ROMANOFF ANTIQUES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 103, 4 May 1931, Page 17

ROMANOFF ANTIQUES.

AUCTIONED IN NEW YORK. RARE FLEMISH TAPESTRY. The three-day auction pale of art objects and decorative furnishings of the Romanoffs at the Wallace H. Day Gallßiies, Now York, including the sale of prints from Soviet Russia, realised just im dcr £12,000. Two items were the jewelled Sevres porcelain two-handled vase, a gift from Queen Marie Antoinette of France to the Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, consort of Paul 1., and the silvergilt ladle, inscribed as a gift from Catherine I. to Ataman Nikiti Menshkov. The case was sold to a dealer in antiques for £15(5. It was made at Royal command and is marked twice with the initials of Eticnne Henri Le (iimyi painter and gilder and with Cortcau J.N.V. Fe. 1782, signifying that it is the design and workmanship of the famous enamellcr at Sevres, Cortcau of (iencva, who was responsible for the enamel work called jewelled Sevres. The ladle passed into the possession of a private collector of Russian antiques, and wa.s sold for £80 after lively bidding.

Spirited bidding also marked the sale of a set of four tapestry panels, Flemish, late seventeenth century, depicting episodes in the life of Aeneas and Dido, which came from the Tretiakovsky Galleries, Russia. The panel, entitled "The Banquet," brought £140. Those depicting the escape from Troy and the landing at Carthage were sold for £100 each. The fourth, called "Reception of the Generals," brought £68. A collection of furniture, including an Aubusson tapestry: sofa, with arm and side chairs, screen and shaped top table to match, was sold. The highest price, £60, was paid for the sofa, and a pair of armchairs was sold for £45. A pair of silver wine coolers, Russian, dated 1700, presentation pieces made during the reign of Catherine the Great, with the Imperial coat of arms, sold for £68. A silver trophy tankard, a presentation piece to the Russian Navy by one of the Royal family, the relief panels depicting battle scenes of Peter the Great, Charles XII. and the Russo-Turk war during the reign of Nicholas 1.. brought £85.