LONDON.- Christie’s announces An Aristocratic Château on the Côte d’Azur, a collection sale live online from 14 July – 4 August, comprising 111 lots from a magnificent château overlooking the Mediterranean on the French Riviera, with estimates ranging from £200 to £40,000.

The château was built in 1907 by Sir Charles Benjamin Bright McLaren, Bt, 1st Baron Aberconway, PC, QC, JP (1850-1934), the Scottish jurist, industrialist and landowner, and Chairman of the ship-building company John Brown & Co., along with other significant companies. In 1877, McLaren had married Laura, the only daughter and heiress of Henry Pochin, an entrepreneur and Victorian scientist, businessman and politician whose vision shaped the famous gardens at Bodnant, which are nestled in the Conwy Valley in Snowdonia, Wales.

The château, a white Italianate villa, was originally designed as a winter retreat for the couple and their children. The warm interiors contained rich tapestries, paintings, sculpture and furniture emulating the Italian Renaissance and Baroque periods, perhaps originally intended to suit the colder months of the year rather than the hot summers now associated with the Riviera. 15th, 16th and 17th century works of art sat alongside Italian neo-classical marquetry commodes and English chinoiserie cabinets from the 18th century.

Lot 35, an altar, Spanish school, 16th century, central panel: The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, the Holy Trinity above; the wings: Saint John the Baptist before a richly embroidered canopy, and Saint Sebastian before a richly embroidered canopy; the predella: Saint Barbara; the Virgin Mary; the Resurrected Christ; Saint John the Evangelist; and Mary Magdalene, (estimate £20,000–40,000). Lot 33, a 15th Century giltwood sculpture of the Madonna and child, (estimate £8,000–£12,000).

After the Second World War the Riviera became synonymous with a glamorous and chic lifestyle and the château played host to many lavish parties with famous guests in attendance, including Cole Porter and Pablo Picasso. As the property was handed down through generations of the family, the interior decoration and the collections continued to evolve until in the 1960s the château was re-decorated by the design firm Mann & Fleming. The taste of the château’s owners in the mid-20th century and their passion for theatre and ballet is reflected in a charming group of costume designs by celebrated artists including Yves Saint Laurent, Cecil Beaton and Oliver Messel (Lots 49-72 and 85-93).

Lot 49, Yves Saint Laurent, (1936–2008), two costume designs for Costume de la Comtesse and Le Comte from the Marriage of Figaro. The first is signed 'Yves Saint Laurent' and extensively inscribed with artist's notes, (estimate £2,000-3,000).




Photographs of the château, taken by Fritz von der Schulenberg in the late 1990s, commissioned by Christie’s, capture the villa as it would have been, practically unchanged since the 1960s. The atmospheric interior images offer a glimpse into the château’s history of grand entertaining, luxury and refined living.

Amelia Walker, Specialist Head of Private & Iconic Collections comments, “Christie’s is honoured to offer for sale works of art from this historic château. Once occupying the whole of the Cap d’Antibes, the incredible estate of Baron Aberconway was one of only a handful of properties created by British expatriate owners in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, who fell in love with the rugged landscape and wild romance of the French Riviera. This collection will resonate for anyone with a passion for beautiful works of art and for the South of France. Its’ eclecticism reflects the changing tastes of a family, with works of art collected over the course of 90 years, and the richly layered interiors they created encapsulate the history of both the family and of an iconic destination.”

All lots with a low estimate of £500 or below will be sold with no reserve.

Highlights from the sale include:

Lot 29, a central Italian marquetry, ebonised, painted wood, burr-walnut and fruitwood striking table clock cabinet with alarm, mid-18th century, the movement signed Francesco Grasso and dated 1758, (estimate £15,000–25,000). An example of a very rare clock, created by a central Italian clockmaker whose work is only recorded in a few instances. The clock was previously in the collection of the renowned writer, poet and art critic, Sir Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969) and was formerly housed in Sitwell’s impressive Tuscan castle, the Castello di Montegufoni. During the Second World War, the castle was host to hundreds of great treasures and works of art from across museums in Florence, sent there by Mussolini’s government at the start of the war for their protection. A remarkable photograph taken by one of the ‘Monuments Men’, Albert Sheldon Pennoyer, from the summer of 1944 when Allied forces were advancing into the Tuscan countryside, shows the clock in the hall of the castle, surrounded by Medieval and Renaissance masterpieces, including Sabastiano Mainardi's Saints Stephen, James, and Peter from the Accademia.

Lot 50, Natalia Goncharova (1881–1962) Costume design for 'La Petite Catherine': L'Amant signed 'N. Gontcharova), (estimate £2,000-3,000). Lot 52, Doris Zinkeisen, (1898-1991), costume design for Laurence Olivier as Richard III, signed 'Zinkeisen' and inscribed 'Richard/Laurence Olivier', (estimate £300-500). Lot 1, a pair of giltwood eagles, early 20th century on cream painted bases, (estimate £2,000-3,000). Lot 231, a mounted coco-de-mer container, Seychelles, dated 1883. The cover enclosing a later silk-lined interior, with palm-leaf finials and handles, with plaque engraved 'Cocoa-de-mer, from the Seychelles Islands, 1883, above a fig leaf, (estimate £3,000-5,000). Lot 111, a life size figure of Mercury, Italian, 18th century, after the antique restored and completed by Francois Dusquenoy, (estimate £10,000-15,000). Lot 25, a pair of north Italian walnut and parcel-gilt, commodes, late 18th / early 19th century, (estimate £12,000-18,000). Lot 102, an English brass-mounted scarlet and gilt-japanned cabinet on a giltwood stand. The cabinet early 18th century and re-japanned, the stand 19th century (estimate £8,000-12,000).

Lot 36, a Italian walnut and fruitwood Intarsia Cassone, 16th century and later. The marquetry panels depicting urns issuing flowers with birds above and bowls of fruit below, (estimate £2,500-4,000).