PARIS.- For The Exceptional Sale, to be held in Paris on November 18, Christie’s has assembled some 40 rare and unique museum-quality pieces from all disciplines and periods of history, constituting an exceptional cabinet of curiosities. Since 2015, this auction has attracted masterpiece enthusiasts and international collectors every November. On November 18, the sale of one of the rarest Enigma machines (€200,000-300,000) will come just one day before the sale of the Pascaline – another “thinking machine” designed by Pascal in 1642 (€2,000,000-3,000,000). At a time when the relationship between human beings and machines is in a state of transition, these two events have a unique historical significance. This collection of exceptional furniture – whether it be mechanical, bearing the Chevigny stamp, or intended for Louis XV – is sure to delight everyone including the most discerning collectors. A large section is also dedicated to Asian arts and the works that inspired the greatest European manufacturers of the 18th century, such as Chantilly and Meissen. Lastly, a fashion section, royal provenances, rediscoveries and treasures from the regions of France are also featured in this 2025 edition of The Exceptional sale, with a total estimated value of €4.4 – 6.8M.
A Selection of Some of the Most Iconic and Emblematic Lots
ENIGMA, electromechanical encryption machine
A four-rotor ENIGMA machine designed in 1941 to encrypt communications from the German submarine fleet is one of the highlights of this sale. It is indeed one of the rarest and most difficult models to decipher, commissioned by Karl Dönitz, Adolf Hitler’s admiral, to counter the Allies’ repeated successes against his submarines. With its four rotors, the ENIGMA M4 model put up for sale has a much higher level of encryption than all previous machines. Due to its complexity, it was the very reason behind the Allies’ efforts to break the M4 code – a much more robust cryptographic encryption system – under the leadership of Alan Turing and Joe Desch. They will lead to the development of the first programmable computer. This sale coincides perfectly with that of the first calculating machine in history. Two events in the history of science are thus taking place one after the other at Christie’s in Paris.
An exceptional piece of mechanical furniture
A piece of furniture with a mechanical system, attributed to Jean-François Oeben, a renowned cabinetmaker known for the quality of his marquetry and the ingenuity of his mechanisms, illustrates the creativity of the craftsmen working in Paris in the 18th century. Its marquetry of amaranth, rosewood, violet wood, boxwood and ebony inlays, its ornamentation and its mechanical upper section make it a particularly sophisticated object. Only one other known model is in the Louvre (€100,000-150,000). Here, it interacts with a flat desk in amaranth veneer with chiseled and gilded bronze ornamentation and clean lines. From the Regency period, it is attributed to Noël Gérard and comes from the collection of the Count and Countess d’Ormesson (€200,000-400,000). A pair of Louis XV period porcelain candelabra made around 1745, completes the section dedicated to 18th-century decorative arts. Featuring a chiseled and gilded bronze mount, with three arms of light in leafy coils on a rock terrace, this superb object is emblematic of the work of the famous Meissen porcelain manufactory, the first in Europe to master the techniques of hard porcelain made from kaolin from Asia (€100,000-200,000)
Asian and European Arts in the 18th Century
A pair of magot figures – a character that is very common in Far Eastern sculpture but rarely appears on the market – are made of soft-paste porcelain by the Chantilly porcelain manufactory, of which this is a specialty. One figure is feminine and colorful, while the other is more masculine and white, suggesting that they were probably made from the same mold. Their auction is a wonderful rediscovery, as they had not been catalogued until now (€50,000-80,000 each). Other iconic works reflecting Europe’s fascination with Asia include a pair of Chinese porcelain brush pots from the Kangxi period (1662-1722) with a rococo mount (€12,000-18,000) and a pair of Imari porcelain vases from Japan with Louis XVI mounts (€150,000-250,000). These pieces complete an important section dedicated to Asian art, which includes a Chinese lacquer alter table (€80,000-120,000), a pair of richly dressed statues (€30,000-50,000), and a mother-of-pearl inlaid screen, both from the Qing Dynasty (€80,000-120,000). Finally, a rare gold bowl inlaid with rubies, presented by King Chulalongkorn of Siam, Rama the Great, to King Albert of Saxony, is one of the auction lots with the finest provenance (€40,000-60,000).
Paul César Helleu and Countess Greffulhe
This imposing pastel by Paul César Helleu (1859-1927) has remained in the model’s family since its creation and is emblematic of the artist’s work. Paul César Helleu moved to Paris at the age of 15. After training at the Beaux-Arts, he owed his early success to Countess Greffulhe, who commissioned several portraits from him and thus introduced him into high society circles. It was probably during a stay at the Greffulhe family’s châteaux that Helleu executed the present portrait. The work stands as a testament to an artist admired by Degas and befriended by John Singer Sargent, who rose to become one of the most distinguished portraitists of the Belle Époque (€80,000-120,000). Famous for her beauty and praised for her “aristocratic and artistic elegance,” the countess was a fashion icon. She inspired Marcel Proust’s immortal character, the Duchess of Guermantes, in his novel In Search of Lost Time, about whom he wrote: “Each of her dresses seemed to be… the projection of a particular aspect of her soul.”
A bronze with a brown-green patina by Rodin (1840-1917) also belonged to Countess Greffulhe. Produced between 1904 and 1917 by the Rudier Foundry in 10 copies, La Défense was created by Auguste Rodin in 1879 (€200,000-300,000). Another vibrant portrait offered for the first time on the market that should also attract the interest of collectors is that of the great tragedienne Rachel Felix by Jean-Léon Gérôme (€20,000-30,000).
A Rare Ewer
This magnificent Transitional period ewer, created around 1760 and made of porphyry and chiseled and gilded bronze, captivates with its garlands of laurels and leafy scrolls. Attributed to Pierre Gouthière, it is also one of the pleasant surprises of this sale, having been recently rediscovered by the Pichon & Noudel-Deniau auctioneers in a private collection in Beaulieu-sur-Mer. Pierre Gouthière produced masterpieces in chiseled bronze for the court of Louis XVI, as well as for Queen Marie Antoinette, the Duke of Aumont, and the Comtesse du Barry. Very few have survived, hence the landmark sale on November 21, 2023, when Christie’s auctioned a pair of pedestals from the Rothschild collection for €1.5 million.
The rediscovery of this ewer illustrates the value of collaboration between a strong network of experts based in most regions of France and an auction house such as Christie’s.
