Lot 26: A  PAIR  OF  GILT-BRONZE-MOUNTED  CHINESE  CELADON  VASES  AUX  TRITONS,  THE  MOUNTS  ATTRIBUTED  TO  PIERRE  GOUTHIÈRE  (1732-1813)THE  MOUNTS  LOUIS 

each  of  baluster  form  and  painted  with  blue  bamboo,  prunus  blossom,  and  ju-i  fungus,  one  with  a  pheonix,  with  a  gadrooned  gilt-bronze  rim,  each  handle  in  the  form  of  infant  tritons  with  an  entwined  double  fish  tail  suspended  by  laurel  and  berried  swags,  the  base  with  a  ribbon-tied  bullrushes  supported  on  the  backs  of  four  turtles,  on  a  plinth  cast  with  guilloche  enclosing  flowerheads
each  35cm  high;  each  plinth  16.5cm  square;  1ft.  1¾in.,  6½in.

Baron Lionel de Rothschild (1808 -1879) at 148 Piccadilly, London (see fig.1).
Recorded in the division of property made after Baron Lionel de Rothschild's death (now in The Rothschild Archive) as going to Leopold de Rothschild: Anon., Division of the property of the late Baron Lionel de Rothschild between Sir Nathanial de Rothschild, Leopold de Rothschild, Esq. and Alfred de Rothschild, Esq.,1882, RAL 000 P/C/3 Box 3, No.3. p.108, A Pr Chinese vases mounted on turtles
By descent to his son Leopold de Rothschild (1845-1917) at 5 Hamilton Place, London
By descent to his son Lionel de Rothschild (1882-1942), at Exbury House, Exbury, Hampshire
By descent to Edmund de Rothschild (1916-2009), at Exbury House, Exbury, Hampshire



Lionel Nathan de Rothschild :
Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was the second child and eldest son of Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836) and Hannah Barnet Cohen (1783-1850). Lionel started working for the family banking firm in 1828 and spent two years in London with his father before transferring to Paris under the tutelage of his uncle, James. He was admitted to the family partnership in Frankfurt in 1836. When Nathan died in 1836, Lionel assumed head of the London house of NM Rothschild & Sons at the age of 28.

Lionel took his seat as a member of Parliament in 1858. After his marriage he lived in Charlotte Hill Street, sharing the Gunnesbury Park estate with his mother, which his father had bought in 1835. He then bought a small farm at Ascott near Wing in 1858 and acquired Tring in 1872 and at the time of his death his estate in the Vale of Aylesbury amounted to approximately 10,000 acres.

148 PICCADILLY
148 Piccadilly was the central London home of Baron Lionel Nathan de Rothschild (1808-1879), which he built from 1859 to 1860 which was constructed by two English architects, Thomas Marsh and Charles Innes.

From 1861, a certain Joyau was in charge of the decorators and not only were all the artists which he used French, e.g. sculptors, chair makers, designers but all the decorative materials came from France. Although the façade was Italian, the interior décor was French inspired by the décor of Louis XIV with a profusion of marble. The interior decoration appears to have been executed according to plans of Duponchel in collaboration with Charles Chambon. It housed Lionel's great art collection which he had started to develop during his apprenticeship years in Europe. The collection which was divided amongst his three sons after his death was dominated by Old Masters many acquired from the Van Loon collection.

Lionel's collections were mainly formed during the thirty years or so preceeding the date of its construction and are mentioned by Waagen 'Art Treasures in Great Britain' (published 1854).