FEATURES ARCHIVE

What was your earliest encounter with art?
It was when I was at pre-school, aged 4. I was just adding the final touches to a poster-paint creation on my easel, when my arch enemy came along and viciously sabotaged my composition. Revenge was swift and frenzied as I proceeded to daub her Pollock-style with all the colours of the rainbow. She became my first brush with art!

Tell us how you came to be a Decorative Arts specialist?
My parents ran an antiques business, so I grew up surrounded by and appreciating fine furniture and objects. Aged 15, I was fortunate to spend two weeks summer holidays’ work experience under the Director of Furniture at another London auction house. That was my first real taste of the business, however, languages were my main interest and I went on to study French and Russian at university. It was only after graduating that my passion for decorative arts fully developed when I was lucky enough to be offered an internship at Christie’s in the 19th Century Furniture department. Here I trained ‘on the job’ and quickly learned to appreciate the importance and value of different objects. The languages have also proved very useful.

Tell us about this dramatic Doré mirror you are shown with?
Gustave Doré is primarily known for his work as an engraver and book illustrator. He also produced a series of sculptures in his time, but is understood to have only ever created three or four objects. This gilt-bronze mirror was one of them, conceived around 1883 for the Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, wife of Alexander III. After the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, Maria reluctantly left Russia and briefly took refuge in London with her sister Queen Alexandra before eventually settling in her native Copenhagen. Interestingly, the next owner of this mirror was Jean Cocteau, French playwright, artist and filmmaker. He was attracted to the mirror’s Surrealist qualities, the way the cupids unveil the looking glass which in turn reveals the reflection of the viewer. The mirror is said to have inspired Cocteau’s famous adaptation of Beauty and the Beast.We’re very excited to have such a rare and remarkable creation by Doré in our sale, and one with such a special provenance.

Do you see furniture as pieces to be admired from afar or as everyday objects?
The development of new and advanced furniture making techniques, combined with the advent of the middle classes, meant that the 19th century was a period that allowed for both excellence and mass production. Furniture was generally more robust than in the 18th century and it was certainly made to be used. On the other hand, with major international exhibitions taking place for artists to showcase their work, many unique creations were produced, some simply intended for admiration.

What was the last exhibition you saw?
I’ve just returned from New York where I saw two exhibitions at MoMA, which we’re so lucky to have only a few blocks from our Rockefeller Plaza saleroom. The first show, entitled Cézanne to Picasso, was an intimate selection of nine familiar paintings from the collection of David and Peggy Rockefeller. But the second exhibition was undiscovered territory for me, totally alien to my area of expertise. It was a series of paintings by the Belgian avant-garde artist, James Ensor. The subjects of death, masks and carnivals are prevalent in many of his works, and combined with a slightly twisted sense of humour, the outcome is a series of fairly whimsical yet sinister compositions. It’s definitely worth visiting!