In a landmark series of sales to take place in February 2026, Christie’s is proud to present the contents of one of the last great treasure houses of New York. It is a remarkable story, starting in the Gilded Age and ending in the 21st Century, representing 100 years of collecting in an apartment that remarkably has not changed hands since it was first built by Rosario Candela in 1927. The core of the collection was formed by Annie Laurie and Russell Aitken in the 1950s and 1960s, and then sensitively added to by Irene Roosevelt following her marriage to Russell in the 1980s. Irene Aitken, who continued collecting right to the end of her life, was peerless in the precision and scholarship with which she approached collecting.

To step into the Aitken apartment was to be transported to the refinement and grandeur of the 18th century. In every room one was surrounded by history, with remarkable and thoughtful groupings throughout of British and French society portraits, each with a story to tell. To this was added whimsical Meissen porcelain birds and animals, one of the world’s greatest collection of gilt-bronze and blue john objets by Matthew Boulton, precious mounted celadon porcelains, works by Fragonard, Lancret, Gainsborough, rare Savonnerie carpets, and Russell Aitken’s world-famous collection of antique European arms (much of which has been gifted to the Metropolitan Museum), all set off by an impressive array of French and English furniture by distinguished makers such as Chippendale, Cobb, Leleu and BVRB.