AFTERNOON SESSION Tuesday 7 June 2011 2:00 pm (LOTS 405-667) THE PROPERTY OF A WEST COAST COLLECTOR (LOTS 403-405) The following two lots, together with the Sèvres porcelain service lot 406, formed part of the celebrated collection formed by Anna Thomson Dodge, Mrs. Horace E. Dodge (1871-1970). Mrs. Dodge, who, following the premature death of her husband in 1920, reportedly became the richest woman in America, was a leading patron and benefactor of cultural life in Detroit and was passionately interested in eighteenth century French art. With the help of the legendary dealer Lord Duveen, she assembled one of the most important collections of French furniture in America, with royal masterpieces such as the Carlin jewel coffer made for Maria Feodorovna now forming the core of the collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Her famous residence in Grosse Pointe, Rose Terrace, was designed by Horace Trumbauer and modeled on the Petit Trianon at Versailles. Following her death in 1970, Christie's sold the remaining contents of her home in a series of sales in 1971, including a sale on the premises where these superb pieces were acquired by the present owners.

A PAIR OF FRENCH GILTWOOD TORCHERES

CIRCA 1900

Details

A PAIR OF FRENCH GILTWOOD TORCHERES
CIRCA 1900
Each with a circular gadrooned rest above a pierced stem with three stylized fish above leaves and husks and joined by a clasp, the scrolled stem ending in dolphin feet, very minor variations to carving
62½ in. (158.5 cm.) high, 18½ in. (57 cm.) diameter (2)

Provenance

Almost certainly those supplied for the Library in Rose Terrace for Mrs. Anna Thomson Dodge, from whose estate sold Christie's House Sale; The Remaining Contents of Rose Terrace, Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan, 27-29 September 1971, lot 64A.

Literature

T. Dell et al., The Dodge Collection of Eighteenth-Century French and English Art in the Detroit Institute of Arts, New York, 1996, p. 27.

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Lot Essay

It is possible that these splendid Régence revival torcheres, almost certainly those visible in a 1930's photograph of the Library at Rose Terrace, were ordered by Duveen from the famous Parisian decorating firm of Alavoine. Alavoine designed the interiors at Rose Terrace and supplied elegant revival pieces crafted in Paris to complement the superb eighteenth century pieces acquired by Duveen, for instance a pair of Louis XVI style giltwood atheniennes, originally supplied for the Music Room and later sold by the Detroit Institute of Arts, Christie's, New York, 24 May 2000, lot 316.

A related pair of torcheres was sold from the Russell B. Aitken Collections, Champ Soleil, Newport; Christie's, New York, 25 November 2003, lot 215.

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