Christie’s announces An Aristocratic Château on the Côte d’Azur, offering works of art from a magnificent chateau perched above the Mediterranean. Built in 1907 by Sir Charles Benjamin Bright McLaren, Bt, 1st Baron Aberconway, PC, QC, JP (1850-1934), the Scottish Jurist, Industrialist and Landowner, and his wife Laura (née Pochin), the white Italianate villa was originally intended as a winter retreat.  Elements of the collection reflect this – with tapestries, paintings, sculpture and furniture emulating the Italian Renaissance and Baroque, including a remarkable 16^th-century altar and a 15^th-century sculpture of the Madonna. As the property went through generations of the family, the interiors and the collection evolved, and in the 1960s the chateau was redecorated by the design firm Mann & Fleming. The glamorous lifestyle with which the Riviera became synonymous after the Second World War was ever-present at the chateau, with lavish entertainment and famous guests including Cole Porter and Pablo Picasso. The gaiety of that era and the chateau’s owners in the mid-20^th century is reflected in the charming group of theatre and costume designs from the 1940s, 50s and 60s by artists such as Yves Saint Laurent, Oliver Messel and Doris Zinkheisen. The captivating interior photographs by Fritz von der Schulenberg, commissioned by Christie’s in the late 1990s, show a particular moment in time of life on the Riviera and offer a glimpse into a bygone era of grand entertainment, refinement and luxury.