Sotheby’s to Auction 1,400 Luxury Lots from Avenue Floquet Collection

More than 1,400 lots from the private Paris residence of Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani are heading to auction at Sotheby’s in Paris between November 4 and 9, with conservative total estimates surpassing 12 million euros.

The Historic Setting on Avenue Floquet

The collection occupies a historic hôtel particulier on Avenue Floquet in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The building was constructed in the early 20th century for Prince Demetre Soutzo and Princess Hélène. Over the decades, the property hosted diplomat and writer Paul Morand, interior designer Alberto Pinto, and collector São Schlumberger. High-profile guests through the years included Marcel Proust, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol, Yves Saint Laurent, and Valentino.

The interior design reflects a creative partnership between the Sheikh and interior designer Alberto Pinto. Pinto previously oversaw the restoration of the Hôtel Lambert, whose furnishings fetched over 76.6 million euros at a 2022 Sotheby’s auction.

French Elegance Mixed With British Country House Variety

Mario Tavella, chairman of Sotheby’s France and Europe, noted that unlike the Hôtel Lambert, where the atmosphere was entirely French in terms of the decorative arts, the Avenue Floquet residence blends French, English, and Italian furniture alongside archaeological artifacts, Renaissance works, and 19th-century works.

Ground-floor rooms feature gilded woodwork, embroidered fabrics, and crimson wall hangings within a vast drawing room. The private upper floor focuses primarily on Art Deco pieces mixed with 18th-century items. These include a clean-lined writing desk by Pierre Garnier, valued between 100,000 and 150,000 euros, positioned alongside works by Eugène Printz and Diego Giacometti.

Genoese Sofas and Roman Marble Figure Lead Top Lots

Among the top-tier lots are a pair of mid-18th-century Baroque gilded wooden sofas from Genoa. Originally commissioned for the monumental Galleria Dorata in Palazzo Carrega-Cataldi and cited in writings by Alvar Gonzàlez-Palacios, the sofas carry an estimate of 400,000 to 600,000 euros.

The antiquities section includes a 1st-to-2nd-century Roman marble figure of a young man formerly owned by the Earl of Pembroke, valued at 250,000 to 400,000 euros. The auction also features more than 300 silverware lots. These span English tableware and German items, such as mugs, goblets, and miniature caravels. A pair of silver statuettes of Venus and Antinous, designed around 1700 by Lorenz Biller II of Augsburg and acquired on behalf of Baron Meyer de Rothschild, carries an estimate of 150,000 to 250,000 euros.

Louis XVI-Style Chairs Highlight Lower-Estimate Items

Individual lot estimates span from 1,000 to 600,000 euros. Lower-estimate items include a set of 12 polychrome wooden Louis XVI-style chairs commissioned in 2013 from Jean-François Lesage. These pieces replicate late-18th-century chairs designed by François II Foliot for the shell cottage at Rambouillet Castle.

Recreating a single chair of this caliber today would cost at least 20,000 euros, according to Mario Tavella. The auction house has listed the entire set of 12 with an estimate of 20,000 to 30,000 euros as the sales series runs through November 9.