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PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR AN IVORY RELIEF PORTRAIT OF CHARLES II IN AN ORMOLU FRAME THE

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:20,000.00 - 30,000.00 USD
PROPERTY OF A DISTINGUISHED COLLECTOR AN IVORY RELIEF PORTRAIT OF CHARLES II IN AN ORMOLU FRAME THE
Property of a distinguished collector AN IVORY RELIEF PORTRAIT OF CHARLES II IN AN ORMOLU FRAME The relief portrait circle of David Le Marchand (1674-1726), last quarter 17th century, the frame, probably English and circa 1735 Of oval form, the king looking to the left with long curly wig, lace collar, folded robes, and wearing the oval medallion of the order of Saint George on a chain, within a velvet matte and ormolu frame with beaded sight and outer edges, meander frieze, and surmounted by and set to the lower edge with opposed scrolled acanthus, the cresting centered by a rocaille shell 141?4 x 81?8 in. (36 x 21 cm) $20,000-30,000 Provenance Sir Bruce Ingram (sold Sotheby’s London, November 20, 1964, lot 12). David Peel, London, 1965. Charles de Beistegui (1895-1970), Ch‚teau de Groussay. Juan de Beistegui, Ch‚teau de Groussay, 1970-1999 (sold Sotheby’s/Poulain Le Fur House sale, June 2, 1999, lot 54). literature Birmingham, 1936, no. 1209. Exhibition of 17th-century European Art. Ex. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1938, no. 738. David Peel, London, 1965, no. 2. Avery, Charles. David Le Marchand (1674-1726). An Ingenious Man for Carving in Ivory. London, 1996. Exhibitions Birmingham, 1936, no. 1209. Exhibition of 17th-century European Art. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1938, no. 738, David Peel, London, 1965, no. 2. David Le Marchand (1674-1726) is, along with Jean Cavalier (1640-1707), the most important ivory portrait sculptor of the 17th century. The son of Guillaume Le Marchand, a painter, and presumably trained in Dieppe, where ivory-carving was an important craft, David left France following the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV in 1685 in order to settle in England. Portraiture became his specialty, and his style initially reflected that of earlier carvers in Dieppe, such as Jean Mancel (fl. 1681-1717), and that of Cavalier, his gifted predecessor in London who may have trained him. His earliest portraits are in profile and in low relief on an oval plaque or medallion. His known oeuvre stands at some 70 pieces, nearly all of them signed and some dated, ten in the British Museum and 14 in the Victoria and Albert Museum. As Le Marchand’s fame increased, he also pioneered the use of much thicker plaques of ivory for his reliefs, so that the head and shoulders projected to almost half their natural depth. He probably made preliminary models from the life in wax, the ductile nature of which influenced the way he then carved the drapery in deeply scooped, sinuous folds. Flowing locks of hair and incisively chiseled facial features complete the brilliantly characterized portraits, which are among the most impressive ever carved in ivory. The present relief portrait of Charles II (1630-85), the only English king ever to have been publicly executed by his own people, reflects the same boldness and subtlety of likenesses by Le Marchand. CHARLES DE BEISTEGUI AND THE CHATEAU DE GROUSSAY: Born in Paris in 1895, Charles de Beistegui attended Eton and then Cambridge in 1914. In 1929, he commissioned Le Corbusier to remodel his penthouse on the Champs Elysees and in 1939 acquired the Ch‚teau de Groussay, built circa 1815 by the Duchesse de Charost, and proceeded to decorate it with the help of his friend Emilio Terry.