Led by Venus and Cupid by François Boucher (1703-1770) (estimate: £350,000-500,000), Dr Sommer’s focus on sumptuous examples by French and German master craftsmen and artists of the 18th century is a reflection of his pursuit of excellence in the fine and decorative arts. Christie’s is providing a unique opportunity to see the full collection in situ during a pre-sale public view, with admission by catalogue, at the Mayfair home of Dr Sommer, 47 Upper Grosvenor Street, from 22 November to 3 December. Select highlights will be on view at Christie’s King Street from 28 November to 3 December. With estimates ranging from £500 to £500,000, the collection is expected to realise in excess of £4.5 million.
Born in Berlin, Dr Peter D. Sommer (1940-2013) was imbued with a strong work ethic and a sense of ambition from an early age, going on to establish a very successful career in finance and developing a passion for collecting which was founded on a deep appreciation of craftsmanship and quality, irrespective of period. Dr Sommer’s collecting was greatly inspired by Frederick the Great, whom he admired for his patronage of the arts as well as his strength of character. A very cultured man, Dr Sommer’s enthusiasm for his personal collection was contagious and his pursuit of knowledge of all things 18 century led him to develop friendships with many of the leading figures in the decorative arts field, including Jacques Perrin, Maurice Segoura and Chevalier in Paris, as well as Neuse, Gierhards and Bernheimer in Germany. A committed devotee of classical music – especially Beethoven and Mozart along with Schubert and Wagner – his travels often embraced the Bayreuth Wagner Music Festival, Salzburg and Glyndebourne, as well as the Vienna Opera Ball and the Berlin Press Ball.
Like his hero Frederick the Great, Dr Sommer admired the leading Old Masters of mid-18 century France, such as Boucher, Watteau and Pater, and favoured their ‘fêtes galantes’ and mythological figures. The top lot of the sale, Venus and Cupid by François Boucher (1703-1770) has an illustrious provenance, having previously been in the celebrated Marcille Collection in Paris for more than a century (estimate: £350,000-500,000).
It is thought to have been acquired personally by Eudoxe Marcille, a talented painter and Director of the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Orléans, who held a prominent Monday salon in his opulent Paris townhouse surrounded by his unexcelled collection of masterpieces by Chardin, Boucher and Fragonard; his guests regularly included the most prominent figures in the popular revival of the dix-huitieme siècle, notably the Goncourt brothers and the collector Louis La Caze, as well as prominent contemporary artists such as Edgar Degas. Further highlights include Les Plaisirs du Bal by Jean-Baptiste Pater (estimate: £80,000-120,000) and a pair of works Le Concert champêtre; and La Cueillette des Roses by Jean-Baptiste Pater (estimate: £80,000-120,000).
Epitomising the Fredrician ‘rokoko’ and undoubtedly drawn by the link to the Prussian King, Dr Sommer’s collection includes a pair of Royal German ‘Potsdam’ armchairs attributed to Frederick the Great’s carver Johann-August Nahl, circa 1740-50, that closely recall those commissioned by the King for his residences of Sanssouci, Charlottenburg and the Neues Palais (estimate £70,000-100,000). These chairs were in the First Floor study, where Dr Sommer sat daily to read the newspaper, also taking much pleasure from his wonderful Louis XV Gobelins tapestry, dated 1758, depicting the Ball of Barcelona from the Don Quixote series (estimate: £100,000-150,000). Preserved in the most vibrant colours, showing the deep original tones and vast number of differently coloured threads, this tapestry boasts an almost uninterrupted provenance. Woven in 1758, it was given by Napoleon I to the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1810 and was later part of the famed collection of Baron de Gunzbourg.
Dr Sommer’s most treasured possessions included a magnificent Louis XV regulateur, circa 1745, formerly in the collection of the Viennese Rothschilds (estimate: £200,000-300,000), a set of six grand Viennese giltwood armchairs with seats and backs of Beauvais tapestry depicting La Fontaine’s Fables (offered over three lots each with estimates of £100,000-150,000), and four exquisite tables en chiffonnière by Bernard II van Risen Burgh – known as ‘BVRB’ – whom he regarded as the greatest ‘ébéniste’ of the Louis XV period (estimate of one of the four: £120,000-180,000). With their foliate marquetry tops, chamfered slender cabriole legs and the finely-chased foliate mounts adorning the frieze, these elegant tables are characteristic of the oeuvre of Bernard II van Risen Burgh (‘BVRB’), and are closely related to the example depicted in the 1756 portrait of Madame de Pompadour by François Boucher.
The First Floor study also contained glimmering silver-gilt plates and lampes bouillotte by Odiot (estimate: £30,000-50,000 and £12,000-18,000 respectively), a pair of elegant Louis XV commodes by Charles Cressent, circa 1740, (estimate: £150,000-250,000), two pairs of early Louis XV giltwood chairs covered in luxurious pomegranate-pattern Lelievre silk, selected by Dr Sommer himself (each pair with an estimate of £15,000 to £25,000), and a garniture of ormolu candelabra formerly in the Rosebery/Rothschild Collections at Mentmore (estimate: £80,000-120,000). Amongst other favourite possessions in Dr Sommer’s collection was a painting entitled ‘Paysage et tête de femme’, circa 1910, by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (estimate: £20,000-30,000).