In the mid-90s, I heard a rather mean-spirited French antiquaire state that Hubert de Givenchy was a better interior decorator than haute couturier. The occasion for this backhanded praise was the nearly synchronous retirement of “Le Grand Hubert” from fashion and the exhibition by Paris’s Kugel gallery of Givenchy’s spectacular 17th-century Boulle “Apollo” cabinet alongside the designer’s equally sensational collection of Renaissance Limoges enamels. These rare objects were of such phenomenal quality that the enamels were quickly snapped up by Pierre Bergé for his Rue Bonaparte apartment and the cabinet promptly dispatched to a notorious American financier for his Park Avenue triplex.
Though these memorable French masterpieces will not be among the more than 1,200 lots offered by Christie’s at its epic auction “Hubert de Givenchy: Collectionneur,” to be held live in Paris from June 14 to June 17 and online through June 23, connoisseurs will find plenty of other exalted items to bid on.
