2023-11-11 11:10:00
It is a spruce guitar, with scrolls of ebony, tortoiseshell, ivory and mother-of-pearl by luthier Jean Voboam. On its side, the coat of arms of Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, daughter of Monsieur and favorite niece, it is said, of Louis XIV. An exceptional object for its quality, its royal provenance but also its originality – the Grand Siècle musical instrument flirts with the object of curiosity. It is like the metonymy of the famous Rothschild taste, which makes aesthetes dream and soar the auctions with a rare intensity this fall: after New York – where part of the collections of the branch of James de Rothschild was dispersed with results more than twice as high as estimates – Paris will be, in November, the scene of a series of seven sales organized by Christie’s – including three online. A unique aggregation of books – including a Civil Code in verse that belonged to Napoleon –, paintings – including an unpublished one by Coypel –, furniture – a chair delivered for the Salon des Jeux of Louis XVI in Versailles, a baroque Antwerp cabinet from the 18th century… –, precious snuff boxes, majolica: “Everything reflects the flamboyance, the eclecticism, but also the acute collecting of the Rothschilds, in particular that of James and Salomon, who constituted these sets having not seen the light of auction again since their acquisition in the 19th centurye century “, says Lionel Gosset, director of collections at Christie’s. Fabulous accumulations – combining eras, daring associations between centuries with great reinforcement of textile staging, from velvets to kilim sofas – which formed the daily decor of the family residences, so well sketched by Eugène Lami, whose Château de Ferrières, which threw its last lights with the grand balls organized by Baron Guy and Baroness Marie-Hélène in the 1970s. A dream of splendor, a name that catches the eye, an entrepreneurial legend, an exclusive sale… All this, associated with the intrinsic value of objects, should lead to the conflagration of prices, with major collectors, decorators and museums competing in this battle of taste §
Among the seven sales organized by Christie’s: “Derniers Souvenirs de Ferrières”, November 16; “Les Greniers de Ferrières”, from November 7 to 21; “The Exceptional Sale”, November 21.
#Rothschild #taste #act