LONDON.- Christie’s announces the sale of The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo and Three Private European Collections taking place online from 21 June – 12 July, as part of the marquee series of sales comprising Classic Week running from 18 June – 15 July.

The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo and Three Private European Collections comprises 160 lots including European furniture, clocks and objets d’art, Old Master Paintings, Chinese and European Porcelain and silver. Complementing The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo is a selection of lots from the Roman Palazzo of the late Robert de Balkany. as well as property from a Maison Jansen interior on London’s prestigious Eaton Square in London, and a further group belonging to a descendant of a Russian princely family from an apartment on Wilton Crescent in Belgravia, central London.

The collection of Rita Espírito Santo (1927-2020) was largely inherited from her parents, the successful banker Ricardo Espírito Santo Silva (1900-1955) and his wife Mary (1903 – 1979), who were avid collectors of both fine and decorative arts and significant patrons of the arts in Portugal in the mid-20th century. They filled their numerous houses with the very best French and Portuguese furniture and works of art; such was their collection’s importance that a portion was presented to the Portuguese state in 1953, alongside the Azurara Palace, Lisbon, where the pieces were housed. The Fundação Ricardo do Espirito Santo Silva still operates at the Azurara Palace as the Museum-School for Portuguese Decorative Arts.

Rita and her three sisters grew up immersed in their parents’ passion for collecting and were surrounded by these works throughout their lives. The couple’s friends included members of Europe’s Royal families including the exiled Henri d'Orléans, second Count of Paris (1908-1999). It is reputed that several lots in the sale were purchased from Henri d'Orléans, who took up residence in Sintra. The Duke and Duchess of Windsor were lent the Espírito Santo’s family’s summer house in Cascais during their stay in Lisbon, Portugal in 1940. Many of the lots offered in the auction filled the summer house at Cascais, which was decorated by the distinguished

Portuguese interior designer, and close friend of the family, Duarte Pinto Coelho. Other lots were sourced for the 17th Century Palacio Sobralinho, which Ricardo set about restoring with the help of Rita after it was destroyed by fire in the 1940’s. Rita inherited both Palacio Sobralinho and later the family summer house in Cascais when the collection was subsequently shared amongst her and her sisters. Rita eventually sold Sobralinho, dividing the contents of the palace between her three children.




A number of lots from Robert de Balkany’s collection are included in this sale which were part of the opulent interiors he created in his 16th century Palazzo Lancellotti in Rome, Italy. He and his wife Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, a daughter of Italy’s last king, set out to create truly exceptional and unique spaces by acquiring pieces which were considered to be of the grandiose, opulent and royal. The highlight of this group is (lot 98), a Baroque style pietra dura and ebony cabinet-on-stand which reflects his passion for collecting jewel-like hardstone cabinets

Highlights from The Collection of Rita Espírito Santo

Jacques de Lajoȕe (Paris 1686-1761) The Rest after the Hunt, (estimate £70,000-100,000).

A suite of Empire giltwood seat furniture by Imperial court ébéniste Pierre Bellange (estimate £10,000-15,000).

A pair of Directoire ormolu and white marble brule parfums, circa 1790 (estimate £7000-10,000).

Pedro Girao, European Chairman, Christie’s London comments ‘It is an honour to bring these groups of predominantly decorative arts from such prestigious European collections to the market during Classic Week this season. I am proud to have been working with the Espirito Santo family for many years who are renowned as sophisticated art patrons, and who spent many decades collecting the finest decorative arts and paintings which have been housed over the years in their beautiful properties. Their patronage of the arts is well recognised and most notably, in 1953, the Fundação Ricardo do Espirito Santo Silva (FRESS) was established to protect and promote Portuguese decorative arts and related crafts’.

Estimates range from £500 to £100,000. An exhibition and view of highlights from the sale will take place at Christie’s, King Street from 3 July - 8 July. The exhibition, viewing and live sale will be taking place under socially distanced regulations, strictly adhering to current government guidelines.