Rockefeller porcelain owned by Napoleon sells for US$1.8 million at auction
Frenzied bidding sees record price paid for Sèvres dessert service, tipped to sell for US$250,000 at Christie’s New York auction, with proceeds going to charity
A day sale of David Rockefeller estate furniture, ceramics, and decorations started slowly on Wednesday morning, with auction house specialists nearly outnumbering bidders in the room.
However, the 18th lot of the sale – a Sèvres dessert service commissioned by Napoleon known as the “Marly Rouge” service – jolted the sale into life.
The set, estimated to sell between US$150,000 and US$250,000 at Christie’s New York auction, comprises an ice pail adorned with gilded handles in the shape of elephant heads, plates covered in butterflies, a pair of ornate sauce tureens crowned with a golden statue of an egg hatching, compotes supported by golden dolphins, and several other pieces. It attracted fierce bidding from the start.
It was commissioned by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1809 and was taken by the emperor when he left France for exile on the Italian island of Elba.
It was later acquired by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, the wife of John D. Rockefeller Jnr.
It subsequently passed to her son Laurance after her death; when he died in 2004, his brother David bought the set from his estate.
Auctioneer Gemma Sudlow started out at US$150,000, and a chorus of specialists – at least four via telephone – began attempting to outbid one another.
They were briefly joined by two people in the room, but by the time the lot reached the US$1 million mark, the contest was between two phone bidders who inched the bidding up in US$50,000 increments.
It ultimately hammered at US$1.5 million. Counting the auction house premium, the total price of the service comes to US$1.8 million.