Commode (Chest of Drawers)
- 118
Baron Nathaniel Mayer von Rothschild (1836-1905), Theresianumgasse, Vienna, by 1905;
By descent to his nephew, Baron Alphonse Mayer von Rothschild (1878-1942) and his wife, Clarice Adelaide von Rothschild (née Sebag-Montefiore, 1894-1967), Theresianumgasse, Vienna, 1905-1938;
Confiscated from the Rothschilds by German National Socialist (Nazi) forces, 1938-May 1945 [1];
Recovered by Allied forces, May 1945-August 12, 1947 [2];
Returned by Allied forces to Austria, August 12, 1947-October 16, 1947 [3];
Restituted by Austria to Clarice Adelaide von Rothschild, New York, October 16, 1947-April 2, 1948 [4];
Purchased from Rothschild by Rosenberg and Stiebel, New York, stock no. 4358, April 2, 1948-May 10, 1962;
With Rosenberg & Stiebel, on joint account with Arthur S. Vernay, Inc., May 10, 1962-April 27, 1965 [5];
Purchased from Rosenberg and Stiebel by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1965.
NOTES:
[1] The collections of Baron Alphonse and Clarice von Rothschild were confiscated by the Nazis soon after the German annexation of Austria in March 1938. This commode was taken to the Nazi depot for confiscated art objects at the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Neue Burg, Vienna, in 1939, where it was inventoried as number AR 376, “Zweiladige Kommode, vergoldete Bronzemontierung, Maramorplatte, französisch, 1750” (see Katalog beschlagnahmter Sammlungen, inbesondere der Rothschild-Sammlungen in Wien , Verlags-Nr. 4938, Staatsdruckerei Wien, 1939, Privatarchiv, reproduced in Sophie Lille, Was einmal war: Handbuch der enteigneten Kunstsammlungen Wiens (Vienna: Czernin Verlag, 2003), 1016). It was intended for Hitler’s planned Führermuseum in Linz and included in an inventory of Linz objects (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 260, Records of the Reparations and Restitutions Branch of the U.S. Allied Commission for Austria Section, General Administrative records, Linzer Kunstmuseum List, Catalog ID 1561451). The commode was transferred to the Nazi repository at the Kremsmünster Abbey, where it was assigned number KKu 837. It was later moved to the Nazi repository in a salt mine at Alt Aussee, Austria, where it was assigned inventory number lv 1206. Copies of Allied and German documents describing the commode’s wartime movements are in the NAMA curatorial files.
[2] Following the discovery of the art objects in the Alt Aussee salt mine in May 1945, the officers of the U.S. Army’s Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives Section (the “Monuments Men”) worked to catalog every looted object and return it to its rightful owner.
[3] This commode was included in an inventory of Alt Aussee objects to be transferred to the control of the Bundesdenkmalamt, Vienna, July 14, 1947 (National Archives and Records Administration, RG 260, Records of the Reparations and Restitutions Branch of the U.S. Allied Commission for Austria Section, Records Relating to Claims, Austrian Receipts, Catalog ID 1561450).
[4] Bundesdenkmalamt Archives, Vienna, Restitution Materials, Sammlung Alphons Rothschild, Karton 53/1. Copies of restitution documents provided by Anneliese Schallmeiner, Commission for Provenance Research at the Bundesdenkmalamt; see NAMA curatorial files. Frick Art Reference Library, MS 065 Rosenberg & Stiebel Archive, Photographs-Card Files.
[5] Rosenberg & Stiebel sold a half share in this object to Vernay on May 10, 1962. See Frick Art Reference Library, MS 065 Rosenberg & Stiebel Archive, Sales and Inventory Records, Purchases & Sales, 1959-1970, copy in Nelson-Atkins curatorial files.
