This family is well known in the French antique world. Starting with Robert Rousset, three generations have meticulously managed this veteran art gallery, founded in 1913.
Customers are well-known figures, Arthur M. Sackler, Rockefeller, and well-known museums such as Gemme, Senucci, and the San Francisco Museum of Art.
Mr. Robert Rousset
Today, this three-generation antique dealer family is about to be delisted. In October this year, the Collection of the Rousset Family will be auctioned at the Bonhams and French BONHAMS CORNETTE Auction House, and the private Asian art collection of the three generations of the Century Family will be released, and Artron Art Network will talk to Mr. Mike Winter-Rousset, the third generation manager of the Rousset Family Collection, to reveal the Century-old Collection of the Rousset Family, so that everyone can understand the story behind this century-old antique family.
Mr. Mike Winter-Rousset
An adventure 100 years ago
Artron Art Network: The Rousset family collection plays a pivotal role in France and internationally. Tell us a little bit about your family. How did Mr. Robert Rousset become interested in collecting and start his own family collection? What are your and the rest of the family's impression of Mr. Robert Rousset?
Mike Winter-Rousset: For more than a century, the Rousset family has gained prominence in the Asian art world. Robert's father, Louis Rousset, embarked on an adventure more than a hundred years ago. He opened an insurance company near Hotel Drouot and began buying some of the collections. The antiques were so attractive to him that he even opened a gallery called Rue des Arquebusiers in the late 1910s. Louis then succeeded in getting his son Robert to join the cause in which he poured his passion. In 1919, the young Robert Rousset was sent as a naval telegrapher to the battleship LATOUCHE-Treville to India, Indochina and China. When the warship arrived in Beijing in 1920, he eagerly began to buy Chinese antiques. With a full harvest, he returned to France to sell the antiques to his father and comtagnie de la Chine et des Indes, known for his oriental art.
Mr. Robert Rousset
After the world economic crisis of 1929, Robert expanded his purchases, acquiring the Gallerie d'Art de la Compagnie de la Chine et des Indes in 1935, with which he had been doing business for a long time. The gallery is thriving, with four floors in all four floors, and we do everything we need. We come into contact with collections from China, Japan, Tibet, Nepal, Cambodia, and Burma, and the artwork spans the Neolithic to the 18th century in time. The rich collection has to encourage the gallery to know everything, including the history of different countries as well as the history of the collection. China's ancient art is broad and profound, and the categories of artworks are relatively diverse, such as wood carving, stone carving, lacquerware, bronze, painting, porcelain, ceramics and other works... Therefore, the collection of art galleries also needs to be so diverse. For example, as early as the 1930s, Robert Rousset saw the market potential of classical furniture and became a pioneer in the European market to buy precious rosewood Chinese classical furniture. After World War II, Robert Rousset brought the artwork to New York for exhibitions and opened a gallery on East 57th Street, while leaving the Paris office of the Galerie d'Art de la Compagnie de la Chine to his sister, Ms. Suzanne.
The Robert & Jean-Pierre Rousset Collection of Asian Art
From the early 1950s to the 1990s was a boom period for art galleries. In the United States, Robert Rousset has also assisted museums and individual collectors in building many public and private collections. In 1984, my cousin Hervé de Peuty and I took over the management of the gallery, and my father, Jean-Pierre Rousset, gave us strict instructions on how to taste the collection.
Demystify the century-old antique family business
Artron Art Network: Tell us about the asian art gallery that has been operating for three generations, what are the important customers? What impressive exhibitions were held. What did you do before and after taking over your family collection, and what do you think is required to successfully run an Asian art gallery?
Mike Winter-Rousset: The gallery business is so good that the amount of business recorded is enough to dwarf any gallery today, with dozens of orders closed every day. Buyers are increasingly demanding art, and the number of galleries is growing. Robert formed a team of six consisting of 2 salesmen, 1 delivery man, 1 cashier and 1 manager and his sister Suzanne (1906-1995), which was later joined by my father, Jean-Pierre. Robert's adventurous spirit has led him to travel around Asia in search of rare museum-level collections.
The Robert & Jean-Pierre Rousset Collection of Asian Art
Important collections from galleries are exhibited in museums around the world, and a magnificent grey sandstone Khmer sculpture dating back to the 11th century was deposited in the Nelson-Atkins Museum in 1930 with funding from the William Rockhill Nelson Trust, a seated Buddha representing the patronage of the snake king Muchalinda. In July 1963, the Royal Ontario Museum at the University of Toronto purchased a 12th-century Khmer ceramic vase from the gallery.
The Robert & Jean-Pierre Rousset Collection of Asian Art
It is safe to say that the curators and curators of museums around the world are our acquaintances, such as the Cleveland Museum, Lee Sherman (1918-2008), the Royal Ontario Museum, Watim Elisev (1918-2002), Jean-François Jarrige (1940-2014), Le Began, Dai Haoshi, Jacques Guiyes (1950-2021), Sophie Macariou, director of the American Museum of Asian Art in Kyrgyzstan, France. Amina Okada, Pierre Baptiste of the Museum of Gemé in France, The Senucci Museum...
In the gallery, outstanding collections are not placed in the most conspicuous position, but hidden behind curtains, because only true connoisseurs can understand and appreciate their beauty and value. The method of appreciating the collection must follow the academic rules, and academic knowledge is the appreciation rule.
Family values
Artron Art Network: Unlike personal collections, how do you think family collections need to be passed on, combined with the collecting tastes of each generation, and share the stories.
Mike Winter-Rousset: One of the family values that we've been instilling is to preserve the collection in its original state, so the collections we sell are very well preserved and retain the most original traces.
Another point is the insistence on scholarship. My father was keen to study his collection during his lifetime, and he would make detailed archival records of each collection, and even the descriptions of small bronzes were very detailed. He was a great merchant collector. Today's art market has changed dramatically, and because high-quality collections are rare and rare, it is difficult for today's young collectors to collect systematically.
Jean-Pierre Rousset
Classifying each piece of the collection, from style and aesthetic taste to provenance, was my father's daily routine, immersed in it until the last moments of his life. Every piece of the gallery's collection contains his love and respect. He once said, "Your own qualities must be more worthy of these works of art." ”
Artron Art Network: Is there some standard for your family collection? What kind of collectibles can enter the family's collection system?
Mike Winter-Rousset: Maintaining the original state, having a clear source, having a certain aesthetic value, and being the best in the category.
Artron Art Network: What are your good collection suggestions for new collectors? What do you think is the most important quality of being a good collector?
Mike Winter-Rousset: I think buying a collection requires looking with your eyes rather than just listening with your ears, and you have to buy the best piece of your collection that you can afford.
Artron Art Network: How do you see the market for antique art in Asia in recent years, and how are Chinese collectors actively involved in global art events? What trends do you see in asian antique art in the future?
Mike Winter-Rousset: I'm excited to see that Chinese collectors have taken a keen interest in their country's history and are keen to buy collections that represent their own cultural history. As China's economy booms, this interest will lead to higher collection prices, which is likely to continue in the coming years. We can already see that Chinese collectors are now increasingly interested in exploring different areas of collecting, wanting to buy top art, while expanding the scope of purchases to integrate Asian art collections with Western art collections. Collectors from China are constantly broadening their horizons and are starting to buy collections from the West.
Let's look forward to this auction, which will take place from 25 to 26 October in Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr in Paris!
The time has come for the centenary collection to "take over the baton"?
Artron Art Network: Under what circumstances was the decision to close the Asian Gallery, and what percentage of the collections to be released subsequently accounted for in the Rousset family collection? What are your plans for retirement after the closure of the gallery?
Mike Winter-Rousset: More than 100 years ago, Robert Rousset's visit to the Forbidden City changed his life and our family. This passion for Asian art runs throughout our family. Growing up with me were these wonderful collections, which brought me many happy memories. It's time to let go and let others enjoy and taste the collection as I have had for decades. Here, each piece in the collection has its own story, where it was bought, how it was bought, and at what stage of our lives. This history should be passed on, and now it's time for others to take over, and I hope they can enjoy this "journey" as much as we have for years.
The Robert & Jean-Pierre Rousset Collection of Asian Art
Artron Art Network: What are the important lots in this auction, a brief introduction to the most important of them. What was your relationship with Bonhams and under what circumstances did you decide to commission Bonhams for the auction?
Mike Winter-Rousset: I am very proud to introduce you to masterpieces of Far Eastern art that date back to the earliest periods in China.
Late Ming Dynasty (16th century) Huanghuali four-sided flat-paneled stone-faced poetry table
Estimate: €120,000-150,000
Every piece here is museum-grade, whether it's a precious yellow-flowered pear inlaid stone-faced poetry strip table from the late Ming Dynasty (estimate: €120,000-150,000), a fine Khmer stone statue of a bodhisattva from the tenth century, or a full range of Han Terracotta Warriors. Glittering on the walls are 17th-century Japanese screens that display three techniques of gold casting — splashing paint, gold leaf and reliefs — as well as some poetic Chinese paintings.
Northern Qi Stone carved bodhisattva head
Estimate: €200,000-300,000
The long and serene face of the Buddha statues of the Sukhothai period (14th century) in Thailand contrasts with the serene, wide and low-hanging features of the stone statues of bodhisattvas created by northern Qi (550–577), almost eight centuries earlier. (Estimate: €200,000-€300,000) There are two particularly rare southern official hat chairs in this auction, from the early Qing Dynasty (17th century) period, named after the curved top railing, which echoes the shape of the southern official hat in the Ming Dynasty. The two collections were purchased in Hong Kong in the early 1980s.
Gold wood carving paint lacquered golden Guanyin statue
Estimate: €1,000,000-1,500,000
Among the collections at auction is a very important and extremely rare large wooden statue of a bodhisattva made in the Jin Dynasty. This bodhisattva image has a soft face and soft and gentle eyes, highlighting the bodhisattva's ability to soothe sentient beings, while its realistic form and clothing have a sense of closeness and affinity. (Estimate: €1,000,000-€1,500,000)
Bonhams recently acquired Cornette de Saint Cyr, which is considered a market leader in Asian art. Selling with Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr was a natural step for me, so it was most natural for me to commission Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr to shoot.
©️ Prohibition of two changes 丨 theft
Text 丨 Mengyu Editor 丨 Li Tong