LONDON.- From opulent carpets made for the Sun King and Frederick the Great’s armchair to the intriguing Rothschild Orpheus Cup and gems of scientific innovation - Sotheby’s London Treasures sale on 6th July 2016 brings together a trove of furniture and decorative arts masterpieces. Inaugurated in 2010, this highly curated sale has become the most pre-eminent decorative art auction of the year, attracting interest from across the globe. Combining royal and aristocratic provenance with extraordinary beauty, craftsmanship and freshness to the market, this summer’s selection feature magnificent Furniture, Silver, Vertu, Clocks, Sculpture and works of art which constitute the very pinnacle of their collecting category.

Discussing the forthcoming sale, Henry House, Head of Sotheby’s Furniture and Decorative Arts Department, said: “Each of the 46 lots in the sale exemplifies the definition of treasure. Formerly the preserve of Kings, Princes and Popes, they celebrate the genius and craftsmanship of the greatest artists and artisans of their era. Singled out as the best of what could be created at the time of their inception, many of the masterpieces on offer have been in the same collections for centuries and very few similar examples known today are preserved in the world’s most important museums. The auction represents a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to acquire treasures of such outstanding calibre.”

Exceptional objects in silver, gold and enamel
The sale is distinguished by exceptional objects in silver, gold and enamel. Among them is the magnificent Rothschild Orpheus Cup, made in Augsburg, Southern Germany circa 1600-1640 (est. £600,000-800,000/ €780,000-1,040,000/ $880,000-1,170,000). It is extremely rare for a late Renaissance gold and enamelled object to have stimulated so much comment and adulation. Once attributed to the celebrated Italian sculptor Benvenuto Cellini, the Orpheus Cup is first recorded as one of the exhibits at the 1862 International Exhibition on loan from the collection of Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808-1879). The cup was also part of the Exhibition of Art Treasures in London in May 1928 and, as reported in The Yorkshire Post at the time, of the thousands of objects in the show, it was “one of the things which Queen Mary asked specifically to see, and she inspected the rich enamel and jewel work with great attention”.

Another exceptional object is an 18th century French royal silver tureen and cover from the celebrated Penthièvre-Orléans’ service, once in the collection of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French (1830-1848) (est. £400,000-600,000/ €520,000-780,000 / $585,000-880,000). The circular cover, applied with the arms of Louis-Philippe, is one of four known from the only French royal silver dinner service still in existence. Of the three other covers of this shape and size, one is in the Louvre, one is in the Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire in Brussels, and the third has recently been identified in a private collection. The latter will be offered for sale at Sotheby’s Paris on 20 September 2016 in the Robert de Balkany Collection. The majority of the relatively small number of pieces of the Penthièvre-Orléans’ service that have survived are in major museums such as the Louvre, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Detroit Museum, the Gulbenkian, The Philadelphia Museum of Art or The Musées Royaux d’Art et d’Histoire, Brussels.

Carpets for the Sun King
The French carpet manufacture was instigated by Henri IV and in the late 17th century, was revived to unparalleled heights by Louis XIV. Testament to one of the most ambitious and important projects of the Sun King's patronage of the decorative arts are two carpets commissioned by Louis XIV as part of the colossal refurbishment of the Palais du Louvre. The whole project was a statement to the world on the power of the King and the State. Both carpets incorporate royal emblems, allegorical depictions of virtues and allusions to auspicious attributes to the reign of the Louis XIV, as well as those to the arts and sciences. The first was designed for the Grande Galerie and delivered in 1678 (est. £300,000-500,000/ €390,000-650,000/ $439,000-735,000); the second, coming from the collection of Sir Howard Hodgkin CH CBE, is a fragment of a carpet probably woven between 1664-1666 for the Galerie d’Apollon (est. £80,000-120,000/ €104,000-156,000 / $117,000-176,000).

Treasures of Innovation
The sale also will also present treasures of innovation, including one of the first practical recording barometers (barograph) built by its inventor Alexander Cumming for his own use in 1766 (est. £400,000-600,000/ €520,000-780,000 / $585,000-880,000). Of the four longcase barograph regulators made by Cumming, only three retain their mechanisms. Of those, two remain within the collections of their original owners, including the first barograph ever created by Cumming, in the Royal Collection at Buckingham Palace since it was commissioned by King George III). The present example is being offered for sale for only the second time, having last been sold privately in 1814 to Luke Howard - the father of modern meteorology. This sale therefore represents an extraordinarily rare opportunity to purchase one of the earliest extant barographs owned and used by two of the greatest innovators of their time.

In the 18th century, high quality novelty clocks made in London proved very popular in the upper echelons of Chinese society, especially the Qing court. At the end of the century, Chinese workshops began to make their own versions of these elaborate clocks, although, initially, they still relied on the import of English clock movements. The sale features a magnificent ormolu and enamel musical automaton "jardinière" table clock whose case was probably made by Chinese workshops at Guangzhou and the movement was signed by the London clockmaker, Robert Philp, circa 1785 (est. £400,000-600,000/ €520,000-780,000 / $585,000-880,000).

Exceptional English, Italian, German and French Furniture
Highlights also include exceptional English, German, Italian and French furniture in the sale. The taste for lacquer was imported into Europe by the Portuguese in the late 16th century. It burgeoned following the Embassy of the King of Siam’s mission to the court of Louis XIV at Versailles in 1686. The sale will present a superb and unusual pair of gilt-bronze mounted ebony commodes incorporating precious takamakie Japanese lacquer panels, attributed to Etienne Levasseur, late 18th century (est. £250,000-400,000/ €325,000-520,000 / $366,000585,000).

Never seen on the market before, a George II Carved Mahogany Secrétaire Cabinet has remained in the family of Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford (1718-1794) ever since it was made for Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, circa 1755. Straddling the divide between the heavy architectural style of Palladianism and the lighter Rococo style, this bookcase cabinet is a wonderful example of Vile and Cobb furniture recognisable through its references to the popular styles of the time (est. £180,000-250,000/ €234,000-325,000 / $263,000-366,000).

Boasting exceptional provenance is a highly sculptural rococo silvered armchair, circa 1744-46 which was most likely commissioned by King Frederick the Great (1712-1786) as part of his ambitious project to revitalise Prussia’s architecture and interior decoration, which started in 1740 (est. £80,000-120,000/ €104,000-156,000 / $117,000-176,000).