A La Vieille Russie, the gallery that supplied many of America’s major Fabergé collections, is consigning more than 300 pieces from its own holdings to Sotheby’s this December. The combined estimate tops $15 million.
“From the Vaults of A La Vieille Russie” comprises a live sale Dec. 16 in New York and an online sale Dec. 3–17, where some lots will be offered without reserve. Highlights will be shown in Paris, Geneva, and London before a New York preview Dec. 12–15.
The family-run firm, founded in Kyiv in 1851, says jewelry will become a bigger part of its business going forward, alongside decorative arts such as Fabergé. Its Fifth Avenue gallery opens a selling show, “The Uncommon Jewel,” on Nov. 17, timed to NYC Jewelry Week.
Leading the sale is a Fabergé sedan chair in gold, rock crystal, mother-of-pearl, and enamel, estimated at more than $1 million (pictured at top). Sotheby’s says just six Fabergé sedan chairs are known to exist. Leopold Rothschild bought this one in 1910 as a gift for his brother Alfred, and it has not been offered at auction in more than a century.
Three flower studies are also on offer: violets purchased in 1901 by Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra ($300,000–$500,000), a Japanese garden ($300,000–$500,000), and a dandelion ($250,000–$350,000).
Other lots include a 17th-century jeweled icon of the Mother of God of Vladimir (above $800,000), an 1896 Aivazovsky seascape ($600,000–$800,000), and a pearl-covered Swiss mouse automaton ($250,000–$350,000).
Helen Culver Smith, Sotheby’s head of decorative arts worldwide, called the sale “a truly unprecedented opportunity to acquire works of this caliber from one of the most esteemed galleries in the world,” in a release.
Mark Schaffer of A La Vieille Russie said in a statement that the gallery is “thrilled to entrust Sotheby’s with this collection.”
(Photos courtesy of Sotheby’s)
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