The Furniture & Works of Art sales on 17th and 18th December will represent all the excellence of 18th-century decorative arts, embodying a quintessential vision of French Elegance. Among the highlights: an exceptional pair of silver oil cruet frames from the royal Penthièvre-Orléans service by master goldsmith Edme-Pierre Balzac.
Master goldsmith Edme-Pierre Balzac
Pair of silver oil cruet frames from the royal Penthièvre-Orléans service, circa 1762-1763
Estimate: €150,000 - 200,000
This museum's quality pair of silver oil cruet frames come from the royal Penthièvre-Orléans service. Those bears witness to the splendour of 18th-century court goldsmith and was made by the greatest goldsmiths of the time, including Edme-Pierre Balzac, who worked between 1739 and 1781. A favoured goldsmith of the court, his work is renowned for its extreme quality and remarkable craftsmanship. These oil basins are part of a set of which only four exist today.
François De Bigorie (1916-1988)
Portrait of Georges Geffroy, 1945
Estimate: €2,500 - 3,500
The world of Georges Geffroy (1905-1971), a leading figure in 20th-century interior design, is the takes center stage in this sale. A visionary interior designer and influential member of the cosmopolitan Café Society of the 1950s and 1960s, Geffroy attracted a prestigious clientele, including Arturo Lopez Willshaw, Alexis de Redé, Daisy Fellowes, Lionel and Gloria Guinness, and Guillaume and Dale de Bonchamps. The collection comes from Geffroy's flat, an intimate setting on the 5th floor of a building in the Rue de Rivoli that the decorator lived in from the early 1940s until his death in 1971.
Amateurs and collectors will also be able to discover treasures emblematic of the French art of living, from the Louis XV to the Louis XVI periods. These include some remarkable candelabras that once stood in Cassiobury House, the historic home of the Earls of Essex, and reflect the refinement of the great English homes. A pair of armchairs by Nicolas Heurtaut, a master cabinetmaker of the 18th century, are distinguished by their fine carving and exceptional Beauvais tapestry, embodying the elegance of the salons d'apparat. A mahogany and white marble console table, a masterpiece by Jean-Henri Riesner, the Crown's celebrated supplier, evokes the splendour of royal interiors, as does a similar piece on display at the Petit Trianon in Versailles.
Marked by Nicolas Heurtaut (1720-1771)
Pair of Louis XV armchairs ‘a la reine’ with frames
Estimate: €60,000 - 80,000
18th century Sèvres hard-paste biscuit porcelain, circa 1776
Depicting a portrait of Emperor Qianlong, named the Emperor of China
Estimate: €60,000 - 80,000
On the sculpture side, the catalogue includes an exceptional piece of Sèvres biscuit porcelain, made around 1776 and depicting a portrait of the Emperor Qianlong. Of the thirteen examples created between 1776 and 1779, only six are known today, some of which are in the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris and the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. This work, prized by figures such as Marie-Antoinette, the Duchesse de Mazarin and Madame Adélaïde, embodies the refined taste of the 18th-century elite.
On a completely different note, a bronze inspired by mythology, probably based on a composition created around 1650 by the Roman Baroque sculptor Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654), will be on sale. This work is distinguished by its prestigious provenance: it bears the mark of the former collection of Count Aleksej Semenovich Musin-Pushkin. Subsequently, it became part of the collection of Eugène Secrétan, the famous French industrialist and principal donor of the Statue of Liberty in New York.
After a model by Alessandro Algardi (1598-1654)
Hercules as a child fighting a snake
Bronze group, France, late 17th century
Estimate: €30,000 - 50,000 Â
Exhibition
13rd November 2024, 11am-6pm
14th November 2024, 11am-6pm
15th November 2024, 2pm-6pm
16th November 2024, 11am-6pm
17th November 2024, 11am-6pm
Auction
Furniture & Works of Art
17th December 2024 - 5pm
18th December 2024 - 2pm
Contact
Charlotte Norton
Tél. +33 1 42 99 20 68