GENEVA.- Piguet announced its next auction, which will take place from 9 to 12 December. More than 3,500 lots will be on show the week before, from Wednesday 4 to Sunday 8 December, with items ranging from modern and contemporary art to designer furniture and precious objects, fine jewellery, fine watches, luxury leather goods and fine wines. The total estimate is CHF 5-7 million.
One of the highlights of the week will be the auction of the previously unseen personal collection of His Excellency Ardeshir Zahedi, the eminent Iranian ambassador, statesman and key figure of the 20th century.
The unseen collection of His Excellency Ardeshir Zahedi
The son of General Fazlollah Zahedi, Iran's prime minister under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Ardeshir Zahedi was a key figure in Iranian diplomacy. He served as ambassador to the United States (1959-1962), ambassador to the United Kingdom (1962-1966), Iran's foreign minister (1966-1973) and again ambassador to the United States until the 1979 revolution. A visionary, he actively contributed to the development of Iranian-American relations, maintaining contacts with leading political figures such as President Richard Nixon (opposite) and Henry Kissinger.
Zahedi strove to position Iran as a friendly country, fostering links between different communities. This is particularly reflected in lot 2237, entitled ‘One era is not another’, which is of great historical interest. This lot includes two commemorative plaques presented to Zahedi in 1977, when he was ambassador to the United States, one by the Arab-Americans and the other by the President of the International Jewish Welfare Organization. A very different era.
His personality and charisma attracted the attention of Princess Shahnaz Pahlavi, the eldest daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran, and Empress Fawzia Fouad, herself the daughter of King Fouad I of Egypt. Zahedi married Princess Shahnaz on 11 October 1957 in Tehran.
This unprecedentedly rich collection comprises more than 370 lots. Some of the items are family heirlooms of royal and imperial origin, exemplified by an impressive gold box decorated with Ardeshir Zahedi's personalised tughra set with diamonds (lot 2257, est. CHF 50,000-70,000) or a gold medal from the Kingdom of Iran bearing the bust and monogram of Empress Farah Pahlavi (lot 2214, est. CHF 6,000-8,000). Other lots highlight Zahedi's extraordinary career, such as a rare commemorative gold medal, in two interlocking parts, presented at the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (lot 2206 above, est. CHF 20,000-30,000), or a boxed set of gold Chaumet cases and watch, a personal gift from H.M. Hassan II, King of Morocco, to Ardeshir Zahedi (lot 3563, est. CHF 12,000-18,000).
Works of art and precious objects reflect Zahedi's cultural values. A 1948 still life by Fernand Léger (1881-1955) (lot 26 opposite, est. CHF 30,000-50,000) and an oil painting by the Iranian-American Manoucher Yektai (1922-2019) (lot 38, est. CHF 20,000-30,000) adorned the walls of his ‘Villa les roses’.
Zahedi lived in this family home in Montreux since his exile from Iran in 1979. He was very active in local life as a patron of music festivals and humanitarian causes. The town awarded him the honorary title of Ambassador of Montreux in 2019, as he introduced countless personalities from all over the world to the region over more than 50 years.
Zahedi entertained the cultural, political and royal elite of his time, serving them in fine porcelain and a crystal service monogrammed AZ (lot 2344 est. CHF 4,000-6,000 and lot 2349 est. CHF 3,000-5,000). Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, H.R.H. Prince Saddrudin Aga Khan, King Fouad, Kofi Annan, the President of the Swiss Confederation Pierre Aubert and Claude Nobs are just some of the Swiss and international personalities who graced the Villa's salons. Zahedi follows in the footsteps of his father, himself a leading statesman, and maintained the Villa as a place for diplomatic meetings and influential exchanges.
Jewellery and watches adorned with precious stones or signed by leading brands recall the prestigious lineage of the Zahedi and Pahlavi families. The collection includes watches with a gold coin bearing the effigy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and his family on the front and a Vacheron Constantin mechanism on the back (lots 3558, 3559 and 3560), as well as Cartier lighters bearing the arms of Empress Farah Pahlavi (lots 2269 opposite and 2271).
Important works of modern and contemporary art from the Jean-Pierre Cassigneul collection
The Paintings and Sculptures auction, live in the saleroom on Wednesday 11 December includes major works of modern and contemporary art from the Jean-Pierre Cassigneul collection.
This French painter, born in Paris in 1935, over the course of his career brought together works by artists he loved, acquired from renowned galleries and auctions. These include lithographic series by Nabis painters such as Vuillard and Bonnard, the latter's suite ‘Quelques aspects de la vie de Paris’ being considered the pinnacle of his engraved work (lot 22 est. CHF 70,000-120,000).
The female figure occupies a central place in the J.-P. Cassigneul collection, whether in his personal creations – shown by an unpublished oil by the artist (lot 37 est. CHF 60,000-80,000) - or in the works he surrounds himself with. In the sculpture Femme called ‘Les trois plis’ by Julio González (1876-1942), an important work of the 20th century, the female silhouette is simplified to explore new dimensions of space and form.
César, Klee, Dalí, Sandoz, Picasso and others will also be represented in the Wednesday 11 December sale, alongside contemporary works from the personal collection of interior designer Bibi Gritti, a passionate collector who has been involved in prestigious committees such as MoMA in New York and the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris.
Fine Watchmaking | Rare Books | Asian art
Luxury and Art of Living
The luxury and art of living auctions offer nearly 1,300 lots of fine wines, luxury leather goods, fine jewellery and watches, including many Hermès Birkin bags in perfect condition (lots 73 to 78), iconic creations by Van Cleef & Arpels, and a selection of fine Burgundy and Bordeaux wines (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Haut Brion, Mouton Rotschild, Petrus, etc.).
The highlight of the sale will be the auction of a fine collection of Rolex watches, headed by one of the company's most emblematic models: a Daytona ‘Paul Newman’ (lot 98 opposite, est. CHF 100,000-150,000). With its limited production run, the Paul Newman is now highly prized, especially when, as in the case of the December example, the watch dates from 1971, but its mechanism was completely overhauled by Rolex in 2023. A rare opportunity on the market!
Another exclusive model is the Daytona Rainbow, whose bezel, adorned with a rainbow of coloured sapphires, testifies to Rolex's prowess in terms of craftsmanship (lot 87, est. CHF 120,000-180,000).
Also on sale on 12 December is a collection of limited edition Hublot watches, including a Big Bang Diego Maradona, a tribute to the Argentine football legend, embodying the alliance of luxury and sport (lot 3374, est. CHF 5,000-7,000).
Rare books from the Grant Part Foundation library
Almost half of the lots in the online session of rare books and prints on Wednesday 11 December came from the Grant Part Foundation library, created by Yvonne Guyot in the 1940s. This intimate collection includes works that are extremely rare on the market, notably a 15th-century illuminated manuscript (lot 2643), the first edition of the Encyclopédie by Diderot and d'Alembert (lot 2651), and several books on botany and entomology...
The Li Ai Vee Collection: Part 2
The second part of the collection from Madam Li Ai Vee, a Chinese-German painter based in Blonay (Canton of Vaud) and a fervent collector of Asian art, also features in December’s auction. These are mainly Chinese and Japanese objects (lots 40 and 41 of the auction, as well as lots 1576 to 1633).
