This Golden Jug That Louis Xv Gave His Mistress Could Bring 1.4M At Auction
It is part of the collection of Belgian antique dealer Bernard De Leye. The art dealer’s collection of 220 artworks, includes objects of vertu, silverwork, paintings and sculptures, as well as a silver gilt ewer with an estimated value of $1.5 million, made by the French silversmith Jean-Baptiste-Francois Cheret in Paris in 1770. At the same time, he also proclaimed them the Marquis and Marquise de Montmelas. “I have never seen or been allowed to offer such a treasure,” Lempertz auction house owner Hendrik Hanstein said....