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Lot Essay
One of the most important French designers of the Art Deco period, the work of Armand-Albert Rateau combines seemingly disparate influences to produce objects of opulence and grace. The design was originally created for the Duchess of Alba's private suite at the Palacio Liria in Madrid, 1921–1925. Only four examples of the design are known to exist today — the example in The Metropolitan Museum of Art's permanent collection (acc. no. 25.169); the example from the legendary 'Claude & Simone Dray' sale (Christie's, Paris, 8 June 2006, lot 51), today in a private collection; the example of the Duchess of Alba mentioned above (Christie's, Paris, 23 May 2013, lot 123) offered as a vanity without the original adjustable mirror; and the present example from the artist's wife, Madame Rateau. The present lot is thus an exceptionally rare example of the complete design still in existence.
This elegant dressing table displays influences from both Antiquity and ancient Persia; the overall form was inspired by a visit to Pompeii, while the peacock motif is thought to have come from a painted Persian miniature. In 1914, Rateau took a trip to Italy, and Naples in particular, where he was entranced by the ancient bronze furniture that he saw in the museums of Pompeii. On his return to Paris he began to incorporate elements of what he had seen into his own designs. Already building a reputation for his original decorative forms, reviewing the dressing table in 1925, Vogue described Rateau as “a modern artist who knows how much of the past enters into the present, since one is the logical continuation of the other, and that genius consists in discovering the simple lines which connect the two” (J. Goss, French Art Deco, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2014, p. 179).
Described as “the most eminent of the ensembliers” (high style designer-decorators who used luxury materials and meticulous techniques to produce exquisite works of art for the elite) (G. Campbell, ed., The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, 2006), Rateau became the designer of choice for many of the famous Parisian fashion designers and members of Europe’s noble families. During this period, his career thrived and he developed a long list of influential and stylish clients including Cole Porter (for whom he designed the composer’s Paris apartment), and he also created the living room and oval salon at Dumbarton Oaks, the Washington, D.C. home of Robert Woods Bliss, the renown American diplomat, art collector and philanthropist.
This elegant dressing table displays influences from both Antiquity and ancient Persia; the overall form was inspired by a visit to Pompeii, while the peacock motif is thought to have come from a painted Persian miniature. In 1914, Rateau took a trip to Italy, and Naples in particular, where he was entranced by the ancient bronze furniture that he saw in the museums of Pompeii. On his return to Paris he began to incorporate elements of what he had seen into his own designs. Already building a reputation for his original decorative forms, reviewing the dressing table in 1925, Vogue described Rateau as “a modern artist who knows how much of the past enters into the present, since one is the logical continuation of the other, and that genius consists in discovering the simple lines which connect the two” (J. Goss, French Art Deco, exh. cat., Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2014, p. 179).
Described as “the most eminent of the ensembliers” (high style designer-decorators who used luxury materials and meticulous techniques to produce exquisite works of art for the elite) (G. Campbell, ed., The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts, 2006), Rateau became the designer of choice for many of the famous Parisian fashion designers and members of Europe’s noble families. During this period, his career thrived and he developed a long list of influential and stylish clients including Cole Porter (for whom he designed the composer’s Paris apartment), and he also created the living room and oval salon at Dumbarton Oaks, the Washington, D.C. home of Robert Woods Bliss, the renown American diplomat, art collector and philanthropist.