Le Goût Rothschild
6th September 2022
Exemplified by lavish interiors with extravagant fabrics, heavy gilding and magnificent furniture in the French taste, the Rothschild style is highly coveted.
While the look can be easily recreated at a price, true aficionados now have the opportunity to emulate the interiors of stately homes including Waddesdon, Halton House and Eythorpe as furnishings from Exbury House come under the hammer in Salisbury.
A new scheme of redecoration has brought to the open market around 220 lots of Continental furniture, silver, works of art, carpets and lighting, many of which were formerly owned by Alfred de Rothschild (1842-1918) – largely considered to be one of the greatest art collectors of his day.
“Alfred de Rothschild put together a carefully curated collection at Halton House in Buckinghamshire from 1879 until his death some forty years later. Many of those pieces then came to Exbury with Alfred’s nephew, Lionel de Rothschild, who remodelled the house to his own taste,” explained Mark Yuan-Richards of Woolley and Wallis auctioneers. “The Rothschild Archive includes photographs of Halton House with many of these pieces in situ, giving potential bidders a remarkable insight into each object’s history and provenance.”
Among the items to have spent at least a century gracing Rothschild residences are a set of four French ormolu wall lights in the manner of Louis XVI, estimated at £10,000 to £15,000; a pair of ormolu tables de milieu from the Salon at Halton House, a French giltwood and Aubusson tapestry suite with a starting estimate of £6,000; a Chinese cloisonné vase from the Billiard Room at Halton, and a pair of Louis XIV ormolu and blue stained horn wall brackets that were previously in the South Drawing Room.
“This is an incredibly exciting sale for collectors of fine furniture,” continued Yuan-Richards. “The Rothschild family have long had a well-deserved reputation for sourcing exceptional pieces from high quality and talented craftsmen. This is exemplified by the auction’s top lot – an 18th century micro mosaic table attributed to Giacomo Raffaelli with a carved Siena marble base.”
The auction will take place in Salisbury on 5th October and is expected to realise up to £1,000,000. It is preceded by a private view alongside the 2022 Tim Woolley Memorial Lecture, this year given by Dr Tim Schroder.
