Page 142 - Art De' Asie Christie's Paris December 16, 2022

THE MARX COLLECTION

OF CHINESE ART

馬克思中國藝術⑩珍藏

(LOTS 132-149)

obin Marx (1923-1975) was a merchant banker with an er-
udite passion for Chinese works of art, particularly jades.
RBy the early 1950s he had built an impressive collection
of jade carvings and porcelain with the help and guidance of
celebrated London dealer Peter Sparks of John Sparks.
Robin came from a highly cultured family. He was a distant rela-
tive of the influential economist and historian Karl Marx, while
his father Hermann Marx (1881-1947) was a print collector and
renowned bibliophile. On his death, Hermann bequeathed a
significant part of his library to the British Museum and the re-
mainder was dispersed in a dedicated sale at Sotheby’s in 1948.
Robin’s remarkable sister Erica Marx, the poet and founder of
The Hand and Flower Press, in Ashford, Kent was also a biblio-
Robin Marx (1923-1975) phile, forming her own, albeit more modest, collection of rare
books
At the age of 21, Robin travelled to Canada to join the Royal Canadian Air Force
and flew as a pilot in WWII. After war ended, he moved back to the UK to work
at the merchant bank, Cull & Company, of which his father was co-founder and
the acknowledged financial brains. A fellow employee at Cull & Company was
Ian Fleming.
Robin married Fay Kemball in 1950, and they moved into the house where he
would live for the rest of his life, Side Ley, in St George’s Hill in Weybridge.
They raised two children. He was a keen sailor, fisherman and horse racing
enthusiast, regularly sharing a box at the races with Princess Margaret. Fay
Marx, who passed away in 2021, kept his collection on loving display in the
family home in memory of Robin.

Cabinet showing the collection in
the familly home including lots 132,
136 and 137.

Cabinet showing the collection in the
familly home including lots 134, 135, 138,
140 139 and 142. 141