Page 33 - Bonhams Cornette Saint Cyr, Property from the estate of Jean-Pierre Rousset (1936-2021)

Buddha Sheltered by the Serpent King Muchalinda Jean-Pierre Rousset dans son appartement à Puteaux,
in grey sandstone années 1990
Cambodia, 11th century
68.58 x 48.26 cm
The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City,
Missouri.
Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust, 30-26.
Photo: John Lamberton.

Robert was also a family man, inviting his younger brother Léon When Jean-Pierre officially joined the family gallery in 1960, he
(1903 -1994), Jean-Pierre's father, to join him in the gallery. However, was twenty-four years old. His eye was already well developed
the experience was short-lived because Léon, who was impatient and uncompromising and he was passionate and exacting about
by nature and more interested in sports, could not stand waiting for the authenticity of the pieces. The man who was being trained to
days for a hypothetical customer to enter the shop. Ten times French take over the gallery one day spent his time looking for Far Eastern
champion and four times European champion in speedboat racing, objects dating from the Neolithic period to the 18th century. A
Léon quickly abandoned the gallery to devote himself to water sports generalist in the field, he had been trained all at once about China,
and at the same time took over their father's insurance business. Japan, India, Nepal, Cambodia, South East Asia and Korea. His
Their sister Suzanne came to work at the gallery. She remained preference? Sculpture. Whether it was Indian, Chinese or Khmer, it
there until her retirement in the early 1970s. Single and childless, she particularly touched Jean-Pierre. He managed his private collection,
devoted herself entirely to the gallery’s business, standing in for her as well as that of the gallery, with seriousness, method and
brother Robert when he was away. When Robert, fearing the arrival meticulousness, "to the point of obsession" according to his son
of the communists in France after the Second World War, left for Mike.
New York from 1959 to 1962 to open his "Arts of Asia" gallery near
the Fuller Building, it was Suzanne who replaced him at the head of Like his uncle Robert, Jean-Pierre was a very good manager,
the Paris gallery.His preference? Export china, "objets alimentaires" cautious in his purchases and a formidable negotiator. His sales
as they used to say. "You'd have to sell two Famille Rose plates a technique? Decisiveness. When a customer hesitated, offering to
day to keep the shop going," Jean-Pierre used to say to his son think about it and come back the next day, Jean-Pierre would leave
Mike. With no children of his own, Robert took under his wing his him no choice. He would make him understand with aplomb and
nephew and niece, Léon's children, Anne-Marie and Jean-Pierre. conviction that the price negotiated was only valid that day and that
He loved to wander with them through the gallery's exhibition rooms tomorrow it would not be the same. The rule? Never give an image
and storerooms, telling them stories about each piece while training of the piece and forbid anyone entering the gallery to photograph the
their eye. Robert passed on his knowledge and passion to Jean- objects. For him, a photograph circulating on the market would kill
Pierre who later did the same with his son Mike and nephew Hervé. the object.
Robert's goal was to train the next generation to take over the gallery.
He spent hours cataloguing each piece, commenting endlessly on
This later became Jean-Pierre's goal as well. Having gone to the style, the aesthetics, the provenance, ... A daily exercise that he
Casablanca in the 1950s to do his military service, upon his return indulged in until his last breath. The objects, he loved and respected.
to France he was sent by his uncle to train with the great expert in "An object of art has to be deserved", he used to say. In the gallery,
Asian art and lifelong friend, Michel Beurdeley, whose numerous the masterpieces were kept hidden behind a curtain, because only
publications are still reference books today: Chinese Furniture, Qing true connoisseurs could admire them, those worthy of understanding
Porcelain –Famille Vert, Famille Rose, Chinese Trade Porcelain, and appreciating their beauty and importance. The approach had to
Chinese Ceramics, The Clouds and The Rain - The Art of Love in be academic and knowledge the rule.
China, Giuseppe Castiglione - A Jesuit Painter at the Court of the
Chinese Emperors, Erotic Art of Japan...

THE ROUSSET COLLECTION | 31