22 June, 2018 | The jewels of Marie Antoinette go to auction, a leading Parisian luxury gourmet brand opens their first hotel and a sporty new Porsche is under development. Don’t miss Carme Ruscalleda’s pop-up restaurant in Monte Carlo and see the most voluptuous sofas ever made go under the hammer.
Marie Antoinette’s exquisite jewels go to auction
Royal jewels from the Bourbon-Parma family, spanning centuries of European history will go to auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva in 12 November 2018. The highlight of the auction will be a breathtaking group of jewels which once belonged to Queen Marie Antoinette, daughter of Holy Roman Empress Maria Teresa and wife of Louis XVI. The jewels of the most famous queen of France have not been seen in public for 200 years. The illustrious ancestry of kings and queens of Europe is demonstrated by the extraordinary opulence of the Bourbon-Parma family, linked by blood to the most important ruling families in Europe, from the Bourbons to the Habsburgs.
Luxury French food company launches a beautiful hotel
FAUCHON L’Hôtel Paris, located at Place de la Madeleine and opening in the European summer of 2018, has joined The Leading Hotels of the World, one of the largest and most prominent luxury hotel collections in the world. “The Maison Fauchon and the Esprit de France hotels are pleased to open the first Hotel Fauchon. This property builds upon the brand’s legacy as innovators of fine Parisian gastronomy to create a distinctive domain of service excellence, decadent gourmet cuisine, luxurious five star hospitality and tailor-made Parisian experiences,” notes Jérôme Montantème, General Manager of Fauchon L’Hôtel Paris.
New Porsche Coupé to arrive in 2019
A brief snippet for fans of sports cars from Stuttgart, the new Porsche Coupé, a derivative of the third generation Cayenne, is set to turn heads in 2019, Porsche sources at Zuffenhausen have confirmed. Expect updated but similar front-end styling, with a sporting coupé-like profile. 2.9 litre V6 and a 4.0 litre V8 petrol engines, both twin-turbo charged, will be offered. Porsche’s development centre in Weissach are a busy bunch, so expect an announcement in the months to come about a Macan Coupé designed to gate-crash the BMW X4 and Mercedes-Benz GLC Coupé party.
Seven Michelin-starred chef stages summer pop up in Monte Carlo
Seven Michelin-starred Catalan chef Carme Ruscalleda will stage a pop-up in the Karl Lagerfeld designed alfresco restaurant Joël Robuchon’s Odyssey, within the Hotel Metropole in Monte Carlo from 3 July to 31 August. Dishes will be focused on local seafood and fresh seasonal ingredients. Several dishes are inspired by Spain’s Costa del Maresme region, and by the Dutch de stijl artist Piet Mondrian. Her edible works of art mirror the squares, rectangles and saturated primary colours of his abstract paintings. Dishes include tender Ibérico pork with aubergine and paper-thin crispy potato, or cod with peppers and olives à la Mondrian.
Christie’s present £3 million George III sofa
Christie’s is presenting three of Thomas Chippendale’s most famous pieces – two Dundas sofas and Sir Rowland Winn’s commode. Chippendale (1718-1779), the foremost English furniture maker of the day was hired by Scottish architect Robert Adam to realise the interior of the mansion of wealthy businessman Sir Lawrence Dundas. Chippendale produced four sofas and eight chairs in total, each decorated with motifs from the ancient world which Adam had sketched while travelling. These included Ionic and Corinthian column capitals, wall decorations from Pompeii, and confronted sphinxes lifted from the Roman Temple of Antoninus and Faustina.
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