This is the first of three or four sales of the Hamot collection, following the death of the Hamot brothers in 1997 and 1999. On offer will be a collection of antique textiles that the house acquired either by direct purchase or through other companies that they took over in order to build up a study collection.
This huge range spans near eastern hangings, velvets from Renaissance Italy and 17th century embroidered chair covers, through the rich vein of French silk fabrics with which cities like Lyons made their name in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, to more recent Art Deco creations and 20th century fabrics reproducing earlier styles. There’s a range of sizes, too, from small fragments to larger pieces, plus designs for carpets and tapestries and reference books. With over 600 lots on offer, many of them in multiples or small groups featuring the same design, there will be no shortage of choice in terms of style, age or price for decorators, collectors or those inspired by the rich texture and colours of antique textiles.
Pictured right is a typical offering, a 3ft 11in (1.2m) long Louis XVI-period lampas in woven in white on a crimson satin ground with a so-called Arabesque design, inspired by classical archeological discoveries and Raphael’s decoration for the Vatican Loggia, which first appeared in France in the last decade of the ancien régime. It will be offered along with 25 other fragments carrying an estimate of €1000-1500.
This vast array will be on view at Drouot-Richelieu on April 28, the day before the auction, but can also be viewed in Paris by appointment from April 14-18 at 5, Avenue de l’Opera. Tel: 00 33 (0)1 45 56 12 20 for further information.
Textile bias…from the artistic....to the archaic
A veritable feast of textiles from an older era will be up for grabs in a big way next month in Paris when French auctioneer Olivier Coutau-Begarie holds a mammoth two-day dispersal at Richelieu-Drouot on April 29 and 30 of over 5000 pieces of antique silks, tapestries and embroideries from the House of Hamot, a French textile retailer and manufacturer of carpets and tapestries.
