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“I am but one thing and one thing only – and that is a clown. It places me on a higher plane than any politician.” - Charlie Chaplin

Celebrated within the entertainment industry as one of the most creative and influential personalities of the silent-film era, furnishings from Charlie Chaplin’s estate Le Manoir de Ban will be offered for auction this month.

Le Manoir de Ban, the vast Swiss mansion where Chaplin settled in 1953 with his wife Oona and their eight children, is set in Corsier-sur-Vevey. Situated in a magnificent wooded park of 40 acres, with a wonderful view of Lake Geneva and the Alps this English colonially-styled abode set the scene for Chaplin’s final years.

Chaplin was renowned for his use of physical and slapstick comedy, which he used to great effect to transform himself into The Tramp, his best-loved and most famous character. George Bernard Shaw called him “the only genius to come out of the movie industry,” a profession he came to dominate, turning his hand not only to acting but also directing, financing, producing, writing and composing the soundtracks for his cinematic works, as well as being a founder member of the film studio United Artists.

Making his name in silent films, Chaplin was resistant to the “talkies” that took over in the late 1920s and 1930s; he considered cinema fundamentally a pantomimic art, revering action over words in making a film accessible to all. He saved his voice for his great protest movie, The Great Dictator.

After the witch-hunts of the McCarthy era prevented Chaplin from returning to America, he resettled in Europe, making Le Manoir de Ban his final home, where he lived for the 25 years until his death on Christmas Day, 1977.

This auction comprises the contents of Chaplin’s final home, and gives film-lovers an unprecedented opportunity to own a piece of furniture that the great man himself once used, reclined on or admired.