18th-Century Allan Ramsay Portrait and Louis XIV Gilt-Bronze Mounted Bureau-Plat by André-Charles Boulle Lead Sotheby’s Sale of the Jordan Saunders Collection

An Allan Ramsay portrait of Willielma Campbell (1741 – 1786), one of the most prolific benefactors and evangelical activists in 18th-century Scotland, is a leading lot in this Sotheby’s auction. The Elegance & Wonder: The Jordan Saunders Collection event will offer more than 300 pieces of decorative art, dining and tableware, lighting, furniture, rugs, and more. The featured portrait by Allan Ramsay captured his subject’s demeanor on the occasion of her 1761 nuptials to John Campbell (1738 – 1771), Viscount Glenorchy. Willielma Campbell circulated in elite Edinburgh society, where she met the Viscount through her stepfather, Lord Charles Erskine Tinwald (1680 – 1763), a prominent judge. Her wedding facilitated Willielma’s entrance “into the pomp and splendor of high life,” an event commemorated by this refined painting with an elaborate frame. Ramsay’s masterful ability to render a range of surface textures and materials, including pearls, silver and pink thread, and intricate lacework is showcased in this portrait.

The Elegance & Wonder auction celebrates the interiors created by the collector and philanthropist Jordan Saunders in her Park Avenue penthouse triplex. Her collection of Old Master paintings is currently on loan to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Classic English and European furniture formerly belonging to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor will be available. Among these is a small table attributed to André-Charles Boulle. Cabinetmaker to Louis XIV, André-Charles Boulle (1648 – 1732) was renowned for perfecting the technique of brass and tortoiseshell marquetry that came to bear his name. Boulle also popularized and possibly invented two of the most iconic types of French furniture: the commode with drawers and the bureau plat in the form of a writing desk. View the full Elegance & Wonder: The Jordan Saunders Collection catalog by visiting Sotheby’s.