Next Wednesday, Christie’s New York is selling a huge selection of fine English and French antiques, old master paintings, silver, porcelain and carpets from Partridge, the century-old gallery on Bond Street in London. The presale view begins tomorrow.

In January, Mark Law, the 40-year-old owner of Albert Amor, a London gallery specializing in 18th-century English porcelain, bought Partridge.

“Partridge is the last great Edwardian gallery still trading for its original purpose,” Mr. Law said. “It was built in 1914 as an art gallery and is still trading from those premises,” he said of the current headquarters. Mr. Law is executive chairman, and Frank Partridge, the grandson of the founder, is president.

Mr. Law approached Christie’s for financial help last year, and the auction house agreed to sell enough property from the gallery (more than 200 lots) to recoup its loan.

The sale is particularly strong in French antiques, including a Louis XVI cylinder desk with the stamp of Ferdinand Bury, circa 1780, and a pair of Louis XV giltwood consoles with carved dragons, one of them formerly owned by Hubert de Givenchy, the couturier.

“When we took over, the stock was 70 percent Continental and 30 percent English,” Mr. Law said. “I want to switch it to 60 percent English and 40 percent Continental.”

Posted: 05|12|06 at 10:00 am. Filed under: US News.