FURNITURE & DESIGN An exceptional carved mahogany bed, second half 19th-century (est. £500,000-800,000) Like no other country in Europe, France had a ripe tradition of magnificent courtesans of varied backgrounds – ladies belonging to a demi-monde where they were able to use their lovers’ funds to transform themselves into impeccable hostesses of the capital’s finest salons. The precise history of this unique commission remains shrouded in history, yet it has traditionally been associated with the Wim Delvoye, Pipe 1, 2000 (illustrated left, est. £6,000-8,000) Nobuyoshi Araki, ‘Untitled, Rooms)’, (illustrated right, est. £6,000-8,000) (Hotel 1993-4  legendary Hôtel de la Païva, the Champs- Elysée love nest of Esther Lachmann - the richest and most notorious demi- mondaine of the Second Empire. The matchless bateau-lit found its way into ‘La Fleur Blanche’ notorious and celebrated brothel at 6 Rue des Moulins. Frequented by international high society, it was most notably the maison de close in which artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec famously set up his easel - in whose biography the bed is described in detail. Following the closure of all brothels after the Second World War, the contents of La Fleur Blanche were dispersed at auction in 1946. Made in Cuban Mahogany, the bed stands apart for the true uniqueness of its bold fluidity, as it anticipates the modern and graceful lines of Art Nouveau. Ettore Sottsass, ‘Shiva’ Vase, designed 1973 (est. £200-300) Breaking with the minimalist aesthetic that characterised furniture design in the 1970s, Ettore Sottsass and the Milan-based Memphis group revolutionised cutting-edge design, introducing fun, humour and strikingly bold colour combinations. This cutting-edge design with no limits and no boundaries resulted in countless irreverent designs such as the Shiva vase – named after one of the principal deities of Hinduism.

OLD MASTER
Nicolaes Pietersz. Berchem and studio, Jupiter disguised as Diana seducing the nymph Callisto (est. £30,000-40,000) This elegant scene of seduction is inspired by an episode recounted by the poet Ovid in Metamorphoses. It depicts the bare-breasted nymph Callisto, Diana’s favourite, embraced by the god Jupiter in the guise of the goddess herself. The son of renowned still-life painter Pieter Claesz., Nicolaes Berchem was an important and influential figure of the Dutch Golden Age. Ovid’s Metamorphoses, with its vivid descriptions of the lives and loves of the gods, enjoyed considerable popularity. The appeal of this particular episode for its intended audience lies as much in the ambiguity of gender roles as it does in any moralising content about adulterous adventures or easy seduction. Indeed, the subject inspired a number of artworks by artists including Rubens, Boucher and Fragonard.

THE SILK ROAD
Japanese Erotic (Shunga) handscroll Edo Period, late 17th-century (est. £30,000- 40,000) Free from any Christian identification of sex with sin, Japanese Shunga art was explicit about sex creating a luxurious ‘utopia of pleasure’. A couple making acrobatic love on a lake, Mewar, North India, 18th-century (est. £2,000-3,000) The treatment of love in Indian art is as diverse as the literature on the subject, whose topics range from the secrets of love, to the light of love, the garland of love, the sprout of love or of course the well-known Kama Sutra. A Green Glass Fertility Talisman, Persian, 10th-Century (est. £4,000-6,000) Of characteristic phallic form, this talisman draws on an ancient cult tradition centring on fertility, whose potency endured in the Islamic period.

RUSSIAN ART
Pavel Tchelitchew, Bathers, 1938 (est. £300,000-500,000) Pavel Tchelitchew was born in Russia at the end of the 19th-century but fled following the Revolution of 1918. He eventually found his way to Paris where he lived in the artistic neighbourhood of Montparnasse and moved in intellectual circles that included Edith Sitwell and Gertrude Stein, his most significant patrons. Bathers depicts the artist’s partner, the writer and publisher Charles Henri Ford – recognisable on the left wearing his incongruous pink hat –and centre stage, the aggressively foreshortened figure of the New York City Ballet dancer Nicholas Magallanes. The painting once hung on the bedroom wall of one of the 20th-century’s most famous grands horizontals and a first-hand account recollects that it was occasionally hung upside down or upon the ceiling.