Magnificence on the Block

London's Sotheby & Co.. famed art auctioneers, recently issued an elaborate 171-page volume with 62 rotogravure plates entitled, "Catalog of the Magnificent Contents of 148 Piccadilly. W. I." No. 148 Piccadilly, W. I. was built in 1865 by Lionel Nathan de Rothschild, father of the first Baron Rothschild, who was elected to Parliament for the City of London in 1847 but remained unseated for eleven years until the restrictions against Jews were removed. He continued to represent the city until 1874 and finally resigned. Lionel Rothschild filled his house with one of the world's richest collections of Dutch and Flemish paintings, 18th Century French furniture, carvings, crystal, glass, porcelain, cloisonne, tapestries, chandeliers. Last week the contents of the house, even the iron footscrapers and carriage umbrellas, were up for public Auction.

Dealers and collectors thronged the scarlet and gold ballroom, where nine rock crystal chandeliers festooned with crystal drops glittered over their heads. British Broadcasting Corp. had decided that the proceedings merited a national hearing. Art-lovers listening in heard the voice of a commentator but little else, because bids were indicated by a flick of an eyebrow or pencil, and also because the announcer was enclosed in a soundproof booth. At the end of three days, the sale's returns stood at $400,000.

The auction was ordered by Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, tall, dark, muscular grandson of the first Baron Rothschild and heir, who will be 27 years old next autumn. His reason was not penury but a lack of interest in magnificence. A strong-minded, outspoken young man of modern tastes, he played cricket at Harrow and now golfs, but his major interest is biology. He lives with his wife in a small house in Cambridge, where he has no room for ponderous treasures. He has a small but choice collection of Cezannes, Picassos, Renoirs.

Most spirited bidding in the furniture section last week was for a secretaire by Martin Carlin, cabinetmaker to Louis XVI, which Dealer Edward Duveen bought for $40,000. Top price among the paintings: $87,500, by Thomas Agnew & Sons for Pieter de Hooch's quiet Dutch Courtyard. Less costly but equally decorous were van de Velde's Calm Sea with Shipping ($10,500) and Metsu's Woman Cleaning Fish ($14,000). Victor Rothschild's ancestors apparently did not go in for nudes.

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