Description of Lot 150
A PAIR OF FRENCH POLYCHROME-PAINTED COMMODES
SUPPLIED BY MAISON JANSEN TO THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF WINDSOR, CIRCA 1938
Each with a faux marble top, each decorated with a ribbon trellis held with clasps of pearls, centering the badge of the Prince of Wales, one painted throughout with butterflies, including the Silver Studded Blue, the Machaon (called the Old Word Swallowtail), the Boloria Selene (called the Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary), the Parnassius Apollo (called the Apollo), one with flowers including buttercups, forget-me-nots, holly, poppies, white clover, sweet peas, chicory, campanula, dianthus, cornflower, vetch, dog roses, Jerusalem artichokes and hedge bed-straw, each with mahogany and silk-lined drawers, and some of the carcases in mahogany, one inscribed in blue ink to the top corner of the back panel, '866', the other inscribed in blue in the same area '864' and also with small paper label with black and red type, 'EP 1613 ...7'
35 in. (89 cm.) high, 63 in. (160 cm.) wide, 24½ in. (62 cm.) deep (2)
Christie's Rockefeller Center
October 7, 2008
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via FoxyTunes
Sunday 28 September 2008
Masterful artistry
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6 comments:
WOW! Those knock my socks off... I read about them in Jim Abbott's book about MJ.
Hope y'all are well!
They are so beautiful, they really should be in a museum.
Good Lord ... I remember these chests of drawers very well as among the stars of Pierre Passebon's booth at the 2000 Biennale des Antiquiares and cannot remember at all who bought them. I remember too the startling comment reportedly made by a contemptuous designer who saw them at the same show: "Not even for the maid's rooms". For Brook S Mason's report on the show and the chests of drawers, see www.artnet.com/Magazine/REVIEWS/mason/mason9-22-00.asp.
AL - thanks for the link. Interesting article!
Why do I think Caroline of Monaco bought them? That bit of information is lodged in my grey cells.
I agree, they should be in a museum. However, if they end up in a private home, I would love to see a picture; it takes a lot of confidence to have pieces like these.
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