This auction series featured five sales offering the contents of one of the last great treasure houses of New York, totaling $28,869,005, with 96 percent sold by lot, and 172 percent hammer and premium against low estimate. The Aitken apartment displayed the refinement and grandeur of the 18th century, attracting bidders from 34 nations across the globe.

Top results included two paintings each of which realised, $889,000: Thomas Lawrence's Portrait of Lady Berkeley, and a pair of portraits of the Duc and Duchesse Belle-Isle by Quentin de La Tour. More highlights include A pair of ormolu-mounted Meissen porcelain models of magpies, which made $311,150; A pair of George III Ormolu-mounted Blue John and Aventurine blue glass 'Sphinx' perfume vases by Matthew Bolton that fetched $393,700; and a Fabergé bloodstone snuff box shaped as the head of a hippo, which made $698,500.

‘Buyers responded with extraordinary enthusiasm, drawn to the history and rarity of the pieces in this remarkable collection,’ said Deputy Chairman of Christie’s European Furniture and Decorative Arts Department, Will Strafford. ‘The names of Annie Laurie, Russell and Irene Roosevelt Aitken will now find their rightful place in the pantheon of great American collectors and will be added to the rollcall of landmark single owner sales held at Christie’s, alongside those of Rothschild, Getty and Wrightsman.’