LONDON.- Christie’s announces the sale CHÂTEAU - A Distinguished American Collection of Important 19th century Furniture & Works of Art which will be offered on 28 October 2014. This important collection presents superlative examples of 19th century decorative arts assembled by a private American collector, focusing on signed pieces of the highest quality in the French Royal styles of the Ancien Régime. Comprising 66 lots, the sale presents masterpieces by the period’s preeminent craftsman, including François Linke, Alfred Beurdeley, Guillaume Grohé, Mathieu Befort and Henry Dasson, whose furniture was supplied from Paris to a global market. Their clients included Kings, Kaisers, Maharajas, and titans of industry and commerce such as the Rothschilds, who created an aesthetic and lifestyle which was emulated by powerful families in the United States of America, such as the Vanderbilts, Astors and Rockefellers. This collection evokes the grand Beaux-Arts building projects of the 19th century, when a new international elite competed to furnish their magnificent Renaissance-style châteaux with the most palatial furniture and objects. Beaux-Arts architecture and French furniture became hallmarks of America’s Gilded Age, and this sale offers today’s collectors the opportunity to acquire exceptional works of art in this proud tradition. With estimates ranging from £3,000 to £400,000, the collection is expected to realise in excess of £3 million.
The great wealth of the 19th century, generated by industrial advancement and global trade and commerce, gave rise to a new breed of collectors who sought to emulate the opulence of the ‘Grand Century’ as embodied by Louis XIV, ‘The Sun King’ and the Château de Versailles. These new collectors created the market for antiques and works of art dispersed by the French Revolution, and their demand for furniture drove a renaissance of French furniture making in the 19th century. For this market Parisian ébénistes of the 19th century crafted furniture and works of art of a quality which in the century prior were the reserve of the nobility. This sale is a collection of the most magnificent furniture and works of art created during the 19th century.
Highlights include:
A highly important French ormolu-mounted kingwood and satiné marquetry and parquetry ‘piano à queue’ by François Linke, the mounts designed by Léon Messagé, Paris, circa 1910
Interest in French furniture was promoted by a number of exhibitions in Paris and London of Royal furniture. The dissemination of the style was most promoted by the Great Exhibitions of the 19th century, which presented the products of arts and industry to the public. At these exhibitions, the Beaux-Arts style dominated, but the meeting of cultures caused a blending of styles whereby the forms and lines familiar from the Ancien Régime became infused with divergent stylistic vocabularies, creating Aestheticism and Art Nouveau. This hybrid of forms is best represented by the designs of Léon Messagé for François Linke, as exemplifed by the top lot of the sale, a magnificent piano by François Linke, with mounts designed by Léon Messagé, the movement by Erard, Paris, circa 1910 (estimate: £250,000-400,000). Perfectly evoking the harmonious collaboration between sculptor and ébéniste, this sumptuous piano à queue is a tour de force of Rococo-inspired splendor and simultaneously celebrates the combined genius of François Linke’s superior craftsmanship with Léon Messagé’s Art Nouveau-infused designs. Considered sculpture in themselves, exquisite ormolu mountings were a characteristic of the finest late 19th century furniture, and Messagé’s prowess in their design and application was unrivalled. The sculptor triumphantly embraced the asymmetry characterised by Rococo designers such as Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier by creating lively and emotive allegorical figures linked by sinuous encadrements.
A monumental pair of French ormolu and patinated-bronze figural nineteen-light candelabra representing ‘War’ and ‘Peace’ by Louis-Auguste Alfred Beurdeley, Paris, circa 1885
The impressive candelabra are set with putti holding attributes emblematic of ‘War’ and ‘Peace’ (estimate: £200,000-300,000). The composition and modeling of the marmousets, or little boys, is not stylistically contemporary to the Belle Époque, but drawn directly from the heroic statuary of Versailles, which was created in glorifcation of Louis XIV, the ‘Sun King’. Monumental in scale these candelabra would certainly have been intended for indoor use, however their inspiration can be most readily found in the figural groups ornamenting the various parterres and fountains of the Jardins du Château de Versailles. If the exact inspiration for the design is not known, the scale and quality of the candelabra is becoming of the ambition and technical virtuosity of Beurdeley to create objects worthy of royalty.
Louis-Auguste-Alfred Beurdeley was the second generation of a dynasty of cabinet makers who exerted a profound influence on French furniture in the 19th century. These candelabra date to the 1880s or 1890s when Beurdeley was undertaking substantial commissions for the American titans of Gilded Age. For example, Beurdeley was commissioned to complete various objects and furnishings for the renovation of the Vanderbilt Mansion, described as an ‘early French Renaissance style château’, at the northwest corner of West 57th Street and 5th Avenue in New York. The present candelabra were bought in Paris in 1928 by Eva Leo Fox, wife of William Fox, the pioneering American motion picture executive, who founded the Fox Film Corporation. Eva Leo Fox had travelled throughout Europe purchasing antiques to furnish the extravagant Fox theatres. They were installed in the grand marble staircase atrium of the opulent Fox Theatre in San Francisco which was demolished in 1963 when a dispersal sale was held. The candelabra subsequently entered the collection of California Historical Society, later selling at auction to the present owner.
A French ormolu-mounted kingwood commode by François Linke, after the model by Antoine-Robert Gaudreaux, Paris, circa 1909
François Linke was the most famous master-ébéniste of the Belle Époque. A further highlight by Linke is a commode which he copied from the famous model by Antoine-Robert Gaudreaux, recorded in 1761 in the French aristocratic collection of Monsieur de Selle, controller general for the Kings Chamber (estimate: £120,000-180,000). The importance of the commode was recognised by the 4th Marquess of Hertford, who was one of the first connoisseur collectors of French 18th century furniture. The Marquess of Hertford bought the commode in 1865 and it remains today in the magnificent Wallace Collection, London. François Linke visited the Wallace Collection in 1900 shortly after its public opening by the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. He admired the commode and sought permission to make the present faithful reproduction. This very commode is illustrated in a photographic negative from Linke’s workshop.
No expense was spared in making this commode the equal of Gaudreaux’s original, with its thick fleur de pêcher marble top above exquisitely patterned kingwood veneers, all framed with sculptural ormolu mounts of acanthus and dragons. François Linke’s creations were worthy of his illustrious clientele, which encompassed a global elite of the wealthiest nobility, industrialists and bankers of the day. Linke furniture was supplied from Paris to a global market: gracing London townhouses, Newport mansions, the palaces of Siam, and the villas of Buenos Aires. Linke’’s clients included the King of Egypt, the Maharaja of Baroda, the King of Thailand and Kaiser Wilhelm II.
A French ormolu-mounted kingwood and bois satiné parquetry regulateur by François Linke, circa 1900
A magnifcent longcase régulateur clock also by François Linke, after the model by Balthazar Lieutaud and Philippe Caffieri, circa 1900 is a defining object of the divine-right of Kingship (estimate: £80,000-120,000). It perpetuates the analogy of the Bourbon Kings with Apollo, the sun god, who gives life to all things. The symbolism of ornamenting a clock in celebration of Louis XVI confers that the King is the controller of time, as it is Apollo’s chariot which draws the sun across the sky. The passing of time is referenced also in the signs of the Zodiac cast in relief around the dial and the rectangular relief cast plaques to the base: showing, to the front, two putti emblematic of spring and summer and, to the sides, putti emblematic of autumn and winter.
The present régulateur, crafted by Linke, is veneered in kingwood, true to the original and most splendid neo-classical régulateur ever made: ‘The Apollo Regulateur’ in The Frick Collection, New York, which reputedly belonged to Marie-Antoinette, and was later the casualty of the revolutionary sales and auctioned in 1790 from the collection of Antoine Freyt, a director of the Compagnie des Assurances de Paris. It was crafted by Berthoud, the greatest horloger of the time, with cabinetry by Balthazar Lieutaud (c. 1720-1780), the foremost ébéniste specialising in clock- cases, and superb mounts by the prime maker of early neo-classical bronzes, Philippe Cafféri (1714-1774). It is possible that Linke bought the rights to reproduce it, and the models for the bronzes, from a sale of Beurdeley’s inventory in 1895.
A French ormolu and cut-glass twenty four-light chandelier by Baccarat, Paris, circa 1890
Baccarat ‘crystal glass’ is highly regarded, not only for its unusual clarity, but also for its great solidity and weight. The present chandelier is an unusual and rare model by Baccarat (estimate: £40,000-60,000). The distinctive winged putti, which hold aloft torches, were first used by Baccarat on a pair of large blue and white crystal basins shown at the 1878 Paris Exposition universelle. Founded in 1764 by Royal consent, the firm of Baccarat became known as the Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat during the 19th century. François-Eugène de Fontenay, who joined the company in 1841, discovered that by the addition of nickel oxide in the manufacturing process a perfectly clear product, “crystal glass”, free of discolouration and imitating precious rock crystal, was produced. The Baccarat company was awarded a Gold Medal at the French Expositions des Produits de l’Industrie in 1844. With the continuing improvement in their manufacturing standards, the quality of Baccarat’s ‘crystal glass’ improved and reached the highest level by the end of the century.
A monumental Vienna-style porcelain ‘jewelled’ cobalt-blue ground vase, cover & stand
The vase, cover and stand is signed by Hans Makart (1840-1884) an Austrian allegorical painter and designer who was known as ‘The Modern Rubens’. He studied at the Academy in Vienna and won fame as the ‘Prince of Taste’, even governing ladies’ fashion. One of Makart’s greatest achievements was staging the vast costumed parades held to celebrate the Silver Wedding Anniversary of Franz Joseph and Empress Elizabeth, 1879. The vase is based on the life of Catharina Cornaro, (1454 - 1510), Queen of Cyprus from 1474 to 1489 (estimate: £30,000-50,000). The work was likely to have been inspired by the tragic lyric opera commissioned by Bartolomeo Merelli, impresario of the Kaertnerthortheater in Vienna and composed by Geatano Donizetti in 1844. In 1475, Catharina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus, ‘accepted’ Venetian protection against the ‘Turkish threat’, creating a historic alliance which ultimately gave Venice control over Cyprus.
A large French ormolu mantel clock: ‘pendule à la gloire du roi’, after the model by Edmé Jean Gallien, circa 1870
With rays bursting forth from a portrait medallion of Louis XIV, this spectacular clock is based on an 18th century model dedicated to the memory of the Sun King (estimate: £20,000-30,000). Created in 1754, the original was a collaboration between fondeur Edmé-Jean Gallien, gilder Louis-François Gobert and clockmaker Jean Martinot and was initially placed in Louis XV’s bedroom at the Château de Fontainebleau. It was later moved to the Château de Compiègne and then to the Château de Versailles, where it is now on view in the cabinet du Conseil. The clock face emerges from an elaborate foliate support surmounted by a winged putto emblematic of fame and anchored by two additional putti at the base: the first emblematic of the génie of Mars holding the King’s portrait, the second of France leaning forward in admiration. The model was widely admired in the 19th century, and a version slightly larger than the present clock by Charles Crozatier and Henri Picard is displayed in the grand salon of the Napoleon III apartments at the Louvre, having formerly been on view at Versailles, the Palais des Tuileries and the Préfecture at Strasbourg.
