Situated in the Yvelines department near Paris, the château – classed as Monument Historique since 1979 – dates back in its present form to the 17th century when it was acquired by the statesman Paul Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain.
His son Louis I commissioned the famous French architect François Mansart to reconstruct the château and his son commissioned André Le Notre to design the surrounding park. The château remained in the family until 1801 when it was purchased by the d’Osmond family, who owned it for the next half century, after which there was a long list of different owners.
Twenty-five lots of paintings and sculpture from the château’s collection were offered by the current owners in Sotheby’s November 19 Paris sale of Old Master paintings, drawings and sculpture.
This was preceded the previous day by a selection of paintings and objects that were included in a sale at Drouot held by Rémy le Fur.
Then on November 20 at Drouot, De Baeque offered the 17th century bust of Paul Phélypeaux de Pontchartrain by the Italian sculptor Francesco Bordoni that had been created for the family chapel in the church of St Germaine l’Auxerrois in Paris and had passed down by family descent. It sold for a hammer price of €2.4m/£2.07m (see ATG No 2419).
Garden designs
In Sotheby’s sale, Le Notre’s garden designs for the château were the subject of two large views by Pierre Denis Martin. They depicted the meticulous formal layout characteristic of the landscape architect most famous for the gardens at Versailles.
The pair of oils on canvas measuring 4ft 9in x 6ft 9in (1.4 x 2m) were historically interesting as views of the both the château and also the gardens at the time of their creation. The pair sold for €170,000 (£145,300).
Sotheby’s collection also featured a swirling marble baroque bust of Neptune attributed to the circle of Antoine Coysevox, c.1700. The 2ft 9in x 2ft 3in (82 x 70cm) work, which also has stylistic debts to the sculpture of Gianlorenzo Bernini, eclipsed a €70,000-90,000 guide to sell for €300,000 (£256,410).
