JUNE 2 & 3, 2015 AT 6PM
Walker’s is pleased to present its Spring Canadian, Asian and International Fine Arts Auction. This sale promises to be exceptional due to the diversity and excellence of the fine and decorative arts being offered from distinguished collections. In particular, we are proud to have been entrusted with the sale of the Henrietta Antony Estate. Ms Antony’s outstanding international collection of antique furniture, porcelain, chandeliers, silver and paintings was housed in her Westmount and Sutton, Quebec homes and has been brought to Walker’s Ottawa location for this sale. Ms Antony was a prominent, longstanding member of the Montreal antique dealers’ community with a shop in Westmount’s prestigious Greene Avenue shopping district. Henrietta Antony immigrated to Canada from Czechoslovakia in 1949 and settled in Montreal where at the age of sixteen she found work making custom lampshades for a wage of 50 cents per hour. Ambitious, she opened a china repair shop and, over time, learned about and started trading in antiques and lamps. In 1978 Henrietta Antony bought and moved her shop to the Royal Bank Building at the corner of Greene Avenue and St. Catherine West which was designed by Edward Maxwell in 1901. Henrietta Antony travelled extensively to Europe and America and, through her connections and sources in New York City, London, Paris, Vienna and other cultural centres, bought antiques both for her shop and herself. Her old world perspective and connoisseur’s eye is reflected in the collection presented here. Ms Antony was always willing to share her knowledge with others and provided advice, ran workshops and supported the community whenever she could. When she sold her business in 2012 one of her customers were quoted as saying “This wasn’t a shop, it was an institution.” Always the entrepreneur, Ms Antony decided in 1993 to build a chapel and plant grape vines on her estate in Sutton, Quebec. Since then St. Agnes Chapel and Vineyard has become an award winning producer of icewine and is, in effect, Henrietta Antony’s living legacy. The houses, wine cellars, chapel and other buildings on the property are built like a European village and continue to operate. “I considered myself so lucky to be in a country where the only limits imposed on me were the limits of my capabilities.” Henrietta Antony to the Westmount Examiner, August, 2012. A friend of Ms Antony’s once said that antiques are art and should be displayed as such, we at Walker’s agree so it is in this spirit that we are presenting the collections at this event.