LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

A SET OF LOUIS XVI WALNUT, BEECHWOOD AND OAK LIBRARY STEPS
LATE 18TH/EARLY 19TH CENTURY
The four graduated treads on baluster-turned supports, the back with an x-stretcher
65 in. (165 cm.) high, 21½ in. (54.5 cm.) wide, 28½ in. (72.5 cm.) deep

Provenance

Mrs. Harrison Williams; Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 11 October 1952, lot 162.

Special notice

Christie's is selling all lots in this sale as agent for an organization which holds a State of New York Exempt Organization certificate. Seller explicitly reserves all trademark and trade name rights and rights of privacy and publicity in the name and image of Doris Duke. No buyer of any property in this sale will acquire any right to use the Doris Duke name or image. Seller further explicitly reserves all copyright rights in designs or other copyrightable works included in the property offered for sale. No buyer of any property in the sale will acquire the rights to reproduce, distribute copies of, or prepare derivative works of such designs or copyrightable works.

Lot Essay

This set of library steps formed part of the collection of Mrs. Harrison Williams, who became Countess Mona Bismarck in 1954. Born to humble beginnings, Mona was heralded as a glamorous figure from the time of her first marriage at age twenty. Integral to the social scene, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison Williams became a barometer of fashion. Their Fifth Avenue home was decorated by Syrie Maugham and was characterized by its rich and yet elegant interiors. Mona was regularly featured in style magazines Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Town and Country. In 1933 she was proclaimed 'the best dressed woman in the world' by the major couture houses. Cecil Beaton described her as 'a rock-crystal goddess'.

Mona was introduced to Count Edward Bismarck in 1937, grandson of Germany's chancellor, and they were married in 1954, the year following Harrison's death. She died in her Paris home in 1983.

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