European Furniture & Decorative Arts

Note:

The sitter depicted on the panel in the lower-right quadrant appears to be a likeness of Beatrice Cenci (1577-1599), a young Roman noblewoman who was memorialized in art, poetry and romantic literature after she, along with her stepmother and brothers, murdered her abusive and incestuous father, Count Francesco Cenci. Following a sensational trial adjudicated by Pope Clement VIII, Cenci and her co-conspirators were condemned to death in 1599. The original portrait of Cenci referred to here resides in the collection of the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Antica in the Palazzo Barberini in Rome and was long attributed to Guido Reni (Italian, 1575-1642), but this attribution and even the subject of the portrait itself has since been called into question. The sitter dons a white turban and white robes, vestments emblematic of a Roman Sibyl. 

Frank J. McIntosh, homeware and accessories merchant and merchandiser, entered the New York retail scene in the early 1950s as the protégé of philanthropist and socialite Pauline Vandervoort Hoving, wife of Walter Hoving, chairman of the board of Tiffany & Co., with whom he traveled the world attending trade shows and honing his eye for fashion and the decorative arts. He was later hired by Henri Bendel as a merchandiser, where he was tasked with creating displays for the luxury retailer's famed "Street of Shops." In this role, McIntosh is credited as having introduced numerous renowned designers to the American retail market, including Fendi, Bottega Veneta, Karl Springer, Alessi and others.

McIntosh gradually transitioned into the tableware sector in the 1970s and established his own company in a leased partnership with Henri Bendel, which he eventually expanded to several other cities around the country. A pioneer in the world of tableware and home accessories, McIntosh’s eponymous line presented an eclectic array of accessible yet sophisticated table settings. Among his most noted designs were table linens manufactured in the United States and abroad. Numerous items from Frank McIntosh's personal collection of furniture and decorative arts are included throughout this auction and in our upcoming Chicago Collections auction.