Featuring in our July Fine Art auction is the Mirošević-Sorgo Collection
Featuring in our July Fine Art auction is the Mirošević-Sorgo Collection. Removed from two London flats in Kensington and Earls Court, the 170 lot collection comprises fine furniture, Old Master paintings and icons, silver, Classical antiquities and curios, all by family descent. The Mirošević-Sorgo family were Dubrovnik nobility who emigrated to the U.K. in the 1940s. They counted amongst their members Count Niko Mirošević-Sorgo (1885-1966), Yugoslavian ambassador to the Vatican, who was gifted a pair of 18th century giltwood chairs by Pope Pius XII, family tradition maintains the chairs were originally in the Vatican. Offered as lot 1534 in this sale; they are estimated at £1000-1500. Other furniture in the collection is known to have been acquired directly from General Marmont, Napoleon's general who was given the title of duc de Raguse when Napoleon appointed him as governor of the Illyrian provinces. Further highlights in this collection include lot 1625, a small carved onyx or chalcedony figure of Emperor Trajan, probably 4th century A.D. and estimated at £3000-5000. Lot 1603, a 16th century Creto-Venetian icon, estimated at £2500-4000 and lot 1584 a Pompeian style late 18th century Italian painted plaster table plateau, estimated at £5000-10000. Some items were sold from the collection some decades back, including a Fra Angelico Madonna, now in the Getty Museum, which demonstrates the potential significance of this wonderful collection, much of which has been retained within the family for centuries.
