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拍品專文
This colorful and richly inlaid coffer was once part of the collection formed by Margaret, Baroness Keith and Nairne (1788-1867) and her husband Auguste-Charles-Joseph, comte de Flahaut de la Billarderie (1785-1870), natural son of Talleyrand (1754-1838). The Flahauts married in 1817 and spent fifty years together during which they maintained houses of considerable grandeur in Paris, London, Vienna and Scotland. The formation of the collection was influenced by Flahaut's career and the couple's travels, not the mention the extensive wealth of Margaret, said to have been £7,000 a year even before she married in 1817. The couple did spend much of their married life buying work of art, from as early as the 1820s, when for example, Flahaut, on a clandestine visit to France, purchased several items, as noted in a manuscript list in Madame de Flahaut's own handwriting, and preserved at Bowood. The list, titled 'furniture belonging to me at Tulliallan', and dated October 1853 (Box KF.40), records four pieces as having been bought in Paris in 1823, including '1 small table in marqueterie... and piece of Sèvres china with a cock inlaid from Paris 1823'. This is among the earliest recorded purchases and it is interesting that it should be by Flahaut himself while in Paris alone on a discreet and possibly illegal visit. It would seem likely that the pieces were intended for Tullyallan, which the couple had inherited in that year.
On moving to Paris the couple first lived in a succession of leased houses, including 55 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, until, in mid-1830s, they purchased the former Hôtel de Massa on the corner of the rue de la Charte (formerly rue d'Angoulême, now rue la Boétie) and the Champs Elysées. The Hôtel de Massa was furnished in the period 1830-31 and quickly drew immense praise. The Maréchal de Castellane wrote that 'l'ameublement est magnifique, il y a un ensemble parfait, ce sont des formes d'anciens meubles et de belles étoffes, de mode il y a de longues années et qui le redeviennent'. Two manuscript bills exist at Bowood (FL23) from this period in Paris, one from Bresson Jeune 'Marchand d'anciens Bronzes ainsi que d'anciennes Porcelaines; en général tout ce qui concerne l'antiquité...'. Five items were acquired for a total of 290 francs but most significantly the bill, which is only dated 1831, is made out to Mme Lacontess(sic). It is clear that furnishing continued apace in 1831 when the recently ennobled Flahaut was away in Berlin on an abortive diplomatic mission. Just as the 1823 purchases were made by Flahaut alone it is likely that those of 1831 were made by his wife.
When Flahaut was appointed Ambassador in Vienna in 1841 a quote from Lord Rokeby gives an idea of the grandeur with which the couple entertained 'Mde de Flahault has at last nearly finished her furnishing and arranging and nothing can be more comfortable and indeed more magnificent than her house and establishment... the other day they gave a large dinner to the Esterhazys and I never saw a table mieux montée or service better done'. Also while in Vienna the couple’s daughter Emily married the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1843. As this coffer is probably of German manufacture, it is possible that it was purchased by the Flahauts during their stay in Vienna.
The next great establishment furnished by the Flahauts was to be in England in the mid-1850s when they leased Coventry House at 106 Piccadilly between 1855 and 1863. Flahaut was the French Ambassador from 1860-2 and it is clear that Coventry House was the home for the major part of the collection. A manuscript inventory of items at Coventry House in 1863, in Madame de Flahaut's hand, includes several of the major elements from the collection including 2 very fine vases [these are the famed vases originally delivered for the duc d’Aumont, later sold Christie’s New York, 24 November 1998, lot 15, and subsequently included in the exhibition Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court at the Frick Collection in New York], Oriental alabaster, mounted or mat and large clock - (Le Temps) en grilliote marble plinth. Coventry House was given up in 1863, soon after Flahaut had ceased to be Ambassador to London. This period marks the start of the dispersal of the Collection with much of it being removed to Scotland, whether Tullyallan or Meikleour, from where it was divided between Lady Lansdowne and her sister Georgine (Georgina) following the death of Lady Keith in 1867.
On moving to Paris the couple first lived in a succession of leased houses, including 55 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, until, in mid-1830s, they purchased the former Hôtel de Massa on the corner of the rue de la Charte (formerly rue d'Angoulême, now rue la Boétie) and the Champs Elysées. The Hôtel de Massa was furnished in the period 1830-31 and quickly drew immense praise. The Maréchal de Castellane wrote that 'l'ameublement est magnifique, il y a un ensemble parfait, ce sont des formes d'anciens meubles et de belles étoffes, de mode il y a de longues années et qui le redeviennent'. Two manuscript bills exist at Bowood (FL23) from this period in Paris, one from Bresson Jeune 'Marchand d'anciens Bronzes ainsi que d'anciennes Porcelaines; en général tout ce qui concerne l'antiquité...'. Five items were acquired for a total of 290 francs but most significantly the bill, which is only dated 1831, is made out to Mme Lacontess(sic). It is clear that furnishing continued apace in 1831 when the recently ennobled Flahaut was away in Berlin on an abortive diplomatic mission. Just as the 1823 purchases were made by Flahaut alone it is likely that those of 1831 were made by his wife.
When Flahaut was appointed Ambassador in Vienna in 1841 a quote from Lord Rokeby gives an idea of the grandeur with which the couple entertained 'Mde de Flahault has at last nearly finished her furnishing and arranging and nothing can be more comfortable and indeed more magnificent than her house and establishment... the other day they gave a large dinner to the Esterhazys and I never saw a table mieux montée or service better done'. Also while in Vienna the couple’s daughter Emily married the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne in 1843. As this coffer is probably of German manufacture, it is possible that it was purchased by the Flahauts during their stay in Vienna.
The next great establishment furnished by the Flahauts was to be in England in the mid-1850s when they leased Coventry House at 106 Piccadilly between 1855 and 1863. Flahaut was the French Ambassador from 1860-2 and it is clear that Coventry House was the home for the major part of the collection. A manuscript inventory of items at Coventry House in 1863, in Madame de Flahaut's hand, includes several of the major elements from the collection including 2 very fine vases [these are the famed vases originally delivered for the duc d’Aumont, later sold Christie’s New York, 24 November 1998, lot 15, and subsequently included in the exhibition Pierre Gouthière: Virtuoso Gilder at the French Court at the Frick Collection in New York], Oriental alabaster, mounted or mat and large clock - (Le Temps) en grilliote marble plinth. Coventry House was given up in 1863, soon after Flahaut had ceased to be Ambassador to London. This period marks the start of the dispersal of the Collection with much of it being removed to Scotland, whether Tullyallan or Meikleour, from where it was divided between Lady Lansdowne and her sister Georgine (Georgina) following the death of Lady Keith in 1867.