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Lot Essay
This armoire was commissioned in Madrid in 1830 by the Queen of Spain, Doña Maria Cristina de Borbón, the wife of King Fernando VII. Inherited by her daughter, Queen Isabel II, it was subsequently presented by the latter to General Caradoc, Lord Howden, Queen Victoria's Envoy Extraordinary. Appointed Minister Plenipotentiary at the Spanish Court between 1850-1858, Lord Howden transferred the armoire to the Castillo de Caradoc in Saint-Esprit, Bayona, which he had built in 1857 on the ancient lands of the Merignac in the 'Edad Media', where the Orden de San Juan de Jerusalem had been founded in the 12th Century.
At the death of Lord Howden in 1873, the Castillo and its contents were acquired by Sr. Emmanuel Bocher, who bequeathed them in turn to the Marqés de Fuente Hermosa. It was his wife who sold the armoire in 1942.
At the death of Lord Howden in 1873, the Castillo and its contents were acquired by Sr. Emmanuel Bocher, who bequeathed them in turn to the Marqés de Fuente Hermosa. It was his wife who sold the armoire in 1942.