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Lot Essay
This pair of covered vases recalls the creative flair of the Sèvres manufactory, in particular the ‘à chaîne’ or ‘à côte de melon’ design. They formed part of the collection of Commandant Paul-Louis Weiller (1893-1993). Born in 1893 to an important family of industrialists and financiers from Alsace, Weiller lived for 100 years. He was a photographic reconnaissance pilot in the First World War (when he was shot down five times) and an officer of the Legion of Honour by the age of 25. During the Second World War, he escaped to Canada, worked for Free France and was awarded a Resistance Medal by Charles de Gaulle.
Between the wars, Weiller helped to found Air France and became a giant of industry and finance. But he was also a committed philanthropist and a passionate supporter of the arts, contributing among other things to the refurbishment of the Palace of Versailles. In 1965, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts and in 1989 he was awarded the highest distinction of the Legion of Honour, the Grand Cross.
In the early 1950s, he acquired the Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil, known as the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs de Hollande, in Paris, an architectural masterpiece of the 17th century, and undertook a major restoration campaign to furnish it luxuriously. There, as well as in his secondary residences in Versailles and the south of France, he received important personalities such as Aristotle Onassis, Jean Paul Getty, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, and Presidents Richard Nixon and Georges Pompidou.
This pair of covered vases recalls the creative flair of the Sèvres manufactory, in particular the ‘à chaîne’ or ‘à côte de melon’ design. They formed part of the collection of Commandant Paul-Louis Weiller (1893-1993). Born in 1893 to an important family of industrialists and financiers from Alsace, Weiller lived for 100 years. He was a photographic reconnaissance pilot in the First World War (when he was shot down five times) and an officer of the Legion of Honour by the age of 25. During the Second World War, he escaped to Canada, worked for Free France and was awarded a Resistance Medal by Charles de Gaulle.
Between the wars, Weiller helped to found Air France and became a giant of industry and finance. But he was also a committed philanthropist and a passionate supporter of the arts, contributing among other things to the refurbishment of the Palace of Versailles. In 1965, he was elected to the Académie des Beaux-Arts and in 1989 he was awarded the highest distinction of the Legion of Honour, the Grand Cross.
In the early 1950s, he acquired the Hôtel Amelot de Bisseuil, known as the Hôtel des Ambassadeurs de Hollande, in Paris, an architectural masterpiece of the 17th century, and undertook a major restoration campaign to furnish it luxuriously. There, as well as in his secondary residences in Versailles and the south of France, he received important personalities such as Aristotle Onassis, Jean Paul Getty, Charlie Chaplin, Elizabeth Taylor, and Presidents Richard Nixon and Georges Pompidou.