Chinese Pale Celadon Jade Covered Vase. Estimate: $500,000 - 700,000. Photo Doyles New York 

Featuring Important Jades from the Estate of Baron Pierre DeMenasce, Formerly from the Collection of his Father, Baron George DeMenasce 

Scheduled during Asia Week New York, Doyle New York’s March 17, 2014 Asian Works of Art auction presents the arts of China, Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia dating from the Neolithic Period through the 20th century. Offerings include pottery and porcelain, jade, ivory, scholar’s objects, bronzes, screens, furniture and paintings.

The Estate of Baron Pierre DeMenasce
Highlighting the auction is property from the Estate of Baron Pierre DeMenasce (1924-2013). A lifelong New Yorker, Baron Pierre was the son of Baron George DeMenasce (1891-1967), a leader of the Sephardic community in Alexandria, Egypt, and a financier with ties to Austria and England. Pierre’s grandfather, Baron Felix DeMenasce (1862-1943), was a financier and one of the wealthiest men in Egypt. In 1873, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria elevated the family to the peerage. 

During World War II, Baron George DeMenasce opened his lavish mansion in Alexandria for concerts to entertain British servicemen. He was later knighted as a member of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). Baron George married New Yorker Elenore Kaskel, and they had one child, Pierre. The marriage was short-lived, and the mother and son moved back to New York, to an elegant home on Park Avenue, where Pierre lived for the rest of his life. 

Baron Pierre was a sophisticated connoisseur of the arts, a trait he inherited from his father, Baron George, who assembled his own collection of Chinese porcelains and works of art. Some of those pieces were sold in London in the early 1970s. 

Chinese works of art from the Estate of Baron Pierre DeMenasce comprise over thirty lots in the March 17 sale. Featured are pieces formerly in the collection of his father, Baron George DeMenasce.

Chinese Pale Celadon Jade Tulu. Estimate: $80,000 - 120,000. Photo Doyles New York

Chinese White Jade Covered Wine Pot. Estimate: $200,000 - 300,000. Photo Doyles New York