This week the estate of David Rockefeller, former chairman of Chase Manhattan Bank and grandson of Standard Oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller will be under the hammer at Christie’s in New York. The sale, which comprises over 1500 works, is expected to surpass the record for a single-owner collection. The items that will be auctioned include English, European and American decorative arts furniture, Asian artworks, Chinese porcelain, European ceramics, among the latter is the famed Napoleonic ‘Marly Rouge’ dessert service. The 22-piece porcelain set from the town of Sévres was commissioned by Napoleon and been held by the Rockefeller family for two generations. This set was estimated between $150,000-250,000 and sold for $1.8 million.
The first part of the auction began this past Tuesday with a sale of 44 art masterpieces that set records fetching $646million, and this is only part of the estate. Highlights of the art collection included paintings by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Paul Gauguin. One of Rockefeller’s precious paintings was Claude Monet’s Water Lilies that sold for a record $84.7 million of after a 14-minute bid. The auction is still on going and will certainly continue to break records. Proceeds of the sale will go to benefit Peggy and David Rockefeller’s various charities.