Garcia—who has made his daring mark on such classics as La Mamounia in Marrakesh, Morocco, and the still-fashionable Nineteen Nineties hotspot Resort Costes in his hometown of Paris—got here to Champ de Bataille in 1992. Designed within the 1600s by Louis Le Vau, the architect identified for his work on the Palace of Versailles, the château was dilapidated by the point Garcia acquired it. Solely two rooms remained of their authentic wonderful state, however over the course of some 30 years, Garcia devotedly restored the others, infusing every along with his signature romantic theatricality and bringing them to life with an astonishing wealth of furnishings, sculpture and porcelain from the seventeenth century. , 18th and nineteenth century.
Seventy-five of these lavishly embellished items (in honor of Garcia’s milestone birthday final fall), hand-picked by the designer, shall be up for public sale for the taking. Furnishings, as soon as liked by royals, kinds a big a part of the gathering. Consider the Louis XV-era marquetry chest of drawers attributed to Antoine-Robert Gaudreau, or the attractively painted sheet metallic and marble console desk crafted by Adam Weisweiler over the past years of Louis XVI’s reign.
A medallion-decorated lounger, most likely made to commemorate the marriage of Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Marie-Louise in 1810, in addition to a pair of Edo interval armoires combining silver and Japanese lacquer that belonged to King William III and Queen Mary II of England are equally imposing.
A monumental inventory of Sèvres porcelain features a duo of ornate 1773 vases harking back to Turkey, a partial service embellished with lots of of birds in homage to drawings by the naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon, and two late 18th-century outsized and purple tinted Lagrenée vases that made their method from King Charles IV of Spain to the tenth and twelfth Dukes of Hamiltons are additionally included.
There is a benevolent bent to the Sotheby’s occasion, too: Any proceeds generated by getting your arms on one in every of these treasures will go in direction of the much-needed preservation of Garcia’s revamped fort. Complementing its up to date interiors are the sprawling and magical gardens tended by Patrick Pottier, dotted with follies evoking China and Mughal India. If The White Lotus ever ventures to the French countryside, Champ de Bataille could also be simply the glamorous inspiration director Mike White wants.
