Christie’s is delighted to offer over 700 lots from the collection of Robert de Balkany, from two of his houses – Palazzo Lancellotti in Rome and Château Balsan on the French Riviera.
Monsieur de Balkany was a passionate collector of European and English fine and decorative art, particularly clocks, silver, furniture and Old Masters. His exquisite tastes spanned a range of periods – from the Renaissance and the Baroque to Neoclassicism and the Empire and Regency periods – with works acquired over a period of more than 50 years.
Collection highlights include the Duke of York silver-gilt centrepiece by Edward Farrell; a pair of monumental terrestrial and celestial globes formerly in the Beistegui collection; six paintings depicting the life of Alexander the Great, by Gaspare Diziani; and an important Louis XVI mantel clock with figures of Le Jour et La Nuit after Michelangelo, after the model by André-Charles Boulle.