Two sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s

9/12/25 - Art Market - Paris - As every year, sales multiply as the holidays approach - proof that it is never too late to start one’s Christmas shopping - and the catalogues grow as thick as La Gazette Drouot, which bodes very well for the dynamism of the French market, which has enjoyed a fine year. Collections continue to feed the auction rooms, as nicely demonstrated by the exhibitions organised at Christie’s, where Asian arts precede a (rich) group of works from the, or rather the Stern collections. Asia, moreover, blends very well with Europe, as among the highlights one admires a very fine Régence-period perfume fountain (ill. 1) composed of famille verte Chinese porcelain set with a mount decorated with dolphins. The object also has a highly desirable provenance, having belonged to the collections of the Dukes of Hamilton until the legendary June 1882 sale, already held at Christie’s.

A family tree and two prefaces by Charles Cator and Pierre Assouline help newcomers orient themselves among the various members of the Stern family and their allies, among whom is found the Louvre curator Carle Dreyfus. He was able to oversee the national collections during their evacuation in 1940, unlike his family property - about twenty lots from the sale spent time in Germany during the Second World War before being restituted - but one also admires later acquisitions. Very decorative, two large canvases by Hubert Robert (ill. 2) greet visitors wandering among fine bronzes, including The Abduction of a Sabine and The Abduction of Proserpine by Pluto offered as a pair and in a single lot. A highly intriguing Mercury and Cupid has already caught specialists’ attention, but the flowers by Maria van Oosterwijk should also spark keen…