THE EXCEPTIONAL SALE 2013 - Christie's

P R E S S R E L E A S E | L O N D O N
F O R I M M E D I A T E R E L E A S E : 4 J u n e 2 0 1 3
THE EXCEPTIONAL SALE 2013
CHRISTIE’S PRESENTS MASTERPIECES OF EUROPEAN
FURNITURE & DECORATIVE ARTS
IN LONDON ON 4 JULY
INCLUDING THE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF BRITISH
SILVER EVER TO COME TO AUCTION
London – Christie’s is proud to announce full details of The Exceptional Sale which will take place on the
evening of 4 July 2013. Since 2008 this unique sale platform has provided collectors with the opportunity to
acquire masterpieces of European furniture and decorative arts. The Exceptional Sale brings together a wide
variety of objects which are linked by a common attribute: excellence. The sale presents the finest examples
of: English, French and German furniture, ormolu-mounted Chinese porcelain, silver, European porcelain,
clocks, sculpture, portrait miniatures and objects of vertu. Comprising 48 lots, the sale is expected to realise in
excess of £18 million.
Robert Copley, Deputy Chairman Christie’s UK, International Head of Furniture and Decorative
Arts: ‘The Exceptional Sale’ has become a well-established highlight of the auction calendar and once again this year we offer the
collector the very best European decorative arts and furniture; from a magnificent coffee-pot made by England’s finest silversmith
to furniture made by France’s greatest cabinet maker; from a Maharaja’s dinner-service to a porcelain vase-clock from the Palace
of Versailles. The rich and varied works in the ‘The Exceptional Sale’ are united by the common themes of rarity, provenance,
craftsmanship and beauty.
FURNITURE
In 2012 The Exceptional Sale featured the Ogden Mills ‘Armoires
à Six Medailles’ which sold for £1,049,250. Building on this
success, The Exceptional Sale 2013 will present the Ogden Mills
‘Armoires à Sept Medailles’ (estimate: £1 million – 1.5 million,
illustrated left). These extraordinary armoires were acquired circa
1910 by the philanthropist and collector Ogden Mills (1857-
1929) for his Parisian residence. They are lavishly decorated
with spectacular gilt-bronze mounts that fuse seamlessly with
the scrolling foliate pattern of the sumptuous ground of brass and tortoiseshell
première and contre-partie marquetry. The Louis XIV armoire in contre partie
is attributed to André-Charles Boulle, while the late Louis XV in première partie is by Delorme. They are
decorated to the doors with trails of medals celebrating the Life of Louis XIV as well as the figures of
Aspasia and Socrates. Conceived initially with shelves to house collections of precious medals this series of
armoires proved so successful it remained in production in Boulle's workshop throughout the first half of the
18 th century and was subsequently continued by Boulle's followers.

Three exceptional pieces by David Roentgen, the most celebrated German
cabinet-maker of the late 18 th century will be offered. Decorated with
enchanting Chinoiserie scenes in Roentgen's trademark marquetry à la
mosaique and mounted with jewel-like ormolu mounts a splendid roll-top
desk is a superb example of Roentgen's work at the height of his career
(estimate: £400,000 – 600,000, illustrated right). Framed by exquisite mounts,
the elegant form, inspired by Parisian models of the new Louis XVI style,
serves as the perfect vehicle for the display of the splendid marquetry for
which Roentgen was rightly celebrated across Europe. Also by Roentgen is a
German ormolu-mounted and brass-inlaid mahogany architect’s desk which
belonged to the Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia. It is another excellent
example of Roentgen’s unrivalled craftsmanship, combining exacting quality of construction with the use of
splendid veneers and finely chased gilt-bronze mounts (estimate: £150,000 – 250,000).
Included in a strong selection of exceptional English furniture from stately homes
is the Lord Curzon four-post bed acquired for Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire
(estimate: £80,000 – 120,000, illustrated left). Lord Curzon, Viceroy of India
between 1899 and 1905 and Foreign Secretary (1919 - 1924), inherited the
Kedleston estate in 1916. Passionately interested in architecture and period
interiors and renowned for his extravagant taste, Lord Curzon determined to create
‘authentic’ rooms with appropriate antique furniture for the houses he owned or
leased. Four-poster bedsteads with sumptuous silk damask bed hangings were
among the most treasured and expensive furnishings in an 18 th century mansion.
18 th century four poster bedsteads were few and far between at the beginning of
the 20 th century, and there were none at Kedleston; Lord Curzon was compelled to purchase beds as part of
the refurbishment.
SILVER
Building on the strong results achieved by the silver in The Exceptional Sale 2012, in which the Leinster
Dinner-Service achieved a record price for a British dinner service at auction, The Exceptional Sale 2013 will
offer the finest examples of both British and European silver. Leading the sale is the Lequesne coffee-pot,
the most important coffee-pot ever to come to the market (estimate: £3.5 – 4.5 million). This Rococo
masterpiece by Paul de Lamerie (1688–1751) - the greatest silversmith working in Britain in the 18 th century -
is expected to become the most valuable piece of English silver ever to be sold at auction. For a dedicated press
release please click here.
The Maharaja of Patiala’s banqueting service, commissioned by
the Maharaja in honour of a tour of India in 1922 by Prince
Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII and Duke of
Windsor, gives an insight into the Maharaja’s lavish lifestyle
(estimate: £1 million – 1.5 million, illustrated right). This extensive
George V silver-gilt dinner-service comprises over 1,400 pieces.
His wealth and status was such that he was the first man in India
to own an aircraft, for which the Patiala Aviation Club was
founded. He and his wife patronised some of the leading makers
in the world, such as Cartier, whom they commissioned to mount

the De Beers diamond as the centrepiece of the magnificent ‘Patiala Necklace’. The Maharaja was also an avid
and early motorcar enthusiast; indeed legend has it that he would travel in a motorcade of 20 Rolls Royces.
However, in 1930 he had a falling out with Rolls Royce who he felt slighted him by refusing to accept an
order. Such was his power and influence in India that a campaign by him forced the Viceroy to pressure Rolls
Royce to change their decision.
SCULPTURE
A beautiful, over-lifesize statue by Girolamo Campagna (1549 - 1621), is an exciting recent
discovery: it is almost certainly one of the eight figures which the young Veronese sculptor
carved between 1582 and 1584 for the funerary monument to Doge Nicolò Da Ponte
(1491-1585), formerly in the Venetian church of Santa Maria della Carità (estimate:
£600,000 – 1 million, illustrated left). Completed by April 1584, the monument dominated
the right nave of the monastic church for over two centuries. In 1807, however, the Carità
and its associated buildings were chosen as the site for the new Accademia di Belle Arti,
which resulted in the removal of all the monuments, altars and tombs inside the church. It
was believed, until now, that all of the statues by Campagna had been lost. Campagna was
one of the most significant sculptors to have worked in Venice in the 16 th and early 17 th
centuries. Gifted at working in marble, bronze and stucco, by the last decade of the
Cinquecento, he had taken over from Alessandro Vittoria (c. 1525-1608) as the city’s
leading sculptor. He continued to receive major commissions from the state, church and
private patrons until his death in 1621.
A magnificent bronze model of an écorché horse relates to ‘The anatomy of a
horse in patinated metal above a carved marble quadrilateral plinth’ that was
documented in an inventory of 1810 of the workshop of Giuseppe Valadier,
the celebrated Roman bronze founder, architect and designer (estimate:
£500,000 – 800,000, illustrated right). It is one of four casts known to exist on
this scale and is the only one in private hands. Since the Renaissance artists have
been fascinated by the structural qualities of human and animal bodies and
some, such as Leonardo da Vinci, took part in dissections of the body to aid
their study. The first documented écorché models were made in Italy in the
16 th century, often in bronze. Later, the celebrated painter of horses, George
Stubbs (1724-1806), made a remarkable series of engravings of The Anatomy of
the Horse.
PORCELAIN
A pair of ormolu-mounted Sèvres porcelain vases combine colourful
Chinoiserie scenes with faux-lacquer decoration and are also the only known
‘vases fond noir Chinois en or’ surviving in private hands (estimate: £500,000 –
800,000, illustrated left). In the early 1790s, Sèvres produced a selection of table
wares and vases with sumptuous decoration in the manner of Asian lacquer.
Created by painting different shades of gold and platinum on a black ground, the
effect is arguably one of the richest decorations on porcelain ever achieved and
technologically one of the most complex. Of the approximately 40 entries in the
Sèvres records for vases and other pieces of form decorated using this technique,
only 23 are known to have survived, of which nearly all are now in public collections. Only 17 vases have
survived and the present pair are the only ‘vases à bandeau’ recorded as decorated in this style.

William Beckford’s ‘sacred peach’ vases in rare ‘clair-de-lune’ porcelain
and sculpted in relief with a sacred peach, are mounted with superbly
modelled and beautifully chased mounts that can be attributed to Jean-
Claude Chambellan Duplessis (d.1774), one of the most significant
bronziers of the second half of the 18 th century (estimate: £400,000 –
600,000, illustrated right). These sumptuously mounted vases in the late
rococo style of circa 1760 represent a reaction to the fanciful asymmetry
of early rococo, the Goût Pitoresque of the 1730s and 1740s. The vases,
which are part of a very small group of similar vases, display the sacred
peach, often used in Chinese art to symbolize immortality.
CLOCKS
Clocks in The Exceptional Sale include a Chinese paste-gem set ormolu and white marble ‘double
gourd’ clock with swinging dial from the Guangzhou workshops, dating to the Qianlong period
late 18 th century, which is one of only three recorded examples (estimate: £400,000 – 600,000,
illustrated left). Both of the other two examples have been sold by Christie’s. The clock displays
powerful symbolism: the double-gourd design is a potent symbol of fertility and good
fortune; the inverted bat (pien-fu) signifies ‘blessings have arrived’; the character medallion a
sign of ‘Longevity’; the Phoenix heads (feng or fenghuang) an emblem of the Empress and one
of the four Guardians of the Universe.
Further highlights include a musical table clock by James Cox (1723 - 1800),
created in circa 1766, which was previously in the collection of King Farouk I
(estimate: £450,000 – 650,000, illustrated right). Cox operated as a jeweller and
goldsmith from his London premises at Shoe Lane, off Fleet Street. The principal
component parts of the present clock appear throughout his oeuvre. Cox’s clock cases and
necessaires comprise characteristic elements: boldly cast Rococo mounts, a variety of
animals including lizards, elephants and lions to the feet and vase finials combined
throughout with ‘caged’ specimen panels of polished agate. Christie’s has a long
association with Cox, having sold his clocks from as early as 1772.
PORTRAIT MINIATURES & OBJECTS OF VERTU
An enamel plaque by Henry Bone, R.A. (1755 – 1834), the ‘Prince of
Enamellers’, depicting Bacchus and Ariadne, is the artist’s largest and
greatest work (estimate: £80,000 – 120,000, illustrated left). Henry
Bone’s success as an enamellist was cemented when he was officially
appointed Enamel Painter to the Prince of Wales, later Prince Regent,
and to George III. Bacchus and Ariadne was purchased by George
Bowles, an enthusiastic collector of Bone’s work, from the artist for
2,200 guineas in 1811. George Bowles and the Prince of Wales shared
the same taste for Bone’s work and they both owned copies of his
enamel after Cantarini’s Holy Family with an Angel. The vast gilt-wood
frame accompanying the ‘Bacchus and Ariadne’, elaborately carved
with anthemion and scroll motifs and lion’s masks within wreaths, is reminiscent of the Carlton House taste
that the Prince of Wales enjoyed.

A Saxon enamelled gold and hardstone snuff-box by Johann-Christian
Neuber (1736-1808) is one of a small group of Neuber’s snuff-boxes in
which the beauty and rarity of the stone is given greater emphasis than the
gold-work (estimate: £250,000 – 350,000, illustrated right). Lapis-lazuli,
which had to be imported from Afghanistan, was one of the only
hardstones Neuber used that was not found in Saxony. Its unique, intense
colour and composition could not be reproduced by any other stone. This
box, with its beautifully coloured hardstone medallions set within intricate
gold and hardstone borders, highlights Neuber’s extraordinary skill and
imagination which made his objects so sought after at the Saxon Court and
beyond.
PRESS CONTACT: Dernagh O’Leary | +44(0)207 389 2398 | doleary@christies.com
Please click here for the complete eCatalogue
PUBLIC EXHIBITION:
LONDON:
Friday, 7 June: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Saturday, 8 June: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Sunday, 9 June: 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm
Monday, 10 June: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Tuesday, 11 June 2013: 9:00 am – 8:00 pm
AUCTION:
The Exceptional Sale
Christie’s London
Thursday, 4 July 2013
19:00
About Christie’s
Friday, 28 June 2013: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Saturday, 29 June 2013: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Sunday, 30 June 2013: 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Monday, 1 July 2013: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Tuesday, 2 July 2013: 9:00 am – 3:30 pm
Wednesday, 3 July 2013: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Thursday, 4 July: 9:00 am – 4:30 pm
Christie’s, the world's leading art business, had global auction and private sales in 2012 that totaled £3.92 billion/$6.27 billion.
Christie’s is a name and place that speaks of extraordinary art, unparalleled service and expertise, as well as international glamour.
Founded in 1766 by James Christie, Christie's has since conducted the greatest and most celebrated auctions through the centuries
providing a popular showcase for the unique and the beautiful. Christie’s offers over 450 auctions annually in over 80 categories,
including all areas of fine and decorative arts, jewellery, photographs, collectibles, wine, and more. Prices range from $200 to over
$100 million. Christie's also has a long and successful history conducting private sales for its clients in all categories, with emphasis
on Post-War and Contemporary, Impressionist and Modern, Old Masters and Jewellery. Private sales totaled £631.3 million/$1
billion in 2012, an increase of 26% on the same period last year.
Christie’s has a global presence with 53 offices in 32 countries and 10 salerooms around the world including in London, New York,
Paris, Geneva, Milan, Amsterdam, Dubai, Zürich, and Hong Kong. More recently, Christie’s has led the market with expanded
initiatives in growth markets such as Russia, China, India and the United Arab Emirates, with successful sales and exhibitions in
Beijing, Mumbai and Dubai.
*Estimates do not include buyer’s premium. Sales totals are hammer price plus buyer’s premium and do not reflect costs, financing
fees or application of buyer’s or seller’s credits.
# # #
Visit Christie’s Website at www.christies.com
Complete catalogue available online at www.christies.com or via the Christie’s iPhone app