Saturday, October 19, 2019

Marie-Antoinette's Writing Desk

 From the collection of a Rothschild heir. According to CNN:
 Born into a superabundance of riches, the modern-day Rothschilds' story is inevitably different. Lord Jacob Rothschild, heir to the family's English branch, says his collecting habit is driven by the desire to acquire the rare things that are "missing." Waddesdon Manor, the English Rothschilds' ancestral palace in rural Buckinghamshire, is a fortified castle overflowing with the type of Versailles-inspired, gilded extravagance that became known in the late 19th century as "le goût Rothschild" (or "the Rothschild taste"). Inside, the full, eclectic range of objects amassed by Jacob Rothschild's ancestors -- once unrivaled as the world's richest family, and today possessors of an unknown fortune -- become clear.
There is a writing desk made for Marie Antoinette, a gold bracelet bearing Queen Victoria's face (a gift from the Queen herself) and an assortment of 25,000 antiques and artworks, including a clockwork automaton showing an elephant hunting party and a painted screen depicting monkeys dressed in 18th-century gowns. (Read more.)
Waddesdon Manor, Buckinghamshire
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