Rothschild Masterpieces Highlights Christie's New York

Rothschild Masterpieces Highlights Christie’s New York

The Great Hall at Château de Ferrières. Watercolor by Eugène Lami.

Lisbeth Thalberg September 04, 2023 12:37pm EDT

New York – At Rockefeller Center this autumn, Christie’s is honored to present Rothschild Masterpieces, the first-ever dedicated North American sales of works of art, furniture, and paintings belonging to a branch of one of the great collecting families in history. From the 18^th century, the Rothschilds have been renowned for assembling extraordinary masterpieces and installing them with a style and flair to create the exquisite interiors of their homes. As the saying goes, “When a Rothschild starts a collection, it always ends as a museum.”

Christie’s series of live and online auctions includes important Italian Renaissance maiolica, hardstone boxes, silver and silver-gilt sculptures, European furniture and tapestries, Limoges enamels, important Old Master pictures, and Renaissance jewelry. The Rothschild Masterpieces evening sale includes the most outstanding pieces from the private collections of the French branch of the Rothschilds, one of Europe’s most storied collecting families. The Kunstkammer features furniture and works of art, including Italian Maiolica, French Enamels, Silver and Vertu, from antiquity to the Baroque. Le Goût Rothschildpresents European furniture, ceramics, and works of art in the opulent style for which the family is known. The Online Sale offers a wide-ranging selection of furniture and objects in the classic Rothschild taste, with bidding starting at $100 for all lots in this sale.

The works in these sales were largely acquired by Baron James de Rothschild (1792-1868), the founder of the French branch of the banking family, his wife Betty (1805-1886), and their son Baron Alphonse (1868-1949).

HIGHLIGHTS

ROTHSCHILD MASTERPIECES: EVENING SALE | 11 OCTOBER 2023 | LIVE

The evening sale epitomizes the quintessential taste that has defined the Rothschilds for generations. The sale includes Antique and Renaissance jewelry, such as the first century AD Roman Sardonyx cameo portrait of the Emperor Claudius (estimate: $200,000-300,000) and the French Renaissance diamond-set and enameled gold bade of Saint Michael and the Dragon (estimate: $80,000-120,000); Old Master paintings such as Gerrit Dou’s A young woman holding a hare with a boy at a window (estimate: $3,000,000-5,000,000); works in silver such as the Dutch silver-gilt mounted nautilus cup (estimate: $100,000-150,000); European furniture, such as a pair of late Louis XV giltwood and white-painted fauteuils (estimate: $600,000-1,000,000); and Renaissance Italian maiolica, such as the large Urbino maiolica documentary armorial istoriato charger.