Antique Dealer Marcel Perron’s Collection at the Château de l’Abbaye

An impassioned autodidact and insatiable bargain hunter, Marcel Perron assembled a collection guided by an unbiased eye and extraordinary curiosity. It was on display throughout his home: the Château de l’Abbaye in Haute-Saône.

Some collectors express their taste through order, a rigorous typology or stylistic consistency. Others, few and far between, build up their worlds according to their own particular rationale, choosing pieces that follow no pre-established guidelines, but reflect a personal journey and a unique vision. Marcel Perron (1944-2018) was one of these. Self-taught, precocious and intuitive, this antique dealer turned collector filled his life with highly telling objects steeped in memories. Over three days, the 1200-odd lots in his collection are being auctioned at the Château de l’Abbaye in Haute-Saône, a residence he restored and transformed into a theater of objects. They include fine cabinet works, figures from the Far East, fragments of royal history, heroic bronzes, academic paintings and a bestiary of wooden animals, some lacquered, some with polychrome decoration. Together, these pieces draw a sensitive self-portrait of the collector.

His gallery in Cannes became a must-see for the top dealers, who visited it daily until it closed in 1986.

The Birth of a Vision between China and India

Perron’s passion for China emerged at an early age. Born in 1944, he began dealing in secondhand goods when he was only 15, out the back of his Peugeot van. He started out alongside antique dealer Raymond Brand, who became his mentor. He soon began building a personal collection of rare or unusual objects and furniture, housing it in the Château de l’Abbaye in Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité (between Vesoul and Besançon), which he bought in 1994, saving the historic site from rack and ruin. Perron’s world opens with a bestiary and mythology from other climes. A large late Qing statue of Guanyin in painted wood, 162 cm/63.8 in high, dominates the collection with benign authority. Draped in stylized waves, with hands in dhyana mudra and a calm face with black glass pupils, this figure of compassion embodies an aesthetic of quiet elevation (€6,000/€8,000). The statues is in dialogue with a painted wooden Burmese ascetic, whose hieratic rigidity expresses another version of holiness, one that is rougher and more earthly (€1,500/€2,000). One elevates, the other questions. Between them, a 19th-century rearing horse, probably from Andhra Pradesh in India, prances with a touch of the comical (€3,000/€5,000). Perron was clearly fascinated by the ritual aspect and aura of polychrome wooden figures, but did not seek to create a homogeneous collection: he preferred a mixture of these icons at the crossroads of the sacred, the light-hearted, and the mysterious. Having started his career by salvaging old doors, fireplace plates and windows from building sites to sell at flea markets, he became well-known as a key figure in the field in just a few decades. His gallery in Cannes became a must-see for the top dealers, who visited it daily until it closed in 1986. A tireless bargain hunter, Perron scoured flea markets and auction houses, learning quickly, refining his eye and developing a sound feel for unique objects.

From Trémolières to Majorelle: A Taste for the Exceptional

His finds, modest at first, involved increasingly rare and outstanding pieces over the years. He eventually unearthed a tripod attributed to Jacob Frères, which encapsulates the aesthetic of the First Empire with its architectural lines, opulent materials and symbolism inspired by ancient Rome. Crafted with thuja burl veneer, it combines a slender shape with ornamental virtuosity (€20,000/€30,000). Meanwhile, the Portrait of Marie-Clémentine Sobieska by Pierre Charles Trémolières (1703-1739) is a fine illustration of French academic painting (€10,000/€20,000). Draped in rich fabrics and wearing an ermine cloak, the granddaughter of King John III Sobieski of Poland and wife of James Francis Stuart is shown praying in an attitude of royal piety. The painting evokes her retirement to Rome in 1730, the date inscribed on the letter in the foreground. The hand of Trémolières, a pupil of François Lemoyne, can be recognized in the meticulous draftsmanship and subtle lighting. The more dramatic Gloria Victis by Antonin Mercié (1845-1916), in its monumental version cast by Barbedienne, embodies the republican heroism of a France wounded by the defeat of 1870. A winged figure in suspended flight carries a young dead soldier heavenwards. This bronze was one of the main attractions of the 1874 Salon. Its inclusion in Perron’s collection is not surprising: as someone who loved objects imbued with history and ideals, he could not fail to be moved by this sculpture elevating loss to a moral victory (€12,000/15,000).

After closing his store in 1986, Perron returned to the region of his childhood and focused on his quest for unusual objects to fill the now restored Château de l’Abbaye. The furniture he collected spoke of gestures, relationships and technical prowess. One piece is a Louis XVI rolltop desk in mahogany, with bronzes in the form of dolphins and leaf friezes, by Nicolas Grivenich, from the Comte de Salverte’s collection (€15,000/€20,000). The later pieces include an Art Deco group remarkable for its decorative consistency. It contains the Pélican cabinet created by Louis Majorelle in 1925 in collaboration with sculptor Louis Janin (€8,000/€12,000). This piece, outstanding for its virtuoso marquetry, precious woods, play with exotic species, palm trees and foliage inlaid with mother-of-pearl, was exhibited at the 1925 International Exhibition of Decorative Arts and brilliantly embodies Art Deco in its most organic form, mingling formal refinement with vibrant lines. This sale offers much more than a collection of rare objects: it paints a picture of a man with insatiable curiosity and an unbiased eye, untrammeled by the usual dictates of taste.

MARCEL PERRON ESTATE – SECOND SALE – DESIGN, FURNITURE AND OBJETS D’ART, PAINTINGS

Saturday 10 May 2025 – 14:00 (CEST) – Live

Château de l’Abbaye – 70130 Neuvelle-lès-la-Charité

De Baecque et Associés

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