France to sell some of nation’s antique furniture to support hospitals

France is to sell off some of the nation’s antique furniture to support the country’s hard-pressed hospitals.

The Mobilier National, the national furniture collection, is drawing up a list of objects in storage that will be auctioned off in September.

It is not yet known exactly what will be sold and officials did not respond to requests for details, but French media reported that about 100 objects dating from the 19th century, particularly from the reign of Louis-Philippe I between 1830 and 1848, will be selected.

The sale of “declassified” objects from the national collection is not unknown, but it is reportedly rare for such a large number to come on the market at the same time.

The auction, organised to “contribute to the national effort to support hospitals”, will take place on the Journées du Patrimoine (heritage days) on the weekend of 20-21 September. Proceeds will go to the Foundation for Paris Hospitals and French Hospitals, whose president is the first lady, Brigitte Macron.

Hervé Lemoine, the director of the Mobilier National, said a list would be drawn up of furniture that had little heritage value and had not been used by anyone significant. The organisation’s curators would have to unanimously agree on what objects would be sold to avoid “squandering the family silver”, Lemoine told Le Figaro

The Mobilier National, which is responsible for furnishing official buildings including the Élysée Palace, contains more than 130,000 rugs, chandeliers, chairs, ceramics, porcelain, furnishings, desks and other objects. A year ago, it published details of 78,000 objects after being criticised by the state accountants, the Cours des Comptes, for its management of the collection.

To support French artisans and traditional creators during the coronavirus lockdown, Lemoine also announced the organisation, overseen by the culture ministry, would be commissioning new works and restoration projects.

“Our first action will be to commission work to restore all the national collection by appealing to all craftspeople,” he told FranceInfo. “The second will be to set up a special acquisitions committee to which young designers and creators can suggest their ideas and projects, that we can buy then make.”

French hospitals will also benefit from the sale of original drawings by the late Asterix co-creator Albert Uderzo, at auction next month. Uderzo died in hospital aged 92 last month.

In a statement, the artist’s wife, Ada, said: “My husband was deeply touched by the terrible healthcare crisis that we are going through. A month after his passing, my daughter Sylvie and I were determined to carry out what he would have done himself: by supporting and thanking caregivers, the new heroes in every French village!”

The auction will include five original pages of bandes desinées by Uderzo, three from Asterix – the world famous Gaul created by Uderzo and René Goscinny – and and two from other story books.

The Asterix pages, from the books La Galère d’Obélix (Asterix and Obelix All At Sea), Astérix et Latraviata (Asterix and the Actress) and La Rose et le Glaive (Asterix and the Secret Weapon), are estimated at €80,000-€120,000 (£70,000-£104,000) each.

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