and the marble further inscribed 'D / Del???y' 50º in. (128 cm.) high, 18æ in. (48 cm.) wide, 10 in. (25.5 cm.) deep $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

Elsie Delora Kilvert (1891-1961), companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), New York; Her daughter, Audrey 'Chico' Kilvert Taylor (1908-1968), Paris and New York.

With A La Vieille Russie, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 2 December 1966.

RENE DUBOIS AND HIS NEOCLASSICISM René Dubois (1737-1799, maître in 1757) was the son of Jacques Dubois (16931763, maître in 1742), arguably one of the most accomplished ébénistes of the Louis XV era. Following his father's death in 1763, René took charge of the atelier under the direction of his mother and continued to use his father's stamp, including on the present lot. The inventory taken at the death of Jacques Dubois lists une table de bois d'amarante à la grecque, demonstrating that the Dubois workshop produced furniture in the latest 'Antique' fashion and suggesting that René had introduced a more up-to-date manner in the workshop during his father’s lifetime. In 1772, René's mother granted him full direction of the workshop, selling the stock to him for 25,002 livres, a significant sum indicating the continued importance of the workshop. René is recorded in the 1779 Almanach général des marchands as the ébéniste de la Reine, and also counted the Prince de Soubise amongst his patrons.

Today, Dubois is best known for his elegant and mature Neoclassical creations, produced after his takeover of his father’s workshos, such as his green and grisaille-decorated commodes and secretaires, and his restrained Greek-keyinlaid bureaux. It is important, however, to note Dubois's earlier work in the experimental early stages of Neoclassicism; he was among the first proponents of the goût grec. His early pioneering work produced during the first decade of his maîtrise can be characterized by its combination of the novel interest in the antique with the Baroque grandeur of Boulle. For a secrétaire of the same model, its sides veneered in Chinese lacquer, see the example circa 1770 illustrated in T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble en Laque aux XVIIIe Siècle, Paris, 2000, p. 46, no. 30.

ELSIE DELORA KILVERT AND SAMUEL H. KRESS Elsie Delora Kilvert, née Bernardo (1891-1961), was hailed by the Boston Globe upon her 1909 marriage to the cartoonist B. Cory Kilvert as "the prettiest and premier model in New York". By the 1920s, she had become the long-time companion of Samuel H. Kress (1853-1955), the retail magnate who assembled one of the most important collections of European art in the twentieth century and helped establish the National Gallery of Art. Mrs. Kilvert accompanied Kress on annual visits to Italy in the 1920s and 1930s and assisted in selecting works to furnish his duplex penthouse at 1020 Fifth Avenue, across from the Metropolitan Museum and just a few blocks north of Mrs. Aitken's apartment.

Her contribution to the Kress Collection may even have included its very genesis: a November 1953 profile in Life magazine recounts that his collecting began around 1920, when she began bringing him to art galleries, having determined "to get Sam interested in beautiful things".

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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A LOUIS XVI ORMOLU AND PATINATED PENDULE A CERCLES TOURNANTS THE CASE ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCOIS VION, THE MOVEMENT BY JEANBAPTISTE LEPAUTE, CIRCA 1775

Modeled as the Three Graces garlanded with roses and supporting a globe surmounted

by Cupid holding an arrow, the stepped circular plinth with four foliate volutes flanking panels with acanthus-cast medallions, one opening to reveal a winding-hole and speed regulator, on a canted base with laurel border, the top of the plinth signed 'LEPAUTE A PARIS' 20º in. (51.5 cm.) high, 7 in. (18 cm.) wide $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

Baron Nathaniel Mayer de Rothschild, Vienna (1836-1905); His nephew, Baron Alphonse Mayer de Rothschild, Vienna and Paris (1878-1942); Baroness Clarice de Rothschild, New York (1894-1967), widow of Baron Alphonse de Rothschild.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 30 November 1967.

François Vion (circa 1737-after 1790), maître in 1764. Jean-Baptiste Lepaute (1727-1802/3), maître in 1776.

THE HISTORY OF THIS MODEL The design for this clock, attributed to the fondeur François Vion, is reproduced in an album of designs now conserved in the Bibliothèque Doucet, Paris (VI E 15, Rés.fol.20/1). Called a 'Pièce de bureau', its subject described as 'Le temps qui passe entre l'amour et les Grâces', the clock cost 902 livres, of which the chasing cost 660 livres and the gilding between 200 and 222 livres.

An identical clock at the château de Fontainebleau (inv. F918 C) was purchased

by General Moreau; subsequently acquired by the garde-meuble following its arrived at Fontainebleau, it was recorded in the appartements of Général Moreau in 1804 (J.-P. Samoyault, Le Mobilier du Général Moreau, Paris, 1992, p.

42, fig. 33). In the nineteenth century, Molinier had identified the Fontainebleau clock with that delivered by the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier to Madame du Barry on 4 October 1769 at a cost of 2400 livres, when it was

described as une pendule représentant les grâces dorée d'or de Germain. M. Samoyault's research has called this traditional attribution in question, and it seems rather more likely that the clock delivered to Madame du Barry would have been closer to models signed by the horlogers Brille or Dutertre, both of whom are known to have worked for Poirier.

Related clocks are conserved in the musée du Louvre, Paris (illustrated in S. Eriksen, Early Neoclassicism in France, London, 1974, pl. 198, p. 348); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto (illustrated in 'French Clocks in North American Collections', Exhibition Catalogue, 1982-83, pp. 80-81); the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris; the château de Fontainebleau; and the Huntington Gallery, San Marino (illustrated in R. Wark, French Decorative Art in the Huntington Collection, San Marino, 1979, p. 70, fig. 91). A further example was sold by the Duques de Cadaval, Christie's, London, 14 March 1996, lot 148 (£41,800).

THE LEPAUTE DYNASTY Spelled both 'Le Paute' and 'Lepaute', this celebrated dynasty of horlogers was founded by Jean-André in 1740. Settled in Paris and appointed horloger du Roi with lodgings in the Luxembourg Palace, he earned renown for a number of technical innovations, such as the échappement à repos of 1753, as well as his writings, including an impressive Traité d'Horlogerie, published in 1755, which earned him the title maître and lodgings at the Louvre by 1759. His brother also became horloger du Roi and succeeded him in the Galeries du Louvre lodgings in 1775. The next generation of Horlogers strengthened the reputation of the Le Paute Dynasty. Henry Lepaute and his cousin Pierre-Basille bought, then subsequently divided, their uncle's company, creating the signatures 'Henry Lepaute à Paris' and 'Lepaute Oncle & Neveu'. This latter line of the dynasty continued to prosper, with Pierre-Basile and his son employing the signature 'Lepaute & à Paris', and during the Empire becoming the main supplier of clocks to the garde-meuble.

THE VIENNESE ROTHSCHILDS This clock formed part of the fabled collection of the Barons Nathaniel (d. 1905) and Albert (d. 1911) von Rothschild of Vienna. The family fortune was based on businesses established by Mayer Amschel Rothschild in Frankfurt in the 1760s. His five sons, the 'five arrows', extended the family's interests throughout Europe, primarily based upon finance, but the majority of the collections were assembled by the third or fourth generations of the family, well into the nineteenth century. This timing coincided with a period of great opportunity for collections, when the royal and noble houses of Europe and the landowning families of England experienced financial difficulties and dispersed their treasures.

The Viennese branch was truly established by Nathaniel and Albert's grandfather, Salomon, who himself left Vienna after the civil disorder of 1848.

Their father, Anselm, then firmly established the family business interests in Austria. He embarked on the first large building programs for the Rothschilds in Vienna with the construction of the gallery which was attached to his Venetian residence in the Renngasse, as a home for his extensive art collection. Upon his death in 1874, Nathaniel began the construction of a 'considerable mansion' in the Theresianumgasse in Vienna, while his brother built an immense palace almost opposite in the Heugasse. Further residences in Austria included the Hohe Warte and in Moravia the Schloss Schillersdorf. Nathaniel died childless.

His brother Albert, who inherited the collection, had three sons, Alphonse, Louis and Eugene. Alphonse and his wife Clarice fled the Austria and eventually settled in New York. Much of the collection of the Barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild was sold in Christie's, London, 8 July 1999, having been restituted from the Austrian Government.

The design for this clock by François Vion

The Palais Rothschild on Theresianumgasse, Vienna

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE LACQUER COMMODE

BY JEAN DESFORGES, CIRCA 1750

Of bombé form, the brèche d'Alep marble top above two drawers flanked by rocaillecast angle mounts, the drawer fronts and the sides with Chinese black lacquer scenes decorated with figures, birds, beasts and pavilions in river landscapes, the cabriole legs with scrolled sabots, stamped four times 'DF JME', inscribed to the reverse in white chalk 'Salon Bleue', the reverse and lower drawer interior each with an old label inscribed '13936', the underside stenciled twice in white paint 'AR', the underside of marble inscribed in pencil 'Commode en Laque' 34º in. (87 cm.) high, 51 in. (130 cm.) wide, 24Ω in. (62.5 cm.) deep $150,000-250,000 PROVENANCE:

Duc d'Arenberg (according to the Rosenberg & Stiebel invoice).

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 14 January 1971.

Jean Desforges, maître in 1739.

This beautiful commode by Jean Desforges, who stamped his creations with the initials ‘DF’, with its richly cast and chased rocaille framing panels of precious Chinese lacquer, displays the full ingenuity of the marchands-merciers in combining exotic Asian lacquer with the most refined Parisian craftsmanship, reflecting the latest fashions among their sophisticated clients.

JEAN DESFORGES AND HIS COLLABORATORS The grandfather of Jean Desforges, Michel, worked in the atelier of Pierre Gôle until the latter's death in 1685, and subsequently moved to the workshop of André-Charles Boulle (J. Guiffrey, Sentence et arrêt rendus contre AndréCharles Boulle au profit de ses ouvriers, 1685, in Nouvelles annales de l'Art Français, 1881, p. 316). Based in the Grande Rue du Faubourg-Saint-Antoine, Desforges married in 1707 and had two sons, Robert, described as a marqueteur ébéniste and Michel II, who also became ébéniste. Michel II had numerous children including not only Jean, but also Jeanne, who was married to Guillaume Martin, the celebrated marchand peintre and Vernisseur du Roi. Brothers-inlaw, Martin and Jean Desforges almost certainly worked together on various items of lacquer furniture, with Martin's expertise in lacquer enbling him to overpaint some areas of the Asian lacquer, to create a fuller design. Additionally, Desforges collaborated with his cousin, the ciseleur Guillaume, who also supplied bronzes to Jean-Pierre Latz (for a general discussion of Desforge’s life and work, see C. Demetrescu, 'D.F. un ébéniste identifié’, L'Estampille-L'Objet d'Art, October, 1992, pp. 64-81).

LACQUER FURNITURE BY DESFORGES Jean Desforges' ouevre consisted exclusively of two-drawer commodes decorated sans traverse with floral marquetry or Asian lacquer. He is not known to have executed other furniture types. He crafted these works with a beautiful finesse, as evidenced by his commodes' backboards, which were often paneled and chamfered. A particular recurring motif is the refined shaping of the rear legs, as featured on this commode. The sumptuous lacquer panels were framed by large and exceptional bronze mounts, beautifully chased and richly gilded.

As a result, his furniture achieves a rare and supreme richness, with a harmony of design and execution equal to that of his contemporary BVRB; indeed, their work has often been interchanged due to the extremely close similarities.

Based on an examination of his mounts and the arrangement of his commode façades, D.F.'s oeuvre can be divided into various consecutive groups. A beautiful example of his early work and representative of the first group is a commode of circa 1730-1735 now at Versailles (T. Wolvesperges, Le Meuble Français en Laque au XVIIIième Siècle, Paris, 1999, p. 65, fig. 51). This example combines a central Chinese lacquer field with kingwood surrounds, a feature more frequently found on Régence lacquer pieces. The massive angle mounts are of an enormous scale and continue into strips which join the sabots. This impressive and ponderous commode relates to the sumptuous group of lacquer furniture by BVRB and Antoine-Robert Gaudreaus acquired circa 1730-1733 in Paris by Karl Albrecht, Elector of Bavaria for the Residenz in Munich (B. Langer, Die Möbel der Residenz München, vol. I, Munich, 1995, pp. 88-102).

The next group of commodes of circa 1735-1750, called commodes à cadres, are much more delicate in appearance and finish, with a thin meandering framing mount around a lacquer or marquetry tableau of smaller scale and less intricate design. The most prominent mounts on these commodes are a characteristic double C-scroll mount to the apron and a flowering, multiple C-scroll mount to the angles. These are often stamped with the C couronné poinçon, the tax mark applied between March 1745 and February 1749 to any alloy containing copper.

Similar mounts also appear on the present commodes, providing the principal clue to their date of execution. A fine example of this group is the Chinese red lacquer commode from the collection of the Duchesse de Richelieu (illustrated in A. Pradère, Les Ébénistes Français, Paris, 1989, p. 176).

Among his commodes of this period, Desforges produced a particularly richly mounted group of lacquer examples called commodes à cartel, to which the Aitken commode belongs. The most distinctive feature of these commodes is the cartel to the center of the lacquer panel. Capturing the essence of the rococo, this whimsical, double-domed scrolling cartouche issuing the handles is set within the framing mounts, creating a harmonious tripartite façade. Besides the present commode, a further example, from the collection of Alphonse de Rothschild at Schloss Schillersdorf, is illustrated in Demetrescu, op cit., fig. 11, later sold from the collection of Anne Ford Johnson (and interesting also with a brèche d’alep marble top); Sotheby Parke Bernet, New York, 9 December 1972, lot 114. While a near pair, one in Chinese lacquer and one in Japanese lacquer (from the collection of Baron Stieglitz, St. Petersburg), was sold from the Riahi Collection; Christie’s, London, 6 December 2012, lot 40 (£2,057,250), and a further example, but with an incomplete cartel to the center, reputedly a gift from Louis XV’s daughter Madame Adelaïde, is recorded in the collection of the Genest family of Angoulême (illustrated in J. Nicolay, L’Art et la Manière des Maîtres Ebénistes Français, 1976, p. 76, and p. 147, fig. A).

THE ARENBERG PROVENANCE The Arenberg dynasty, originating in the Eifel region on the borders of Belgium and Germany, was among the most important families in the Holy Roman Empire, who through an early-seventeenth century marriage with the CröyAarschot family inherited vast estates in the Habsburg Netherlands. Their palatial residences in Germany and Belgium included the Palais d' Egmont in Brussels, the Château d'Arenberg near Leuven and Schloss Nordkirchen in Westphalia. Although it is not clear which Duke first owned this commode, it could have descended to Engelbert, 9th Duc d'Arenberg (1872-1949) who inherited in 1875 his title from his father. Because of his German citizenship, his possessions in Belgium were confiscated in World War I and much of his collection was either put into storage or sold at this time, while after his death in 1949 the collection was further dispersed in a series of sales in the 1950s, at which time this commode might have been sold. It may also have descended to his eldest son Engelbert-Charles-Marie, 10th Duc d'Arenberg, (1899-1974), who settled in the French Riviera at Saint-Jean Cap-Ferrat, which might explain the inscription on the reverse of the commode 'salon bleue'.

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU FIGURE OF LOUIS XV AS A HERM DATED 1772

The bust of the King cast atop a draped and tapering volute-pedestal before an oak trophy, the ormolu base inscribed 'DONNE PAR LE ROY / LOUIS XV A BACHELIER / LE 24 XB 1772', on a square porphyry plinth 11º in. (29 cm.) high $12,000-18,000 PROVENANCE:

Presented to Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1805), Director of the Sèvres Manufactory from 1751-1793.

Collection of René Fribourg (1880-1963); Sotheby's, London, 28 June 1963, lot 156.

With The Antique Porcelain Company, New York.

Edward and Kiyi Pflueger Collection; Christie's, New York, 27 October 2006, lot 452.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

THE MODEL This bust is after the Sèvres figures probably modeled by Jean-Jacques Bachelier (1724-1805). Bachelier, who began working at Sèvres in 1748, was the Art Director from 1751-1793, overseeing painting at the manufactory, as well as modeling in two separate eras, from 1753-1757 and again from 1766-1774 after Falconet's departure to Russia. Between 1769 and 1780, Sèvres produced a series of small statuettes formed as term figures of classical figures, as well as sculptural series such as the Four Seasons. All of these are designed with bases nearly identical to the present bust (see E. Bourgeois and G. LechevalierChevignard, Le Biscuit de Sèvres: recueil des modèles de la manufacture de Sèvres au XVIIIe siècle, plates 17 and 18). An identical model of Louis XVI, from the Estate of Mrs. Charles Engelhard, with the same base of oak leaves and porphyry plinth, but without the inscription of the present model, was sold, together with the matching bust of Marie Antoinette, Christie's, New York, 18 March, 2005, lot 296. A bust with identical inscription to the base, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Arnold Seligmann, was sold Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, 4 / 5 June 1935, lot 119.

THE PFLUEGER COLLECTION Formed over the course of forty years by the discerning eyes of Edward M. and Kathleen "Kiyi" Powers Pflueger, The Pflueger Collection comprised over 700 pieces of the finest German and French porcelain and faience of the late seventeenth-eighteenth centuries. Edward began collecting European ceramics as a young man in 1930s Germany, before immigrating to the United States where in 1943, he married Kiyi, one of five daughters from a socially prominent New Jersey family. Inspired by the porcelain collection formed by Otto and Magdalena Blohm of Hamburg, they together assembled one of the most important collections of European ceramics in America, displayed in their homes among fine paintings, sculpture, furniture and other decorative arts of the same periods. Upon the death of Edward in 1997, the collection was bequeathed to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston but was not to leave home until the death of its co-collector, Kiyi. With her passing in 2006, the core of the collection has now moved on to the MFA, with a collection of ceramics, furniture and decorative arts retained privately by Kiyi after Edward's death, including the present figure, soldat Christie’s, New York in 2006.

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A PAIR OF ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE CRACKLEGLAZED (GE-TYPE) PORCELAIN VASES

THE PORCELAIN 18TH CENTURY, THE ORMOLU BASES LOUIS XV, MID-18TH CENTURY, THE ORMOLU RIMS OF A LATER DATE Each body of baluster form with two loop handles at the neck, on a pierced ormolu foliate scroll base, with a later ormolu mount resting at the rim 12 in. (30.5 cm.) high, overall $7,000-10,000

(2)

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EDOUARD-HENRI GIRARDET (NEUCHÂTEL 1819-1880 VERSAILLES)

Le Duc de Montpensier (Antoine-Philippe d’Orléans), after Victor-Amédée Faure signed with initials ‘E.G.’ (lower right) black chalk, graphite, gray wash, heightened with white 8 x 4¿ in. (20 x 10.5 cm) $2,000-3,000 PROVENANCE:

Richard Seymour-Conway, Marquess of Hertford (1800-1870), Paris.

Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890), Paris.

Sir John Murray Scott (1847-1912), London.

Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), Knole, Kent. with G. Seligman & Cie, Paris (Exposition de quelques dessins du XIXe siècle exécutés sur l’ordre du Roi Louis-Philippe d’après les peintures d’Histoire du Musée de Versailles, Paris, 1929, no. 24).

Claus and Sunny von Bülow, Newport; gifted to Russell B. Aitken (1910-2002), New York.

EXHIBITED:

New York, French Embassy, Services du Conseiller Culturel, Commémoration du centenaire de la révolution de 1848, March-April 1948 (without catalogue).

LITERATURE:

J. Richardson, ed., The collection of Germain Seligman. Paintings, drawings and works of art, privately printed, 1979, no. 26, ill.

ENGRAVED:

Alphonse Charles Masson (C. Gavard, Galeries historiques de Versailles, Paris, 18381845, X, series X, section VII, no. 2719).

Girardet was a Swiss-born artist who worked mainly as an engraver, but was also a painter and draftsman. One of his most important projects was as an engraver for Jacques-Dominique-Charles Gavard's Les Galeries historiques de Versailles which he worked on for a twelve year period from 1837-1849. Gavard's publication coincided with Louis-Philippe's transformation of Versailles into a national museum. The 12 volumes included over 1,800 engravings after works in the royal collection.

This drawing is after a portrait of King Louis-Philippe's younger brother, Antoine-Philippe, by Victor-Amedée Faure (1801-1878). Exhibited at the Salon in 1835, the painting has recently entered the collection of the Musée Condé in Chantilly (inv. 2024-8-1).

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EDOUARD-HENRI GIRARDET (NEUCHÂTEL 1819-1880 VERSAILLES)

King Louis-Philippe on horseback, with his sons, before the gate of the chateau de Versailles, after Horace Vernet signed, dated and inscribed ‘Ed. Girardet dap. M. Hor. Vernet/ 1848’ (lower left) black chalk, black and gray wash, heightened with white 11Ω x 12 in. (29.4 x 30.5 cm) $3,000-5,000 PROVENANCE:

Richard Seymour-Conway, Marquess of Hertford (1800-1870), Paris.

Sir Richard Wallace (1818-1890), Paris.

Sir John Murray Scott (1847-1912), London.

Vita Sackville-West (1892-1962), Knole, Kent. with G. Seligman & Cie, Paris (Exposition de quelques dessins du XIXe siècle exécutés sur l’ordre du Roi Louis-Philippe d’après les peintures d’Histoire du Musée de Versailles, 1929, no. 27).

Claus and Sunny von Bülow, Newport; gifted to Russell B. Aitken (1910-2002), New York.

EXHIBITED:

New York, French Embassy, Services du Conseiller Culturel, Commémoration du centenaire de la révolution de 1848, March-April 1948 (without catalogue).

LITERATURE:

J. Richardson, The collection of Germain Seligman. Paintings, drawings and works of art, privately printed, 1979, no. 27, ill.

ENGRAVED:

Joseph Félon (Iconography of Louis-Philippe, VI, Paris, 1907, no. 106).

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Girardet's drawing is based on one of Vernet's last painting commissions from King Louis-Philippe before he was dethroned. Vernet's painting was executed in 1846 and depicts the Bourbon monarch on horseback with his sons. The image was meant to reinforce the legitimacy Louis-Philippe and his sons' claims to the throne.

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ATTRIBUTED TO FRANÇOIS BOUCHER (PARIS 1703-1770) The bather

pastel, on light brown paper 10æ x 13¿ in. (27.4 x 33.4 cm) $6,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

Count Jacques de Bryas; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 5 April 1898, lot 17 (14.800 francs to Piétri).

H. de Jonge, Paris.

Mrs. S.W. Straus, New York. with P. W. French & Co., New York.

Thelma Chrysler Foy (1902-1957), New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 22-23 May 1959, lot 636.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

LITERATURE:

A. Michel, François Boucher, Paris, 1906, no. 2208.

A. Ananoff, L’œuvre dessiné de François Boucher (1703-1770), Paris, I, 1966, no. 515.

N. Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, published online at www.pastellists. com, no. J.173.7505 (consulted in October 2025).

The female nude was a favorite subject of Boucher, who often used the pretext of a mythological or allegorical subject to explore and celebrate its form. The present work abandons all narrative. Here a young female sits on a rocky promontory at the water’s edge between two winged putti with lush green foliage surrounding them.

Boucher's female nude compositions were already highly sought-after by collectors in the 18th Century. In the following century the Goncourt brothers wrote: 'What could be more charming than these academies of women by Boucher! They amuse, they provoke, they tickle the eye’ (quoted in F. Joulie, François Boucher, hier et aujourd'hui, exhib. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 2003-2004, p. 22). When this pastel was offered for sale in Paris in 1898 (Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 5 April 1898, lot 17) it fetched the high sum of 14.800 francs.

We are grateful to Laure Aline Demazure for her help in writing this entry. The work will be included in the Laing-Demazure catalogue raisonné currently in preparation.

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FRANÇOIS BOUCHER (PARIS 1703-1770) The Bath of Venus or Leda black chalk 8æ x 7 in. (22.3 x 17.8 cm)

Gabriel Huquier as Venus au bain (P. Jean-Richard, Inventaire général de gravures de l'Ecole française 'L'œuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild', Paris, 1978, no. 1149).

Jules de Goncourt (Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, Etude contenant quatre dessins gravés à l’eau-forte, Paris, 1862, p. 28, ill.).

$25,000-35,000 PROVENANCE:

Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul (1713-1781), Paris; M. Boileau, Paris, 3-6 December 1781, lot 123.

Edmond (1822-1896) and Jules de Goncourt (1830-1870), Paris (L. 1089); Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 15-17 February 1897, lot 24 (2.900 francs to Comtesse Péthion).

Comtesse Péthion (1863-1942), Paris; Lair-Dubreuil, Paris, 14-17 May 1902, lot 1.

Baroness Merton-Bissing.

Anonymous sale; Kunstkabinett, Stuttgart, 7-9 November 1951, lot 908. with Wildenstein and Co., New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, Charles E. Slatkin Galleries, François Boucher. An exhibition of prints and drawings, 1957, no. 15, ill.

Memphis, TN, Dixon Gallery and Gardens, New York, Rosenberg & Stiebel, Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour. A love affair with style, 1990, no. 9, ill.

LITERATURE:

E. and J. de Goncourt, Boucher. Étude contenant quatre dessins gravés a l'eau-forte, Paris, 1862, p. 28.

E. and J. de Goncourt, L'art du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1875, pp. III and 28.

P. Burty, Eaux-fortes de Jules de Goncourt. Notice et catalogue, Paris, 1876, p. 8, no. 36.

E. and J. de Goncourt, L'art du dix-huitième siècle, Paris, 1880, 3 ed., I, p. 191.

E. de Goncourt, La maison d’un artiste, Paris, 1881, I, pp. 54-55.

A. Michel, M.L. Souillé, and C. Masson, François Boucher, Paris, 1906, p. 35, no. 617.

E. and J. de Goncourt, L’art du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1906, I, p. 279.

M. Roux, Inventaire du fonds français. Graveurs du XVIIIe siècle, Paris, 1949, VI, p. 434, no. 345.

A. Ananoff, L’œuvre dessiné de François Boucher, Paris, 1966, I, no. 757, ill.

P. Jean-Richard, L'Œuvre gravé de François Boucher dans la Collection Edmond de Rothschild, Paris, 1978, I, p. 216, 266, and 281, nos. 820, 1067, 1148.

ENGRAVED:

Gilles Demarteau (Gilles Demarteau, graveur du roi, 1722-1776 : la vie et l’œuvre de Gilles Demarteau. Catalogue et prix de ses six cent soixante-quatre gravures, Brussels, 1883, no. 345).

François Boucher's celebration of the female form found its perfect vehicle in mythological subjects. Venus provided one of Boucher's most frequently depicted mythological subjects in paintings, drawings and prints. The present example was the source for a print by Gilles Demarteau (1722-1776), the most important French printmaker working in Paris in the mid-18th Century.

Demarteau specialized in the crayon manner which reproduced chalk drawings in color, and he made hundreds of prints after compositions by Boucher. In this composition Venus is depicted in a wooded landscape with an attendant and two putti who play with a swan. Boucher used the soft black chalk in varying ways to differentiate the textures from flesh and fabric to tree bark and foliage.

This composition was repeated in another print by Gabriel Huquier (16951772) who etched it in the same direction and used it as the frontispiece of his publication, Troisiéme livre de sujets et pastorals par F. Boucher, peintre du Roy. Huquier's engravings after Boucher were part of a four volume set of Sujets et pastorals.

Venus bathing is also the subject of one of Boucher's finest paintings, painted for the Marquise de Pompadour in 1751 which is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. As with many of these mythological subjects, the narrative, and even the sitter (in the case of the painting, it has been suggested that the woman is the Marquise de Pompadour) is less important that the overall exaltation of female beauty.

This drawing has an illustrious provenance, having once been in the collection of Jean-Claude Gaspard de Sireul (1713-1781), Boucher's most enthusiastic collector and patron during the artist's lifetime. Sireul's posthumous sale included over 200 drawings, 16 paintings and four pastels by Boucher. During the 19th Century Venus at her bath was owned by the brothers Edmond and Jules Goncourt brothers, important art critics and writers. Their twelve volume series, L'Art du dix huitième siècle (first published between 1856-1875) helped revive interest in French rococo art during the 19th Century and mentioned this drawing in that publication (Goncourt, op. cit., I, p. 279).

We are grateful to Laure Aline Demazure for confirming the attribution of this drawing on the basis of photographs and for her help in writing this entry. The work will be included in the Laing-Demazure catalogue raisonné currently in preparation.

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PIERRE-ANTOINE DEMACHY (PARIS 1723-1807)

The colonnade of the Louvre during its reconstruction signed and dated 'Demachy/ 17[?]' (lower right) graphite, bodycolor, on thin cardboard 7¿ x 12√ in. (18 x 32.7 cm) $20,000-30,000 PROVENANCE:

with J. Kugel, Paris (Un panorama de Paris et ses environs: tableaux et dessins 16801840, 1996, no. 5, ill.)

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

Paris, Salon, 1759, no. 82.

LITERATURE:

E. Bellier de la Chavignerie and L. Auvray, Dictionnaire des artistes de l’école française, Paris, 1882, I, p. 401.

J. Seznec and J. Adhémar, Diderot. Salons, Paris, 1975, I, p. 50.

M.-P. Petkowska, ‘Demachy, peintre des ruines et vedutiste parisien’, L'estampille / l'Objet d'Art, no. 374, November 2002, p. 80.

Demachy was a student of the French architect, painter and stage designer JeanNicolas Servandoni (1695-1766). He became a member of the Académie in 1755 and exhibited regularly at the Salon from 1757 through 1802 showing historical or architectural compositions. He was a contemporary of Hubert Robert and, like him, Demachy is best known for his urban views, in most cases of his hometown of Paris. His colorful city views - while architecturally accurate - are also populated with figures engaging in everyday activities. Demachy’s works also provide an invaluable record of the massive architectural projects that were changing the cityscape of Paris during the 18th Century. In the present gouache Demachy has depicted such a scene.

Abandoned as a royal residence in 1682, the Louvre became a haphazard collective of spaces, with little oversight or upkeep until the Marquis de Marigny (1727-1781), Directeur-général des bâtiments du roi, undertook a massive refurbishment of the site. This meant transforming a previous royal residence into a cultural center, housing the Académie and the Salon. In the beautiful portrait by Alexander Roslin in the Aitken collection (lot 228), Marigny holds the plans of the Louvre and on his desk is a small painted view of the Colonnade. The transformation of the palace must have fascinated Demachy, as it was a subject to which he returned often in paintings and drawings over the years. Living on the Rue Froidmanteau, Demachy likely passed the construction site daily, enabling him to note its progress and delays (M. Roland Michel, ‘The Clearance of the Colonnade of the Louvre. A Study Arising from a Painting by de Machy’, The Burlington Magazine, CXX, no. 906 (1978), pp. i–vi). Demachy’s composition shows the clearing of older buildings in front of the east façade of the Louvre, which faced the Seine, designed by Claude Perrault (1613-1688) in the third quarter of the 17th Century. While the present work is dated 1759, construction on the east side of the Louvre had begun in 1756.

Demachy exhibited this work at the Salon of 1759 along with three other gouaches; together they formed a series showing the development of the reconstruction of the Louvre.

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A LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED STAINED PEARWOOD AND PARQUETRY TABLE A ECRIRE

BY ROGER VANDERCRUSE, CALLED LACROIX, CIRCA 1770

Decorated overall with flower-filled trellis, the oval top with a pierced gallery over a fitted drawer, on cabriole legs joined by an oval undertier and terminating in scrolling sabots, stamped 'RVLC JME' twice 29æ in. (76 cm.) high, 19º in. (49 cm.) wide, 14º in. (36.5 cm.) deep $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

With Ruth Costantino, The Connoisseur, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 19 March 1968.

Roger Vandercruse, known as Lacroix, maître in 1755.

Although achieving his maîtrise at a relatively early date, RVLC, who was related by marriage both to Jean-François Oeben and to Jean-Henri Riesener, is best known for his elegant products in the Transitional style of the 1760s and 1770s. He worked in the early years of his career both with Oeben and Gilles Joubert, often on commissions for the Garde Meuble Royal, and also cooperated extensively with the marchand-mercier Simon-Philippe Poirier. He

perfected the type of useful elegant occasional table typified by the example offered here, perhaps as a result of his frequent collaborations with Poirier. The distinctive parquetry on this table, with a trellis of contrasting woods enclosing flowerheads, is a particular recurring motif in his creations.

A number of examples of this model are known, with minor variants, including: - one in the British Royal Collection at Windsor Castle, purchased by George IV in 1829 (RCIN 39221) - one at Waddesdon Manor (see G. de Bellaigue, The James A. de Rothschild Collection at Waddesdon Manor: Furniture, Clocks and Gilt Bronzes, London, 1974, vol. II, cat. 98) - one formerly in the collection of Mrs. Henry Walters (see C. Packer, Paris Furniture by the Master Ebénistes, Newport, 1956, fig. 120) - a near pair sold from the Riahi Collection, Christie’s, London, 6 December 2012, lot 26 - one with the unusual feature of spring-loaded drawers to the side, sold from the collection of André Meyer, Christie's, New York, 26 October 2001, lot 40 - one from the Keck Collection, La Lanterne, Bel Air, sold Sotheby's, New York, 5-6 December 1991, lot 258 - one sold from a European collection, Sotheby's, Paris, 14 June 2006, lot 138 - one sold Segoura, Christie’s, New York, 19 October 2006, lot 130

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A LOUIS XV ORMOLU AND TORTOISESHELL AND BRASS-INLAID BOULLE MARQUETRY CARTEL CLOCK ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES CRESSENT, CIRCA 1740-1745

Emblematic of Time Triumphant Over Love, the ormolu dial cast with an Apollo mask over a lyre, the Roman numeral hours enameled in blue on white shaped panels, the sides of the case with Boulle marquetry in tortoiseshell and brass, surmounted by a winged figure of Chronos atop clouds, raising his scythe against a winged figure of Cupid below, enclosed in a large C-scroll and surrounded by shells, reeds, coral, rockwork and large trailing flowers, the movement signed 'De L'Espinasse A Paris' 44º in. (112.5 cm.) high $150,000-250,000 PROVENANCE:

William Henry Leicester Stanhope, 11th Earl of Harrington, Elvaston Castle, Derbyshire (1922-2009); sold Sotheby's, London, 22 November, 1963, lot 59.

With Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above, 1967.

LITERATURE:

T. Dell, 'The Gilt-bronze Cartel Clocks of Charles Cressent', The Burlington Magazine 107, no. 769, April 1967, p. 214, 'type C', no. 3.

W. Edey, French Clocks, New York, 1967, pp. 46-47, fig. 21 (when with Rosenberg and Stiebel).

A. Pradère, Charles Cressent, Dijon, 2003, p. 300, no. 234.

Charles Cressent (1625-1707), maître sculpteur in 1714.

THE CARTEL CLOCKS OF CHARLES CRESSENT One of Charles Cressent's grandest and most ambitious works, this massive, spectacular cartel clock is nearly unmatched in movement, technical virtuosity and life, eliding the boundaries between functional object and naturalistic sculpture and embodying the Rococo style at its most advanced and inventive.

Born in Amiens, Charles Cressent (1685-1768) was exposed to both the art of sculpture and craft of furniture from birth, as the son of the sculpteur du Roi, François Cressent (1663-1745), and grandson of the menuisier, Charles Cressent (1625-1707). Based in the suburbs of Paris in 1711, Cressent worked for the sculptors Girardon and le Lorrain in 1714, was elected maître sculpteur of the Saint Luc Academy on 14 August 1714, and subsequently qualified as an ébéniste after his marriage to the widow of Joseph Poitou (formerly ébéniste du Régent) in 1719. Having enlarged the workshop considerably, Cressent was in turn appointed as ébéniste du Régent to the duc d'Orléans, and soon attracted a roster of elite clientele comprising mainly financiers, as well as Royal and aristocratic patrons including the two successive ducs d'Orléans, King John V of Portugal, Prince Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, the duc the Richelieu and the marquis de Marigny.

Cressent owed much of his success to the sumptuous and sculptural mounts he created for his furniture, as well as the fantastical bronzes d’ameublement he devised. Guild regulations permitted him to create these designs, but required that they be executed by independent fondeurs and doreurs. He was prosecuted in 1723, 1733 and 1743 for violating these rules, infringing the boundaries between ébénisterie the doreurs-ciseleurs' livelihood. Cressent also further faced sporadic financial difficulties and was compelled to hold auction sales in 1749, 1757 and 1765. Troubling as these legal and financial challenges were, however, the resulting inventories of confiscated property and three auction catalogues written by Cressent himself have provided art historians and connoisseurs with invaluable records of his work.

Depicting the theme of Time Triumphant Over Love, the model for the present cartel clock is recorded first as lot 47 in Charles Cressent's sale on 15 January 1749: 47. Une magnifique pendule de bronze dont la composition est du meilleur goût; il y a sur le haut un Amour qui est assis sur des nuages, il appuye son coude sur un sable [sablier]. Au-dessous du cadran est la figure du Temps, tenant sa faulx, et posé sur le chaos du monde, les pieds sont formés par deux grands arbres, le tout parfaitement bien sizelé, doré d'or moulu, de quatre pieds trois pouces de haut

Elvaston Castle, seat of the Earls of Harrington

An exceptional example of Cressent's most sculptural work at the peak of the Rococo style, this cartel model clearly enjoyed enduring popularity, as two more examples appear as lots 151 and 152 in his sale on 15 March 1757, catalogued with the 1749 description copied verbatim, except with sides in oak rather than marquetry. The materials were perhaps chosen to skirt guild regulations, as they ensured the cartels were not purely works of bronze, and instead could, however narrowly, be considered works of ébénisterie. One, or possibly more, examples are documented later in the eighteenth century: one, which is recorded as lot 1026 in the 1776 sale of Blondel de Gagny’s collection, is possibly the same as that sold anonymously on 15 December 1784, lot 213 and subsequently from the Boullogne de Préninville collection on 8 May 1787, lot 274, to Legere. This may also the be same that was recorded in the 1771 posthumous inventory of the duc de Bouillon’s collection, as both are described with movements by ‘Guyot’ or ‘Gillot’, presumed to refer to André-Georges Guyot.

Cressent also produced a complementary model, emblematic of the opposite theme: Love Triumphant Over Time. Although this model is no less ambitious in its treatment of rockwork and natural forms than the Blondel de Gagny/ Aitken model, it is overall of a slightly smaller scale, and somewhat more symmetrical in design, with a smaller dial lacking the magnificent relief-cast Apollo mask present on the Aitken clock. Five examples of this complementary are also known today, including one in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum, New York, its movement signed 'Jean Godde l'aisné A Paris' (acc. no. 1971.206.27); one in the Wallace Collection, London, its movement signed 'Guiot A Paris' (F 92); and one in the musée de Louvre, its movement signed by Gourdain (inv. no. OA 9586). See T. Dell, "The Gilt-bronze Cartel Clocks of Charles Cressent", The Burlington Magazine 107, no. 769, April 1967, pp. 210-217; and A. Pradère, Charles Cressent, Dijon, 2003, pp. 188-198 and 299-300.

In addition to the Aitken example, four others of this model are known today:

THE ELVASTON CASTLE PROVENANCE Elvaston Castle in Derbyshire served as the seat of the Stanhope family from the late sixteenth century, undergoing numerous phases of rebuilding and refurnishing first initiated by William Stanhope, created 1st Earl of Harrington in 1742. His son, William Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Harrington, continued this program, commissioning significant interior work soon after his 1746 marriage to Lady Caroline Fitzroy, and later, following his succession to the title in 1756.

The finest of their eighteenth-century rooms were preserved when the castle was remodeled during the Regency period, to designs by James Wyatt. The Earls of Harrington have earned renown for their collection of French furniture, including a rare pair Boulle console tables which were sold Sotheby's, London, 22 November 1963, lot 69. English furniture from Elvaston Castle includes the famed 'Harrington Commode' by Thomas Chippendale, sold Sotheby's, London, 7 December 2010 (£3,793,250), which established a new auction record for the maker. Despite the family’s successive generations of renovation and decorating, it is not known when the present clock entered the Elvaston collection.

- one at Het Loo Palace, Apeldoorn, first recorded there in an inventory of 1835, its dial signed 'J.B. Dutertre' and its movement signed 'Guiot' (as in the eighteenth-century catalogues cited above), as well as with an inscription 'Buzot, janvier 1742' (inv. no. L391) - one in the collection of the collection the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, its movement signed 'Hervé à Paris' (obj. no. BK-18018) - one offered Sotheby’s, New York, 1 February 2013, lot 12, its movement also signed 'Hervé à Paris' - and an example formerly owned by Gustave de Rothschild, Paris, today at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, its dial and movement replaced circa 1790 by Phillipe Willemin of Metz, France (obj. no. 62-1.1,2)

The cartel clock of this model at the Rijksmuseum

A related cartel clock at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

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A CHINESE PALE GREENISH-WHITE JADE SHALLOW BOWL 18TH-19TH CENTURY 4√ in. (12.4 cm.) diam. $3,000-5,000

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A CHINESE PALE GREENISH-WHITE JADE CUP 18TH-19TH CENTURY 31 in. (7.8 cm.) diam. $5,000-7,000

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A CHINESE WHITE JADE SQUARE 'CHILONG' WASHER 17TH-18TH CENTURY

Two sides of the washer are carved with poetic inscriptions, followed by the signature and seal of the Ming-dynasty calligrapher Zhu Yunming on one side and painter Shen Zhou on the other.

4¿ in. (10.5 cm.) across handles $10,000-15,000 PROVENANCE:

With C. T. Loo, New York and Paris.

Annie Laurie Crawford, later Aitken (1900-1984), acquired in the 1930s.

309 (mark)

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A CHINESE IRON-RED AND GREEN-ENAMELED 'FISH AND WATERWEED' BOWL

A PAIR OF CHINESE FAMILLE VERTE BOWLS KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

6¿ in.(15.6 cm.) and 6 in. (15.2 cm.) diam.

The base has an apocryphal Chenghua mark.

3¿ in. (7.9 cm.) diam.

$7,000-9,000

$8,000-12,000 PROVENANCE:

Winston F. C. Guest (1906-1982) Collection, New York.

Highly Important Chinese Porcelain & French Furniture: Property of Winston Guest; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 2 December 1967, lot 90 (one of a pair).

(2)

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A PAIR OF LATE LOUIS XV ORMOLU-MOUNTED CHINESE WUCAI PORCELAIN POT-POURRI VASES THE PORCELAIN KANGXI PERIOD (1661-1722), THE ORMOLU CIRCA 1765

Each vase painted with chrysanthemum, peony and rockwork with a bird or insect, the pierced domed ormolu cover flanked by squared loop handles suspending leaves and joined by ribbon-tied laurel, on a canted square base cast with piastres 9æ in. (25 cm.) high (2) $30,000-50,000 PROVENANCE:

With Partridge, London.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above, 15 November 1995.

Decoration in the wucai, or ‘five colors’, palette originated during the Ming Dynasty and reached its peak under the reign of the Jiajing Emperor (15221566), representing a major turning point in the development of Chinese polychrome porcelain. Despite its name, wucai is not strictly limited to five colors, but still most typically combines three main overglaze enamels (red, green and yellow) with underglaze blue and black outlining on the white ground. Wucai wares were valued for their bold colors and comparatively free style of painting—especially in contrast to the delicate doucai (‘joined colors’) technique that preceded them—and were relatively uncommon in France in the eighteenth century. Wucai porcelain mounted in eighteenth-century ormolu appears somewhat infrequently on the auction market, with some notable recent examples including a pair of cache-pots sold Christie's, New York, 12 December 2024, lot 24; a single cache-pot from the Collection of Carroll Petrie & European Decorative Arts from the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama, sold Christie’s, New York, 31 March 2016, lot 1201; and a pair of cache-pots sold Christie's, London, 6 July 2012, lot 70.

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A PAIR OF SEVRES HARD PASTE BISCUIT PORCELAIN PORTRAIT BUSTS OF KING LOUIS XVI AND QUEEN MARIE-ANTOINETTE OF FRANCE CIRCA 1785-1788, INCISED MARKS ALONG THE EDGES OF THE SOCLES, THE BASES LOUIS XVI, LATE 18TH CENTURY AND ASSOCIATED

Both truncated at the waist, the King wearing the mantle and ribbon of the Order of the Saint Esprit and, hanging through a buttonhole, the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece; the Queen wearing a diadem and pearls in her elaborately curled and braided coiffure, each on an associated canted rectangular marble and ormolu plinth base 15 in. (38.5 cm.) high, 11æ in. (30 cm.) wide, the king; 16º in. (41 cm.) high, 10¬ in. (27 cm.) wide, the queen; the gilt bronze and marble bases 4 in. (10.2 cm.) high, 7¬ in. (18.6 cm.) wide, 6¡ in. (16 cm.) deep (4) $40,000-60,000 PROVENANCE:

Louis Philippe Joseph d'Orléans, duc d’ Orléans, aka Philippe Egalité (1747-1793) (according to The Antique Porcelain Company’s records).

Sir Philip Sassoon (1888-1939, according to The Antique Porcelain Company’s records).

With The Antique Porcelain Company, prior to 1968.

The portrait of the Queen acquired from the above by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002), 5 January 1968.

The Collections of Hans and Elisabeth Weinberg and The Antique Company of New York; Sotheby's, New York, 10-11 November 2006, lot 212 (the portrait of the King).

Acquired from the above by Irene Roosevelt Aitken.

The present pair of royal busts are likely after portraits conceived by the sculptor Louis-Simon Boizot (1743- 1809), artistic director of the Sèvres sculpture studio 1773-1793 and 1795-1800, and modeled by Josse-FrançoisJoseph Le Riche (1738-1812), who worked in the sculpture studio 1780-1806.

Similar in date to the portraits they support, the highly stylish gilt-bronze and marble bases are a later addition. Although it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when they were joined up, these bases have been with the biscuit busts for a minimum of nearly sixty years. The interior of each is inscribed in yellow wax crayon with an illegible inventory number, possibly that of The Antique Porcelain Company.

Comparable busts of both the king and queen were included in the exhibition catalogue Visitors to Versailles Louis XIV to the French Revolution, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 16 April - 29 July 2018, p. 175, nos. 84 and 85 respectively. The British Royal Collection includes a pair purchased by King George IV, with slight variations in the modeling of the king’s lace jabot and in the sizes. See Sir Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, Royal Collection Publications, 2009, vol. III, pp. 10841087, cat. nos. 307 (RCIN 39496) and 308 (RCIN 39497) for a description of these examples and a detailed discussion of who modeled them and when.

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JACQUES-ANDRÉ PORTAIL (BREST 1695-1759 VERSAILLES) A young artist sharpening his chalk black and red chalk 10 x 8¿ in. (25.5 x 20.6 cm) $50,000-80,000 PROVENANCE:

with Didier Aaron, New York.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, The Frick Collection, and Ottawa, National Gallery of Art, Watteau and his world. French drawings from 1700 to 1750, 1999, no. 77, ill. (catalogue by Alan Wintermute).

LITERATURE:

J. Russell, 'It Wasn't All Dainty Ladies and Their Beaux in Frills and Satin', The New York Times, 29 October 1999, p. E40.

Born in Nantes, Brittany, Jacques-André Portail was trained as an architect by his father before moving to Paris. In 1738 he was appointed Draftsman to the King and two years later curator of the royal collection of maps and pictures. In this capacity he benefited from lodgings in Versailles. Portail executed several views of the building and the orangery, as well as of the gardens of Versailles.

These works brought him recognition.

In spite of an artistic career that strayed from the fame and honors of the Academy of Painting, Portail's drawings were admired and sought-after both by his enlightened contemporaries and later on by collectors in the 19th Century, such as Marius Paulme, the Marquis de Chenneviéres and the Goncourt brothers.

A skillful colorist, and always concerned with precision and detail, JacquesAndré Portail is one of the artists whose technique is so individual that it is immediately recognizable and the style of this drawing is no exception. Among the artist’s favorite subjects were elegant young men and women caught in solitary reading, drawing or writing. A Lady sketching at a table, in the same technique and size as the present sheet, is in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum in New York (C. Denison, French Master Drawings in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1993, no. 44, ill.).

© Visko Hatfield, 2025

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ATTRIBUTED TO JOSEPH CHARLES MARIN (1759-1834) BUST OF A BACCHANTE

EARLY 19TH CENTURY On an ormolu-mounted green granite or porphyry base and inscribed MARIN on the reverse terracotta 6Ω. in. (16 cm.) high, the terracotta 10Ω in. (27 cm.) high, with base $2,000-3,000

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JOSEPH-CHARLES MARIN (PARIS, 1749-1834) BUST OF A YOUNG WOMAN LATE 18TH CENTURY On a circular white marble base, signed Marin terracotta 11 in. (28 cm.) high, the terracotta 14æ in. (37.5 cm.), high with the base $10,000-15,000 PROVENANCE:

George Blumenthal; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1-2 December 1932, lot 103 (FF 25,000, to M. Leroue de Villers).

With Wildenstein, New York.

Private Collection, Canada.

Anthony Roth, London; Sotheby's, London, 9 December 1993, lot 194.

With Partridge Fine Arts, London, 11 June 1996.

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

LITERATURE:

S. Rubenstein-Bloch, Catalogue of the Collection of George and Florence Blumenthal, New York, Paris. 1930, vol. V, pl. LXII. M. Quinquenet, Un élève de Clodion: Joseph Charles Marin, 1759-1834, Paris, 1948, p.

66.

Partridge Fine Arts, catalogue, London, 1994.

George Blumenthal (1858-1941) was a German emigrée whose genius for foreign exchange while working for Lazard Frères in New York made both his fortune and his reputation as one of Wall Street's most respected financiers.

He retired from finance in 1925 and with his wife, Florence Meyer Blumenthal (d.1930), they devoted themselves to art and philanthropy which became their most important legacy. Though largely unknown today, George Blumenthal's influence equaled that of his most famous contemporary, J. Pierpont Morgan.

Blumenthal donated significant funds to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, served as its President from 1935-1941 and left the Museum the contents of his palatial New York mansion--over seven hundred works, including significant Italian Renaissance paintings, early works of art and decorations.

Their Parisian hôtel particulier was filled with paintings by 18th century artists such as Fragonard, Boucher and Watteau, as well as equally important French furniture and works of art. Florence Blumenthal died in 1930, and the contents of their home, including this elegant bust by Marin, were sold by Georges Petit two years later.

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JACQUES-ANDRÉ PORTAIL (BREST 1695-1759 VERSAILLES)

Portail's drawings reflect the elegance of French society during the reign of King Louis XV. Using red, black and white chalk, sometimes with touches of graphite or watercolor, these studies of courtiers and pages, musicians and ladies reading and sewing were rooted in observation of the world around him.

black and red chalk, pen and brown ink, watermark coat of arms and initials 'IVP' 11√ x 11¿ in. (30 x 28.2 cm)

In contrast to the Enlightenment taste, which admired Portail's more finished compositions, 19th-century critics preferred those works in which he came closest to the style of Watteau. The Marquis de Chennevières, who was instrumental in the revival of interest in Portail’s art, aptly wrote that he used 'Watteau's chalks in an original way, with a special touch that is almost lighter and livelier than in a Lancret or Pater. He did not invent from his imagination as Watteau did, rather Portail's figures are directly derived from the people of the court that surrounded him [...] and better than anyone else he translated their attitudes and frivolous feelings' (P. de Chennevières 'Les dessins de maîtres anciens exposés à l'Ecole des Beaux- Arts en 1879', Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1880, p. 96).

A group of musicians with a cellist in the foreground $15,000-25,000 PROVENANCE:

Lebarbier de Tinan.

Pierre Decourcelle (1856-1926), Paris; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 29-30 May 1911, lot 139.

E.M. Hodgkins (active 1887-1924), London; Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 30 April 1914, lot 48.

Albert Meyer, Paris.

Irma N. Straus (1974-1970), New York; Parke-Bernet, New York, 21 October 1970, lot 22.

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002).

LITERATURE:

S. de Ricci, Dessins du Dix-Huitième Siècle. Collection Albert Meyer, Paris, 1935, no. 71, ill.

X. Salmon, Jacques-André Portail 1695-1759, Paris, 1996, no. 30, ill.

Elegant figures playing music were often the subject of Portail’s compositions: another sheet with two musicians playing together was sold at Artcurial in Paris in 2016 (Salmon, op. cit., no. 33), and several drawings of single musicians are known (ibid., nos. 34 and 36). A replica of the present drawing is at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow (inv. 7191; N.N. Vodo, Le dessin français des XVIe-XVIIIe siècles, Moscow, 1977, no. 132, ill.).

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LOUIS-ROLLAND TRINQUESSE (PARIS 1745-1800)

Portrait of Comte Louis-Michel Le Peletier de SaintFargeau (1760-1793) with inscription 'Le Pelletier de St. Fargeau/ par Trinquesse' (on old backing) red chalk, circular 5º in. (13.3 cm), diameter $10,000-15,000 PROVENANCE:

with W.M. Brady & Co., New York (French Drawings 1600-1900, 2004, no. 19, ill.).

Acquired by Irene Roosevelt Aitken from the above.

During his lifetime, Trinquesse gained a reputation as a portraitist, counting among his clients aristocrats, artists, men of letters and architects. The artist made many designs for engraved medallion portraits.

Louis-Michel Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau (1760-1793) was a liberal aristocratic who fought to abolish slavery and the death penalty. He was a successful criminal lawyer and in 1790 was appointed president of the Assemblé Constituante. Three years later, in 1793, the day before King Louis XVI’s death, Le Peletier was assassinated at the Fevrier restaurant in the Palais Royal, in a botched assassination attempt on the Duc d'Orléans. His funeral procession went through the streets of Paris, and his body lay in repose on a pedestal in the Place Vendôme. The artist Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) was involved in the preparations for the funeral.

As a result of this tragedy, Le Peletier became one of the martyrs and icons of the Revolution. In a now-lost painting David depicted Le Peletier’s dead body half-draped with the assassin’s sword hanging above him dripping with blood.

Trinquesse's sensitive portrait shows an image of a noble and serene character in his prime before his untimely death at the age of thirty-three.

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AUGUSTIN DE SAINT-AUBIN (PARIS 1736-1807)

Portrait of a gentleman, bust-length, in profile, to the left black and red chalk, graphite, watermark rampant lion 7√ x 6¡ in. (19.8 x 16.2 cm) $6,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

with William H. Schab Galleries, New York (Master Drawings and Prints 1500-1960, 1970, no. 150, ill.).

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

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AUGUSTIN DE SAINT-AUBIN (PARIS 1736-1807)

Portrait of the artist’s wife, Louise-Nicole Godeau SaintAubin signed and dated ‘Aug. de St. aubin del. 1772’ (lower center on the mount) graphite, blue and white chalk, ink framing lines 6æ x 4√ in. (17.4 x 12.2 cm) $6,000-8,000 PROVENANCE:

with William H. Schab Galleries, New York (Prints & Drawings By Great Masters.

Catalogue forty, 1965, no. 151, ill.)

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

EXHIBITED:

New York, William H. Schab Galleries, Great Master Drawings and Prints. Catalogue forty-five, 1968, no. 161, ill.).

Augustin de Saint-Aubin belonged to a family of artists. Both of his brothers - Gabriel and Charles-Germain - were painters. Augustin was a prolific printmaker and worked mostly on a small scale. Together with religious and mythological compositions, he produced numerous portraits finely drawn in chalk. The artist loved to depict his wife, Louise-Nicole Godeau, whom he married in 1764. Several portraits of Louise-Nicole by Augustin survive. Among these is an interesting drawing of her, depicted as the muse of Painting, in which she is graciously seated and holds a pencil case, while looking at her beloved portrayed on the canvas (sold at Christie’s, New York, 1 November 2018, lot 1128).

Louise-Nicole Godeau was herself a capable artist: at least three drawings by her hand are mentioned in the collection of Hippolyte Destailleur (1822-1893) in Paris and dispersed at auction upon his death (Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 26-27 May 1893, lots 27-29).

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LOUIS-ROLLAND TRINQUESSE (PARIS 1746-1800) A young woman at the harpsichord with number 'no. 32' (lower right) red chalk, ink framing lines 13Ω x 9¬ in. (34.3 x 24.5 cm) $10,000-15,000 PROVENANCE:

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 8 July 2008, lot 109. with Didier Aaron, New York, where acquired by the present owner, 15 June 2009.

This charming drawing of a woman playing the harpsichord is characteristic of Louis-Roland Trinquesse’s graphic manner. As a student, the artist had won two medals for his work, but he was never accepted formally into the Academy and so never exhibited at the Salon.Trinquesse specialized in creating portraits and scènes galantes drawn in red chalk. Edmond and Jules Goncourt, who collected several of his works, referred to him as a ‘crayonneur à la sanguine’.

While this composition is a finished drawing in its own right, the figure is a study for the young woman playing the harpsichord in Trinquesse’s painting, The music party in Munich (fig. 1; inv. HUW 37, Alte Pinakothek; see C. Bailey, P. Conisbee, and T. Gaehtgens, The Age of Watteau Chardin and Fragonard.

Masterpieces of French Genre Painting, exhib. cat., Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, Washington, National Gallery of Art, Berlin, Gemäldegalerie, 20032004, no. 100, ill.). For this important commission the artist had created an extensive group of red-chalk and charcoal drawings. A similar composition with a harpsichord player, dated 1763, is now in the Louvre (inv. no. 40667; see Acquisitions 1984-1989, exhib. cat., Paris, Louvre, 1990, no. 163).

Fig. 1. Louis-Rolland Trinquesse, The music party. Munich, Alte Pinakothek.

Fig. 1. Louis-Rolland Trinquesse, The music party. Munich, Alte Pinakothek.

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NICOLAS LANCRET (PARIS 1690-1743)

A young man kneeling (recto); Half-length study of a man with right arm extended (verso) black, red, and white chalk (recto); red chalk (verso) 6æ x 5¬ in. (17.2 x 14.2 cm) $10,000-15,000 PROVENANCE:

Émile-Louis-Dominique Calando (1840-1898), Paris (L. 837).

Léonce Coblentz; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 12 December 1901, lot 124.

Anonymous sale; Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 6 November 1964, lot 64. with William H. Schab Galleries, New York (Great Old Master Prints & Drawings 15001800 From Distinguished Collections, 1967, cat. 42, no.157, ill.).

Acquired by Annie Laurie Aitken (1900-1984) and Russell Barnett Aitken (1910-2002) from the above.

LITERATURE:

M. Tavener Holmes, in C.M. Vogtherr, J. Bartoll, U. Baumer, J. Koller, and I. Fiedler, Französische Gemälde, Berlin, 2011, p. 516, under no. 55.

A study for one of the figures in Danse dans un pavillon, a painting in the collection of Frederick the Great at Charlottenburg (inv. GK I 4186; Tavener Holmes, op. cit., no. 55). In the drawing Lancret took great care to depict the pleading expression on the kneeling man’s face; in the painting he is asking a woman to dance. In the sale catalogue of 1964 (Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 6 November 1964, lot 64) the drawing on the verso had been connected to Lancret’s Le moulinet devant la charmille (Schloss Charlottenburg, inv. GK I 4188), which is a pendant to Danse dans un pavillon.

We are grateful to Mary Tavener Holmes for confirming the attribution of this sheet on the basis of photographs and for assisting with the cataloguing.

The reverse of the present lot.

END OF DAY 2

CONDITIONS OF SALE • BUYING AT CHRISTIE’S CONDITIONS OF SALE These Conditions of Sale and the Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice set out the terms on which we offer the lots listed in this catalogue for sale. By registering to bid and/or by bidding at auction you agree to these terms, so you should read them carefully before doing so. You will find a glossary at the end explaining the meaning of the words and expressions coloured in bold. As well as these Conditions of Sale, lots in which we offer Non-Fungible Tokens are governed by the Additional Conditions of Sale – Non-Fungible Tokens, which are available in Appendix A herein. For the sale of Non-Fungible Tokens, to the extent there is a conflict between the “New York Conditions of Sale Buying at Christie’s” and “Additional Conditions of Sale – Non-Fungible Tokens”, the latter controls.

Unless we own a lot in whole or in part, Christie’s acts as agent for the seller.

A BEFORE THE SALE 1 DESCRIPTION OF LOTS

(a) Certain words used in the catalogue description have special meanings. You can find details of these on the page headed “Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice” which forms part of these terms. You can find a key to the Symbols found next to certain catalogue entries under the section of the catalogue called “Symbols Used in this Catalogue”. (b) Our description of any lot in the catalogue, any condition report and any other statement made by us (whether orally or in writing) about any lot, including about its nature or condition, artist, period, materials, approximate dimensions, or provenance are our opinion and not to be relied upon as a statement of fact. We do not carry out in-depth research of the sort carried out by professional historians and scholars. All dimensions and weights are approximate only.

2 OUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR DESCRIPTION OF LOTS

We do not provide any guarantee in relation to the nature of a lot apart from our authenticity warranty contained in paragraph E2 and to the extent provided in paragraph I below.

3 CONDITION

(a) The condition of lots sold in our auctions can vary widely due to factors such as age, previous damage, restoration, repair and wear and tear. Their nature means that they will rarely be in perfect condition. Lots are sold “as is,” in the condition they are in at the time of the sale, without any representation or warranty or assumption of liability of any kind as to condition by Christie’s or by the seller. (b) Any reference to condition in a catalogue entry or in a condition report will not amount to a full description of condition, and images may not show a lot clearly. Colours and shades may look different in print or on screen to how they look on physical inspection. Condition reports may be available to help you evaluate the condition of a lot. Condition reports are provided free of charge as a convenience to our buyers and are for guidance only. They offer our opinion but they may not refer to all faults, inherent defects, restoration, alteration or adaptation because our staff are not professional restorers or conservators. For that reason condition reports are not an alternative to examining a lot in person or seeking your own professional advice. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have requested, received and considered any condition report.

4 VIEWING LOTS PRE-AUCTION

(a) If you are planning to bid on a lot, you should inspect it personally or through a knowledgeable representative before you make a bid to make sure that you accept the description and its condition. We recommend you get your own advice from a restorer or other professional adviser. (b) Pre-auction viewings are open to the public free of charge.

Our specialists may be available to answer questions at preauction viewings or by appointment.

5 ESTIMATES

Estimates are based on the condition, rarity, quality and provenance of the lots and on prices recently paid at auction for similar property. Estimates can change. Neither you, nor anyone else, may rely on any estimates as a prediction or guarantee of the actual selling price of a lot or its value for any other purpose.

Estimates do not include the buyer’s premium or any applicable taxes.

6 WITHDRAWAL

Christie’s may, at its option, withdraw any lot from auction at any time prior to or during the sale of the lot. Christie’s has no liability to you for any decision to withdraw.

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7 JEWELLERY

(a) Coloured gemstones (such as rubies, sapphires and emeralds) may have been treated to improve their look, through methods such as heating and oiling. These methods are accepted by the international jewellery trade but may make the gemstone less strong and/or require special care over time. (b) It will not be apparent to us whether a diamond is naturally or synthetically formed unless it has been tested by a gemmological laboratory. Where the diamond has been tested, a gemmological report will be available. (c) All types of gemstones may have been improved by some method. You may request a gemmological report for any item which does not have a report if the request is made to us at least three weeks before the date of the auction and you pay the fee for the report. (d) Certain weights in the catalogue description are provided for guidance purposes only as they have been estimated through measurement and, as such, should not be relied upon as exact. (e) We do not obtain a gemmological report for every gemstone sold in our auctions. Where we do get gemmological reports from internationally accepted gemmological laboratories, such reports will be described in the catalogue. Reports from American gemmological laboratories will describe any improvement or treatment to the gemstone. Reports from European gemmological laboratories will describe any improvement or treatment only if we request that they do so, but will confirm when no improvement or treatment has been made. Because of differences in approach and technology, laboratories may not agree whether a particular gemstone has been treated, the amount of treatment, or whether treatment is permanent. The gemmological laboratories will only report on the improvements or treatments known to the laboratories at the date of the report. We do not guarantee nor are we responsible for any report or certificate from a gemmological laboratory that may accompany a lot. (f) For jewellery sales, estimates are based on the information in any gemmological report, or if no report is available, assume that the gemstones may have been treated or enhanced.

8 WATCHES & CLOCKS

(a) Almost all clocks and watches are repaired in their lifetime and may include parts which are not original. We do not give a warranty that any individual component part of any watch is authentic. Watchbands described as “associated” are not part of the original watch and may not be authentic. Clocks may be sold without pendulums, weights or keys. (b) As collectors’ watches often have very fine and complex mechanisms, you are responsible for any general service, change of battery, or further repair work that may be necessary. We do not give a warranty that any watch is in good working order. Certificates are not available unless described in the catalogue. (c) Most wristwatches have been opened to find out the type and quality of movement. For that reason, wristwatches with water resistant cases may not be waterproof and we recommend you have them checked by a competent watchmaker before use.

Important information about the sale, transport and shipping of watches and watchbands can be found in paragraph H2(f).

B REGISTERING TO BID 1 NEW BIDDERS

(a) If this is your first time bidding at Christie’s or you are a returning bidder who has not bought anything from any of our salerooms within the last two years you must register at least 48 hours before an auction begins to give us enough time to process and approve your registration. We may, at our option, decline to permit you to register as a bidder. You will be asked for the following: (i) for individuals: Photo identification (driver’s licence, national identity card, or passport) and, if not shown on the ID document, proof of your current address (for example, a current utility bill or bank statement); (ii) for corporate clients: Your Certificate of Incorporation or equivalent document(s) showing your name and registered address together with documentary proof of directors and beneficial owners; and (iii) for trusts, partnerships, offshore companies and other business structures, please contact us in advance to discuss our requirements. (b) We may also ask you to give us a financial reference and/or a deposit as a condition of allowing you to bid. For help, please contact our Client Services Department at +1 212-636-2000.

2 RETURNING BIDDERS

As described in paragraph B(1) above, we may at our option ask you for current identification, a financial reference, or a deposit as a condition of allowing you to bid. If you have not bought anything from any of our salerooms within the last two years or if you want to spend more than on previous occasions, please contact our Client Services Department at +1 212-636-2000.

3 IF YOU FAIL TO PROVIDE THE RIGHT DOCUMENTS

If in our opinion you do not satisfy our bidder identification and registration procedures including, but not limited to completing any anti-money laundering and/or anti-terrorism financing checks we may require to our satisfaction, we may refuse to register you to bid, and if you make a successful bid, we may cancel the contract for sale between you and the seller.

4 BIDDING ON BEHALF OF ANOTHER PERSON

If you are bidding on behalf of another person, that person will need to complete the registration requirements above before you can bid and supply a signed letter authorising you to bid for him/ her. A bidder accepts personal liability to pay the purchase price and all other sums due unless it has been agreed in writing with Christie’s, before commencement of the auction, that the bidder is acting as an agent on behalf of a named third party acceptable to Christie’s and that Christie’s will only seek payment from the named third party.

5 BIDDING IN PERSON

If you wish to bid in the saleroom you must register for a numbered bidding paddle at least 30 minutes before the auction.

You may register online at www.christies.com or in person.

For help, please contact the Client Service Department on +1 212-636-2000.

6 BIDDING SERVICES

The bidding services described below are a free service offered as a convenience to our clients and Christie’s is not responsible for any error (human or otherwise), omission, or breakdown in providing these services. (a) Phone Bids Your request for this service must be made no later than 24 hours prior to the auction. We will accept bids by telephone for lots only if our staff are available to take the bids. If you need to bid in a language other than in English, you must arrange this well before the auction. We may record telephone bids. By bidding on the telephone, you are agreeing to us recording your conversations. You also agree that your telephone bids are governed by these Conditions of Sale. (b) Internet Bids on Christie’s LIVE™ For certain auctions we will accept bids over the Internet. For more information, please visit https://www.christies.com/ buying-services/buying-guide/register-and-bid/. As well as these Conditions of Sale, internet bids are governed by the Christie’s LIVE™ Terms of Use which are available at https:// www.christies.com/LiveBidding/OnlineTermsOfUse.aspx. (c) Written Bids You can find a Written Bid Form at any Christie’s office, or by choosing the sale and viewing the lots online at www. christies.com. We must receive your completed Written Bid at least 24 hours before the auction. Bids must be placed in the currency of the saleroom. The auctioneer will take reasonable steps to carry out written bids at the lowest possible price, taking into account the reserve. If you make a written bid on a lot which does not have a reserve and there is no higher bid than yours, we will bid on your behalf at around 50% of the low estimate or, if lower, the amount of your bid. If we receive written bids on a lot for identical amounts, and at the auction these are the highest bids on the lot, we will sell the lot to the bidder whose written bid we received first.

C CONDUCTING THE SALE 1 WHO CAN ENTER THE AUCTION

We may, at our option, refuse admission to our premises or decline to permit participation in any auction or to reject any bid.

2 RESERVES

Unless otherwise indicated, all lots are subject to a reserve. We identify lots that are offered without a reserve with the symbol • next to the lot number. The reserve cannot be more than the lot’s low estimate, unless the lot is subject to a third party guarantee and the irrevocable bid exceeds the printed low estimate. In that case, the reserve will be set at the amount of the irrevocable bid.

Lots which are subject to a third party guarantee arrangement are identified in the catalogue with the symbol °◆.

3 AUCTIONEER’S DISCRETION

The auctioneer can at their sole option: (a) refuse any bid; (b) move the bidding backwards or forwards in any way they may decide, or change the order of the lots; (c) withdraw any lot; (d) divide any lot or combine any two or more lots; (e) reopen or continue the bidding even after the hammer has fallen; and (f) in the case of error or dispute related to bidding and whether during or after the auction, continue the bidding, determine the successful bidder, cancel the sale of the lot, or reoffer and resell any lot. If you believe that the auctioneer has accepted the successful bid in error, you must provide a written notice detailing your claim within 3 business days of the date of the auction. The auctioneer will consider such claim in good faith.

If the auctioneer, in the exercise of their discretion under this paragraph, decides after the auction is complete, to cancel the sale of a lot, or reoffer and resell a lot, they will notify the successful bidder no later than by the end of the 7th calendar day following the date of the auction. The auctioneer’s decision in exercise of this discretion is final. This paragraph does not in any way prejudice Christie’s ability to cancel the sale of a lot under any other applicable provision of these Conditions of Sale, including the rights of cancellation set forth in paragraphs B(3), E(2)(i), F(4), and J(1).

4 BIDDING

The auctioneer accepts bids from: (a) bidders in the saleroom; (b) telephone bidders; (c) internet bidders through Christie’s LIVE™ (as shown above in paragraph B6); and (d) written bids (also known as absentee bids or commission bids) left with us by a bidder before the auction.

5 BIDDING ON BEHALF OF THE SELLER

The auctioneer may, at their sole option, bid on behalf of the seller, including where the seller is the auctioneer, up to but not including the amount of the reserve either by making consecutive bids or by making bids in response to other bidders.

The auctioneer will not identify these as bids made on behalf of the seller and will not make any bid on behalf of the seller at or above the reserve. If lots are offered without reserve, the auctioneer will generally decide to open the bidding at 50% of the low estimate for the lot. If no bid is made at that level, the auctioneer may decide to go backwards at their sole option until a bid is made, and then continue up from that amount. In the event that there are no bids on a lot, the auctioneer may deem such lot unsold.

6 BID INCREMENTS

Bidding generally starts below the low estimate and increases in steps (bid increments). The auctioneer will decide at their sole option where the bidding should start and the bid increments.

7 CURRENCY CONVERTER

The saleroom video screens (and Christies LIVE™) may show bids in some other major currencies as well as US dollars. Any conversion is for guidance only and we cannot be bound by any rate of exchange used. Christie’s is not responsible for any error (human or otherwise), omission or breakdown in providing these services.

8 SUCCESSFUL BIDS

Unless the auctioneer decides to use their discretion as set out in paragraph C3 above, when the auctioneer’s hammer strikes, we have accepted the last bid. This means a contract for sale has been formed between the seller and the successful bidder. We will issue an invoice only to the registered bidder who made the successful bid. While we send out invoices by mail and/or email after the auction, we do not accept responsibility for telling you whether or not your bid was successful. If you have bid by written bid, you should contact us by telephone or in person as soon as possible after the auction to get details of the outcome of your bid to avoid having to pay unnecessary storage charges.

9 LOCAL BIDDING LAWS

You agree that when bidding in any of our sales that you will strictly comply with all local laws and regulations in force at the time of the sale for the relevant sale site.

D THE BUYER’S PREMIUM AND TAXES 1 THE BUYER’S PREMIUM

In addition to the hammer price, the successful bidder agrees to pay us a buyer’s premium on the hammer price of each lot sold. On all lots we charge 27% of the hammer price up to and including US$1,500,000, 22.0% on that part of the hammer price over US$1,500,000 and up to and including US$8,000,000, and 15.0% of that part of the hammer price above US$8,000,000.

2 TAXES

The successful bidder is responsible for any applicable taxes including any sales or use tax or equivalent tax wherever such taxes may arise on the hammer price, the buyer’s premium, and/ or any other charges related to the lot.

For lots Christie’s ships to or within the United States, a sales or use tax may be due on the hammer price, buyer’s premium, and/or any other charges related to the lot, regardless of the nationality or citizenship of the successful bidder. Christie’s will collect sales tax where legally required. The applicable sales tax rate will be determined based upon the state, county, or locale to which the lot will be shipped. Christie’s shall collect New York sales tax at a rate of 8.875% for any lot collected from Christie’s in New York.

In accordance with New York law, if Christie’s arranges the shipment of a lot out of New York State, New York sales tax does not apply, although sales tax or other applicable taxes for other states may apply. If you hire a shipper (other than a common carrier authorized by Christie’s), to collect the lot from a Christie’s New York location, Christie’s must collect New York sales tax on the lot at a rate of 8.875% regardless of the ultimate destination of the lot.

If Christie’s delivers the lot to, or the lot is collected by, any framer, restorer or other similar service provider in New York that you have hired, New York law considers the lot delivered to the successful bidder in New York and New York sales tax must be imposed regardless of the ultimate destination of the lot. In this circumstance, New York sales tax will apply to the lot even if Christie’s or a common carrier (authorized by Christie’s that you hire) subsequently delivers the lot outside New York.

Successful bidders claiming an exemption from sales tax must provide appropriate documentation to Christie’s prior to the release of the lot or within 90 days after the sale, whichever is earlier. For shipments to those states for which Christie’s is not required to collect sales tax, a successful bidder may have a use or similar tax obligation. It is the successful bidder’s responsibility to pay all taxes due. Christie’s recommends you consult your own independent tax advisor with any questions.

E WARRANTIES 1 SELLER’S WARRANTIES

For each lot, the seller gives a warranty that the seller: (a) is the owner of the lot or a joint owner of the lot acting with the permission of the other co-owners or, if the seller is not the owner or a joint owner of the lot, has the permission of the owner to sell the lot, or the right to do so in law; and (b) has the right to transfer ownership of the lot to the buyer without any restrictions or claims by anyone else. (c) If either of the above warranties are incorrect, the seller shall not have to pay more than the purchase price (as defined in paragraph F1(a) below) paid by you to us. The seller will not be responsible to you for any reason for loss of profits or business, expected savings, loss of opportunity or interest, costs, damages, other damages or expenses. The seller gives no warranty in relation to any lot other than as set out above and, as far as the seller is allowed by law, all warranties from the seller to you, and all other obligations upon the seller which may be added to this agreement by law, are excluded.

2 OUR AUTHENTICITY WARRANTY

We warrant, subject to the terms below, that the lots in our sales are authentic (our “authenticity warranty”). If, within 5 years of the date of the auction, you give notice to us that your lot is not authentic, subject to the terms below, we will refund the purchase price paid by you. The meaning of authentic can be found in the glossary at the end of these Conditions of Sale. The terms of the authenticity warranty are as follows: (a) It will be honored for claims notified within a period of 5 years from the date of the auction. After such time, we will not be obligated to honor the authenticity warranty. (b) It is given only for information shown in UPPERCASE type in the first line of the catalogue description (the “Heading”). It does not apply to any information other than in the Heading even if shown in UPPERCASE type. (c) The authenticity warranty does not apply to any Heading or part of a Heading which is qualified. Qualified means limited by a clarification in a lot’s catalogue description or by the use in a Heading of one of the terms listed in the section titled Qualified Headings on the page of the catalogue headed “Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice”.

For example, use of the term “ATTRIBUTED TO…” in a Heading means that the lot is in Christie’s opinion probably a work by the named artist but no warranty is provided that the lot is the work of the named artist. Please read the full list of Qualified Headings and a lot’s full catalogue description before bidding. (d) The authenticity warranty applies to the Heading as amended by any Saleroom notice.

(e) The authenticity warranty does not apply where scholarship has developed since the auction leading to a change in generally accepted opinion. Further, it does not apply if the Heading either matched the generally accepted opinion of experts at the date of the auction or drew attention to any conflict of opinion. (f) The authenticity warranty does not apply if the lot can only be shown not to be authentic by a scientific process which, on the date we published the catalogue, was not available or generally accepted for use, or which was unreasonably expensive or impractical, or which was likely to have damaged the lot. (g) The benefit of the authenticity warranty is only available to the original buyer shown on the invoice for the lot issued at the time of the sale and only if on the date of the notice of claim, the original buyer is the full owner of the lot and the lot is free from any claim, interest or restriction by anyone else. The benefit of this authenticity warranty may not be transferred to anyone else. (h) In order to claim under the authenticity warranty you must: (i) give us written notice of your claim within 5 years of the date of the auction. We may require full details and supporting evidence of any such claim; (ii) at Christie’s option, we may require you to provide the written opinions of two recognised experts in the field of the lot mutually agreed by you and us in advance confirming that the lot is not authentic. If we have any doubts, we reserve the right to obtain additional opinions at our expense; and (iii) return the lot at your expense to the saleroom from which you bought it in the condition it was in at the time of sale. (i) Your only right under this authenticity warranty is to cancel the sale and receive a refund of the purchase price paid by you to us. We will not, under any circumstances, be required to pay you more than the purchase price nor will we be liable for any loss of profits or business, loss of opportunity or value, expected savings or interest, costs, damages, other damages or expenses. (j) Books. Where the lot is a book, we give an additional warranty for 21 days from the date of the auction that if any lot is defective in text or illustration, we will refund your purchase price, subject to the following terms: (a) This additional warranty does not apply to: (i) the absence of blanks, half titles, tissue guards or advertisements, damage in respect of bindings, stains, spotting, marginal tears or other defects not affecting completeness of the text or illustration; (ii) drawings, autographs, letters or manuscripts, signed photographs, music, atlases, maps or periodicals; (iii) books not identified by title; (iv) lots sold without a printed estimate; (v) books which are described in the catalogue as sold not subject to return; or (vi) defects stated in any condition report or announced at the time of sale. (b) To make a claim under this paragraph you must give written details of the defect and return the lot to the sale room at which you bought it in the same condition as at the time of sale, within 21 days of the date of the sale. (k) South East Asian Modern and Contemporary Art and Chinese Calligraphy and Painting.

In these categories, the authenticity warranty does not apply because current scholarship does not permit the making of definitive statements. Christie’s does, however, agree to cancel a sale in either of these two categories of art where it has been proven the lot is a forgery. Christie’s will refund to the original buyer the purchase price in accordance with the terms of Christie’s Authenticity warranty, provided that the original buyer notifies us with full supporting evidence documenting the forgery claim within twelve (12) months of the date of the auction. Such evidence must be satisfactory to us that the property is a forgery in accordance with paragraph E2(h)(ii) above and the property must be returned to us in accordance with paragraph E2(h)(iii) above. Paragraphs E2(b), (c), (d), (e), (f) and (g) and (i) also apply to a claim under these categories. (l) Chinese, Japanese and Korean artefacts (excluding Chinese, Japanese and Korean calligraphy, paintings, prints, drawings and jewellery).

In these categories, paragraph E2 (b) – (e) above shall be amended so that where no maker or artist is identified, the authenticity warranty is given not only for the Heading but also for information regarding date or period shown in UPPERCASE type in the second line of the catalogue description (the “Subheading”). Accordingly, all references to the Heading in paragraph E2 (b) – (e) above shall be read as references to both the Heading and the Subheading.

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3 NO IMPLIED WARRANTIES EXCEPT AS SET FORTH IN PARAGRAPHS E1 AND E2 ABOVE, NEITHER THE SELLER NOR THE CHRISTIE’S GROUP MAKE ANY OTHER WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ORAL OR WRITTEN, WITH RESPECT TO THE LOT, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, EACH OF WHICH IS SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED.

4 YOUR WARRANTIES

(d) You must quote the sale number, your invoice number and client number when making a payment. All payments sent by post must be sent to: Christie’s Inc. Post-Sale Services, 20 Rockefeller Center, New York, NY 10020. (e) For more information please contact our Post-Sale Services by phone at +1 212 636 2650 or fax at +1 212 636 4939 or email PostSaleUS@christies.com.

(a) You warrant that the funds used for settlement are not connected with any criminal activity, including tax evasion, and you are neither under investigation, nor have you been charged with or convicted of money laundering, terrorist activities or other crimes.

2 TRANSFERRING OWNERSHIP TO YOU

(b) Where you are bidding on behalf of another person, you warrant that:

3 TRANSFERRING RISK TO YOU

(i) you have conducted appropriate customer due diligence on the ultimate buyer(s) of the lot(s) in accordance with all applicable anti-money laundering and sanctions laws, consent to us relying on this due diligence, and you will retain for a period of not less than 5 years the documentation evidencing the due diligence. You will make such documentation promptly available for immediate inspection by an independent third-party auditor upon our written request to do so; (ii) the arrangements between you and the ultimate buyer(s) in relation to the lot or otherwise do not, in whole or in part, facilitate tax crimes; (iii) you do not know, and have no reason to suspect, that the funds used for settlement are connected with, the proceeds of any criminal activity, including tax evasion, or that the ultimate buyer(s) are under investigation, or have been charged with or convicted of money laundering, terrorist activities or other crimes.

F PAYMENT 1 HOW TO PAY (a) Immediately following the auction, you must pay the purchase price being: (i) the hammer price; and (ii) the buyer’s premium; and (iii) any applicable duties, goods, sales, use, compensating or service tax, or VAT. Payment is due no later than by the end of the 7th calendar day following the date of the auction (the “due date”). (b) We will only accept payment from the registered bidder. Once issued, we cannot change the buyer’s name on an invoice or re-issue the invoice in a different name. You must pay immediately even if you want to export the lot and you need an export licence. (c) You must pay for lots bought at Christie’s in the United States in the currency stated on the invoice in one of the following ways: (i) Wire transfer JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A., 270 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10017; ABA# 021000021; FBO: Christie’s Inc.; Account # 957-107978, for international transfers, SWIFT: CHASUS33. (ii) Credit Card We accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and China Union Pay. Credit card payments at the New York premises will only be accepted for New York sales. Christie’s will not accept credit card payments for purchases in any other sale site. (iii) Cash We accept cash payments (including money orders and traveller’s checks) for sales in New York, subject to a maximum aggregate limit of US$500 per buyer per year. (iv) Bank Checks You must make these payable to Christie’s Inc. and there may be conditions. Once we have deposited your check, property cannot be released until five business days have passed. (v) Checks You must make checks payable to Christie’s Inc. and they must be drawn from US dollar accounts from a US bank. (vi) Cryptocurrency With the exception of clients resident in Mainland China, payment for a lot marked with the symbol ❖ may be made in a cryptocurrency or cryptocurrencies of our choosing. Such cryptocurrency payments must be made in accordance with the Additional Conditions of Sale - Nonfungible Tokens set out at Appendix A to these Conditions of Sale.

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You will not own the lot and ownership of the lot will not pass to you until we have received full and clear payment of the purchase price, even in circumstances where we have released the lot to you.

The risk in and responsibility for the lot will transfer to you from whichever is the earlier of the following: (a) When you collect the lot; or (b) At the end of the 30th day following the date of the auction or, if earlier, the date the lot is taken into care by a third party warehouse as set out on the page headed ‘Storage and Collection’, unless we have agreed otherwise with you.

4 WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU DO NOT PAY (a) If you fail to pay us the purchase price in full by the due date, we will be entitled to do one or more of the following (as well as enforce our rights under paragraph F5 and any other rights or remedies we have by law): (i) we can charge interest from the due date at a rate of up to 1.34% per month on the unpaid amount due; (ii) we can cancel the sale of the lot. If we do this, we may sell the lot again, publicly or privately on such terms we shall think necessary or appropriate, in which case you must pay us any shortfall between the purchase price and the proceeds from the resale. You must also pay all costs, expenses, losses, damages and legal fees we have to pay or may suffer and any shortfall in the seller’s commission on the resale; (iii) we can pay the seller an amount up to the net proceeds payable in respect of the amount bid by your default in which case you acknowledge and understand that Christie’s will have all of the rights of the seller to pursue you for such amounts; (iv) we can hold you legally responsible for the purchase price and may begin legal proceedings to recover it together with other losses, interest, legal fees and costs as far as we are allowed by law; (v) we can take what you owe us from any amounts which we or any company in the Christie’s Group may owe you (including any deposit or other part-payment which you have paid to us); (vi) we can, at our option, reveal your identity and contact details to the seller; (vii) we can reject at any future auction any bids made by or on behalf of the buyer or to obtain a deposit from the buyer before accepting any bids; (viii) we can exercise all the rights and remedies of a person holding security over any property in our possession owned by you, whether by way of pledge, security interest or in any other way as permitted by the law of the place where such property is located. You will be deemed to have granted such security to us and we may retain such property as collateral security for your obligations to us; and (ix) we can take any other action we see necessary or appropriate. (b) If you owe money to us or to another Christie’s Group company, we can use any amount you do pay, including any deposit or other part-payment you have made to us, or which we owe you, to pay off any amount you owe to us or another Christie’s Group company for any transaction.

5 KEEPING YOUR PROPERTY If you owe money to us or to another Christie’s Group company, as well as the rights set out in F4 above, we can use or deal with any of your property we hold or which is held by another Christie’s Group company in any way we are allowed to by law.

We will only release your property to you after you pay us or the relevant Christie’s Group company in full for what you owe.

However, if we choose, we can also sell your property in any way we think appropriate. We will use the proceeds of the sale against any amounts you owe us and we will pay any amount left from that sale to you. If there is a shortfall, you must pay us any difference between the amount we have received from the sale and the amount you owe us.

G COLLECTION AND STORAGE

(a) You must collect purchased lots within seven days from the auction (but note that lots will not be released to you until you have made full and clear payment of all amounts due to us). (b) If you do not collect any lot within 90 days following the auction we may, at our option (i) charge you storage costs at the rates set out at www. christies.com/en/help/buying-guide/storage-fees. (ii) move the lot to another Christie’s location or an affiliate or third-party warehouse and charge you transport costs and administration fees for doing so and you will be subject to the third party storage warehouse’s standard terms and to pay for their standard fees and costs. (iii) sell the lot in any commercially reasonable way we think appropriate. (c) The Storage conditions which can be found at www.christies. com/en/help/buying-guide/storage-conditions will apply. (d) If you do not collect the lot within 90 calendar days of the auction and Christie’s exercises its rights under paragraph G(b) above, the lot will be deemed delivered in New York and therefore subject to New York state and local sales tax.

For shipments booked and paid for prior to 90 calendar days of the auction, sales tax will be determined based on the guidance set forth in paragraph D(2). (e) Nothing in this paragraph is intended to limit our rights under paragraph F4.

H TRANSPORT AND SHIPPING 1 SHIPPING

We would be happy to assist in making shipping arrangements on request. You must make all transport and shipping arrangements.

However, we can arrange to pack, transport, and ship your property if you ask us to and pay the costs of doing so. We recommend that you ask us for an estimate, especially for any large items or items of high value that need professional packing.

We may also suggest other handlers, packers, transporters, or experts if you ask us to do so. For more information, please contact Christie’s Post-Sale Services at +1 212 636 2650. See the information set out at https://www.christies.com/buyingservices/buying-guide/ship/ or contact us at PostSaleUS@ christies.com. We will take reasonable care when we are handling, packing, transporting, and shipping. However, if we recommend another company for any of these purposes, we are not responsible for their acts, failure to act, or neglect.

2 EXPORT AND IMPORT

Any lot sold at auction may be affected by laws on exports from the country in which it is sold and the import restrictions of other countries. Many countries require a declaration of export for property leaving the country and/or an import declaration on entry of property into the country. Local laws may prevent you from importing a lot or may prevent you selling a lot in the country you import it into. (a) You alone are responsible for getting advice about and meeting the requirements of any laws or regulations which apply to exporting or importing any lot prior to bidding. If you are refused a licence or there is a delay in getting one, you must still pay us in full for the lot. We may be able to help you apply for the appropriate licences if you ask us to and pay our fee for doing so. However, we cannot guarantee that you will get one. For more information, please contact Christie’s Post-Sale Services Department at +1 212 636 2650 and PostSaleUS@christies.com.

See the information set out at https://www.christies. com/buying-services/buying-guide/ship/ or contact us at PostSaleUS@christies.com. (b) You alone are responsible for any applicable taxes, tariffs or other government-imposed charges relating to the export or import of the lot. If Christie’s exports or imports the lot on your behalf, and if Christie’s pays these applicable taxes, tariffs or other government-imposed charges, you agree to refund that amount to Christie’s. (c) Endangered and protected species Lots made of or including (regardless of the percentage) endangered and other protected species of wildlife are marked with the symbol ~ in the catalogue. This material includes, among other things, ivory, tortoiseshell, whalebone, certain species of coral, Brazilian rosewood, crocodile, alligator and ostrich skins. You should check the relevant customs laws and regulations before bidding on any lot containing wildlife material if you plan to export the lot from the country in which the lot is sold and import it into another country as a licence may be required. In some cases, the lot can only be shipped with an independent scientific confirmation of species and/or age and you will need to obtain these at your own cost. Several countries have imposed restrictions on dealing in elephant ivory, ranging from a total ban on importing African elephant ivory in the United States to importing, exporting and selling under strict measures in other countries. Handbags containing endangered or

protected species material are marked with the symbol ≈ and further information can be found in paragraph H2(h) below.

We will not be obliged to cancel your purchase and refund the purchase price if your lot may not be exported, imported or it is seized for any reason by a government authority. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy the requirements of any applicable laws or regulations relating to the export or import of property containing such protected or regulated material. (d) Lots containing Ivory or materials resembling ivory If a lot contains elephant ivory, or any other wildlife material that could be confused with elephant ivory (for example, mammoth ivory, walrus ivory, helmeted hornbill ivory) you may be prevented from exporting the lot from the US or shipping it between US States without first confirming its species by way of a rigorous scientific test acceptable to the applicable Fish and Wildlife authorities. You will buy that lot at your own risk and be responsible for any scientific test or other reports required for export from the USA or between US States at your own cost. We will not be obliged to cancel your purchase and refund the purchase price if your lot may not be exported, imported or shipped between US States, or it is seized for any reason by a government authority. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy the requirements of any applicable laws or regulations relating to interstate shipping, export or import of property containing such protected or regulated material. (e) Lots of Iranian origin Some countries prohibit or restrict the purchase, export and/or import of Iranian-origin “works of conventional craftsmanship” (works that are not by a recognized artist and/ or that have a function, (for example: carpets, bowls, ewers, tiles, ornamental boxes). For example, the USA prohibits the import and export of this type of property without a license issued by the US Department of the Treasury, Office of Foreign Assets Control. Other countries, such as Canada, only permit the import of this property in certain circumstances.

As a convenience to buyers, Christie’s indicates under the title of a lot if the lot originates from Iran (Persia). It is your responsibility to ensure you do not bid on or import a lot in contravention of the sanctions or trade embargoes that apply to you. (f) Gold Gold of less than 18ct does not qualify in all countries as ‘gold’ and may be refused import into those countries as ‘gold’. (g) Watches Many of the watches offered for sale in this catalogue are pictured with straps made of endangered or protected animal materials such as alligator or crocodile. These lots are marked with the symbol Ψ in the catalogue. These endangered species straps are shown for display purposes only and are not for sale. Christie’s will remove and retain the strap prior to shipment from the sale site. At some sale sites, Christie’s may, at its discretion, make the displayed endangered species strap available to the buyer of the lot free of charge if collected in person from the sale site within 1 year of the date of the auction. Please check with the department for details on a particular lot. (h) Handbags A lot marked with the symbol ≈ next to the lot number includes endangered or protected species material and is subject to CITES regulations. This lot may only be shipped to an address within the country of the sale site or personally picked up from our saleroom. Please note, Christie’s cannot facilitate the shipment of any lot containing python, alligator or crocodile into the State of California.

The term “hardware” refers to the metallic parts of the handbag, such as the buckle hardware, base studs, lock and keys and/or strap, which are plated with a coloured finish (e.g. gold, silver, palladium). The terms “Gold Hardware”, “Silver Hardware”, “Palladium Hardware”, etc. refer to the tone or colour of the hardware and not the actual material used. If the handbag incorporates solid metal hardware, this will be referenced in the catalogue description.

For all symbols and other markings referred to in paragraph H2, please note that lots are marked as a convenience to you, but we do not accept liability for errors or for failing to mark lots.

I OUR LIABILITY TO YOU

(a) We give no warranty in relation to any statement made, or information given, by us or our representatives or employees, about any lot other than as set out in the authenticity warranty and, as far as we are allowed by law, all warranties and other terms which may be added to this agreement by law are excluded. The seller’s warranties contained in paragraph E1 are their own and we do not have any liability to you in relation to those warranties. (b) (i) We are not responsible to you for any reason (whether for breaking this agreement or any other matter relating to your purchase of, or bid for, any lot) other than in the event of fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation by us or other than as expressly set out in these conditions of sale; and (ii) we

do not give any representation, warranty or guarantee or assume any liability of any kind in respect of any lot with regard to merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, description, size, quality, condition, attribution, authenticity, rarity, importance, medium, provenance, exhibition history, literature, or historical relevance. Except as required by local law, any warranty of any kind is excluded by this paragraph. (c) In particular, please be aware that our written and telephone bidding services, Christie’s LIVE™, condition reports, currency converter and saleroom video screens are free services and we are not responsible to you for any error (human or otherwise), omission or breakdown in these services. (d) We have no responsibility to any person other than a buyer in connection with the purchase of any lot. (e) If, in spite of the terms in paragraphs I(a) to (d) or E2(i) above, we are found to be liable to you for any reason, we shall not have to pay more than the purchase price paid by you to us. We will not be responsible to you for any reason for loss of profits or business, loss of opportunity or value, expected savings or interest, costs, other damages, or expenses.

J OTHER TERMS 1 OUR ABILITY TO CANCEL

In addition to the other rights of cancellation contained in this agreement, we can cancel a sale of a lot if : (i) any of your warranties in paragraph E4 are not correct; (ii) we reasonably believe that completing the transaction is, or may be, unlawful; or (iii) we reasonably believe that the sale places us or the seller under any liability to anyone else or may damage our reputation.

2 RECORDINGS

We may videotape and record proceedings at any auction.

We will keep any personal information confidential, except to the extent disclosure is required by law. However, we may, through this process, use or share these recordings with another Christie’s Group company and marketing partners to analyse our customers and to help us to tailor our services for buyers. If you do not want to be videotaped, you may make arrangements to make a telephone or written bid or bid on Christie’s LIVE™ instead. Unless we agree otherwise in writing, you may not videotape or record proceedings at any auction.

3 COPYRIGHT

We own the copyright in all images, illustrations and written material produced by or for us relating to a lot (including the contents of our catalogues unless otherwise noted in the catalogue). You cannot use them without our prior written permission. We do not offer any guarantee that you will gain any copyright or other reproduction rights to the lot.

4 ENFORCING THIS AGREEMENT

60 days from the date when mediation is initiated, then the Dispute shall be submitted to JAMS, or its successor, for final and binding arbitration in accordance with its Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures or, if the Dispute involves a non-U.S. party, the JAMS International Arbitration Rules. The seat of the arbitration shall be New York and the arbitration shall be conducted by one arbitrator, who shall be appointed within 30 days after the initiation of the arbitration. The language used in the arbitral proceedings shall be English. The arbitrator shall order the production of documents only upon a showing that such documents are relevant and material to the outcome of the Dispute. The arbitration shall be confidential, except to the extent necessary to enforce a judgment or where disclosure is required by law. The arbitration award shall be final and binding on all parties involved. Judgment upon the award may be entered by any court having jurisdiction thereof or having jurisdiction over the relevant party or its assets. This arbitration and any proceedings conducted hereunder shall be governed by Title 9 (Arbitration) of the United States Code and by the United Nations Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of June 10, 1958.

10 REPORTING ON WWW.CHRISTIES.COM

Details of all lots sold by us, including catalogue descriptions and prices, may be reported on www.christies.com. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing fees, or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits. We regret that we cannot agree to requests to remove these details from www.christies.com.

K GLOSSARY

auctioneer: the individual auctioneer and/or Christie’s. authentic: a genuine example, rather than a copy or forgery of: (i) the work of a particular artist, author or manufacturer, if the lot is described in the Heading as the work of that artist, author or manufacturer; (ii) a work created within a particular period or culture, if the lot is described in the Heading as a work created during that period or culture; (iii) a work for a particular origin source if the lot is described in the Heading as being of that origin or source; or (iv) in the case of gems, a work which is made of a particular material, if the lot is described in the Heading as being made of that material. authenticity warranty: the guarantee we give in this agreement that a lot is authentic as set out in paragraph E2 of this agreement. buyer’s premium: the charge the buyer pays us along with the hammer price.

If a court finds that any part of this agreement is not valid or is illegal or impossible to enforce, that part of the agreement will be treated as being deleted and the rest of this agreement will not be affected.

catalogue description: the description of a lot in the catalogue for the auction, as amended by any saleroom notice.

5 TRANSFERRING YOUR RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

condition: the physical condition of a lot.

You may not grant a security over or transfer your rights or responsibilities under these terms on the contract of sale with the buyer unless we have given our written permission. This agreement will be binding on your successors or estate and anyone who takes over your rights and responsibilities.

6 TRANSLATIONS

If we have provided a translation of this agreement, we will use this original version in deciding any issues or disputes which arise under this agreement.

7 PERSONAL INFORMATION

We will hold and process your personal information and may pass it to another Christie’s Group company for use as described in, and in line with, our privacy notice at www.christies.com/aboutus/contact/privacy and if you are a resident of California you can see a copy of our California Consumer Privacy Act statement at https://www.christies.com/about-us/contact/ccpa.

8 WAIVER

No failure or delay to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Conditions of Sale shall constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, nor shall it prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. No single or partial exercise of such right or remedy shall prevent or restrict the further exercise of that or any other right or remedy.

9 LAW AND DISPUTES

This agreement, and any non-contractual obligations arising out of or in connection with this agreement, or any other rights you may have relating to the purchase of a lot (the “Dispute”) will be governed by the laws of New York. Before we or you start any court proceedings (except in the limited circumstances where the dispute, controversy or claim is related to proceedings brought by someone else and this dispute could be joined to those proceedings), we agree we will each try to settle the Dispute by mediation submitted to JAMS, or its successor, for mediation in New York. If the Dispute is not settled by mediation within

Christie’s Group: Christie’s International Plc, its subsidiaries and other companies within its corporate group. due date: has the meaning given to it paragraph F1(a). estimate: the price range included in the catalogue or any saleroom notice within which we believe a lot may sell. Low estimate means the lower figure in the range and high estimate means the higher figure. The mid estimate is the midpoint between the two. hammer price: the amount of the highest bid the auctioneer accepts for the sale of a lot.

Heading: has the meaning given to it in paragraph E2. lot: an item to be offered at auction (or two or more items to be offered at auction as a group). other damages: any special, consequential, incidental or indirect damages of any kind or any damages which fall within the meaning of ‘special’, ‘incidental’ or ‘consequential’ under local law. purchase price: has the meaning given to it in paragraph F1(a). provenance: the ownership history of a lot. qualified: has the meaning given to it in paragraph E2 and Qualified Headings means the paragraph headed Qualified Headings on the page of the catalogue headed ‘Important Notices and Explanation of Cataloguing Practice’. reserve: the confidential amount below which we will not sell a lot. saleroom notice: a written notice posted next to the lot in the saleroom and on www.christies.com, which is also read to prospective telephone bidders and notified to clients who have left commission bids, or an announcement made by the auctioneer either at the beginning of the sale, or before a particular lot is auctioned. subheading: has the meaning given to it in paragraph E2.

UPPER CASE type: means having all capital letters. warranty: a statement or representation in which the person making it guarantees that the facts set out in it are correct.

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IMPORTANT NOTICES AND EXPLANATION OF CATALOGUING PRACTICE IMPORTANT NOTICES

EXPLANATION OF CATALOGUING PRACTICE

º Minimum Price Guarantees

Terms used in a catalogue or lot description have the meanings ascribed to them below. Please note that all statements in a catalogue or lot description as to authorship are made subject to the provisions of the Conditions of Sale, including the authenticity warranty. Our use of these expressions does not take account of the condition of the lot or of the extent of any restoration. Written condition reports are usually available on request.

On occasion, Christie’s has a direct financial interest in the outcome of the sale of certain lots consigned for sale. This will usually be where it has guaranteed to the Seller that whatever the outcome of the auction, the Seller will receive a minimum sale price for the lot. This is known as a minimum price guarantee.

Where Christie’s holds such financial interest we identify such lots with the symbol º next to the lot number. º ♦ Third Party Guarantees/Irrevocable bids Where Christie’s has provided a Minimum Price Guarantee, it is at risk of making a loss, which can be significant if the lot fails to sell. Christie’s sometimes chooses to share that risk with a third party who agrees prior to the auction to place an irrevocable written bid on the lot. If there are no other higher bids, the third party commits to buy the lot at the level of their irrevocable written bid. In doing so, the third party takes on all or part of the risk of the lot not being sold. Lots which are subject to a third party guarantee arrangement are identified in the catalogue with the symbol º ♦.

A term and its definition listed under ‘Qualified Headings’ is a qualified statement as to authorship. While the use of this term is based upon careful study and represents the opinion of specialists, Christie’s and the consignor assume no risk, liability and responsibility for the authenticity of authorship of any lot in this catalogue described by this term, and the authenticity warranty shall not be available with respect to lots described using this term.

PICTURES, DRAWINGS, PRINTS AND MINIATURES Name(s) or Recognised Designation of an artist without any qualification: in Christie’s opinion a work by the artist.

In most cases, Christie’s compensates the third party in exchange for accepting this risk. Where the third party is the successful bidder, the third party’s remuneration is based on a fixed financing fee. If the third party is not the successful bidder, the remuneration may either be based on a fixed fee or an amount calculated against the final hammer price. The third party may continue to bid for the lot above the irrevocable written bid.

QUALIFIED HEADINGS

Third party guarantors are required by us to disclose to anyone they are advising their financial interest in any lots they are guaranteeing. However, for the avoidance of any doubt, if you are advised by or bidding through an agent on a lot identified as being subject to a third party guarantee you should always ask your agent to confirm whether or not they have a financial interest in relation to the lot.

“Circle of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work of the period of the artist and showing his influence.

⇔ Financial Interest/Irrevocable bids Where Christie’s has a financial interest in a lot, Christie’s is at risk of making a loss if the lot fails to sell. As such, Christie’s may share that risk with a third party who agrees, prior to the auction, to place an irrevocable written bid on the lot and may receive compensation from Christie’s. Christie’s requires the bidding party to disclose to anyone they are advising of their financial interest in the lot. ¤ Bidding by interested parties When a party with a direct or indirect interest in the lot who may have knowledge of the lot’s reserve or other material information may be bidding on the lot, we will mark the lot with this symbol ¤. This interest can include beneficiaries of an estate that consigned the lot or a joint owner of a lot. Any interested party that successfully bids on a lot must comply with Christie’s Conditions of Sale, including paying the lot’s full buyer’s premium plus applicable taxes.

Post-catalogue notifications If Christie’s enters into an arrangement or becomes aware of bidding that would have required a catalogue symbol, we will notify you by updating christies.com with the relevant information (time permitting) or otherwise by a pre-sale or prelot announcement.

Other Arrangements Christie’s may enter into other arrangements not involving bids.

These include arrangements where Christie’s has advanced money to consignors or prospective purchasers or where Christie’s has shared the risk of a guarantee with a partner without the partner being required to place an irrevocable written bid or otherwise participating in the bidding on the lot. Because such arrangements are unrelated to the bidding process they are not marked with a symbol in the catalogue.

“Attributed to …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion probably a work by the artist in whole or in part.

“Studio of …”/“Workshop of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work executed in the studio or workshop of the artist, possibly under his supervision.

“Follower of… ”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work executed in the artist’s style but not necessarily by a pupil.

In Christie’s qualified opinion, this object could be dated to the Kangxi period but there is a strong element of doubt. e.g. KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND POSSIBLY OF THE PERIOD JEWELLERY “Boucheron”: when maker’s name appears in the title, in Christie’s opinion it is by that maker.

“Mounted by Boucheron”: in Christie’s opinion the branded jeweller (e.g. Boucheron) set the stone into the mount using stones originally supplied to the jeweller by their client.

QUALIFIED HEADINGS “Attributed to”: in Christie’s qualified opinion is probably a work by the jeweller/maker but no warranty is provided that the lot is the work of the named jeweller/maker.

Other information included in the catalogue description “Signed Boucheron / Signature Boucheron”: in Christie’s qualified opinion has a signature by the jeweller.

“With maker’s mark for Boucheron”: in Christie’s qualified opinion has a mark denoting the maker.

Periods Art Nouveau 1895-1910 Belle Epoque 1895-1914 Art Deco 1915-1935

“After …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a copy (of any date) of a work of the artist.

WATCHES

“Signed …”/“Dated …”/ “Inscribed …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion the work has been signed/dated/inscribed by the artist.

“With signature …”/“With date …”/ “With inscription …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion the signature/ date/inscription appears to be by a hand other than that of the artist.

The date given for Old Master, Modern and Contemporary Prints is the date (or approximate date when prefixed with ‘circa’) on which the matrix was worked and not necessarily the date when the impression was printed or published.

Retro 1940s Removal of Watch Batteries A lot marked with the symbol ⊕ next to the lot number incorporates batteries which may be designated as “dangerous goods” under international laws and regulations governing the transport of goods by air freight. If a buyer requests shipment of the lot to a destination outside of the country in which the saleroom is located, the batteries will be removed and retained by us prior to shipment. If the lot is collected from the saleroom, the batteries will be made available for collection free of charge.

FABERGÉ

CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART

QUALIFIED HEADINGS

When a piece is, in Christie’s opinion, of a certain period, reign or dynasty, its attribution appears in uppercase letters directly below the Heading of the description of the lot.

“Marked Fabergé, Workmaster …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work of the master’s workshop inscribed with his name or initials and his workmaster’s initials.

e.g. A BLUE AND WHITE BOWL 18TH CENTURY

“By Fabergé …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion, a work of the master’s workshop, but without his mark.

If the date, period or reign mark mentioned in uppercase letters after the bold type first line states that the mark is of the period, then in Christie’s opinion, the piece is of the date, period or reign of the mark.

“In the style of …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work of the period of the master and closely related to his style.

e.g. A BLUE AND WHITE BOWL KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722) If no date, period or reign mark is mentioned in uppercase letters after the bold description, in Christie’s opinion it is of uncertain date or late manufacture. e.g. A BLUE AND WHITE BOWL QUALIFIED HEADINGS

e.g. A BLUE AND WHITE MING-STYLE BOWL; or The Ming-style bowl is decorated with lotus scrolls…

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e.g. KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND PROBABLY OF THE PERIOD

“Manner of… ”: in Christie’s qualified opinion a work executed in the artist’s style but of a later date.

When a piece is, in Christie’s opinion, not of the period to which it would normally be attributed on stylistic grounds, this will be incorporated into the first line or the body of the text of the description.

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In Christie’s qualified opinion this object most probably dates from Kangxi period but there remains the possibility that it may be dated differently.

“Bearing marks …”: in Christie’s qualified opinion not a work of the master’s workshop and bearing later marks.

HANDBAGS Condition Reports The condition of lots sold in our auctions can vary widely due to factors such as age, previous damage, restoration, repair and wear and tear. Condition reports and grades are provided free of charge as a courtesy and convenience to our buyers and are for guidance only. They offer our honest opinion but they may not refer to all faults, restoration, alteration or adaptation. They are not an alternative to examining a lot in person or taking your own professional advice. Lots are sold “as is,” in the condition they are in at the time of the sale, without any representation or warranty as to condition by Christie’s or by the seller.

Grades in Condition Reports We provide a general, numeric condition grade to help with overall condition guidance. Please review the specific condition report and extra images for each lot before bidding.

Grade 1: this item exhibits no signs of use or wear and could be considered as new. There are no flaws. Original packaging and protective plastic are likely intact as noted in the lot description.

Grade 2: this item exhibits minor flaws and could be considered nearly brand new. It may never have been used, or may have been used a few times. There are only minor condition notes, which can be found in the specific condition report.

Grade 3: this item exhibits visible signs of use. Any signs of use or wear are minor. This item is in good condition.

Grade 4: this item exhibits wear from frequent use. This item either has light overall wear or small areas of heavy wear. The item is considered to be in fair condition.

Grade 5: this item exhibits normal wear and tear from regular or heavy use. The item is in good, usable condition but it does have condition notes.

Grade 6: this item is damaged and requires repair. It is considered in fair condition.

Any reference to condition in a catalogue entry will not amount to a full description of condition, and images may not show the condition of a lot clearly. Colours and shades may look different in print or on screen to how they look in real life. It is your responsibility to ensure that you have received and considered any condition report and grading.

References to “HARDWARE” Where used in this catalogue the term “hardware” refers to the metallic parts of the bag, such as the buckle hardware, base studs, lock and keys and /or strap, which are plated with a coloured finish (e.g. gold, silver, palladium). The terms “Gold

Hardware”, “Silver Hardware”, “Palladium Hardware” etc. refer to the tone or colour of the hardware and not the actual material used. If the bag incorporates solid metal hardware this will be referenced in the lot description.

POST 1950 FURNITURE All items of post-1950 furniture included in this sale are items either not originally supplied for use in a private home or sold as collector’s items. These items may not comply with the provisions of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended in 1989, 1993 and 2010, the “Regulations”).

Accordingly, these items should not be used as furniture in your home in their current condition. If you do intend to use such items for this purpose, you must first ensure that they are reupholstered, restuffed and/or recovered (as appropriate) in order that they comply with the provisions of the Regulations.

SYMBOLS USED IN THIS CATALOGUE The meaning of words coloured in bold in this section can be found in paragraph K, Glossary, of the section of the catalogue headed ‘Conditions of Sale’.

Please note that lots are marked as a convenience to you and we shall not be liable for any errors in, or failure to, mark a lot.

º

≈

º♦

∝

Christie’s has provided a minimum price guarantee and has a direct financial interest in the lot. See Important Notices in the Conditions of Sale for further information.

Christie’s has provided a minimum price guarantee and has a direct financial interest in the lot. Christie’s has financed all or a part of such interest through a third party. Such third parties generally benefit financially if a guaranteed lot is sold. See the Important Notices in the Conditions of Sale for further information.

⇔

A party has provided Christie’s with a bid to cover all or part of Christie’s financial interest in the lot and may benefit financially from such bid. See the Important Notices in the Conditions of Sale for further information.

Handbag lot incorporates material from endangered species. International shipping restrictions apply. See paragraph H2 of the Conditions of Sale for further information.

Lot incorporates elephant ivory material. See paragraph H2 of the Conditions of Sale for further information.

Ψ

Lot incorporates material from endangered species which is shown for display purposes only and is not for sale. See paragraph H2(h) of the Conditions of Sale for further information.

➤

Lot is a Non Fungible Token (NFT). Please see Appendix A – Additional Conditions of Sale – Non- Fungible Tokens in the Conditions of Sale for further information.

¤

◗

•

■

A party with a direct or indirect interest in the lot who may have knowledge of the lot’s reserve or other material information may be bidding on the lot.

Lot offered without reserve.

~

Lot incorporates material from endangered species which could result in export restrictions. See paragraph H2(c) of the Conditions of Sale for further information.

Lot contains both a Non Fungible Token (NFT) and a physical work of art. Please see Appendix A – Additional Conditions of Sale – Non-Fungible Tokens in the Conditions of Sale for further information.

See Storage and Collection pages in the catalogue.

❖

With the exception of clients resident in Mainland China, you may elect to make payment of the purchase price for the lot via a digital wallet in the name of the registered bidder, which must be maintained with one of the following: Coinbase Custody Trust; Coinbase, Inc.; Fidelity Digital Assets Services, LLC; Gemini Trust Company, LLC; or Paxos Trust Company, LLC. Please see the lot notice and Appendix B – Terms for Payment

by Buyers in Cryptocurrency in the Conditions of Sale for further requirements and information

φ

Please note that this lot is subject to an import tariff.

The amount of the import tariff due is a percentage of the final hammer price plus buyer’s premium. The buyer should contact Post Sale Services prior to the sale to determine the estimated amount of this import tariff. If the buyer instructs Christie’s to arrange shipping of the lot to a foreign address, the buyer will not be required to pay an import tariff, but the shipment may be delayed while awaiting approval to export from the local government. If the buyer instructs Christie’s to arrange the shipment of the lot to a domestic address, if the buyer collects the property in person, or if the buyer arranges their own shipping (whether domestically or internationally), the buyer will be required to pay the import tariff. For the purpose of calculating sales tax, if applicable, the import tariff will be added to the final hammer price plus buyer’s premium and sales tax will be collected as per The Buyer’s Premium and Taxes section of the Conditions of Sale.

© Christie, Manson & Woods Ltd. (2026)

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STORAGE AND COLLECTION PAYMENT OF ANY CHARGES DUE

SHIPPING AND DELIVERY

Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square (■) not collected from Christie’s by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services (CFASS in Red Hook, Brooklyn). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite.

Christie’s Post-Sale Service can organize domestic deliveries or international freight.

Please contact them on +1 212 636 2650 or PostSaleUS@christies.com.

If the lot is transferred to Christie’s Fine Art Storage Services, it will be available for collection after the third business day following the sale.

Please contact Christie’s Post-Sale Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Christie’s Fine Art Services. All collections from Christie’s Fine Art Services will be by pre-booked appointment only.

Please be advised that after 50 days from the auction date property may be moved at Christie’s discretion. Please contact Post-Sale Services to confirm the location of your property prior to collection.

Tel: +1 212 636 2650 Email: PostSaleUS@christies.com Operation hours for both Christie’s Rockefeller and Christie’s Fine Art Storage are from 9:30 am to 5:00 pm, Monday – Friday.

COLLECTION AND CONTACT DETAILS Lots will only be released on payment of all charges due and on production of a Collection Form from Christie’s. Charges may be paid in advance or at the time of collection. We may charge fees for storage if your lot is not collected within ninety days from the sale. Please see paragraph G of the Conditions of Sale for further detail.

Long-term storage solutions are also available per client request. CFASS is a separate subsidiary of Christie’s and clients enjoy complete confidentiality.

Please contact CFASS New York for details and rates: +1 212 636 2070 or storage@cfass.com CHRISTIE’S ROCKEFELLER CENTER 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York 10020 Tel: +1 212 636 2000 PostSaleUS@christies.com Main Entrance on 49th Street Receiving/Shipping Entrance on 48th Street Hours: 9.30 AM - 5.00 PM Monday-Friday except Public Holidays

CHRISTIE’S FINE ART STORAGE SERVICES (CFASS) 62-100 Imlay Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231 Tel: +1 212 974 4500 PostSaleUS@christies.com Main Entrance on Corner of Imlay and Bowne St Hours: 9.30 AM - 5.00 PM Monday-Friday except Public Holidays

Tel: +1 212 636 2650 Email: PostSaleUS@christies.com

18/12/2024

Identity Verification Anti-money laundering regulations require Christie’s and other art businesses to verify the identity of all clients. To register as a new client, you will need to provide the following documents, or if you are an existing client, you will be prompted to provide any outstanding documents the next time you transact.

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Private Individuals

Organisations

• A copy of your passport or other government-issued photo ID. • Proof of your residential address (such as a bank statement or utility bill) dated within the last three months.

• Formal documents showing the company’s incorporation, its registered office and business address, and its officers, members and ultimate beneficial owners.

• A passport or other government issued photo ID for each beneficial owner and authorised user.

Please upload your documents through your christies.com account: click ‘My Account’ followed by ‘Complete Profile’.

You can also email your documents to info@christies.com or provide them in person.

Please email your documents to info@christies.com or provide them in person.

Our Sustainability Pledge Christie’s is printing fewer catalogues as our business and client needs evolve.

When we do print, we uphold the highest sustainable standards. Our catalogues are printed on fully recycled paper, with vegetable-based ink and biodegradable laminates.

‘Five years ago we made a decision to create a more sustainable future for Christie’s.

With a 69% reduction in our carbon emissions since 2019, we have shown it is possible and in doing so have driven change in the art market. Art is a source of personal joy and enrichment and that should not come at the expense of the environment.’

Bonnie Brennan Chief Executive Officer

Scan to learn more about our sustainability goals and projects VINCENT VAN GOGH (1853-1890) Coin de jardin avec papillons Price realised: $33,185,000 Christie’s New York, May 2024

To opt out of receiving future Christie’s catalogues, please email info@christies.com

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