Do you know Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, eighteenth Duchess of Alba?

Personally I Had never heard of her before!

Yet Cayetana, born in 1926, is the most titled aristocrat in the world five times duchess, eighteen times marquise, twenty times countess, fourteen times Grandee of Spain.
In addition, she has been a real hype since 2011, as she became the most noble Cougar lady, marrying a 24 years younger man.
Its heritage is huge and it has recently been sharing among his descendants, his son receiving the Liria Palace in Madrid.

Cayetana's father decided to offer to his young wife, Dona Maria, a bathroom and a sumptuous boudoir, whose furniture were commissioned in 1921 to Armand Albert Rateau (1882-1938).

" For the house of Alba " these are the only existing furniture a the whole set was destroyed " the Liria Palace having burned during the Spanish Civil War and rebuilt in 1945.

Commissioned between 1920-1921 by her husband, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falco (1878-1953), 17th Duke of Alba, probably on the occasion of their marriage on 7th October 1920 at the Spanish Embassy in London, these pieces are amongst the most famous and legendary creations produced by the designer/cabinet maker/sculptor, trained at the renowned École Boulle.

Around the same time, Rateau was commissioned to create bronze pieces for the Blumenthal swimming pool in New York, and was asked to manage the interior of renowned fashion design Jeanne Lanvin’s Paris apartment and Le Vesinet houses.

The estimates of these very rare pieces of furniture created by Armand Albert Rateau, one of the most sophisticated French designer of the early 1920s in France, are pretty low....

Let's bet they will reach record breaking prices!

Christie's, le jeudi 23 mai, de 10 h à 18h, 9 avenue Matignon (8e), www.christies.com