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Lot Essay
Probably assembled and decorated to the order of the Austro-French dealer-collector Frdric Spitzer (1815-90), who supplied a large number of pieces to Sir Richard Wallace (now in the Wallace Collection, Manchester Square), and to other wealthy Parisian collectors of his time, and whose name is associated in particular with the got Rothschild.
Spitzer was born in Vienna and lived in various parts of Europe (including England) before establishing himself in Paris in 1852. By 1878 he was in a position to form a private museum for his works of art, for which he built a special house, No. 33 in the rue Villejust. The contents of his collections were published after his death in a lavish catalogue in six large folios in 1890-92, and his objects of art were sold in 1893 in a series of sales extending over three months, followed by the arms and armour in 1895. An appreciation of Spitzer is to be found in Edmond Bonnaff's essay 'Un djeuner d'amateurs' included in his book Les Propos de Valentin, Paris, 1886, and in the introduction to the Spitzer sale catalogue of 1893.
Spitzer was born in Vienna and lived in various parts of Europe (including England) before establishing himself in Paris in 1852. By 1878 he was in a position to form a private museum for his works of art, for which he built a special house, No. 33 in the rue Villejust. The contents of his collections were published after his death in a lavish catalogue in six large folios in 1890-92, and his objects of art were sold in 1893 in a series of sales extending over three months, followed by the arms and armour in 1895. An appreciation of Spitzer is to be found in Edmond Bonnaff's essay 'Un djeuner d'amateurs' included in his book Les Propos de Valentin, Paris, 1886, and in the introduction to the Spitzer sale catalogue of 1893.
