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PROPERTY FROM DESCENDENTS OF MAY GOELET, DUCHESS OF ROXBURGHE (1878-1937)LOTS 69-78 & 485-499The following lots were in the magnificent collection of May, Duchess of Roxburghe (d. 1937) either at her London address, no. 2 Carlton House Gardens or the Roxburghe country seat, Floors Castle, Scotland. The wealthy and beautiful socialite, daughter of a venerable New York family, May Goelet, married the premier Scottish aristocrat and landowner, Henry John Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe, in 1903. Described as ‘the richest heiress of her day’, May’s vast fortune of more than $20 million was inherited from her family’s mercantile and real estate business. One of the many Gilded Age’s transatlantic marriages in which rich American socialites married into the British nobility thereby financially rescuing many a destitute country estate, May’s marriage to the 8th Duke of Roxburghe appears to have differed from that of some of her fellow ‘Dollar princesses’ in that she experienced a very happy marriage of nearly thirty years. Passionately interested in art and collecting, May decorated Floors Castle with her own collection of art including a priceless series of 17th-century Gobelins tapestries; the ballroom was specially altered in the 1930s to provide the wall space to hang these exquisitely embroidered fabrics depicting Neptune, Ceres, Venus, Cupid and Juno as the Elements accompanied by the Seasons. Her fine collection of Georgian and French furniture at Carlton House Terrace was described in two articles in Country Life in April and June 1931. In these articles it is evident that May was a discriminating and enthusiastic collector with much of the collection having a superb provenance from important estates like Glemham, Cassiobury, Temple Newsam and Badminton acquired by way of notable dealers like Frank Partridge, or at auction.
A NEAR PAIR OF CHINESE FAMILLE ROSE 'ELEPHANT' CANDLE-HOLDERS
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Details
A NEAR PAIR OF CHINESE FAMILLE ROSE 'ELEPHANT' CANDLE-HOLDERS
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Modelled looking to the left and right, supporting vases on their backs
7 ½ in. (19 cm.) wide
EARLY 19TH CENTURY
Modelled looking to the left and right, supporting vases on their backs
7 ½ in. (19 cm.) wide
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Carlijn Dammers