On 15 June 2023, Aguttes sold a Neo-Renaissance ensemble steeped in history. A number of items from the grand salon of the Lumière brothers, including the world's first cinema armchairs, fetched €36,400 and have now been reunited with their new owner.

"Ironically, the world's first cinema armchairs were filmed for the sale of the Lumière brothers' furniture! It was a great auction battle, with just a few pieces of furniture paying tribute to Art, History and Cinema!"

Grégoire de Thoury, expert

The Lumière brothers' grand salon. The world's first cinema armchairs at auction.

Furniture from the Grand Salon of the Palais Lumière in La Ciotat, where the first public screening of the cinematograph took place in 1895, fetched €36,400. This Neo-Renaissance ensemble, which bears witness to the birth of cinema, was offered in three lots with the right to combine them, thus joining a single new collector.

An inventory and archive photographs provide a fairly accurate reconstruction of the furniture in this monumental room, lit by a bronze electric chandelier: "eight armchairs, a four-sided footstool, a chequered table with a lion's head motif". Built in 1890 by Antoine Lumière, the Palais Lumière is, along with the Eden - one of the first cinemas - one of the most significant places in the early days of the 7th art.

The first cinema screening, held on 21 September 1895, was attended by some 150 spectators, some of whom sat in these seats. The very first projection of "animated photographic views" by the Lumière brothers marked the birth of cinema, and the realism of the movement of "L'arrivée d'un train à La Ciotat" so frightened some spectators that they left the Grand Salon of the Palais Lumière during the projection.


A SET OF THREE monumental carved walnut APPARATUS CHAIRS, the pedimented back carved with a large lion's head radiating between foliate scrolls. The armrests end in very expressive lion heads. They stand on lion paw feet linked by an H-shaped brace. Upholstery with heraldic lions among foliage on a brick background. France, late 19th century.
PROVENANCE: Grand Salon of the Palais Lumière in La Ciotat.

Top 6 of this "Haute Époque" sale

1. Lot 62 - Rare six-knife set - €42,900

2. Lots 240 - 241 - 242 - Furniture from the Grand Salon of the Palais Lumière - € 36 400 by right of reunion

3. Lot 43 - Chest of holy figures - € 13 000

4. Lot 48 - Virgin and Child - € 11 700

5. Lot 34 - Bocca di Leone - € 10 400

6. Lot 76 - Urbino, workshop of Flaminio or Orazio Fontana - € 10 400

A rare complete Renaissance knife set (lot 62) of museum quality attracted the attention of connoisseurs and far exceeded its high estimate. The Musée du Louvre, the MET and the Victoria & Albert Museum have models of knives comparable to this extremely rare complete knife set in terms of engraved decoration on a gold background and the use of mother-of-pearl (no. MRR 188 - no. 93.13.24 - no. M.604-1910). The Bargello Museum in Florence is exhibiting a knife with an identical blade, similarly engraved with an adage and with the same entablure decoration, from the collection of Louis Carrand (Lyon, 1827-1888, Florence).

Sold for €42,900, these six knives remain in private hands.

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RARE SET OF SIX STEEL BLADE KNIVES richly engraved with a four-lobed cartouche of foliage surmounted by a winged angel's head on a gold background. The back of each blade is engraved with different adages: - Hope nourishes what fortune kills - Flame does not dissolve what virtue binds - Rather die than change - Where virtue git fortune is abused - In fidelity will finish my life - Contentemet passes wealth. Each blade is hallmarked twice with the letter E. Acanthus-leaf ferrules, mother-of-pearl handles and wrought-iron and gilt capitals. Original tubular case on stand, with wooden core sheathed in painted leather decorated with four oval cartouches alternating portraits of men and women.

France, late 16th century, early 17th century. Length of each knife: 26.5 cm - Width of blade: 2.7 cm Case: Height: 36.5 cm - Diameter: 10.5 cm

(Damage and missing parts)

A chest with holy figures (lot 43), featuring seven panels on the front, embedded in the frame, fetched €13,000. Three by three, the holy figures, carved in deep relief on the panels, frame a resurrection scene, placed in the centre: Christ, standing, dressed in a perizonium and his shoulders covered with a cloak, raises his right hand in a sign of blessing.


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CHEST WITH HOLY CHARACTERS in carved oak.
Normandy, Louis XII period, Early Renaissance, circa 1510 - 1515.
Height: 73 cm - Width: 165 cm Depth: 67 cm

A Virgin and Child (lot 48), wearing a veil and a long cloak, fetched €11,700.

Carved stone VIRGIN WITH CHILD, standing, holding the Child Jesus on her right arm.
France, probably Champagne, early 16th century, circa 1530.
Height: 91 cm (Trace of polychromy, missing crown, Child's head refixed)

Click here to consult all the results.

For further information, please contact

Grégoire de Thoury
+33 1 41 92 06 46
thoury@aguttes.com