Quite Contrary

 Skull watch by John Monnier, 1812–1828

Gaming Set

c. 1735

Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory 

Austria

Hard-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, gilt mounts, and diamonds

This richly decorated gaming box ranks among the most exceptional works of art produced by the Du Paquier Porcelain Manufactory during its short twenty-five-year existence. Mounted with gold plaques and painted with colored enamels and gilding, the box opens to reveal four small, similarly decorated porcelain containers. These smaller boxes are mounted with gold and set with diamonds; each, when opened, reveals two types of porcelain gambling chips. The boxes were painted according to a complex, tightly organized decorative scheme. The lid of the large box depicts three trompe l’oeil playing cards that appear to have been carelessly thrown down. Each of the corners of the box and lid is painted with a network of violet and gold ornaments characteristic of the factory’s mature, late-Baroque style. With its liberal use of gold and diamonds, this work was certainly among the most extravagant objects crafted at the Du Paquier manufactory. The box may have been presented as a diplomatic gift, perhaps from the Austrian Habsburgs to their Russian Romanov counterparts.

The Silver Swan, built by John Joseph Merlin and James Cox, 1773.

Glass table & boat

Baccarat

1889

Cut glass sculpture in the form of a boat mounted on a glass table with a marble top, pressed, cut; assembled on metal frame. 

Seasons and Elements (Summer) (set of four) by Charles Le Brun, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Rogers Fund, 1946 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Medium: Canvas; silk, wool, and metal-thread embroidery in tent stitch (316 stitches per sq. inch, 49 per sq. cm.)

25 Bedroom Chateau in Dordogne, France for Sale 

Owned by the same family since the 12th century 

500 hectares of countryside 

Chateau originally from the 12th century, rebuilt in 1740 

Outbuildings including luxury stables