15 Eclectic Highlights from an American Dynasty

15 Eclectic Highlights from an American Dynasty

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  A pair of gilt-bronze-mounted Blue-John Medici vases, French Restauration, circa 1820-1830.
  Estimate €40,000–60,000 / $47,100–71,000.

  These spectacular Blue-John vases were particularly rare in France during the time of the Restoration and attest to the anglomania in vogue in France during the first part of the 19th century. Blue-John, originally only from quarries in Derbyshire, was a British specialty. This pair of vases, however, remains very French due to the design of the bronze mounts which were directly inspired by those adorning a wall light model formerly attributed to Pierre Gouthiere.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  An Art Deco agate, enamel, sapphire and diamond frame, by Cartier.
  Estimate €20,000–30,000 / $23,600–35,300.

  This frame in agate is embellished with a blue enamel inner border and set with rose-cut diamonds and engraved sapphires, mounted in yellow gold and platinum. The miniature is a portrait of “Mrs Davies”, that is to say Marjorie Merriweather Post (her third marriage was to U.S. Ambassador Mr Joseph E. Davies in 1935). Marjorie was one of the most important clients of Cartier and commissioned several similar frames that are today held at the Hillwood Museum.  Her opulent jewels made her one of the icons of the 1930s.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  A mahogany veneered tea table, Louis XVI, attributed to Adam Weisweiler.
  Estimate €40,000–60,000 / $47,100–71,000.

  This type of table was fashionable during the late 18th century, with the Mesangere retail catalogue reproducing a similar mechanical table atop a central support and a tripod base. Adam Weisweiler was partial to this model which was directly influenced by British cabinetmaking.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Claude Michel, Dit Clodion
  
  La Marchande d’Amours, circa 1773.
  Estimate €100,000–150,000 / $118,000–177,000.
  
  Le Sacrifice a l’Amour, circa 1773.
  Estimate €80,000–120,000 / $94,500–142,000.

  La Marchande d’Amours and  Le Sacrifice a l’Amour have belonged to the prestigious collection of the Prince de Conti (1716-1776), one of the 18th century's greatest collectors. He was Louis XIV's great grandson and cousin of Louis XV. These two reliefs show how artists in the second half of the 18th century were rediscovering classical sources, heralding the rise of Neoclassicism in France. Clodion's great talent is evident in the terracottas, where he builds the relief by degrees, incising outlines into the clay as a contrast to the raised forms of the figures' bodies.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, L’Ambassadeur Don Pedro de Tolede baisant l’epee d’Henri IV.
  Estimate €40,000–60,000 / $47,100–71,000.

  A student of Jacques-Louis David and an extraordinary draftsman, Ingres was probably one of the major painters of the nineteenth century. He showed a constant interest in the history and legend of Hennri IV, King of France who was very popular in the 19th century. Ingres had several ideas to illustrate this episode: in the end, four compositions were painted.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  A Paris porcelain part service, French Empire.
  Estimate €6,000–8,000 / $7,100–9,500.

  This service testifies the Antic taste which developed in the decorative arts in the 18th and 19th century and which reached its peak under the French Empire (1804-1815). Important porcelain collector Eleanor Post Close owned French and Russian porcelain pieces which are included in the sale.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  A diamond and turquoise bracelet, by Cartier.
  Estimate €5,000–7,000 / $5,900–8,300.

  Marjorie Merriweather Post and her daughter Eleanor Post Close were both passionate jewellery collectors and clients of the most important Parisian jewellers. This charming Cartier bracelet in diamonds and turquoises evokes this common passion.
  
  True to her mother’s memory, Eleanor Post Close donated to the Smithsonian Institute, in 1964, a beautiful pair of pear shaped diamond earrings by Cartier dating from 1928. These stones of great purity, a present from her mother, came from the collection of the Yusupov princes and are believed to have belonged to Queen Marie-Antoinette.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Nicolas De Largillierre, Presumed Portrait of Jacques-François de Chastenet, Marquis of Puysegur (1656-1743).
  Estimate €60,000–80,000 / $71,000–94,500.

  In an era when the art of courtly appearance was the major concern of the French aristocracy, Largillierre focused his talent on the art of portraiture and became First Painter to King Louis XIV. He received numerous royal and aristocratic commissions such as the present portrait. This painting was purchased by Marjorie Merriweather Post at the beginning of the 20th century and displayed in 1935 during the exhibition French Paintings and Sculpture of the 18th Century at the Metropolitan Museum, New York.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  A rare silver mounted amaranth, tulipwood, sycamore and boxwood casket, forming a commode de voyage, Louis XV.
  Estimate €150,000–250,000 / $177,000–294,000.

  This travel chest is a work by cabinetmaker Jean-Francois Oeben, as specified in the inscription painted in Arabic “Amale Oeben Fi Baris” (“Oeben work in Paris”) This casket would have been offered by King Louis XV to an Ottoman sultan. Produced around 1760, Sultan Mustafa III would likely have been the beneficiary. The alliance between France and the Ottoman Empire was formed largely due to ventures by Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent, after 1526. Ongoing until the reign of Louis XV and beyond, these diplomatic agreements allowed regular, notably commercial trade.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  A suite of four carved giltwood fauteuils à la Reine, Louis XV, stamped L.DELANOIS.
  Estimate €80,000–120,000 / $94,500–142,000.

  Louis Delanois (1731-1792), one of the most renowned chair makers of the 18th century, received his maîtrise in 1761 when the nascent ‘neo-grec’ fashion was emerging. Delanois had a distinguished clientele which included the Comte d’Artois, the ducs de Bourbon, de Chartres, the Prince de Beauvau and the Comtesse de Choiseul.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  A tapestry ‘la Collation’ from the series ‘l’Histoire de l’Empereur de Chine’, Manufacture de Beauvais, Louis XV, 1722-1724.
  Estimate €80,000–120,000 / $94,500–142,000.

  This important tapestry , a prestigious gift to one of the most important members of Louis XV’s administration, is a testament of the taste for Chinoiserie during the first half of the 18th century. To celebrate the promotion of Joseph Fleuriau d’Armenonville (1661-1728) as Garde des Sceaux, the Secrétaires du Roi decided to offer him a series of six tapestries, already woven six times previously: the series l’Histoire de l’Empereur de Chine.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller, La recompense du bon eleve. Estimate €80,000–120,000 / $94,500–142,000.

  Diligence Rewarded is one of Waldmuller’s earliest paintings of figures in a landscape, for which he later became so renowned and once belonged to the collection of the Habsbourg family. This painting was purchased by Antal Post de bekessy. Like his mother Eleanor, he was an avid collector, eclectic in his interests and tastes but especially passionate about 19th century romanticism and 20th century modernism. He paid special homage to the Austro- Hungarian roots of his father, the courageous writer and novelist Janos de Bekessy through his notable acquisition of Austrian art.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Odilon Redon, Eve a la pomme dit aussi Femme de profil dans un coquillage. Estimate €30,000–50,000 / $35,300–59,000.

  Odilon Redon was an unclassifiable artist: painter, printmaker, draughtsman and pastellist, he was an important figure of the Symbolist movement. Redon concentrated a deep European classical culture and his wonder for the poetry of Japanese art. This watercolour also testifies Eleanor Post Close’s high culture and eclectic taste.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Pablo Picasso, Tete de faune. Estimate €10,000–15,000 / $11,800–17,700.

  Eleanor Post Close once said to her grand-daughter, “I love anything as long as it is beautiful” and that was evident: In her salons, works by Edouard Vuillard were presented next to those of Gustave Courbet, Nicolas de Largilliere and Zao Wou-Ki: painters from different generations, engaging in a continuous, harmonious dialogue.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  

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  Zao Wou-Ki, 6.10.69. Estimate €300,000–500,000 / $3,523,000–3,590 000..

  This work by Zao Wou-ki, 06.10.69 , emblematic of the lyric period of the artist, comes from Eleanor Post Close (1909-2006). Near the end of her life, Eleanor Post Close, while still passionate about the French eighteenth century, also purchased modern and contemporary paintings and sculptures. This wonderful painting by Zao Wou-Ki will be included in the Paris contemporary Art sale , 12/06/17.
  
  Une Dynastie Américaine en Europe - Collections Eleanor Post Close & Antal Post de Bekessy
  19 & 20 December | Paris
  
  Art Contemporain – Evening Sale
  6 December | Paris
  
  

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• • 

    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    An American Dynasty in Europe The Eleanor Post Close and Antal Post de Bekessy collections

    19–20 December 2017 | 2:30 PM CET | Paris

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  • 

    Type: auction

    Category: Past Auction

    Art Contemporain – Evening Sale

    6 December 2017 | 7:00 PM CET | Paris

    View Auction
  • 

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