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MORNING SESSION AT 10:00 A.M.
PROPERTY FROM VILLA SAN MAURIZIO
LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA
(LOTS 1-186)
Christie's is honored to offer property from the collections of Georgian furniture, ceramics and fine art at Villa San Maurizio.
The owner, an art scholar, built his dream house when he retired to southern California in 1991. His muse was the great renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The garden facade overlooking a distant Pacific Ocean is based on Palladio's Villa Cornaro near Treviso in Italy, while the entrance facade was modeled after the portico of the Villa Chiericati, near Vicenza. Even the warm shade of yellow chosen for the exterior was Palladio's (used for the Villa Barbaro) - it represents summer, the season of the grain harvest.
The interior of the house is dominated by the majestic living room with Chinese painted wallpaper and its gold-leaf domed ceiling. This room, like all the others, is decorated in the 18th century English manner. The Georgian furniture, purchased with the utmost care over the last 30 years, is highlighted by an unusually curvaceous chest of drawers of circa 1760 and a pair of George III giltwood oval-back armchairs, very much in the manner of Thomas Chippendale who supplied similar chairs to Brocket Hall in Hertfordshire.
Clocks were a particular passion for this owner. An elegant George III mahogany longcase clock is by Justin Vulliamy from the family of royal clockmakers, and can be contrasted with a small group of Louis XIV French mantel clocks, each with an elaborate 'Boulle' marquetry case.
The extensive collection of British art pottery includes Pilkington Royal Lancastrian wares, with their distinct luster glazes and designs commissioned from leading artists of the day such as C.F.A. Voysey and Walter Crane. Another pre-eminent British pottery at the turn of the century represented is Martin Brothers, best known for their tobacco jars modeled as grotesque birds. The stoneware vases here are decorated with flora and fauna also characteristic of the firm's production.
The painting collection at Villa San Maurizio is quite diverse, reflecting the owner's broad range of interest and knowledge. A small group of French and Italian old master paintings and drawings is complemented by examples of modern British art including two Edward Seago views of Hong Kong and Lisbon and a Harold Harvey maritime scene. The 19th century figural bronze sculptures - many depicting mythological subjects - were collected with equal passion and an unerring eye and include the great masters Sir Alfred Gilbert (Icarus) and Lord Leighton (The Sluggard), among others. The highlights of the English bronzes will be sold in London on 8 June.
A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SPIDER GATELEG TABLE
CIRCA 1760
Details
A GEORGE III MAHOGANY SPIDER GATELEG TABLE
Circa 1760
The rectangular top and flaps above a scalloped frieze with drawer, supported by ring-turned supports and gatelegs and turned feet
27¼ in. (69 cm.) high; 39 in. (99 cm.) wide, open; 13½ in. (34 cm.) wide, closed; 30 in. (76 cm.) deep
Circa 1760
The rectangular top and flaps above a scalloped frieze with drawer, supported by ring-turned supports and gatelegs and turned feet
27¼ in. (69 cm.) high; 39 in. (99 cm.) wide, open; 13½ in. (34 cm.) wide, closed; 30 in. (76 cm.) deep
Provenance
The Property of a Lady; Christie's, New York, 2 February 1991, lot 174.
Literature
R. P. Wunder, 'Living with Antiques: Villa San Maurizio in Southern California', The Magazine Antiques, December 1999, p. 842, pl. VIII.