ONE PROBABLY BY STÉPHANE BOUDIN FOR MAISON JANSEN, 1938, THE OTHER BY FREDERICK P. VICTORIA, CIRCA 1982

This pair of trees (en suite with lot 1847) was acquired, along with lot 1848, by the legendary decorator and socialite Elsie de Wolfe, Lady Mendl (1865-1950). Widely credited as inventing the profession of interior design, de Wolfe moved in glamorous social circles in the U.S., Britain and France. The arts enthusiast and working actress was known for eschewing the dark and heavy interiors en vogue in the Victorian era, favoring neutral rooms bedecked with a combination of lighter and brighter antiques and modern pieces. An intimate of the Duchess of Windsor, her dazzling array of clients included Anne Vanderbilt and Henry Clay Frick (whose Fifth Avenue townhouse she decorated). The Condé Nast commission was one of her most celebrated decorating projects, and its daring combination of modern decorations and 18th century furniture with rich chinoiserie and floral wall treatments typified her ebullient approach. As a 1929 Vogue article on her own New York apartment remarked 'Throughout, old things have been used in the modern manner-a paradox that is extremely effective'.

Perhaps most beloved by de Wolfe was her renovated French mansion in Versailles known as Villa Trianon; it was here that her celebrated status as a decorator and hostess became legendary. In 1938 and 1939 she held a glamorous and acclaimed circus-themed ball that was attended by all manner of fashionable, political and royal figures of the time such as Coco Chanel, Cecil Beaton, Baroness Alain de Rothschild and many more. The present lot was created for this glitzy occasion (for further reading on the particulars of the ball see C. Scheips, Elsie de Wolfe’s Paris: Frivolity Before the Storm, New York, 2014).

Despite their creation for a dazzling but fleeting social event, practically on the eve of Germany's invasion of France, this lot has withstood and endured the test of time and world war, making its way to New York from France before being purchased from New York dealer Frederick P. Victoria by American designer Michael Taylor.

Taylor, one of the most celebrated curators of American interior style, was known for his signature 'California Look' and daringly utilized these whimsical trees in the White Garden Room of San Francisco shipping heiress and socialite Nancy Dollar in the 1980s. Following her death in 1996, Christie's took on stewardship of these storied trees, selling them in 1997 to San Francisco patron of the arts Ann Getty. Thus these pieces, deeply rooted in the joyous and innovative history of interior design and trailblazing women, continue to spread their branches toward the future.