Meissonnier tureen: up to £6m at Christie’s London

On 29 October 2026 Christie’s announced the London sale, on 1 and 2 December, of the Blaquier-Arrieta collection, assembled in Argentina. Its centrepiece is a silver tureen by Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier, estimated at 4 to 6 million pounds sterling. Commissioned for the 2nd Duke of Kingston, it forms a pair with a tureen now held by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

A Meissonnier tureen made for Kingston

The piece is a Louis XV silver tureen, or terrine à oille, with its cover and stand. It bears the signature of Juste-Aurèle Meissonnier (1695-1750) and Paris hallmarks for 1735 to 1740, along with the marks of the silversmiths Henry Adnet and Pierre-François Bonnestrenne. Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston, ordered it in Paris between 1734 and 1736 together with a second tureen: the piece on offer is one of a pair. An 18th-century etching shows the two tureens on either side of a table centrepiece that was probably never made.

Over 20 kilos of silver, from crab to celery

The body of the tureen takes the form of a stylised shell, resting on bunches of celery and onions and on a carrot whose leaves form the handles. On the cover, a duck, a crab, a fish, an oyster and snails mingle with an artichoke and leafy vegetables, all cast from life. The rocaille stand is supported on one side by a bundle of salsify. The whole piece weighs more than 20 kilos.

Geneva, 1977: 2.79 million Swiss francs

In November 1977 Christie’s offered the two tureens together in Geneva. The pair fetched 2.79 million Swiss francs, then a world auction record for silver. The buyer later split them up: the one now returning to the market entered the collection of Baron Heinz Thyssen-Bornemisza. Christie’s does not say when or how it then passed into the hands of the Blaquier family.

Where is the other tureen of the pair?

The second tureen belongs to the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, under inventory number 1977.182; an exhibition devoted to Meissonnier is currently on there. Dated 1735-1738 by the museum, it weighs nearly 20 kilos. It bears a crayfish and a partridge, where the Christie’s tureen displays a duck, a crab and a fish. Its provenance runs through Elizabeth Chudleigh, Duchess of Kingston, the Bezborodko family in Russia, Polovtsoff, then J. Pierpont Morgan.

The Blaquier-Arrieta collection in three parts

The tureen leads the collection of Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier (1931-2020) and Carlos Pedro Blaquier (1927-2023), described by Christie’s as the most important private collection in Argentina. Nelly Arrieta de Blaquier began collecting silver with the dealer Jacques Helft (1891-1980); the Frick Collection honoured her in 2010. Charles Cator, deputy chairman of Christie’s International, speaks of more than twenty years spent working alongside the collector.

Part I comprises 50 lots, Part II around 280, with estimates ranging from 800 to 6,000,000 pounds. A Part III will be offered in 2027 in an online silver sale in Paris.

Other lots include a pair of Louis XV silver wine coolers bearing the mark of Claude Ballin II (Paris, 1744), estimated at 800,000 to 1,200,000 pounds, Auguste Rodin’s Meditation, a bronze cast by Rudier in 1927 (300,000 to 500,000 pounds), a still life by Jan Brueghel II (300,000 to 500,000 pounds) and a Limoges enamel plaque attributed to Pierre Reymond (30,000 to 50,000 pounds).

Where to see the tureen before the sale

The highlights of the collection are on view in Paris, at Christie’s, 9 avenue Matignon, from 29 October to 3 November 2026. The full collection will then be shown in London from 23 November to 1 December, ahead of the two live sales on 1 and 2 December at 8 King Street, a high point of London’s Classic Week.

For more art market benchmarks, see the record price of the Salvator Mundi and the David Hockney canvas estimated at 2.5 million pounds sterling.

Information checked on 30 October 2026. Sources: Christie’s press release of 29 October 2026, sale page on christies.com, twin tureen entry at the Cleveland Museum of Art.