By SOUREN MELIKIAN
PARIS — This could only happen in France, a land of passionate collectors gloating in the privacy of their homes over treasures accumulated for love and kept out of sight for decades. In contrast to Britain, bled dry of its fabulous private collections by its powerful auction houses for the last 50 years, artistic rarities still come out of the woodwork, as they did on Wednesday at a Drouot sale organized by the Piasa group.
The medieval sculpture collected by Charles Mayer, a physician who, in later life, changed his name to Charles Maillant and died in 1993, illustrated the French capacity to come up with artistic surprises. Interestingly, it also highlighted the perils awaiting those who eagerly pick up the fragments of vanished monuments of the past.
The auction, conducted by Henri-Pierre Teissedre, included pieces that have not come under the hammer for decades. They bore witness to the mad destruction of some of the greatest monuments of ecclesiastical architecture during the 19th century. While the destructive fits of mob rage following the 1789 Revolution were short-lived, the materialism and artistic illiteracy of the “orderly” regimes that succeeded it caused far greater damage. As a result, thousands of architectural and sculptural fragments were let loose on the market. Many decades later, the provenance problems they raise can be thorny.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/arts/30iht-melik30.html?ref=arts
