TWO EMPIRE GOLD AND PASTE-EMBROIDERED VELVET PANELS

EARLY 19TH CENTURY

Details

TWO EMPIRE GOLD AND PASTE-EMBROIDERED VELVET PANELS
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
One with scrolling white and yellow gold leaves set with red paste cabochons on a yellow ground, the other with white and yellow gold bell-flowers on orange ground, within a later cream-colored matting and plexiglass frame, the reverse with red wax seal and stamped BIBLIOTHÈQUE DE SAN DONATO
18 x 21½ in. (46 x 55 cm.) and 17 x 22 in. (43 x 56 cm.) (2)

Provenance

Library at San Donato, Florence.

Exhibited

New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Arts under Napoleon, April - July 1978, nos. 170 and 171, respectively.

Lot Essay

Stamped with crowned monogram 'A' and 'Bibliothèque de San Donato', these fabric samples once formed part of Prince Anatole N. Demidoff's collection in his library at Villa San Donato to the North of Florence. Born in St. Petersburg and raised in luxury by his mother Baronne Elisabeth Stroganoff, Prince Anatole (1813 - 1870) participated in the construction of the railway system between Florence, Livorno and the northern boundaries and in 1840 was granted the title Prince of San Donato by Leopold II. Avid art collector and bibliophile, Anatole amassed a fine collection of Old Master paintings and his library numbered close to 40,000 books. Anatole, who married Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, showed a deep fondness for the Napoleonic heritage and acquired the former home in exile of Napoleon Bonaparte on the island of Elba from members of the Bonaparte family. He had erected a Museum dedicated to the Emperor in 1859.

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