Christie’s upcoming auction of the stories of philanthropist and patron of the arts Irene Roosevelt Aitken tells the story of a deeply refined eye. Comprised of around 800 lots, the collection includes Fragonard paintings, Romney pictures, Savonnerie carpets, Louis XV giltwood chairs, Meissen porcelain and antique European firearms—each piece is a testament to Aitken’s taste for European know-how at its finest. With three live auctions scheduled for February 11-13, and two online auctions, the completion of his collection will reveal whether the billionaire’s desire for the luxury fare that dominated the era of Mahdavi minimalism remains.
“His collection is phenomenal in terms of information; the consistency of quality across many categories remains unmatched,” Christie’s vice-chairman Will Strafford told the Observer, pointing to the turnout of the lot by former tastemakers such as Winston Guest, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan and Foyma Cherys.
Marketing offers a glimpse into the past. Art and design collectors extraordinaire, Irene (who died aged 94 last April) and her third husband, Russell Barnett Aitken, were the crème de la creme of New York society. The family lived in the Rosario Candela mansion on Fifth Avenue for nearly a century. Russell, a painter and true Renaissance man, was her third husband, and a large part of the collection was actually acquired by his late first wife, the sculptor Annie Laurie Crawford, who loved to hold the French (and her daughter the tragic Sunny von Bülow).
Irene, however, added some very important 18th century British pieces and more. The drawings and pastels, in particular, are of high quality. Irene’s photos of George Romney? The divine. “You don’t see much of this quality outside the top museums,” London art consultant Harriet Drummond, who spent nearly four decades at Christie’s and mentored Irene, told the Observer.
While at Christie’s, Drummond handled the sale of Hugh Douglas Hamilton in 1790. Portrait of a Gentleman (estimate: $100,000-150,000) to Irene. “Europeans and Americans will go ahead with these paintings, and some are hedge fund guys. Although many of the items bought by Irene reached record prices, Christie’s estimates are very reasonable.” The Hamilton pastel last fetched $535,739 at a Christie’s London sale in 2000.
However, with prices reaching $1 million+ for Savonnerie carpets, c. 1640, is the demand for Irene’s rare antiques waning? The collectors who loved such fare—Jayne Wrightsman, Jane Engelhard and Catherine Hamilton of Chicago, who founded the American Friends of Versailles—are no longer with us. And deep figures like Bezos, Beyoncé and others, including Arab and Emirati consumers, are not seen as Gold Age lovers.
So, is wealth still there? “I wish I knew, since it’s a long time ago,” collector Susan Gutfreund told the Observer. She, along with her late husband, John, who served as CEO of Salomon Brothers, shared a 12,000 square foot apartment in New York and a home in Paris. Recently, he has reduced his collection of rare objects, although he still eats 18th-century Sèvres porcelain, as did Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette.
But Paris dealer Guillaume Léage, who runs Galerie Léage, which deals in 18th-century furniture and materials, told the Observer that “the French 18th Century taste is still there,” adding that he will be buying for clients at the Louvre, the Met, the Getty and others.
Sales, no doubt, occur in times of turmoil. Yes, the stock market has reached incredible highs, but Saks Global filed for bankruptcy. Amazon is laying off 16,000 workers. Even Alexander McQueen is cutting staff. However, Strafford is not worried. He points out that three years ago, Rothschild’s auction house at Rockefeller’s headquarters fetched $62.6 million compared to a low estimate of $20-33 million. In addition, “an increasing number of non-Europeans are now taking the beautiful French cottages and the grand English country houses and preparing them for period property.”
Items up for auction include the creation of 18th-century polymath Matthew Boulton, a steam engine inventor and prominent luxury goods merchant whose patrons included Catherine the Great. Irene’s archive of Boulton specimens is among the rarest and most valuable in the world, notes Strafford. Example: a pair of George III ormolu-mounted blue john candle vases are expected to reach $80,000-120,000.
Russell’s guns should arouse serious interest. There are gold-plated guns that Napoleon gave to his son, the King of Rome. And no doubt the luxuries of yesteryear will find favor. An 18-karat gold Tiffany dressing room set, complete with brushes, perfume bottles, scissors and more, is expected to fetch $100,000-150,000. And who can resist a set of Cartier gold matchbox holders, each decorated with a red enameled ladybug?
But will the under-40s buy? London dealer Jonny Yarker, who exhibited with Lowell Libson at the Winter Show and sold Irene all of his pastels but one, told the Observer that “the truth is that Frick didn’t start collecting in his 40s. It’s not the end of an era. People always buy the best, and he left a great legacy.”
A former New York art connoisseur, Irene said before she won that the proceeds from the auction would benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Morgan Library and Museum.
More on Auction
