Personal mementoes of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and spectacular dresses, hats and jewels of the late Dame Barbara Cartland highlight Sotheby's "passion for fashion" auction next Wednesday.
The Nureyev collection includes costumes, ballet shoes and personal effects, including the first travel document issued after his defection to the West. Dated July 21st, 1961, the paper bears the Siberian dancer's signature and includes visas from various European countries, Israel, the US and Australia.
The travel document is being sold in a lot with his refugee identity card and change of address document, and is expected to fetch £600 to £800 sterling (€966- €1,288).
A second lot of poignant documents and memorabilia associated with his defection includes a telegram from his parents and sister wishing him well, and another informing him of his father's death, estimated at £400 to £600.
Costumes from his performances include the signed doublet he wore as Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake in 1963. Made of black faille with elaborate gold braided tabs to the epaulettes and waist, it is signed "Nureyev" and is estimated at £2,000 to £3,000.
His black velvet doublet from a later production of Swan Lake with a gold embroidered breast panel, topaz pastes, gold rope trimming and slashed sleeves inset with ivory faille carries the same estimate.
Two pairs of leather ballet pumps, each signed on one sole, are expected to fetch £400 to £600. A print showing Nureyev posing naked is expected to make £2,000 to £3,000, while another print with him wearing black dance tights circa 1962 is expected to go for £1,000 to £1,500.
Nureyev (1938-1993) defected from the USSR while in Paris with the Kirov Ballet. His partnership with Margot Fonteyn (1919-1991) established his career and revitalised that of the English-born prima ballerina.
Barbara Cartland's dresses, hats and jewels also highlight the auction. She had a particular fondness for a distinct shade of bluey pink.
She once said: "In 1927, I visited Egypt and found Howard Carter sitting on Tutankhamun's Tomb, which he had recently discovered with the Earl of Carnarvon. I was so thrilled with the wonderful colours of the temples and tombs in the Valley of the Kings that I decided that their vivid pink and scarab blue inspired me more than any other colours and I have used them ever since."
The Cartland collection includes a heavily beaded satin full-length gown with organza panels forming a cape, estimated at £400 to £500.
A Hardy Amies organza frou-frou baby doll cocktail dress studded with pastes and crystal beads, together with a grey Hartnell mink jacket, carries an estimate of £400 to £600. A shocking-pink sequinned, beaded and fringed gown is expected to make £200 to £300, while a chiffon bejewelled gown with ostrich feather stole circa 1870 should sell for £300 to £400.
Turquoise was another favourite of the world's most prolific novelist, whose 23 tomes a year and 723 titles by 80 years of age earned her an entry in the Guinness Book of Records.
One lot, comprising a Hartnell wool coat with brown fur trim and a georgette baby doll cocktail gown, is estimated at £200 to £300. Her spectacular black velvet ball gown with fitted bodice, plunge neckline, black roses and accompanying cape with pink gems is valued at £300 to £500. The white beaded lace gown she wore for the cover of Barbara Cartland, a Scrapbook is expected to fetch £450 to £600.
Marilyn Monroe's pink silk outfit worn in The Seven Year Itch also features in the auction. A black and orange futuristic dress by Pierre Cardin is estimated at £400 to £600, while a black satin gown attributed to Coco Chanel carries the same estimate.
jmarms@irish-times.ie
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