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Eloge de l'Art par Alain Truong
23 mai 2010

Baroque Cabinets and Exceptional Sculpture Highlight Christie's Sale

NEW YORK, NY.- Christie’s will present an exceptional sale of 500 Years: Decorative Arts Europe, including Oriental Carpets and including Sculpture from the Collection of Michael Hall on June 11, which will comprise over 400 lots from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The sale will include exquisite treasures such as bronze sculptures from the Collection of Michael Hall, a monumental pair of Italian baroque cabinets, and a beautifully carved pair of Louis XV giltwood canapés.

Highlighting the sale is a spectacular pair of Italian tortoiseshell, ebony and ivory cabinets-on-stands from Naples, circa 1660-1680 (estimate: $400,000-600,000). These monumental Baroque cabinets stand fully 10 feet high and are among the largest known examples of this impressive form. They represent the absolute height and expression of the art of baroque cabinetmaking–as demonstrated in the cabinets’ architectural form, use of red tortoiseshell and ebony, and central niches with theatrical illusionistic scenes. More recently, they were supplied to the current owner’s family by the legendary taste-maker and interior designer Renzo Mongiardino.

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A pair of Italian tortoiseshell, ebony and ivory cabinets-on-stands Naples, circa 1660-1680, 120in. (305cm.) high, 115½in. (293.5cm.) wide, 30in. (76cm.) deep. Estimate: $400,000 - 600,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010.

Of monumental scale, each with a balustraded cornice flanked by faceted urns above a paneled pediment and eight drawers surrounding an architectural door flanked by hidden drawers and opening to an arcaded mirrored interior, the lower section with canted fluted tapering supports flanking cartouche panels centered by a cabochon, the whole raised on a molded plinth and later feet, the back of one pediment with indistinct brand, possibly the initials 'SJ' - 120in. (305cm.) high, 115½in. (293.5cm.) wide, 30in. (76cm.) deep (2)

Provenance: Reputedly supplied to the Counts of Porto di Vicenza.
Acquired from Dino Franzin, New York.
Supplied by Renzo Mongiardino to the present owner.

Literature: S. Colombo, L'Arte del Legno e del Mobile in Italia, Turin, 1981, fig. 316.
R. Mongiardino, Roomscapes, New York, 1993, pp. 58-9.

Notes: These spectacular cabinets illustrate the absolute height of the art of baroque cabinet-making. With their supremely architectural form, extensive use of sumptuous red tortoiseshell and ebony, and central niches with a mirrored theatrical illusionistic scene, they demonstrate the full expression of baroque cabinet-making in Naples in the mid-17th century.

Although a number of these types of cabinets exist in Spain, where they are thought to be Spanish, many are almost certainly of Neapolitan origin. There were strong ties between Naples and Spain in the 17th century, as Naples was under Spanish rule at that time, and the extensive use of tortoiseshell was due to the availability of the material from Spanish colonial sources.

Related Neapolitan cabinets of the period also display similar architectural forms combined with tortoiseshell and ebony, and sometimes gilt mounts, such as a four foot-wide table cabinet with undulating facade and checkerboard pattern interior floor, illustrated in M. Riccardi- Cubitt, The Art of the Cabinet, London, 1992, p. 60, pl. 26-27. More typical are the use of inset painted panels of biblical and mythical scenes after Luca Giordano (Naples 1634-1705), and a separate, heavily carved giltwood base. Examples of these types of cabinets include those sold anonymously, Sotheby's London, 18 November 2009, lot 322 and Sotheby's London, 16 Dec 1998, lot 127 and one in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, illustrated in E. Colle Il Mobile Barocco in Italia, Milan, 2000, p. 66, pl. 14.

THE REPUTED PROVENANCE

One of this pair of cabinets is illustrated in S. Colombo, L'Arte del Legno in Italia, 1981, where the author suggests they were reputedly supplied to the Counts of Porto di Vicenza. The Porto family was one of the most distinguished in Vicenza, and in the 16th Century members of the family such as Count Paolo Porto were among the most significant patrons of the celebrated architect Andrea Palladio, commissioning from him the Villa Porto in Vivaro di Dueville and the Palazzo Porto-Colleoni which was transformed by Palladio from a Gothic castle, and also of artists such as Veronese, who in 1551 painted Count Giuseppe de Porto and his wife.

Colombo (op. cit.,) also suggests that the cabinets were actually executed in Vicenza, however they are more likely to have originated in Naples based upon the stylistic links with similar Neapolitan cabinets of the period. It is also interesting to note that Vicenza was involved in several wars with Naples and was briefly under Naples' rule, so it would be natural to assume that Neapolitan works of art would be commissioned by Vicenzan nobles.

Sculpture from the Collection of Michael Hall
Christie's is proud to offer this enticing selection from one of the most fabled collections of sculpture in America. Michael Hall has collected throughout his life and has a wide range of interests including Greek and Roman marbles, Imperial Chinese carpets, Renaissance ceramics, but it is sculpture that has always been his primary focus. The works of art offered have a real emphasis on handsome modeling, dazzling contortions and glistening surfaces and many relate to Giambologna’s works. A prominent highlight is a bronze group of Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra, attributed to Gianfrancesco Susini (1585-1653), after the model by Giambologna (estimate: $400,000-600,000). This early 17th century group bears many of the hallmarks of the great Florentine bronzes of the late 16th and early 17th century. Through the mythological subject matter, model, and bravura treatment of the bronze, it has all the hallmarks of the great Italian baroque masters.

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A bronze group of Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra, attributed to Gianfrancesco Susini (1585-1653), after the model by Giambologna. Estimate: $400,000-600,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

On an integrally-cast naturalistic ground and a later circular wooden base - 15 3/8 in. (39 cm.) high, 17 1/8 in. (43.5 cm.) high with base.

Provenance: Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 11 April 1990. lot 149.

Exhibited: C. Avery and M. Hall, Giambologna: An Exhibition of Sculpture by the Master and his Followers from the Collection of Michael Hall, Esq., Salander O'Reilly Galleries, New York, 1998, no. 17.
Giambologna and his Followers: Sculpture from the Collections of Michael Hall, Miami-Dade College Museum of Art, Freedom Tower, 9 October 2009-20 February 2010.

Notes

COMPARATIVE LITERATURE
C. Avery and A. Radcliffe, Giambologna, sculptor to the Medici, exh. cat., Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1978, no. 76.
A. Radcliffe, 'Giambologna's Twelve Labours of Hercules,' The Connoisseur, September, 1978, pp. 12-19.
C. W. Fock, 'The Original Silver Casts of Giambologna's Labours of Hercules,' in Studien zum Europäischen Kunsthandwerk: Festschrift Yvonne Hackenbroch, Munich, 1983, pp. 141-145.
C. Avery, Giambologna: The Complete Sculpture, Oxford, 1987, pp. 141-142, 262.
W. Seipel, ed., Giambologna: Triumph des Körpers, exh. cat., Vienna, 2006, pp. 95-99.

This magnificent group bears many of the hallmarks of the great Florentine bronzes of the late 16th and early 17th century. And, in particular, the workshop of Giambologna and Susini. Together with the mythological subject matter, model, and dazzling and bravura treatment of the bronze, the sculpture is futher linked to these great masters through traces of the original red-gold lacquer, the characteristic punching of the base and even the original casting repairs under the right shoulder.

As has now been well-established, Giambologna was commissioned by the Grand-Duke Francesco I de' Medici in 1576 to make models for a series of statuettes in silver depicting six of the Labors of Hercules for the celebrated Tribuna in the Uffizi gallery. These were cast in Paris by the court goldsmiths and Michele Mazzafirri was paid for his silver version of the present subject in 1582. None of the original silver versions survive, but bronze versions were evidently soon thereafter commissioned -- possibly even using the original molds -- as by 1607-11 there were two of the Labors in the illustrious Kunstkammer of Rudolph II in Prague. Giambologna's wax of Hercules and the Lernaean Hydra, initially in the collection of Giambologna's patron Bernardo Vecchietti at his country house Il Riposo, probably survived and may be the one now in the Loeser Bequest, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence.

Other bronze versions of this model include the one recorded in the collection of Louis XIV in 1684 (current location unknown), one formerly with the Durlacher Brothers, London, when it was published by Bode in Italian Bronze Statuettes of the Renaissance, vol. III, 1912, p. 10, fig. 13 and a third, with a slightly different configuration of the heads of the Hydra, and also attributed to Susini, from the collection of Barbara Piasecka Johnson, which was sold Sotheby's, London, 8 July 2009, lot 18.

Furniture and Works of Art
The furniture in the sale covers a whole range of styles from the 17th to the 19th centuries. The rococo style is represented by a beautiful pair of Louis XV Giltwood Canapés en Corbeille with sinuous sculpted frames (estimate: $100,000-150,000), crafted by Sylvain Nicolas Blanchard, circa 1760. These superb canapés formed part of the collection of Karl Lagerfeld, the legendary couturier and style icon, the sale of whose collection at Christie’s Monaco in 2000 was a landmark event.

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A pair of Louis XV  giltwood canapes en corbeille by Sylvain Nicolas Blanchard, circa 1760. Estimate: $100,000-150,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Each molded curved frame with cabochon and floral spray cresting and punctuated by floral sprays and with a paneled back and bowed loose cushion seat covered in blue striped silk enclosed by foliate and incurved arms, the shaped apron with floral spray cabochons on cabriole legs with leaf sprays, the reverse of the frame incised with floral sprays, with blue printed paper inventory label with ink inscription 3034 CANAPE to the frames, one stamped S. BLANCHARD twice to back seatrail - 56 in. (142 cm.) wide (2)

Provenance: Karl Lagerfeld; Christie's, Monaco, 28-29 April 2000, lot 325.
Acquired from Didier Aaron, Paris.

Literature: B.G.B. Pallot, L'Art du Siège au XVIIIme Siècle en France, Paris, 1987, p. 286.

Notes: Sylvain Nicolas Blanchard, maître in 1743.

These superb canapés, with their sinuous, beautifully sculpted frames, embody the last flowering of rococo seat furniture in France in the 1750s and 1760s, the so-called 'rocaille symetrisé' as defined by Bill Pallot in his seminal work on 18th century seat furniture L'Art du Siège au XVIIIe Siècle en France, where the canapés are illustrated.

These canapés formed part of the collection of Karl Lagerfeld, the legendary couturier and style icon, the sale of whose collection in 1999 was a landmark event. His collection was particular rich in seat furniture, with all the great menuisiers represented, including iconic examples in the Louis XV, Transitional and Louis XVI styles by celebrated makers such as Louis Delanois, Jean Avisse, Jean-Baptiste Tilliard and Pierre Bara.

Exotically appealing is a spectacular pair of Italian blue and polychrome-Japanned and parcel-gilt armchairs, circa 1730, which represent the Italian taste for chinoiserie and the foreign in the 18th century (estimate: $80,000-120,000). The figures depicted on these armchairs were inspired by the travelogues of Europeans who visited the Orient and brought back the exotic sights they had seen in the form of tales and engravings. Also offered in the sale is a pair of George II mahogany library armchairs, circa 1755 (estimate: $100,000-150,000), whose elegant and richly carved serpentine frames reflect the Rococo “French fashion” as interpreted by English mid-18th century cabinet makers.

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A pair of Italian blue and polychrome-japanned and parcel-gilt throne armchairs. Possibly Sicily, circa 1730. Estimate: $80,000-120,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Each with pierced arched back and central splat with shell cresting above downscrolled arms, the drop-in seat covered in blue and cream silk velvet, with pierced shell seatrail, on ruffle-carved cabriole legs joined by scroll-carved stretchers, ending in ball-and-claw feet, decorated overall with chinoiserie figures and flowers, one chair with remains of blue bordered paper label inscribed in black ink ...piotta and in red ink ...ealo Ve/luigi XIV, the decoration refreshed, with traces of an earlier blue scheme, minor variations to carving and scale (2)

Literature: G. Morazzoni, Il Mobile Veneziano, Milan, 1954, Plate XLIV and XLV (one armchair is cited as in a Roman collection).

Notes: These spectacular throne armchairs are a remarkable example of the Italian taste for chinoiserie and the exotic in the eighteenth century. Dating back to the seventeenth century, the fashion for chinoiserie developed when European travellers to the Orient brought back tales and engravings of the exotic sights they had seen. The charming figures depicted on these armchairs were no doubt inspired by such alluring travelogues.

The fascination with the Orient took hold at an early stage in Italy, principally through the trading ties of ports such as Venice, where the earliest European laquered wares are known to have been produced. Until recently, it was thought that the majority of japanned furniture in Italy was produced in Venice, a natural assumption given its longstanding trading links with the Orient and the fact that its lacquer craftsmen were famed throughout Europe for their imitations of Chinese and Japanese wares. However recent research has acknowledged that almost every region in Italy had its own distinctive tradition of japanning.

With their theatrical scale and dramatic scrolled form, these throne armchairs probably originate from Sicily, depsite the fact that they are illustrated in Il Mobile Veneziano. Gilt throne armchairs from Sicily, of slightly earlier date but of similar scale and dynamic outline are illustrated in M. Gianizzo and A. Rotolo, Il Mobile Siciliano, Palermo, 2004, p. 68, pl. 85, 87, 88.

An extraordinary pair of Regency faux bamboo, japanned, painted and parcel-gilt open cabinets which are attributed to Marsh and Tatham, circa 1806-1810 (estimate: $40,000-60,000) demonstrate the Regency vogue for Chinese design interpreted in a most vivid way, a style that was driven by the enthusiasm of the Prince of Wales, later George IV. An Empire ormolu, patinated bronze and porphyry gueridon, circa 1810 (estimate: $200,000-300,000) makes an impressive, splendid center table that illustrates the fashion taste for à l’antique furniture designs in the early years of the Napoleonic Empire. The table is based on a design by architect Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine and is nearly identical to one made for the Elysée Palace, now in the Grand Trianon at Versailles. The enduring fascination for ancient Rome among English collectors is reflected in an exceptional Regency Goncalo Alves and Scagliola center table, circa 1820 (estimate: $80,000-120,000), which features vivid scenes of Ancient Rome on a superb scagliola table top; while an Irish Regency oak and pollard oak bookcase, made by Scott and Pasley, in Dublin circa 1829-30 (estimate: $70,000-100,000) is a spectacular rare example of full-scale architectural furniture in the Egyptian taste of the early 19th century.

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A pair of regency faux bamboo, japanned, painted and parcel-gilt open cabinets. Attributed to Marsh and Tatham, circa 1806-1810. Estimate: $40,000-60,000.  Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Each rectangular top with canted corners inset with Portor marble over a conforming case with faux bamboo borders and painted with pseudo Chinese characters and enclosing shelves, the sides inset with japanned panels, on bamboo-turned sabre legs, each with metal labels to reverse embossed M91, the Chinese characters probably largely re-decorated, the tops probably later although apparently with the cabinets at the time of the 1934 sale at Middleton Park - 37¾in. (96cm.) high, 48½in. (123cm.) wide, 16¾in. (42.5cm.) deep (2)

Provenance: Almost certainly supplied in 1806-1810 to George Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey (1773-1859) and his wife Lady Sophie Fane (d.1867) for the Chinese Room at Middleton Park, Oxfordshire, and by descent to
George Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (1910-1998), Middleton Park, Hampton and Sons house sale, 28 May 10 June 1934, lots 1398 and 1399. Edward James, Esq., Monkton House, West Dean, Sussex, until sold in Christies house sale, 2-6 June 1986, lot 315.
With Mallett, London.
The Collection of Mrs. Carroll Petrie, Sothebys, New York, 21 October 2005, lot 166.

Literature: Christie's, Review of the Season, 1986, p. 210.

Notes: These cabinets illustrate the Regency vogue for Chinese design interpreted in a most vivid and colorful way. This style was in a large part driven by the enthusiasm of the Prince of Wales, later George IV, who first created the Chinese Drawing Room at Carlton House followed by his extraordinary seaside Pavilion at Brighton. An undertaking that began as early as 1787, the Chinese-inspired interiors at the Brighton Pavilion were initiated by the decorators John and Frederick Crace in 1802. Records show that all sorts of imported Chinese artefacts -- bamboo and lacquered furniture, wallpaper, porcelain, costumes and other curiosities -- were collected by the Craces at the East India Company wharfs in London. As part of this scheme, furniture designed by Henry Holland and supplied by the London cabinet-makers Elward, Marsh and Tatham took their inspiration from these lacquer and bamboo wares but reconfigured into Western forms. Views of the Long Gallery at Brighton executed by architect John Nash in 1826 show a predominance of bamboo -- bamboo furniture sits before brightly painted canvases depicting waving bamboo, while the space is dramatically segmented by split-cane trelliswork (J. Dinkel, 'The Furnishings of The Royal Pavilion,' Arts of Asia, May-June 1988, pp. 133-138).

Stylistically, the cabinets compare closely to two similar sets supplied for Brighton by Elward, Marsh and Tatham: a set of six inset with lacquer panels (see C. Musgrave, Regency Furniture 1800-1830, London, 1961, pl. 24A) and a further set of four with pleated panels (as seen in the Nash illustrations). A related but undocumented cabinet attributed to the firm is now in the public collection at Temple Newsam House, Leeds (C. Gilbert, Furniture at Temple Newsam House and Lotherton Hall, Leeds, 1998, vol. III, pp. 570-571, fig. 684).

THE CHINESE ROOM AT MIDDLETON PARK

These cabinets were almost certainly supplied in 1806-10 for the Chinese Room created at Middleton Park, Oxfordshire, as part of the extensive alterations and enlargements undertaken by the 5th Earl of Jersey after 1805, under the direction of the architect Thomas Cundy Senior (1765-1825). Alterations continued throughout those four years but it is clear that furnishing was happening simultaneously: the famous account of 1806-1807 from John McLean is for almost £5,000, enough to cover an almost complete furnishing of both Middleton and the London house in Berkeley Square (G. Beard and C. Gilbert, eds., The Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, Leeds, 1986, p. 568). The attribution to Marsh and Tatham, already suggested on stylistic grounds, is reinforced by a payment in 1804 from Lord Jersey (then Lord Villiers) to that firm of £715 (op. cit., p. 279). Marsh and Tatham had worked for his father in 1797.

If these cabinets are linked to the 1804 payment to Marsh and Tatham it would suggest that Lord Jersey created the Chinese Room before starting on the main enlargements to the house and at the period when that firm was supplying furniture of exactly this style to the Brighton Pavilion. Lord Jersey (then Lord Villiers) had married the grand-daughter and heiress of the banker Robert Child in May 1804 and his father died in August 1805, when he became the 5th Earl. It seems possible that the Chinese Room was an ultra-fashionable celebration of his 1804 marriage, but it seems more likely that it was not begun until after his fathers death in 1805, in which case the 1804 payment possibly refers to his earlier house, Prospect Lodge at Tunbridge Wells.
The strength of the chinoiserie theme at Middleton is shown by the detail of the McLean commission, which included several pieces of furniture of japan and lacquer, including some which seem to have included lacquer provided by Lord Jersey ('A black Japann cabinet made to your Japan' -- S. Redburn, 'John McLean and Son,' Furniture History, 1978, p. 36) ). The group was very large and intriguingly hard to identify in the Middleton sale.

The artist William Alfred Delamotte (1775-1863) was commissioned to record interior and exterior views of Middleton in 1840. His two views of the Chinese Room, showing much of the furniture that remained there in the 1900 photographs and the 1934 sale, were sold Christies London, 13 December 1988, lot 53, have been on the London art market subsequently and were published in C. Gere, Nineteenth-Century Decoration, The Art of the Interior, London, 1989, p. 234, fig. 265 and S. Parissien, Regency Style, London, 1992, p. 156. Although these cabinets are not identifiable in the photograph, it is possible that the outline of a bookcase shows one of them in the same position flanking the chimneypiece where it was photographed c. 1900 (reproduced here).

The cabinets appear in the sale catalogue for the house sale conducted by Hampton and Sons in 1934 where they were still located in the Chinese Room. They were sold as consecutive lots described as:

Lot 1398: A bamboo japanned dwarf open bookcase with red lacquer interior and rosewood panels decorated in Chinese gold script, the top of black figured marble (4ft)
Lot 1399: A similar lot

MONKTON HOUSE, WEST DEAN

These sensational cabinets were acquired as part of the collections formed by Edward James at Monkton House, which was in the park of his parents' house at West Dean Park, Sussex, in the mid-1930s. James altered Monkton with the architect Kit Nicholson, son of William and brother of Ben, but the interiors were an extraordinary and personal combination of surrealism and 'Vogue Regency.' James created these in conjunction with Norris Wakefield, then an assistant to the decorator Dolly Mann. 'Although unique, it was also wonderfully representative of its time for, under the umbrella of Surrealism, fashionable Vogue Regency and even avant-garde neo-Victorian were combined with art deco.'

Ceramics and Glass
Among the ceramics on offer are plates from important services made in Germany at Meissen (the Möllendorf and Earl of Jersey Services) and in France at Sèvres (the Rohan, Auckland, and Sudell services), an interesting Sèvres ecuelle, cover and stand painted with garlands of flowers and trophies of music edged in gilt in imitation of cloisonné enamel by either Louis-François L'Ecot or Jean-Jacques Dieu, a trophy of Love hidden beneath the broth bowl on the emplacement of the stand (estimate: $12,000-18,000). The sale also features a selection of Italian porcelain descended through the family of Don Placido de Sangro, Duca di Martina, half of which collection is now housed in the Museo Nazionale della Ceramica Duca di Martina in the Villa della Floridiana, Naples. Among the group are two impressive sculptures of circa 1800 modeled by Filippo Tagliolini at the Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea, Naples (estimates of $20,000-30,000 and $25,000-30,000). Also in the sale are a small selection of Continental and English wine glasses and decorative beakers, and a well rounded selection of paperweights by Baccarat and other important glass makers with estimates ranging from $2,000 to $7,000.

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A Sèvres (hard paste) porcelain écuelle, cover and stand (écuelle 'nouvelle forme avec anses' et plateau 'avec anses à feuille de roseaux', première grandeur). Estimate: $12,000-18,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Carmine crowned interlaced L's enclosing an indistinct date, possibly letter X for 1775 or dd for 1781, painter's mark for Fallot. Painted in jewel-like colors and enriched in gilt in imitation of cloisonné enamel with alternate loose bouquets and trophies of Music or Love within gilt ciselé ribbon-tied medallions, the medallions linked by swags of flowers suspended from gilt dots in turn suspending a parrot perched on a hoop, the pink diaper-pattern ground further painted and gilt with crossed berried vines, gilt line rims - 9 5/8 in. (24.5 cm.) wide overall, the stand (3)

Notes: Jean-Armand Fallot was active at Sèvres 1771-1790. Although recorded as a gilder and painter of birds and patterns, he is more likely responsible for the ground decoration on the present lot.

The fine decorative painting edged in gold in imitation of cloisonné enamel is almost certainly that of either Louis-François L'Ecot, active 1761-1764 and 1772-1800 or of Jean-Jacques Dieu, active 1777-1791, 1794-1798 and 1801-1811, both of whom painted in this highly specialized style popular in the third quarter of the 18th century.

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Two Sèvres porcelain beau bleu ornithological sauceboat stands from the 'Sudell service' (plateau losange saucière) Circa 1792. Estimate: $12,000-18,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

blue RF monogram for the Republic Française. Each with a central specimen bird on a branch, the border with three other birds reserved within ovals at each corner, the four named in French on the underside, a gilt shield with the Sudell coat of arms on the fourth corner - 11 5/8 in. (29.5 cm.) wide (2)

Notes: The decoration on the Sudell Service, described in the factory's records as Beau bleu, peint en oiseaux d'après la Colection [sic] d'histoire naturelle de Buffon, et Armoirie etc. Ass[iette] N.. 140 des dessins is taken from François Nicolas Martinet's illustrations for the comte de Buffon's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux published in ten volumes between 1770 and 1786. The factory began using a copy of this treatise as a basis for decoration from about 1781.

The service, commissioned for an Englishman and delivered through the auspices of Jean-Frédéric Perregaux and his partner J. Lanos on 31 December 1792, was sold without the usual trade discount of 9 However, it is interesting to note that both men received porcelain gifts instead - payment in kind for their assistance with such a valuable order. See David Peters, Sèvres Plates and Services of the 18th Century, 2005, vol. IV, cat. no. 92-31 and vol. VI, p. 1470 for a detailed discussion of the commission and its history.

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A Sèvres porcelain bleu céleste plate from the 'Rohan' service (assiette à palmes). Estimate $10,000 - $15,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Greyish blue interlaced L's enclosing date letter S for 1771, painter's cp above for Chappuis, incised X. Each with LPR monogram in two shades of gold enclosed within a wreath of acorns and oak leaves, tree roots at the bottom, the turquoise border reserved with three panels of a bird in a landscape alternate with gilt oak vines suspended from rings - 9¾ in. (24.7 cm.) diameter.

Provenance: Louis-René-Edouard, Prince (later Cardinal Prince) de Rohan, 1772.

Notes: The present plate is from a service of some 368 pieces made by Sèvres for Louis-René-Edouard, Prince (later Cardinal Prince) de Rohan and itemized in the sales records for 7 September 1772 at a total cost of 20,772 livres. See Geoffrey de Bellaigue, French Porcelain in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen, London, 2009, cat. no. 158, p. 622 for another plate from this service marked and incised for the same date of facture, bird painter and repareur.

Antoine-Joseph Chappuis l'aîné is recorded at Sèvres as a painter specializing in birds and flowers 1761-1787.

PROVENANCE FOR LARGE PORTIONS OF THE SERVICE:
Prince Demidoff, Palazzo San Donato, Florence.
Leopold de Rothschild, Exbury, Hampshire.
Anthony de Rothschild, Ascott Wing, England.
Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post, 'Hillwood', Washington, D.C.
Thelma Chrysler Foy, New York; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 22 May 1959, lot 431 (40 pieces).
The Estate of Jessie Woolworth Donohue, Southampton; Sotheby Parke-Bernet Inc., New York, 29 April 1972, lot 72.

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A Naples (Real Fabbrica Ferdinandea) white porcelain allegorical figure group. Circa 1800, attributed to Fillipo Tagliolini. Estimate $25,000 - $30,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Modeled in the round with four draped female figures seated around a central core, one wearing an Egyptian headdress, her arms around a lioness, a sheaf of wheat in her arms, another as Pallas Athena, a small figure of Nike in her right hand and balanced on her knee, one as a maiden wearing a chiton, a laurel wreath in her hair, seated with her knees bent, her sandaled feet on rockwork, the fourth seated serenely gazing downward, a squared off hat on her head, an obelisk likely what is lacking from the central platform - 14½ in. (36.8 cm.) high; 19 in. (48.2 cm.) wide (3)

Notes: The iconography of these four figures is difficult to interpret with certainty. What is certain is that it is an important realization of 18th century sculpture in porcelain paste, the firing cracks and filled fissures and joins a testament to the difficulty of firing something on this grand scale in the 18th century.

The attribution to Tagliolini is based on a comparison of the present group with that of The Judgement of Paris confirmed as the work of Tagliolini, examples of which are in the collections of the Louvre and the Museo di San Martino, Naples. See Alessandra Mottola Molfino, L'Arte della Porcellana in Italia, vol. II, 1977, cat. no. 347.

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A Naples biscuit group of Alexander and Diogenes. Circa 1800, Modeled by Filippo Tagliolini. Estimate $20,000 - $30,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

The young Alexander the Great standing to the right of the cynic, the old philosopher seated by his tub - 14 1/8 in. (36 cm.) high (4).

Notes: The present model depicts the meeting between Alexander the Great, young king of the Greeks, and Diogenes, an old philosopher who lived in a barrel by the Temple of Ceres, eschewing all creature comforts and reputedly the wisest man in Greece. When Alexander asked Diogenes what he could do for him, the grumbled reply came "move out of my sunlight." The king's entourage started complaining about how rude the philosopher was being to their ruler. Alexander's reply - "If I were not Alexander, I should like to be Diogenes."

Cf. Alvar Gonzalez-Palacios, Lo Scultore Filippo Tagliolini et la Porcellana di Napoli, cat. no. 30, pp. 162, illus. for the example in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan.

Carpets
Notably featured in the sale is a Louis XIV silk-embroidered table carpet, France, circa 1675 (estimate: $150,000-250,000). This magnificent carpet, designed to embellish a table rather than cover a floor, displays the highest quality of workmanship, design, material and technique. The allegorical animals such as the peacock and lion further enhance the mystery of who might have commissioned an elaborately conceived and finely executed piece that truly stands in a class of its own among the known embroideries of its time. Further highlights include a Heriz carpet, Northwest Persia, late 19th century (estimate: $15,000-20,000); a Sarouk Fereghan carpet, West Persia, circa 1900 (estimate: $25,000-35,000); and a silk Mohtasham Kashan rug, Central Persia, late 19th century (estimate: $6,000-9,000).

d5328250l

A Louis XIV silk-embroidered table carpet. France, Circa 1675. Estimate $150,000 - $250,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Approximately 15 ft. 9 in. x 8 ft. 2 in. (480 cm. x 249 cm.)

Provenance: Acquired from Steinitz, Paris.

Literature: J. Thurman, 'Chicago Symphony,' Architectural Digest, November 2009, pp. 132-139.
Steinitz, 2004, pp. 40-49.

Exhibited: Biennale Paris.

Notes: This magnificent carpet, designed to embellish a table rather than cover a floor, displays the highest quality of workmanship, design, material and technique. The entire carpet is executed on a linen foundation embroidered with richly colored silk threads, in a highly elaborate technique combining a satin stitch with a herringbone design similar to Pont d'Hongrie. 17th century embroidery of this magnificent quality was produced in France, where weaving enjoyed crucial royal patronage. Though a definitive provenance for the present lot can not be determined at this time, the renowned Savonnerie, Beauvais and Gobelins workshops produced contemporaneous pile and flatwoven carpets, many of which have been positively attributed based on inventory listings and surviving watercolor designs. This carpet fits firmly into the 17th century French oeuvre, whether its origin was a professional or a courtly French workshop.

The carpet is also unparalleled in quality of drawing, elaborate details and shading, as well as the allegorical significance of the animals that occupy the space. The peacock that stands in the center of the carpet with its feathers proudly displayed is a reference to the Roman goddess Juno, and connotes royalty. The peacock has also been known as a Christian symbol representing the all seeing nature of God and religion. The heraldic passant regardant lions further emphasize the royal symbolism while the rabbits that graze among the rinceaux of the major border may be associated with fertility and abundance.

A pair of needlework table carpets in the Wrightsman Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art share the same quality as the present lot but with a more simplified design program. While the Wrightsman carpets display similar overall elaborate rinceaux and flowers, the details of the drawing, specifically of the animals, is not as finely articulated. Here the animals are more expressive, with the details and shading providing emotion and action. The straight edges of the Wrightsman carpet are a further departure from the scalloped edges of the present lot that accommodate the lush, blossoming tulips in the border.

While the question of attribution may remain unanswered pending the discovery of an inventory or model drawing, this table carpet nevertheless stands as testimony to the magnificence of French embroidery of the 17th century. The allegorical animals further enhance the mystery of who might have commissioned such an elaborately conceived and finely executed piece that truly stands in a class of its own among the known embroideries of its time.

d5328243l

A Heriz carpet. Northwest Persia, Late 19th Century. Estimate: $15,000-20,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Approximately 18 ft. 8 in. x 11 ft. 9 in. (569 cm. x 358 cm.)

d5328333l

A Sarouk Fereghan carpet, West Persia, circa 1900. Estimate: $25,000-35,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Approximately 23 ft. 10 in. x 14 ft. 2 in. (726 cm. x 432 cm.)

d5328331l

A silk Mohtasham Kashan rug, Central Persia, late 19th century. Estimate: $6,000-9,000. Photo: Christie's Images Ltd 2010

Approximately 6 ft. 8 in. x 4 ft. 3 in. (203 cm. x 129 cm.)

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