The finest lots across the entire auction, as selected by our specialists.

Sale Highlights

Eclectic and profound, supported by an unfailing eye and a genuine appetite, Manny Davidson’s discerning taste has enabled him to assemble a collection of exceptional paintings, which this sale echoes. From Rubens to Francis Hayman, from Thomas de Keyser to Angelika Kauffmann, from Michael Sweerts to Joshua Reynolds, from Dosso Dossi to Claude Lorrain, the full spectrum of great European painting from the classical centuries is covered. The common thread among all these works: an unwavering demand for quality.

Old Master Paintings

The collection spans Renaissance bronzes – most notably from a Bust of the Young Marcus Aurelius attributed to Ludovico Lombardo and A Blind Orian guided by Cedalion by Prieur – to masterworks of Italian High Renaissance, such as models by the master of Mannerism, Giambologna, and Baroque, with pieces by the Florentine master Massimiliano Soldani Benzi and Giuseppe Piamonini. It also reflects pan-European scope, traversing Italy, France, Germany, Flanders and England. This selection is complemented by terracotta and marble sculpture, including a refined terracotta figure by Joseph-Charles Marin.

The Davidson Collection is rooted in sophisticated bronze sculpture, with a strong focus on the expressive power and technical mastery of thenmedium as a means for artistic expression.

A Window into the Renaissance

From an impressive set of German candlesticks made for a French Royal wedding to pieces made by Paul de Lamerie, from a Renaissance German tazza to a Louis XIV part of surtout de table, Manny and Brigitta Davidson have assembled an exceptional collection of silverware, with taste and eclecticism, favouring 17th-century European silverware but also the greatest silversmiths of the 18th century.

The Quintessence of European Silverware

The gold boxes in the extraordinary and multi-faceted Manny and Brigitta Davidson collection are of great importance in the context of the collection as a whole and represent the collector’s keen eye for beauty as well as historical setting, telling a story of craftmanship, virtuosity and excellence in the eighteenth century. The enamels on the exquisite gold and enamel box by Jean Formey, Paris, 1756/1757 (lot 61), are painted by Mlle Duplessis, at a time when female enamel painters were extremely rare. Equivalent examples are held in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Musée du Louvre. Furthermore, the ‘tontine’ gold snuff box made in London a year later combines fascinating history and craftmanship (lot 64) - the names of the participants in the ‘tontine’, a 17th century investment scheme named after the banker Lorenzo di Tonti, are enamelled in a hidden compartment. Berlin goldsmiths are also represented: the jewelled hardstone box by Daniel Baudesson, the court jeweller to Frederick II of Prussia, is decorated with mother-of-pearl and burgau shell encrustations after Antoine Watteau’s Idole de la Déesse Ki Mâo&nbsp;and is one of only two examples known so far (lot 65).

Courtly splendour: Gold boxes

Discover the dazzling golden age of English clocks, where Tompion and Graham revolutionized timekeeping with stunning masterpieces!

The Golden Age of Clockmaking

Paris

SVP, Head of Department, Furniture

Louis-Xavier Joseph

 SVP, Vice Chairman, WW Head of European Sculpture & Works of Art

Margaret H Schwartz

International Consultant

Alexander Kader

VP, Specialist, Sculpture

Stephanie Veyron

Senior coordinator |  Furniture department | Head of sale | Silver department

Marine de Cenival

Consultant, Senior Specialist

Cynthia Harris

AVP, Specialist, Head of Department, Vertu and Gold Boxes

Alexandra Starp

SVP, Deputy Chairman, Sotheby's Europe & Co-Chairman Old Masters Worldwide

George Gordon

EVP, Chairman, Americas

George Wachter

SVP, Senior Specialist, British Paintings

Julian Gascoigne

SVP, Head of Department, 19th Century Continental Pictures

Olivier Lefeuvre

VP, International Specialist, European Ceramics and Head of Sale, Classic Design, New York

Richard Hird

Deputy Director | Collection Project Manager

Céline Deruelle

Meet our Specialists

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Beginning the series of auctions dedicated to The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence, the evening sale gives an insight to the extraordinary depth and quality of the collection spanning a range of disciplines from Old Master paintings, bronzes, maiolica and British timepieces.

The Manny Davidson Collection: A Life in Treasures and Benevolence - Evening Sale