PARIS.- From 3 to 5 November, Christie's Classic Week returns to Paris with an exceptional selection of books, paintings, sculptures and works of art celebrating the richness of Europe's artistic heritage. Conceived by Christie's for the great capitals of taste and collecting, namely Paris, London and New York, Classic Week offers stimulating dialogues between periods, styles and artistic disciplines. By presenting each year a fresh journey through centuries of creativity, with a constant focus on quality, Christie's specialists foster exchanges with collectors and enthusiasts while helping to illuminate the history of taste. On 3 November, in a newly conceived format, The Exceptional Sale, L'esprit franais explores the very essence of French craftsmanship, from master cabinetmakers and decorative arts to fashion. On 4 November, the sale Old Masters: Paintings - Drawings - Sculpture brings together masterpieces by Fragonard and Boucher, alongside Italian and Spanish still lifes. From 27 October to 5 November, the online sale Rare Books and Manuscripts will pay tribute to centuries of collecting, from engravings by Drer to bindings, letters and twentieth-century manuscripts by Jean-Paul Sartre, Pierre Boulez and Andr Breton.
From 30 October to 4 November, visitors to the exhibition will discover a selection of works presented within one of the world's most significant collections of historic decorative interiors, assembled by Fau Boiseries over the past 150 years.
The Exceptional Sale, L'esprit franais celebrates the full spectrum of French craftsmanship
Sale on 3 November ; Exhibition from 30 October to 3 November
Comprising around sixty lots, The Exceptional Sale highlights the savoir-faire of cabinetmakers, embroiderers, sculptors, chasers, goldsmiths and tapestry weavers of past centuries. Among the sale's treasures is a spectacular rearing-horse drinking vessel created in the 16th century by the German goldsmith Jakob Frhlich (€80,000-120,000), formerly in the collection of King Ferdinand II of Portugal. This remarkable example of Nuremberg Renaissance goldsmithing combines technical virtuosity, sculptural imagination and ceremonial function.
The sale also features rare works of hardstone craftsmanship. A testament to the refinement of the Medici court, an Italian Baroque tray in marble and hardstone pietra dura marquetry comes from one of Florence's great aristocratic families, the Torrigiani. Comparable examples are now held in the Galleria Borghese in Rome and the Museo del Prado in Madrid. Dating from a slightly later period, an Annonciation created in the early 18th century by the Grand Ducal workshop in Florence showcases an extraordinary variety of hardstones (€150,000-250,000). Combining granite with the brilliance of gilt bronze, an exceptional pot-pourri vase reflects the 18th-century taste for objects harmoniously blending sculpture, architecture and the decorative arts (€120,000-180,000).
Last February, the Grand Palais presented a breathtaking exhibition of monumental carpets commissioned by Louis XIV for the Grande Galerie du Louvre. The Exceptional Sale offers a unique opportunity to acquire a fragment of one of the 92 carpets woven by the Savonnerie manufactory (€60,000-100,000). Decorated with a central blue-ground medallion and a bronze-coloured rosette, it was woven by Lourdet in 1688-1689.
In outstanding condition, a carpet dating from 1750-1760 and attributed to Jean-Baptiste Chevillon, the Savonnerie's most influential weaver, ranks among the most sought-after examples on the market (€120,000-180,000).
The sale also places a strong emphasis on the 18th century through a group of lacquer furniture masterpieces, exemplifying the refinement of French cabinetmaking in the mid-18th century. Highlights include an exceptional Louis XV commode in black and gold lacquer with finely chased and gilt-bronze mounts, stamped by Bernard II van Risenburgh, known as BVRB II (€150,000-250,000). Decorated with exotic scenes, a commode stamped by Franois Rubestuck circa 1775 comes from the prestigious Hlne Arpels and Andr Azria Collection (€60,000-80,000). Vnus conduisant son char, sculpted by the Broche brothers, illustrates the great commissions for gallant marble sculpture (€80,000-120,000), while the cup delivered to Marie-Antoinette for the Dairy of Rambouillet is a testament to the inventiveness of the Svres manufactory (€30,000-50,000).
HIGLIGHTS OF THE SALES
Major Rediscoveries in the Old Masters: Paintings - Drawings - Sculpture
Sale Sale on 4 November; Exhibition from 30 October to 4 November
The Old Masters: Paintings - Drawings - Sculpture sale brings together paintings by major figures of French art, including Jean-Honor Fragonard, Franois Boucher and Jean-Baptiste Pater, as well as European masters such as Ribera, Juan van der Hamen y Len, Jan I Van Kessel and Cristoforo Munari. This selection includes several important rediscoveries, foremost among them Immacule Conception by Franois Boucher (€300,000-500,000). A major work from the artist's mature period demonstrates the freedom Boucher achieved in relation to academic conventions. Recently rediscovered, the painting has been linked to a drawing by the artist in the Louvre and to the Assomption in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.
La fte du village by Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841) is another previously unpublished work featured in the sale. Rooted in the tradition of 17th-century Flemish genre painting, this composition is revealed as a preparatory sketch for the celebrated painting The Alehouse Door, now in the Tate Britain, London, which made Wilkie the first living artist to be represented in the British national collections at the National Gallery. While the Tate Britain painting was acquired by John Julius Angerstein (1735-1823), the present sketch appears to have been retained by the artist and presented to George Watson (1767-1837), President of the Royal Scottish Academy, as attested by a letter from Wilkie preserved on the reverse of the picture (€20,000-30,000).
Unseen on the market for a century, an enchanting Tte de jeune femme by Jean-Honor Fragonard (1732-1806) has not been publicly exhibited since 1957 (€400,000-500,000). Fragonard's characteristic virtuosity and freedom of execution are fully expressed in this portrait, whose palette recalls Rembrandt's Portrait d'Hendrickje Stoffels.
Sculpture is represented by several works from the collection of Ambassador J. William Middendorf II, including a figure of an apostle created in Limoges at the end of the 12th century (€20,000-30,000), as well as a magnificent cast of Cheval au passage, attributed to Antonio Susini after Giambologna (€150,000-250,000).
The Old Master Drawings section is composed primarily of works from the French school, notably an early drawing by Franois Boucher depicting Travail aux champs, a red chalk drawing by Hubert Robert, and a watercolour by Eugne Isabey representing l'Embarquement de mille volontaires sous la direction de Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) Gnes, le 5 mai 1860.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SALES
Highlights from the Rare Books and Manuscripts Sale
Online sale, from October 27 to November 5; Exhibition from October 30 to November 4
Tracing seven centuries of book history, the sale places particular emphasis on the genesis of major literary, artistic and intellectual works through a remarkable selection of precious manuscripts and rare autograph documents. Among the highlights is an important group of previously unpublished notes in the hand of Jean-Paul Sartre, offering fresh insight into the development of his autobiographical masterpiece Les Mots (€25,000-35,000). Collectors of Surrealist books and manuscripts will discover an exceptional collage-letter by Andr Breton addressed to Louis Aragon in 1918 (€30,000-40,000). Illustrated with an original pencil portrait of Breton and mounted photographs, this extraordinary document reflects Breton's earliest experiments with collage and embodies the innovative spirit that would come to define Surrealism. As 2026 marks the tenth anniversary of the death of composer Pierre Boulez, the sale presents an autograph score of one of his most celebrated works, Douze notations. The manuscript offered is undoubtedly the most significant, as it was the copy Boulez presented to his fellow composer Serge Nigg, to whom the work was dedicated (€30,000-40,000). Among the early printed books is an exceptional copy of the Canon medicinae, written around the year 1012 by Avicenna, which would remain the standard reference work for the teaching of medicine throughout Europe for centuries. Its dissemination was greatly expanded through printed editions, and the sale includes a copy of the most important among them: the first Arabic edition printed on the Medici Press in Rome in 1593. It is one of the only complete copies to have appeared on the market over the past four decades (€70,000-100,000). Also featured is a magnificent copy of La Vie de la Vierge by Albrecht Drer, one of the artist's finest illustrated books, formerly in the collections of Henri Gallice and Marcel Jeanson (€70,000-100,000), as well as a copy of the first French translation of Le Prince by Machiavelli, preserved in its contemporary vellum binding (€120,000-180,000). Collectors will also have the opportunity to discover a superb Livre d'heures l'usage de Paris, an illuminated manuscript created by the Master of Jacques de Besanon and dating from circa 1490 (offered in The Exceptional Sale, €150,000-250,000).
