Up For Auction: A Cabinet That Once Belonged To Pope Paul V
And did we mention one of its other owners was Queen Elizabeth II?
By Emily Selter
Courtesy of Sotheby's
In September, Sotheby's is auctioning the impressive collection of art and antiques that belonged to the late French businessman Robert de Balkany. One of the sale's most important lots is this Italian Silver and Gilt-Bronze Mounted Ebony and Pietra Dura Cabinet, which was made for Pope Paul V Borghese around 1620.
The museum-quality cabinet was built to hold the Pope's collections of valuable coins, stones, and shells, and is filled with tiny compartments, shelves, and hidden drawers. The piece is decorated with gilt bronze and colorful stones, and topped with a veneer made from Lapis Lazuli. Pope Paul V's crest is even embedded in the design.
De Balkany advised his father to purchase the cabinet in from Christie's, where Queen Elizabeth II had put it up for sale. The cabinet had been owned by the Borghese family up until the mid-19th century, when they sold it to England's King George IV (who displayed the piece in Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace).
Since 1959 the cabinet has resided in De Balkany's enormous Paris home, the Hôtel de Feuquières, along with the rest of his carefully curated collection of paintings and decorative art, including an 18th century portrait by Anthony Van Dyck and a silver tureen that is part of the only surviving French royal dinner service.
The cabinet will be auctioned in Paris on September 20th, as part of the evening sale, for an estimate of upwards of €2 million (That's over $2,234,800).
A room in Robert de Balkany's Hôtel de Feuquières
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