The two-session Christie’s sale of the Wildenstein collection of French furniture, objets d’art and tapestries on December 14 and 15 realized $38.8 million, well ahead of expectations. The sale was 85 percent sold by value and 80 percent sold by lot. The top lot was a late Louis XIV ormolu-mounted brass-inlaid ebony and tortoiseshell marquetry bureaux plat by the famed furniture maker André-Charles Boulle that sold for $5,180,080, the third highest price ever for a work by the maker and the tenth highest price ever paid for a piece of French furniture. Charles Cator, international director of furniture, Orlando Rock, director and head of the collections department, London, and Amjad Rauf, director and head of European furniture sales, London, commented, “This magical time-warp revealed the very private world of that leviathan of the arts Nathan Wildenstein.” “His unerring eye for quality and craftsmanship was greeted with huge enthusiasm by collectors and museum curators throughout the world, and we are delighted with the exceptional prices realized by these very rare chefs d’oeuvres. The largest single-owner collection of French furniture ever to be sold at King Street, this sale marks the end of an era,” he said. All ten of the top lots sold for more than $800,000, and nofewer than four lots sold for more than $1.7 million. “In what is arobust but challenging market, this sale underlined the timelessappeal of the greatest French furniture,” the Christie’s officials,who added that the sale marked the end of a remarkable year for thecollections department in London, which has realized more than $140million in 2005. The Wildenstein collection was one of the most important sales of French furniture ever held. The collection comprised more than 250 works of pieces of furniture and works of art, the majority of which had not been seen in decades and were offered in an untouched and unrestored condition. The auction was highlighted by the unprecedented offering of magnificent Boulle furniture. The remarkable ensemble was largely the creation of one man – Nathan Wildenstein (1851-1934). Hugely influential in the history of taste in the early Twentieth Century, Nathan Wildenstein was the founder of the Wildenstein dynasty, which to this day represents more than a century of tradition, expertise and connoisseurship. The collection was sold to create new facilities to house the archives and research workrooms of the Wildenstein Institute, the world’s leading publisher of catalogues raisonné. In the sale, a matched pair of Louis XIV ormolu-mounted and boulle brass-inlaid brown tortoiseshell pier tables, circa 1710, also attributed to Boulle, realized $1,961,334. An extraordinary Louis XV ormolu-mounted nautilus shell,which was probably designed by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier and camefrom the fabled collections of the Viennese Rothschilds throughRosenberg and Steibel, was another top lot. The magnificent objectsold after a fierce bidding battle for $1,961,334, ten times itspresale estimate. Further highlights included a superb Louis XIVbronze group representing Bacchus and Ariadne by Corneille vanCleve, circa 1704, which sold for $1,603,696. Rounding out the sales top ten lots were a Louis XIV ormolu-mounted brass-inlaid brown tortoiseshell, ebony and boulle marquetry petit armoire, circa 1700-1710, also attributed to Boulle, $1,802,384; a late Louis XV ormolu-mounted mahogany and floral trellis marquetry secretaire a abattant, by Jean-Francois Leleu, circa 1772, $1,563,958; a pair of Regence brass and ormolu-mounted amaranth coquilliers, circa 1715-25, in the manner of André-Charles Boulle, $1,464,614; a pair of late Louis XVI ormolu-mounted brass, pewter, ebony and tortoiseshell boulle marquetry side cabinets (bas d’armoire), circa 1780-1800, $1,206,320. Also, a Louis XV ormolu-mounted brass-inlaid tortoiseshell and ebony boulle marquetry bureau plat and cartonnier, second quarter Eighteenth Century, the clock by J. Henry Enderlin, attributed to Boulle fils, $1,126,844; and a Louis XV ormolu-mounted and boulle marquetry pewter, brass and copper-inlaid brown tortoiseshell and ebony table de milieu, circa 1761, by the marchand julliot, constructed using elements from a cabinet stand by André-Charles Boulle, circa 1700, $1,007,632. Prices reported include buyer’s premium. For information, www.Christies.com.
07 Feb 2006 / 0 Comment
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