Arlette and Antony Embden: An Ode to Curiosity

Where did you acquire your taste for art?
Antony: It was the only thing I was good at! I began studying fine arts in London when I was 16. After my military service, I began to study antiques. After a year of work and saving up enough money, I opened a store with my mother, not far from Harrods. We principally sold French furniture and ceramics. At the time, it was easy to find Meissen porcelain.

When did you open your first gallery?
Arlette: In the 1960s, after we got married, Antony opened a gallery with a friend, Jacob Stodel. They weren’t associates: each one just bought whatever he wanted. If an object interested both of them, they shared the cost. That partnership lasted for ten years. After his mother died, we came to live in France. For a year, I lived in the countryside, waiting to open a new gallery. Tony was frequently travelling back and forth to London. One day, we learned that the store on 15 Quai Voltaire – the former Bihn collection – was up for sale...

Why did you choose to work in the humanist spirit of Renaissance cabinets of curiosities?
Antony: Amalgamation doesn’t go over well in France. Either you sell 18th century furniture or you sell bronzes or porcelain. I have a preference for sculpture, and in particular Renaissance and 17th century bronzes. Naturally, I began to gather other Renaissance objects besides sculptures: Limoges enamels, ivories, glasswork, and curiosities such as sculpted coconuts, which are often set into 17th century German mountings.

You are dealers and collectors. Was there ever any conflict between those roles?
Arlette: They are two completely separate things. As a dealer, you cannot allow yourself to keep all the best objects. For examples, at our home in London, we had a crystal dish in rock crystal in an enamelled gold mounting (Milan, late 16th century). Once we came to Paris, we decided to display it at the gallery. It was a spectacular object, and it naturally fit in there.

How do you become a great art dealer?
Arlette: Tony is such an enthusiastic seeker, driven by the quest for the exceptional object. Business doesn’t interest him! He has an extraordinary eye. He trusts his taste. He learned the profession by assiduously frequenting the Victoria & Albert Museum and reading a great deal. He was very close to great aficionados such as Anthony Radcliffe, a curator at the V & A and specialist in Italian terracotta and bronze; or Elizabeth Wilson, an art object expert at Sotheby’s in London. He travelled to Italy with Tony Radcliffe to visit the museums and collections.

Among the bronzes featured in the auction, I noticed several works by Barthélemy Prieur, sculptor to Henry IV of France…
Antony: A marvellous artist. He sculpted life-sized busts of Henry IV and Marie de’ Medici. Our busts are half life-sized. His Bathing Venus is probably one of the most beautiful works of our bronze collections. Few other versions of it remain. We also have other Italian bronzes such as the Mars by Tiziano Aspetti – cast with great precision – and works by Flemish sculptors of course, such as Willem van Tetrode, known in Italy as Guglielmo Fiammingo, who worked at Benvenuto Cellini’s workshop. The Rijksmuseum holds several works by that unique artist.

Yes - and don’t forget the German sculptors too!
Antony: That was more difficult, since the French clientele of the time spurned German bronzes. A client might have been interested in a bronze... But as soon as you mention a German name, you would be met with a rebuff. A shame, since that didn’t detract from its beauty! Take, for example, this equestrian statue of the Archduke of Further Austria, Ferdinand-Charles, by Caspar Grass. It is rather rare. There is a comparable statue at the Kunsthistorisches Museum of Vienna.

Among the great discoveries of your career, tell us about the dragon...
Antony: This extraordinary bronze dragon by the Milanese sculptor Annibale Fontana, signed and dated 1582, originally adorned a monumental fountain. I purchased it in Paris. Peter Wilson [President of Sotheby’s from 1958 to 1980] had seen it twice at the gallery. When he finally came to a decision, it was at the Biennale des Antiquaires. He was looking all over for us, “Where’s Embden, where’s Embden?” And he purchased it. Following his death, in 2000, the sculpture was sold at Sotheby’s for more than a million pounds.

How about the monumental marble Adonis that stands at the Louvre today: where did you find that?
Arlette: Tony was seeking out a fireplace for a client. He went to a fireplace specialist in Paris. The lady brought him into the stock room. He discovered the statue there, among the fireplaces. He bought it. We kept it for three years in the courtyard of the building on Quai Voltaire. The statue stands three meters high and weighs three tons: it would have caused the floor of the gallery to cave in. For the Carré Rive Gauche event, we requested the authorisation to present it in the carriage gate of the building, which we decorated with flowers. In the evening, it had to be brought back into the courtyard. Right away, several clients and museums came forward to purchase it. The Louvre bought it. The marble statue is now on exhibit, not far from Michelangelo’s Slaves.

Antony: On the back of the statue, we found the signature of Marcantonio Prestinari and the mention of the man who commissioned it, Pirro Visconti Borromeo. The statue adorned his villa in Lainate, in the Milan area.

What advice would you give to a young art object collector today?
Antony: Trust your instincts, never follow the trends... And be curious!

Past Auction

Tableaux Dessins Sculptures 1300-1900, Session I, Including Treasures from the Antony Embden Collection

14 June 2022 | 2:00 PM CEST | Paris