Collection of the Duke of Kent and his wife at Christie's
ARTinvestment.RU   01 ноября 2009

In November 2009 at Christie's auction is exhibited a collection of His Royal Highness Prince George, Duke of Kent, and his wife, Princess Marina

Auction house Christie's announced that the November 20, 2009 in London will be bidding for which will be exhibited a collection of His Royal Highness Prince George, Duke of Kent, and his wife, Princess Marina. Attention collectors will be invited about 200 lots, including silverware, jewelry, paintings, furniture and decorative art. Estimate range from 250 pounds to 100 thousand pounds. Particularly noteworthy are four albums with photographs of representatives of Russia's imperial family, made the mother of Princess Marina, the Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna.

Elizabeth Lane, Head of Trading Christie's, said: "The ability to conduct such auctions - this is a great honor for us, and we hope that they will continue a number of successful auctions, Christie's, which exhibited lots of royal provenance. Recently, we often conduct such trades, and they are traditionally very popular among buyers from around the world. This auction will allow collectors to supplement their collection things, which bear the imprint of impeccable taste, the representatives of the Royal Family ».

Tradition placed on Christie's auction of collections owned by members of the royal family, dates back to 1773, when founder James Christie auction house offered for sale by its collection of the Princess of Wales Augusta, mother of King George III. Among the recent trades deserves special attention auction, held in January 2006, when the sale of exhibited items from the collections of His Royal Highness Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. Total revenue trades totaled 5.1 million pounds, and after six months of the auction, which was represented by a private collection of the late Princess Margaret, has collected 13.7 million pounds.

Prince George (1902-1942) was the fourth, the youngest son of King George V and his wife Maria Teck and great grandson of Queen Victoria. In 1934, before the wedding to Marina, a princess of Greece and Danish (1906-1968), Prince George has received the title of Duke of Kent. Marina was the last princess of foreign origin, who married a representative of the British Royal family. Bride's father was Greek and Danish Prince Nicholas, and her mother - the Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna Romanov, granddaughter of Emperor Alexander II.

Princess Marina was one of the first beauties and fashionistas of the time. According to famous photographer Cecil Beaton, "those who were fortunate to get to know her will forever remember her royal posture, eyes the color of topaz, apricot color, and brown curls of silky hair. For its bright exterior hid a gentle disposition, innate talent for drawing and love for music. She liked to surround himself with people of art ».

The couple lived in a house number 3 in Belgrave Square, a luxury mansion near Buckingham Palace, and also owned a Victorian-style villa near Ayvera in Buckinghamshire, a legacy of the Princess Victoria, who came to Prince George and aunt died 1935. At George and Marina had three children: Prince Edward, who is the real owner of the title of Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra Lady Ogilvy and Prince Michael.

Prince George was killed in a plane crash in 1942 while serving in the Air Force of Great Britain. His plane crashed in the mountains of Scotland. Civil List of Prince of maintaining his family had been revoked. The duchess received a modest grant from the royal family and five years after her husband's death, in March 1947, put its property up for sale Christie's, which took place over three days and included a piece of furniture, works of art and porcelain. Total proceeds from the auction totaled 92.3 thousand pounds. As written about these trades newspaper The Daily Telegraph, «the crowd who want to buy, and just look at works of art from the collection of the late Duke of Kent, exhibited at Christie's ... promises to break all previous records." Shortly after the death of a spouse Princess Marina voluntarily joined the women's auxiliary service of the Navy and the rest of her life continued to be a role model, being both president of All England Tennis Club at Wimbledon, and croquet. She died in 1968 at Kensington Palace.

expected top lot of trades will be a portrait of Princess Louise (1848-1939) hand of Queen Victoria, whose estimate is from 10 to 15 thousand pounds. This painting (as well as the other two), Queen Victoria wrote in the summer of 1851 on the grounds of the famous paintings of the time the court portraitist Franz Xavier Winterhalter Four Senior Princess: Victoria, Alice, Helen and Louise. " It was written by the artist in 1849, commissioned by Prince Albert, who later donated it to the queen. In two other portraits by the Queen shows Princess Clotilde and Amalia.

Top-lot section of the furniture will be chair and a stool with a coronation ceremony brother the Duke of Kent - King George VI, held in 1937. Both the subject are covered in red velvet and decorated with the royal coat of arms. Their total estimate is from 15 to 30 thousand pounds. A similar chair with a more modest design, referring to the day of the coronation of Queen Mary in 1937, exhibited at Christie's auction in 2006 and went under the hammer for 38.4 thousand pounds.

Section silverware headed for a couple buckets of chilled champagne (estimate 20-30 thousand pounds) and a silver dish, executed for George II in 1752 (estimate 8.12 thousand pounds). Fireplace clock in the Art Deco Cartier evaluated by experts from the auction house to 8.12 thousand pounds.

Particularly noteworthy are four albums with photographs of representatives of Russia's imperial family, made the mother of Princess Marina, the Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna Romanova. Estimate album range from 2-3 thousand pounds up to 4-6 thousand pounds. In total, they contain more than 1 150 photographs covering the time period from 1896 to 1901. The pictures, taken during visits to Tsarskoe Selo, Pavlovsk, Peterhof, Red Village, Ropsha and other royal residences, sealed individual moments in the life of the Romanov family.

By signatures made by Elena Vladimirovna hand, the pictures you can see Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife Maria Pavlovna of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, brothers of Helen V. - Grand Duke Andrew, Boris and Cyril, friends of the family - Princess Julia Cantacuzenus and Count Nirod, servants and even pets. At one photo shows a scene in the Tsar's swimming pool, on the other - hunting in Buromke, on the third - Nicholas II, who plays tennis. One of the album is devoted entirely to the summer trip to Georgia from Novorossiysk in Batumi, with the Queen of Greece Olga K. and Princes Andrew and Christopher in the company of Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich and Mikhail Nikolayevich.

section of jewelry includes a number of items of personal nature, many of which are the monogram of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. Top-lot section of a necklace with a set in silver miniatures, which depicts Queen Victoria, Prince Albert and their children (estimate £ 500-700), and a diamond brooch Victoria R about 1880 (estimate £ 400-600).

At the auction also exposed a silver model of a racing car Bentley Jackson Special «Mother Gun», donated by the British Institute of Automotive Prince Michael of Kent, is president of the Institute from 1978 to 1998. Proceeds from the sale of the lot, the estimate of which varies from 30 to 50 thousand pounds, will be directed to the fund of the Association of British servicemen's families.

Source : Press Release Christie's