The night before I am due to meet Princess Maria-Theodora (Dora) Loewenstein, to talk about the auction of her late ex-husband’s collection, I bump into an Italian friend of his, who describes him as if he were a dandy stepping out the pages of Proust: ‘He was a consummate aesthete and an incredible collector and let me tell you two things about his family,’ he says. ‘They are so old they are in Dante, the Four Seasons in Florence was once their house.’ Count Manfredi della Gherardesca, interior decorator, art dealer, purveyor of taste, bridger of old and new worlds, died unexpectedly aged 60 nearly two years ago at his home in Italy, leaving his ex-wife and two children with the eventual responsibility of sorting out a labyrinthine complexity of possessions, both beautiful and bizarre. Many of these are in the Dreweatts sale, Alchemy of Design: The Collection of Count Manfredi della Gherardesca, later this month. Belgian hot chocolate pots, marble Capricorns like the ones in the Boboli Gardens, Fornasetti chairs, pheasants and poodles and terracotta portrait medallions and... There is so much muchness here that even a committed maximalist may need a lie down.

La noche antes de reunirme con la princesa María Teodora (Dora) Loewenstein para hablar sobre la subasta de la colección de su difunto exmarido, me encuentro con un amigo italiano suyo, que lo describe como si fuera un dandy que sale al exterior. las páginas de Proust: "Era un esteta consumado y un coleccionista increíble y déjame contarte dos cosas sobre su familia", dice. "Son tan viejos que están en Dante, el Four Seasons de Florencia fue una vez su casa". El conde Manfredi della Gherardesca, decorador de interiores, marchante de arte, proveedor de gusto, puente entre el viejo y el nuevo mundo, murió inesperadamente a los 60 años hace casi dos años en su casa de Italia, dejando a su ex esposa y a sus dos hijos con la eventual responsabilidad de clasificar una complejidad laberíntica de posesiones, tanto hermosas como extrañas. Muchos de estos se encuentran en la venta de Drewatts, Alchemy of Design: The Collection of Count Manfredi della Gherardesca, a finales de este mes. Jarras de chocolate caliente belga, Capricornio de mármol como los del Jardín de Bóboli, sillas Fornasetti, faisanes, caniches y medallones de retratos de terracota y... Hay tanta multiplicidad aquí que incluso un maximalista comprometido puede necesitar tumbarse.