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Lot Essay
WINSTON CHURCHILL GUEST
Winston Churchill Guest was the grandson of Henry Phipps, steel magnate and partner of Andrew Carnegie, pal of Ernest Hemingway, husband of garden columnist C.Z. Guest and international polo star. Known as "Wolfie", by his nearest and dearest, Guest traveled far and wide for cultural, intellectual and sporting adventure. During these jaunts Guest amassed a remarkable collection of French and Continental Furniture which adorned the Guest's lavish residences in Palm Beach, New York City and Long Island. The latter, built in 1915 by Alfred I Du Pont on Long Island's fabled Gold Coast, known as Templeton, was a grand showplace and setting for many sophisticated, champagne-filled affairs.
THE MODEL
This pair of chandeliers has characteristics found on documented examples by André-Charles Boulle, who was appointed ébéniste du Roi in 1672. The closest parrallels are the set of four eight-light chandeliers in the Bibliothèque Mazarin, Paris (illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, fig., 1.6.10), which were confiscated from the duc de Brissac in 1795. This form, with term figures flanking either a vase or altar on the central stem, appears on other chandeliers attributed to Boulle, including one in the Louvre (op. cit, p. 52, fig. 1.6.5.), another in the Royal Palace, Stockholm, and another formerly in the Lopez-Willshaw Collection and now on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (op. cit., p. 52, fig. 1.6.6).
A design by Daniel Marot, from his Nouveaux Livre d'Orfevrie Inventé par Marot Architecte du Roi, published in 1710 but conceptually dating from twenty to thirty years earlier, shows the use of arms issuing from masks as well as husk-trails decorating the channeled arms.
Winston Churchill Guest was the grandson of Henry Phipps, steel magnate and partner of Andrew Carnegie, pal of Ernest Hemingway, husband of garden columnist C.Z. Guest and international polo star. Known as "Wolfie", by his nearest and dearest, Guest traveled far and wide for cultural, intellectual and sporting adventure. During these jaunts Guest amassed a remarkable collection of French and Continental Furniture which adorned the Guest's lavish residences in Palm Beach, New York City and Long Island. The latter, built in 1915 by Alfred I Du Pont on Long Island's fabled Gold Coast, known as Templeton, was a grand showplace and setting for many sophisticated, champagne-filled affairs.
THE MODEL
This pair of chandeliers has characteristics found on documented examples by André-Charles Boulle, who was appointed ébéniste du Roi in 1672. The closest parrallels are the set of four eight-light chandeliers in the Bibliothèque Mazarin, Paris (illustrated in H. Ottomeyer, P. Pröschel et al., Vergoldete Bronzen, Munich, 1986, Vol. I, fig., 1.6.10), which were confiscated from the duc de Brissac in 1795. This form, with term figures flanking either a vase or altar on the central stem, appears on other chandeliers attributed to Boulle, including one in the Louvre (op. cit, p. 52, fig. 1.6.5.), another in the Royal Palace, Stockholm, and another formerly in the Lopez-Willshaw Collection and now on loan to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (op. cit., p. 52, fig. 1.6.6).
A design by Daniel Marot, from his Nouveaux Livre d'Orfevrie Inventé par Marot Architecte du Roi, published in 1710 but conceptually dating from twenty to thirty years earlier, shows the use of arms issuing from masks as well as husk-trails decorating the channeled arms.