Antiques in New York

Apollo, Oct, 2004

While contemporary collectors focus on London, the New York fall art and antiques season is heralded by the ever-sumptuous international Fine Art & Antiques Dealers Show at the Seventh Regiment Armory (22-28 October)--now in its sixteenth year--and a high-profile sale of predominantly French and Russian furniture and other decorative arts from the former New York apartment of Mrs Marella Agnelli, widow of Gianni Agnelli, at Sotheby's on 23 October.

The international offers a showcase to a range of seventy prominent art and antiques dealers from Europe and the us. It is the London dealers, however, who dominate this show. Winging its way across the Atlantic this year, for instance, is a rare giltwood mirror designed by the great rococo craftsman Matthias Lock and carved by James Hill, unveiled by Apter-Fredericks (385,000 [pounds sterling]). J.H. Bourdon-Smith offers a magnificent pair of silver-gilt baskets made in London in 1793 by William Pitts and William Preedy for William Beckford and later acquired by Queen Charlotte. Peering out from the stand of Brian Haughton Antiques will be a fine pair of Meissen hares modelled around 1750 by the inimitable J.J. Kandler. Topically, antiquities dealer Charles Ede presents a Greek black-figure amphora depicting scenes from the Olympic Games, of around 530-520 BC.

Always strong on Faberge, Wartski do not disappoint with a gem-set and enamelled gold cup in the form of a shell carved from smoky topaz supported on a coiled enamelled snake. Signed with the initials of the chief workmaster Michael Perchin and dating from 1896-1903, the piece was originally purchased from the firm's London branch in 1912 by Leopold de Rothschild--for 75 [pounds sterling]. Paintings also take a bow. Jean-Luc Baroni presents, for instance, Hubert Robert's oval The sack of an ancient pyramid. Sure to generate American interest is Jeremy's Chinese reverse glass painting entitled America, produced in Canton around 1800 and featuring a personification of America kneeling beside an obelisk commemorating the War of Independence. Other figures include Peace, Virtue, Concord and Plenty, and the inscription reads: 'To those who wish to sheathe the desolating sword of war and to restore the blessings of peace and amity to a divided people.' Perhaps this is topical too.

The Agnelli sale is another sure-fire crowd-puller, for the legendarily stylish Agnellis bought with taste and discrimination. Outstanding among the furniture is a fabulous Louis XVI ormolu-mounted amaranth bureau plat by the great cabinet-maker J. E Leleu of around 1772-77, the perfect combination of restraint and exquisite quality. The piece comes with an interesting provenance too--the Comte de Flahaut de la Billarderie (the illegitimate son of Tallyrand), the Marquess of Lansdowne and baby-powder heiress, Mrs Barbara Johnson. It is expected to fetch $3m-$5m.

Porcelain is a highlight of this 100-lot sale. From the fledgling Naples factory, for instance, comes a pair of ormolu-mounted monteiths or wineglass coolers from the neo-classical Servizio Ercolanese or Herculaneum service of around 1781-82 commissioned by Ferdinand IV, King of the Two Sicilies, as a gift for his father, Charles III of Spain (estimate $100,000-$150,000). From the imperial manufactory at St Petersburg come examples from the Yacht, Arabesque and Kremlin services. From the Arabesque, for instance, commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1784, come some fifty-eight pieces, from custard cups to dinner plates, which are expected to realise at least $80,000.