[IMG]http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2004/11/18/fashion/18berg4.jpg[/IMG]

In a bedroom a French-influenced sleigh bed with gilded American eagles.

summary

ysl的创始人之一要把他的曼哈顿公寓卖掉
这个公寓是andy warhol的companion设计的
装饰主题是american spirit
主要用得是1820's左右的美国产设计的家具
还有american indian的画
一共五间房间
所有东西连带画和房子还有家具decoration大概九百万美元

[此贴子已经被作者于2004-11-17 21:06:01编辑过]

On 38th Floor, a $9 Million Sample Sale
By CHRISTOPHER MASON

Published: November 18, 2004



John Lei for The New York Times
WITH polished mahogany paneling, Tiffany lamps and portraits of American Indians and Indian maharajahs, Pierre Bergé's 38th-floor apartment in the Pierre hotel is a sumptuously furnished pied-à-terre in the sky.

It might also be the most underused luxury apartment in Manhattan. Mr. Bergé, 74, the fashion mogul and co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent's haute couture empire, rarely visits New York from his home in Paris anymore. That is why, after 26 years, he is selling the five-room apartment (asking price: $9 million; monthly maintenance fee: $12,000) and almost all of its eclectic contents.

The single-owner sale of furnishings at Sotheby's on Nov. 30, and paintings a day later, is expected to fetch an estimated $2.9 million to $4.4 million, for items from an American Renaissance rosewood side cabinet, circa 1860, to an Egyptian Revival parlor suite by Pottier & Stymus featuring side chairs with gilt-bronze mounts and velvet upholstery.

Since negotiating the sale of the Yves Saint Laurent fashion business for $655 million in 1993, Mr. Bergé has developed a new passion: the Fondation Pierre Bergé-Yves Saint Laurent, a museum in Paris that documents the history of the house of Saint Laurent. "I decided to give all my money to the foundation," Mr. Bergé said by telephone from Paris. "I don't come to New York very often."

Despite the absentee owner, the apartment is maintained in pristine condition, resembling a time capsule from an era when Mr. Bergé and Mr. Saint Laurent ran a global fashion business that epitomized sublime taste and sophistication. By his bedside are a list of important telephone numbers, like the Four Seasons restaurant and John Fairchild, the former publisher of Women's Wear Daily. Perfectly folded white linen boxer shorts and ironed undershirts are stored in a drawer lined with tooled leather.

When Mr. Bergé bought the apartment in 1978, he took a leap of faith in hiring Jed Johnson, an aspiring interior designer whose only decorating experience at the time was restoring the East 66th Street town house he shared with his companion, Andy Warhol. Over dinner with Mr. Johnson, Mr. Bergé remarked that he had just bought a pair of brightly hued portraits of American Indians painted by C. B. King in the 1820's.

"Jed said to me, `If you enjoy collecting American paintings, why don't you collect American furniture and create an American place?' " Mr. Bergé recalled. Mr. Johnson also took Mr. Bergé to see Mark Twain's house in Hartford, an outing that exposed Mr. Bergé to the phenomenon of stenciled walls. "I was absolutely enchanted," he recalled. Mr. Johnson also introduced Mr. Bergé to Judith Hollander, a friend and collector who shared a passion for American Empire furniture from the 1820's.

Working with Mr. Bergé, a man known for his strong will and impeccable taste, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Hollander created a spectacular interior with stenciled friezes of breaking waves and lotuses in peacock blues, reds and gold on the yellow walls and ceiling of the living room. The bedroom was painted a rich Pompeian red, with stencils of swans and dolphins.

Every door is made of solid mahogany. In the master bathroom a concealed drawer by the sink springs open to reveal a telephone; another panel conceals a built-in laundry basket. The mahogany toilet seat has a brass plaque engraved with a serial number — 2646 — from Czech & Speake of Jermyn Street, London, the luxury bath and kitchen outfitter.

Ms. Hollander assembled a museum-quality collection of Egyptian Revival furniture for the living room with gilt-incised lines and carved sphinx armrests. The room's clubby feel is enhanced by a pair of bronze Tiffany floor lamps, circa 1900, with geometric leaded glass (with a price estimate of $40,000 to $60,000 for the pair), and by a newel post gas lamp, made in America between 1860 and 1870, with a torch supported by a winged sphinx and two gilded pharaonic heads.

R. Louis Bofferding, a New York antiques dealer, was dazzled by the apartment when Mr. Bergé invited him to see it after making a purchase from him in 1996. "Having American furniture and American Indian paintings together was an extremely unusual combination," Mr. Bofferding said. "Pierre had the smarts to realize how unique that would be."

The guest bedroom facing west over Central Park was furnished in the American Empire style, with a French-influenced sleigh bed that has carved, gilded American eagle heads on the corners of the bedstead. It is being sold with an original 1810 spread of saffron yellow silk. (Estimate: $20,000 to $30,000.) On the walls are striking black-and-white portraits of American Indians by Edward S. Curtis, who traveled the United States from 1890 to 1930 documenting some 80 Western tribes. (They are not included in the Sotheby's sale.)

The auction is generating excitement in the antiques market. "Bergé juxtaposed the rare, the beautiful and the unique," said Melinda Papp, a co-director of Florian Papp, the New York dealer. "He embraced the American free spirit, and that is reflected in the objects he collected."

Among the standout works are a Philadelphia writing desk, circa 1820, with ormolu-mounted bird's-eye maple and veneered mahogany decorated with swans and butterflies (estimate: $30,000 to $60,000); a neoclassical Benjamin Franklin mantle clock made in Paris circa 1805, which depicts Franklin clutching a blueprint for the city of Philadelphia (estimate: $15,000 to $25,000); and a rosewood and marquetry "French" sideboard made in 1860 by Gustave Herter, the celebrated New York City cabinetmaker (estimate: $30,000 to $50,000).

The seven paintings of American Indians, by several artists, include "The Indian and the Lily" (1887) by George de Forest Brush, estimated at $2 million to $3 million, which shows a figure kneeling and reaching for the flower. (These works are in a separate sale at Sotheby's of American paintings.)

Mr. Bergé had initially invited Peter Marino, the architect and interior designer, to do the entire apartment, before he was "seduced" by Mr. Johnson's offer, Mr. Bergé said. A compromise was reached in which Mr. Marino designed the apartment's interior architecture and elaborate cabinetry, while Mr. Johnson and Ms. Hollander did the rest.

For all its grandeur, Mr. Bergé, who has a reputation for being imperious, was not entirely pleased with some aspects of the décor. "At the very beginning it was like living in a museum," he said. "Beautiful but maybe not very comfortable."

His chief complaint was the lack of curtains, which Mr. Johnson feared would spoil the aesthetic created by the furniture. When Mr. Bergé decided to expand the apartment in 1980, he asked an old friend, Jacques Grange, the legendary Parisian interior designer, to furnish a new master bedroom and to install luxurious, thickly lined curtains throughout the apartment.

"I hope we have not destroyed the spirit," Mr. Bergé said, referring to Mr. Johnson's work. The two remained close friends until Mr. Johnson's death in the explosion of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 in 1996.

Mr. Bergé said he was now considering buying another place in Manhattan, one that would be young and modern in its design aesthetic.

"It would be just a small pied-à-terre, something more contemporary, without any real decoration at all."

END