Royal Taste Master

While surveying the mountain range of 40,000 possessions of the late Duke and Duchess of Windsor at Sotheby’s, one tony decorator whispered, “It’s ghastly, just like their vapid lives.” The sight of the porcelain pugs that the duchess collected in droves led one matron to pronounce the Windsors’ taste “pugnacious.”

Yes, a preserved morsel of the duke and duchess’ wedding cake was snapped up by a San Francisco man for an almost inconceivable $29,900 Thursday, the first of nine days of sales here. Perhaps more important, the furnishings created and chosen by the legendary French decorator Stephane Boudin for the Windsor villa on the edge of the Bois de Boulogne in Paris achieved world-record prices--in some cases, 12 times the original estimates.

The Windsor collection constitutes the largest concentration of furnishings by Boudin, notes Joseph Friedman of Sotheby’s, who spent 10 years cataloging the Windsors’ possessions for Mohammed Fayed, owner of the late duke’s Paris retreat and its contents, as well as the Paris Ritz.

If one clears away the pettiness, the politics and the gossip, and disregards the kilts and paintings and swords, the Windsor interiors and furnishings embody an important chapter in the history of design. Friedman says they “reflect the highest standards of Stephane Boudin”--the legendary master of classic French taste and presiding genius in the Parisian decorating firm Maison Jansen, from 1923 until his death in 1967.

This mustachioed and impeccably dressed Frenchman was hardly a stranger on these shores, even if he liked to keep in the background. As first lady, Jacqueline Kennedy commissioned him to redo and restore the White House, and his unparalleled level of historical accuracy in restoration work continues to influence museum curators to this day. As Kennedy said, “When you saw him work, you saw what no American decorator could do. . . . [He gave the rooms] a sense of state, ceremony, arrival and grandeur.”

It was this grandeur that captivated his clients, the creme de la creme of international society. They included Stavros Niarchos of the Greek shipping line; Marella Agnelli of the vast Fiat fortune; the king of Belgium; the shah of Iran; CBS’ William Paley and his wife, Babe; former Ambassador Pamela Harriman; and socialites Anne Bass and C.Z. Guest, as well as the Windsors, for whom he worked from the 1930s straight through the ‘60s.

To his clients, Boudin brought formidable resources. Maison Jansen was a comprehensive decorating establishment with an in-house corps of cabinetmakers, master carpenters, gilders, trompe l’oeil painters, upholsterers and furniture refinishers. In addition, Jansen maintained an extensive library of period pattern books and textiles.

Such a noted taste maker as New York decorator David Easton, known for his meticulous classical residences, says of the Windsor villa, “It still beats the excess of Aaron Spelling and the just plain enormous square footage of new houses of today. The Windsors’ grand foyer and the main salon remain the epitome of style, elegance and grandeur.”

*

Unfortunately, the room settings at Sotheby’s provide only a partial glimpse of Boudin’s work. More than 60 superb Louis XIV, XV and XVI pieces were given to Versailles, gold boxes went to the Louvre and prize Meissen porcelain to the Musee de Sevres. And even though some of the remaining furnishings are worn and scuffed up, “they are still stylish in an international way,” adds Los Angeles decorator Rose Tarlow, who attended a preview and called the collection far more stylish than the belongings of Jacqueline Onassis, which were auctioned here in 1996. It’s that mix of centuries and cultures--good 18th century English furniture, touches of chinoiserie, leopard-skin pillows and blackamoor sculptures with original French pieces--all staged by Boudin that continues to be stunning.

The grand entrance hall with its richly lacquered trompe l’oeil ceiling, polychrome marbled walls, sweeping staircase, royal banners, highly exaggerated eagle console tables and ornate light fixtures with the royal coat of arms is the height of theatrical illusion--the perfect entrance for a former king and his consort.

“Just as Boudin is raising one curtain, another one goes up,” observes James A. Abbott, decorative arts curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art and author of “Designing Camelot,” the first study of the Kennedy White House restoration, who believes the Windsor interiors represent Boudin’s most superlative efforts.

The dining room displays another classic Boudin feature: the use of boiserie, 18th century French paneling. Boudin had the paneling scrubbed, dragged and glazed to perfection in a cloisonne blue, and he even included small minstrel’s boxes. Once again, it’s part grandeur and part stage set.

What distinguishes the interiors is more than just the rich colors, the grand scale and precious details--it’s the unique furnishings he created. To Friedman, the pivotal piece on auction is a Louis XV-style desk faced entirely with mirrors emblazoned and etched with gold arabesques. Dating from the 1930s, the desk, the only one of its kind, was snapped up for $107,000 by fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger, who also paid $134,500 for the pair of eagle console tables.

“The duke and duchess had great taste, and now I have some of their furnishings to pass down to my four children,” said Hilfiger, who bought them for his Connecticut home.

Like the desk, Boudin’s furnishings here, with their rich gilding and mix of styles and fantasy (termed “Jansen pieces”), number more than 60.

“They provide a sense of authentic international style and Boudin’s sumptuous touches,” says New York antique dealer R. Louis Bofferding, who has sold to such L.A. decorators as Betty Jordan Young and Thomas Beaton.

Boudin was also known for nurturing his clients’ tastes while guiding them on shopping trips. Wallis Windsor, whom he called “my duchess” and who died in 1986, wrote with warm appreciation of those “endless afternoons given to combing the antique shops and the art galleries of the Left Bank, picking up here a piece of Sevres or Meissen for a table or a vitrine.”

*

Obviously, Boudin’s interiors aren’t for everyone.

“Just to keep up the more than 2,000 linens, including satin sheets, intricately appliqued tablecloths and even cocktail napkins in the shape of Gordon’s Gin bottles, took an army of servants,” points out Sotheby’s textile expert Kerry Taylor. But then, the Windsors had a household staff of 18.

And they took Boudin’s style of mannered luxury to the nth degree with silver-plated dog bowls for Pookie, Trooper and Dizzy, 40-plus sets of china, a room devoted to personal stationery, and more than 10,000 photos in which they immortalized their comings and goings.

While the Windsors are easily lampooned for their excess, they really personified a lost sense of luxury, says Paul Manno, who managed Jansen’s New York office for half a century, until 1987, when Jansen closed.

“The Paleys, the Guinesses and the Kennedys represent real luxury because a love of beauty guided them,” he says.

It’s possible to convey some of that flair on a smaller scale, by establishing a small collection of fine porcelain or adding a piece or two of Louis XVI-style furniture.

He’s aware of a boom in chateau-sized homes rising in South Florida, Southern California and the Northwest, mentioning specifically Bill Gates’ 45,000-square-foot pad nearing completion outside Seattle. But these represent a completely different world.

“Yes, people today have enormous amounts of money and build enormous houses, but few have any taste, much less the interest and time to acquire it,” Manno says sadly.