Auction Highlights

Rediscovery of a suite of royal chairs belonging to the Countess of Provence at Versailles&nbsp;

Rediscovery of a suite of royal chairs belonging to the Countess of Provence at Versailles.

A Royal Discovery

The sale features a selection of very fine lots from a major European private collection built up some thirty years ago. Highlights include a pair of Louis XIV-period candelabra attributed to André-Charles Boulle (lot 331) and a pair of Louis XVI-period torches of the famous Jean-Démosthène Dugourc design (lot 340).

A Private European Collection 

One Of The Founding Fathers Of The United States

With The Arms of R. Livingston, One of The Founding Fathers of The United States

Rediscovered after many decades, Sotheby’s is delighted to present a rare gold and hardstone snuff box (lot 419). Formerly in the magnificent art collection of Eugen Gutmann, (1840-1925) cofounder of the Dresdner Bank, this intricate mid-eighteenth snuff box shared the fate of so many treasures in great Jewish collections under Nazi occupation that ended up scattered around the world if they had remained intact during the looting and the turmoils of the Second World War.

A Gold and Burgau Shell Eighteenth Century Masterpiece

A Taste for the Orient in the 18th Century

Three works stand out among the most remarkable furniture and objects of the Classic Design auction. Amid the objects that have been passed down as part of the Laguiche family collections from the Château de Chaumont, let us mention a pair of ewers in celestial blue porcelain mounted on gilded bronze. The second is a surprising tiered desk in mahogany from the Louis XVI period which, through its pure lines, asserts the premises of a budding anglomania that was already inspiring pioneering cabinetmakers such as Leleu or Garnier. The third is a ravishing antique-shaped table with a tabletop in Sarrancolin marble. Rare and sought-after in aesthetic terms, it is a poignant testimonial of the luxury trade around 1770 in Paris. The invoice of the haberdasher-merchant Poirier is adhered to the underside of its only drawer, precisely stating that this table cost 600 pounds and was paid for in cash by Madame de Laguiche in October 1771. The table emerges on the art market today, 250 years after that initial sale, absolutely intact and perfectly conserved.

From the Collection of the Château de Chaumont

Paris

Senior Project Manager Furniture | Head of sale Silver

Marine de Cenival

Senior Director | Senior International Specialist | Furniture & Decorative Art and Commissaire-priseur

Brice Foisil

Senior Director | Head of Department European Furniture and Decorative Arts

Louis-Xavier Joseph

Head of Department, Silver and Vertue

Thierry de Lachaise

Director | Head of Department Sculpture

Ulrike Christina Goetz

Head of Vertu and Gold Boxes

Alexandra Starp

Cataloguer, 20th Century Design

Clara Besomi

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Sotheby’s Paris will present its Classic Design sale with a selection of impressive 18th-century pieces, such as a Louis XV “espagnolettes'' satinwood and amaranth commode with gilt-bronze mounts made by Charles Cressent, circa 1730. The auction will also feature pieces with the finest provenance, such as a pair of armchairs made by Jean-Baptiste Boulard for Chanteloup and an amaranth-veneered médaillier from the Lagerfeld collection. Highly decorative objects will also be part of the sale, such as a pair of Régence gilt-bronze mounted Chinese porcelain and biscuit candlesticks and a large Louis XV gilt-bronze cartel ornated with a Chinese figure. The sale will also present a fine selection of pieces of furniture made by François Linke.

Classic Design: Furniture, Silver and Works of Art