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Mildred Barnes Bliss and Robert Woods Bliss to Royall Tyler, December 14, 1929

Telegram. 14 December 1929Saturday.
Tyler 29 rue Astorg, Paris

Heureux prèter tout objet désiréThe Bliss objects exhibited at the Exposition internationale d’art byzantin (1931) were: BZ.1921.6–9, BZ.1924.5, BZ.1927.1, BZ.1928.6, BZ.1928.7, BZ.1928.8–17, BZ.1929.1, BZ.1929.2, and BZ.1930.10. Linea Nous envoyons lettre musee StockholmSee letter of August 22, 1929. Achetez objets scythesThis collection was not acquired. See letters of October 12, 1929; December 15, 1929 [1]; December 15, 1929 [2]; and December 17, 1929 [1]. Kalebjian seulement si premier ordre, idem tableAlthough the Blisses acquired this table, it is no longer in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and it has not been identified. In various letters, the table is described as Spanish, made of walnut with a single board top, and measuring approximately 350 cm x 90 cm. The dealer was Boutreux on the Île de la Cité, Paris. See letters of May 19, 1929; December 15, 1929 [1]; December 15, 1929 [2]; December 28, 1929; and May 16, 1930. que MalyeThérèse Malye (1886–1951), Mildred Barnes Bliss’s social secretary in Paris. expedirait Washington Linea Vignier envoie photo mosaïque byzantineIn a letter to Mildred Barnes Bliss dated November 14, 1929, Charles Vignier gave the mosaics measurements as 150 cm x 71 cm (approximately 59 in. x 28 in.). The price quoted for the mosaic was 850,000 French francs. Byzantine Collection, Vignier file. parait superbe mais peuêtre [sic] fausse prix terrible huit cent cinquante Succomberons si qualité celle StocletPresumably the Byzantine wall mosaic fragment of Christ dated to the eleventh or twelfth centuries that Stoclet acquired at an unknown date. See Jules Pierre van Goidsenhoven, Adolphe Stoclet Collection (Brussels: Published under the direction of J. P. van Goidsenhoven, 1956), 154–57. In 2008, this mosaic was sold at auction by Pierre Bergé & Associés, Paris, on May 29, 2008, no. 560. Cablez opinion détaillée d’urgence Tendresses Elisina deuil frèreLuigi (Louis Percy) Palamidessi de Castle (1876–1929). Réjouissons convalescence Bill Felicitations chapitauxCapital with the Sacrifice of Isaac, Romanesque, ca. 1150, limestone, Île-de-France, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. A.6-1968. See letter of July 24, 1929. Mildred Barnes Bliss’s use of the plural, chapitaux, may be a confusion with Royall Tyler’s acquisition of a Romanesque capital and John Hugh Smith’s acquisition of two. See letter of September 28, 1929. Merci Pierre DenisPierre Denis (1883–1951), a French diplomat, banker, and author who assisted Daniel Serruys in the drafting of various economic clauses in the Versailles Treaty after the First World War. This led to a brief diplomatic career where he spent seven years as assistant secretary to the Reparation Committee at the League of Nations secretariat. In 1926, he became an employee of the Paris branch of the New York-based Blair Bank. By 1929, he was the author of several books, including La République Argentine: La mise en valeur du pays (Paris: Armand Colin, 1920), which was published in English as The Argentine Republic, Its Development and Progress (London: T. F. Unwin Ltd., 1922). See letter of October 13, 1929. Regrette retard inévitable envoi cidessus Pensons partir dix janvier Chile route Californie Remerciements affectueux pour tout“Happy to lend any object desired Stop. We are sending letter to Stockholm museum. Buy Scythian objects from Kalebdjian only if first rate; the same for the table which Malye will ship to Washington Stop. Vignier sends Byzantine mosaic picture; seems superb but perhaps fake. Terrible price: eight hundred fifty. We will succumb if the quality is that of Stoclet’s. Cable detailed opinion; urgent. Tender remembrances to Elisina mourning brother. We rejoice in Bill’s convalescence. Congratulations [on the] capitals. Thank you [for] Pierre Denis, sorry unavoidable delay in sending above. We think to leave Chile January 10th, route to California. Affectionate thanks for everything.”

Milrob

 
Associated Places: Paris (France)
Associated Things: Kalebdjian Frères